[AlteBMW]

MB is not what is used to be. Yeah we can complain about what BMW could do better, but the fact is the car that satisfies everyone hasn't yet been built. BMW ergonomics for the driver are IMHO more thought out. I test drove an S class when I was considering G70 and liked the handling of my '20 G12 better than the '23 S, and thought the driver controls/electronics were simpler and quicker on the BMW. The G70 with the new idrive took some getting used too but to me is even easier.

My wife has a '23 E450 wagon, and having now spent some time in our extra car, a '23 X3, she told me yesterday that the X3 "is now my car; the wagon can be the extra." The X3 is a 4 cylinder btw. A good part of her decision was the electronics. The E450 has Mbux with touch panels; the X3 has ID7. We were trying to change what the MB heads-up display shows. Verbal commands could not be used; the on screen menus did not show how to do it, the user manual did not provide guidance, and only after literally months of trying did we discover that it gets controlled by one of the menus accessible only through a tiny touch panel on the steering wheel.

Sorry for the digression from S class -- but somebody said that Mercedes are for riding in as a passenger and BMW are for driving and that sounds about right