A flagship luxury sedan is never going to be cheap when new off the lot. But today's offerings are taking those price tags to new heights. Take the 2016 Mercedes-Benz S550, for example. Base price: $96,600. No extra options whatsoever. Our S550 tester, for example, came with $17,465 worth of options. Seventeen grand. Think for a moment about how many cars have a seventeen grand base price. But the Mercedes-Benz S550 is truly a spectacular thing and it's kind of hard to argue that it's not worth its price.

We think it is. For example, the "base" engine is a glorious 4.7-liter bi-turbo V8 with 449 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. Performance? Try 0 to 60 mph in just 4.8 seconds, quite impressive for a vehicle that tips the scales at over 4,600 pounds. Step inside and you'll discover one of the most beautiful interiors available today.

Add to that state-of-the-art safety, media, and many other advanced technologies, and you'll quickly begin to understand why the German automaker charges such a premium. At the end of the day, however, is today's S-Class a worthy competitor to the brand new BMW 7 Series? A new Audi A8/S8 is just around the corner, too. The Mercedes-Benz S500 will more than hold its own. Special thanks to Mercedes-Benz of Sacramento for letting us film the car.