As a motor journalist charged with the task of test driving and evaluating new cars all over the world, I often attend international launches in scenic locations in Europe, the U.S. and Australia to put the cars through their paces on great driving roads and the occasional race track.
Now, as a driver testing cars on a daily basis, I do enjoy taking the hot seat and trying out a particular vehicle’s performance, handling, ride quality and comfort and tech levels. But every now and then, it’s nice to sit in the back seat of something luxurious and be chauffeured around—because as journalists, we rarely get to experience back seat ride and comfort, which can be very different from the driver’s seat ride quality.
Time to test the S-Class’s back seat
So on a recent flight from London back to my home in Tokyo, I decided to book a limousine service and convinced a colleague to go halves with me in the cost of a limo ride—a Mercedes-Benz S-Class of course—from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport into central Tokyo. For several years, I’d actually wanted to try a company called Blue Nile Livery (BNL) that I had heard about from an American friend. He’d used this limo company’s services in both New York and Los Angeles and had raved about their quality and attention to detail.
Based out of Boston and established in 2013, BNL says on their website that the company offers limo services in over 500 cities worldwide, which includes every major U.S. and European city. And yes, I found out that they also offered services in Japan, through a partner limo service—which is why I teamed up with a colleague to take the high-end ground transportation after landing in Tokyo.
This means that BNL is a one-stop shop for luxury rides and airport transfers across the globe, boasting one website from where all global transfers can be booked. Just type in your arrival airport, day and time of arrival, what type of vehicle you want and your destination and the site offers you a booking and calculates a fee in a matter of seconds.
As a journalist who has tested countless luxury cars, from Mercedes Benz, to BMW, Audi, Porsche, Maserati, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Cadillac and Jaguar from the driver’s seat, I thought it was about time to check out the rear seat comfort and luxury levels of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class—a car that I think is the saloon that all luxury cars are measured on.
It is arguably the ‘best car’ in the world. But don’t take my word for it—many other major publications also refer to the S-Class as the yardstick of luxury transport.
Car and Driver rated the S-Class as, “Not only the flagship of the brand, the S-class also serves as the de facto flagship of luxury sedans in general.” The Telegraph newspaper in London said of the S-Class, “If there is a box marked ‘Best Car In The World’, then … the S-class ticks it.” Meanwhile, Britain’s Evo magazine said it best when they reported, “As with all S-classes though, its strength lies in the ability to completely isolate its occupants from the outside world, a job it does with impressive capability.” That is why so many captains of industry and executives opt for an S-Class for airport transfers. It’s hard to beat.
Blue Nile Livery strictly vets its partner companies
So, wanting to evaluate the back seat comfort and ride of the S-Class, in our case a black S580—as well as the quality and luxury levels of Blue Nile Livery’s partner company Tatsutoku in Japan, we met up with our bilingual black suit-clad driver in the arrivals hall at Haneda Airport and proceeded to the pickup location five minutes away. After snugly fitting our suitcases into the trunk, he opened the S-Class’ back doors, and even though we’d both seen similar rear seats on other Mercedes many times before, the feeling was fresh and inviting—because as I mentioned above, I rarely get to actually travel in the back seat.
My colleague and I were both impressed by the spaciousness, as the driver had moved the front seats forward for maximum rear seat legroom, the car’s overall cleanliness inside and out, and of course the subtle luxury throughout the S-Class’ interior. Greeting us in the center armrest were bottles of mineral water and hand towels, in addition to chargers for our smartphones—just what you need after 14 hours on a flight.
I asked the driver how BNL maintains its high-end standards of quality across the globe. He replied that BNL meticulously vets every partner company it uses around the world—in this case, its Japan-based partner Tatsutoku Co—to keep the highest possible standards. And from what we experienced on our 40 minute ride into central Tokyo, I see what he meant. The driver was on time, dressed well, polite, communicative, and from my point of view—as a fussy back seat driver—could handle the big S-Class smoothly and with ease.
The fee was $380 from Haneda Airport to the Ginza which is higher than, say, a ride from JFK into Manhattan — around $280 because of the usage of a partner company in a foreign country. But from our point of view, the fee was more than worth a view into a world of luxury and convenience that we rarely get to experience. While we opted for the so-called ‘best car’ in the world, and enjoyed every minute of it thanks to BNL and its partner company, travelers in the U.S. can of course choose less luxurious vehicles like a Cadillac XT6, for example, for the same ride from JFK into Manhattan which starts from $124.
BNL’s partner service was first class and the S-Class did not let us down. It’s truly the yardstick of luxury sedans. We arrived in the Ginza that much more refreshed and ready to resume our work day. It kind of makes me want to ask my mate if he’ll go halves with me again.