The Maybach 62 is the car you never knew you wanted. And starting at £320,000 when new, few will be able to park one on their driveway (which, incidentally, will have to be a minimum of 6.2 metres long to accommodate the aptly named 62).
The standard 62 is an imposing model but for another £47,000 – the price of a Mercedes Mercedes-Benz CLS – the 62 S packs an additional 62bhp, cutting the 0-62mph time by 0.2sec to 5.2sec.
Other changes include a revised grille, new wheels and modified light clusters. The interior is finished in piano black and, get this, carbon fibre – in a car weighing 2855kg. The suspension remains unchanged, as does the restricted top speed.
Maybachs are fabulous to fall asleep in the back of, preposterously fast, fine riding and awesomely refined, but it is still hard to think of them as anything more than very stretched Mercedes Mercedes-Benz S-Classes with more powerful engines.
Few would argue that the 62 is an attractive car, and in these days of austerity, it is a symbol of conspicuous consumption few could live with. The stark fact is that, for all its pomp and huge price, it does not feel sufficiently special to warrant a price nearly three times that of the considerably more charming and no slower Bentley Flying Spur.
Where the 62 does feel rather special is inside. Maybach claims there are more than two million possible interior combinations, so given the tiny numbers the company sells, it’s entirely possible that no two 62s are the same.
