Cross a luxury car with a spa, and you might get something like the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S550 that hits U.S. showrooms Tuesday. This high-end car, with a base price of $92,000, now offers touchscreen control over some surprising creature comforts. Do we need this stuff? No, of course not. Is it fun to think about even if you could never afford this car? Absolutely.
What, no smell of money? Forget it then.
Just tuck one of four custom-made scents into its special place in the glove box, and inhale deeply.
New-car smell is so bourgeois. The S550 lets you activate a scent-control system to "perfume" the interior. Mercedes-Benz offers specially created scents including Sports Mood, Nightlife Mood, Downtown Mood, and Freeside Mood (that last scent's name might make more sense in German). All of the scents are intended to be subtle fresheners. An empty vial is included with the purchase of the car for you to fill with your own alcohol-based fragrance.
While passenger fatigue seems unlikely in a car this pampering, the S550 can also offer a simulated hot-stone massage. You activate it and customize the treatment from the touchscreen display. A few luxury cars, including previous models from Mercedes-Benz, offer a massage feature, but the S550 is the first to offer a rolling hot-stone feel as you drive. Not for the drivers, though—sorry.
Your lucky passenger can get a hot-stone massage, controlled via the center touchscreen.
Oh yeah, the S550 also offers some new technical marvels that affect the actual operation of the vehicle. A feature called Distronic Plus with Steering Assist that keeps the car centered in your lane automatically. It works at speeds up to 124mph. Similar to the Lane Keeping Assist System in the 2014 Acura RLX, the S550 sedan uses sensors to monitor the lane markings. The technology is one of the leading precursors to future autonomous driving.
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