Presiding by airport terminals, business parks, and weaving webs through London like LinkedIn, the S-class has long been the high-end transport tool quietly serving with a competence such that no one thinks twice about it. It simply went about its purpose with severe dignity and grace, picking up the title ‘best car in the world’ from many.

But the latest model has apparently become very angry. Maybe it’s the new, sharp Lexus LS, or the pesky American Tesla embarrassing its AMG models in drag races. So the S-class has wrinkled its nose, sharpened its eyes, and generated a whole bunch of aggressive lines, culminating in the AMG Line package. Stainless steel pedals and sporty floor mats drag the driver into this too, presumably enticing them to race at traffic lights and cut ahead of those in lesser cars of the competition. No more Mr. Nice-Chauffeur.

The problem is that there is no longer a choice between the classy serenity of the old S-class and the outward hostility of the new AMG style. Since its facelift this year, Mercedes-Benz has simply removed the ‘SE’ line. The transformation is complete: goodbye Dr. Jekyll. Unfortunately for those actually interested in ride comfort, this also means 19” wheels replace 18” ones, and there’s 30mm of more rear tyre to generate noise. Oh, sure, it’ll be better prepared for that dogfight on the two-lane slip road to the arrivals terminal, but is it really going to beat that impatient 7 series anyway? And should we even care?

This is an S-class and not a sports car, so why on earth is it being given a radiator grill wide enough to swallow Fiestas, alloy wheels that wouldn’t look out of place on a 911, and exhaust pipes exaggerated to hot hatch level? I think that black cabbie knows your S-class is faster without having these features forcefully imposed on them, and at least you don’t see them grafting on a Lotus Elise rear wing or Caterham roll cages.

This is just a tragic loss of dignity in some bizarre exercise to appease the backward popular opinion that AMG = luxury, at the expense of ride comfort, subtlety, and the stately image of the S-class. Please, Mercedes-Benz, bring back the SE with its soft lines, extra chrome, and maybe think about 17” wheels while you’re at it. Just remember how good it was when luxury was all about comfort.