Controversy. Prince knows about it. BMW design chief Chris Bangle knows about it. And now the Mercedes-Benz S-Class shows that Dr. Z knows about it, too. Dr. Z is Dieter Zetsche, recently appointed to run Mercedes-Benz after a successful stint as the head guy at Chrysler, and while he inherited this design when he took his new gig, there’s no denying that the S-Class is a departure from the norm. Some of our staff members liked it, other didn’t, and we all think the fender swells look too much like a seven-year-old Ford Focus. In front, the S-Class has a menacing grin. In profile, the car looks too long for its proportions and the wheels look too small. In back, there’s a hint of the bustle butt that drew critics’ ire on the BMW 7 Series.

Inside, the S-Class is near perfection, the only oddities being the phone pod that doubles as a wrist rest when fiddling with the Comand controller and the column of buttons stashed between the gauge cluster and the infotainment screen. The simple, elegant, analog clock looks like an expensive timepiece, and the cabin has an air of simplicity despite inherent complexity. At night, soft, warm, amber backlighting glows from the wood trim. Yummy.