Mercedes Is Giving the S-Class a Flat-Plane V8 and No One Saw It Coming

Coming Soon to a Fancy Hotel Near You

The heavily updated Mercedes-Benz S-Class will be making its world premiere towards the end of this month. The company claims the facelift will be “the most ambitious launch program in Mercedes-Benz history.” With that, wealthy folk can rejoice, and some nations will probably get one of these to replace their current presidential cars.

It was somewhat previewed not that long ago, albeit still wrapped in camouflage and as a luxury autonomous taxi for the Middle East. Of course, we can expect some styling tweaks out of it, a revised interior, and even more tech. But what we weren’t expecting was a new engine option.

A New V8

For the most part, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class is powered by a turbocharged inline-six engine. America is lucky enough to still get the twin-turbo V8 in the non-Maybach version, and it’s still quite the engine. It’s fitted to the S580, and it’s good for 496 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque.

But that engine will soon be replaced by a different kind of V8, one that’s straight from the S63. That means even a bog-standard S-Class (if we can call it that) will be getting a raspy flat-plane crank V8. It’s not exactly the kind of engine we’d expect from a normal S-Class, but we say it’s a great bit of news.

More on that Engine

The 4.0-liter biturbo V8 for the new S580 isn’t exactly an all-new design. Internally known as the M177, it was first introduced in the previous-generation C63 from 2015. It has since been applied to the other AMG models, as well as a couple of Aston Martin vehicles. Sticking this engine in the standard S-Class is perhaps Mercedes-Benz’s way of atoning for the four-cylinder C63. It would be lovely to stick the M177 back in that car, if you ask us.

Per Autocar, the move to the flat-plane V8 was for the sake of lowering emissions and more power. We can also assume that another benefit of the engine design is a finer, higher-pitched soundtrack. By the way, Mercedes-Benz also told the publication that the V8 in the S580 will now make 530 hp.