Wheels Magazine 
February, 2003
To bring you this story, I've flown in DaimlerChrysler's 850km/h, nine-passenger Bombardier Challenger 604 executive jet, crossed the Elbe in a 41-metre, 2560kW Lurssen motor yacht and stayed in the elite, 211-year-old, $575-a-night Louis C Jacob hotel.
My assigned protocol officer, 1.8m-tall, blonde Helene and I spent a chauffeur-driven day in the back seat of the long-wheelbase Maybach 62. I swear we didn't open the Veuve Cliquot in the refrigerator-bar.
Oh, and the following day, I drove the short-wheelbase 5.7-metre Maybach 57.
Never has a launch been so blatantly hedonistic. But then Maybach wanted to create the proper environment for its new million-dollar luxury car. A recession threatens, but Maybach still believes it will find 1000 buyers a year. One buyer has ordered an identical Maybach for each of his houses in London, Monaco and Florida.
A humble motoring hack can't help being impressed by this show of opulence, but what of the car? Rear passengers keep in touch with reality via their own speedometer. Surrounded by chrome and wood, the speedo is one of a trio of dials recessed together in the roof behind the chauffeur's head.
Trouble is, despite the hushed splendour of the Maybach's oasis of silence, I simply don't believe any automotive cocoon is capable of travelling at 200km/h so effortlessly. If the speedo needle claimed 100km/h, okay. Reclined in majestic comfort on a heated seat that stretches to support my full 1.92 metres, while massaging my lower back, I need a reality check.
The super-rich, who don't want to drive, opt for the long-wheelbase 62, which stretches an extra 437mm, all in rear-seat room. The 62 is for those who want to use the vast rear compartment for board meetings and work. Or even as a bedroom. Fancy joining the Maybach-high club?
Alex, Wheels' chauffeur, confirms the accuracy of the speedometer. He tells me the rev counter rests at only 2600rpm. That helps account for the lack of engine noise, but not the near silence from tyres and wind that together make this easily the quietest car in my experience.
Quietness and sophistication, with roominess, were prime Maybach objectives, so every aspect that influences the car's manners was examined to ensure it surpassed anything Benz had previously achieved.
It's a staggering three to five dBA quieter than the S600. The side glass is 7.2mm thick, 2.2mm more than conventional laminated glass. The 275/50 R19 tyres were chosen because their height/width ratio ensures better absorption qualities and, therefore, superior ride comfort. As well, three continuous door seals insulate the interior, foam fills cavities at 24 points in the body, and many potential sound paths from the engine through the firewall were blocked. If this were impossible, the surrounding area was covered by small microfibre tiles to absorb incoming noise. To reduce rolling noise from the tyres, the rear wheel arches are clad in textiles.
This incredible thoroughness, with a structure that never creaks or groans, brings near total silence, with the wholly unintended result that you now hear more of other cars and trucks, even the click-whirring of the rear CD-changer swapping discs. Tire of the tranquillity and a 600-watt Bose Dolby surround sound system, employing 21 speakers and seven amplifiers, turns the cabin into a mobile concert hall.
What makes the back so special are the reclining, power-operated seats fitted to the 62. They offer the same standard of adjustment and technology (tilting headrests, variable lateral support, heating and cooling) as the front seats, plus the backrest can be adjusted from 25 to 47 degrees, while a two-stage telescopic cushion-cum-footrest extends to support your thighs and legs. Seven electric motors adjust reach, rake, and recline.
To understand the size of the Maybach 62's interior, consider these numbers: it has 651mm of rear kneeroom; from the accelerator pedal to the rear seat back measures 2682mm. The 57 gets the same seats and is closer to a lwb S600 in terms of space. Cramped it's not, but after the sense of freedom in the 62, it feels almost conventional. The massive, 1.4m-long rear door (each door weighs 50kg) opens to 85 degrees, so, because the Maybach is 1573mm high, you barely need stoop as you step into the cabin. Hold a switch in the side headlining and the rear door automatically swings closed.
Powering all this electric equipment demands a 350-amp alternator, almost double the capacity of the 180-amp system fitted to the previous V12 S-class, and two batteries. Yet, once you've worked out the remote control for the DVD/TV (there are separate 9.5-inch screens in the front seat backs), tried using both cordless phones at once, discovered how to turn on all 21 rear interior lights, and found the table, which folds out of the console and is angled to form a perfect location for writing road-test notes, there's a sense that, worthy as all these gimmicks are, it's time to take the wheel.
In profile, the normal Maybach is a handsome, well proportioned saloon, and, without any reference points, seems no bigger than an S-class. The nose, identical to the 62, seems even more Korean-with-ideas-above-its-station crass, the grille crowned by the absurd parody of a double-M symbol in place of the three-pointed star.
From the driver's seat you're overwhelmed by wood, chrome, and leathers. For all the overtly clubby materials and quality finish, in appearance the dashboard is disappointingly close to the S-class, although Maybach says the overall design is unique.
No engine is more isolated than the Maybach's twin-turbo V12. If the windows and doors are closed you can't hear the engine idling. The first impression is, again, of calm, near silence as you move off.
The speed-sensitive steering is light and comparatively slow, even loose around the straight ahead, and quite unlike any recent Mercedes. For the luxury-liner Maybach, the engineers decided in favour of the once-preferred recirculating ball and nut system instead of a rack-and-pinion set-up. For the Maybach it has the advantage of being oblivious to vibration and copes better with the car's massive 2660kg weight. The steering weights up noticeably in corners, but don't confuse this with genuine feel, for the steering seems engineered to isolate the driver from the action. It undoubtedly contributes to the feeling of immense, near unshiftable stability at 200km/h.
Despite staggering performance that contradicts the car's mass, it's clear that nobody set out to make the Maybach a driver's car in the conventional sense. The suspension's simply too cushy and soft to encourage hard driving and many owners will be perfectly happy to accept ride comfort that goes beyond supple.
Often, it's as if the car is elevated above the road and riding on a cushion of air. Press on and you realise there is another dimension to the Maybach. Beyond the super-soft stage, the air suspension automatically firms up and the big barge can be hustled. There's still plenty of roll and float but it's progressive, predictable, and surprisingly capable. Switch off the ASR and there's so much low-end torque, burnouts become the norm.
The V12, essentially the same twin-turbo 5.5-litre unit fitted to the new S600, with turbo boost wound up from 1.0 to 1.3 bar, produces the torque numbers of a huge diesel-truck engine. At 1500rpm it produces 600Nm, from 1800rpm to 4500rpm there is never less than 800Nm, and its maximum 900Nm runs from 2300-3000rpm.
The Maybach is almost as quick as the new, 600kg lighter, S600 - 5.2 seconds to 100km/h versus 4.8secs - yet there is the same lack of drama, the same incredible level of thrust, and even less noise. At 120km/h in fourth and fifth you can't hear the engine.
We won't know how good it really is until we drive the new, BMW-developed Rolls-Royce next year. Until then, the Maybach sets staggering standards in terms of refinement, equipment, and performance.