S550: It's the Little Things - Accent Lighting

Let's talk about accent lighting. Not the functional stuff: headlights, marker lights, taillights, turn signals. Don't get me wrong, those are all nice, too. But Mercedes really knocked it out of the park on the accent lighting. So much so, that I'd say this car really looks its best at night. 

When the W222 generation of S Class cars came out in 2014, Mercedes bragged that it was the first production car to have zero incandescent bulbs. Every light is a LED. Not such a big deal in 2022, but unprecedented in 2014, apparently. They not only went LED everywhere, they took the opportunity to really up their entire accent lighting game at the same time: 

  • Puddle lights! Yes, you get the star log and "Mercedes-Benz" projected onto the pavement whenever you open the doors. You'll either love it or hate it.  

  • Mirrors and door handles. Look, you probably could have found the door handles and mirrors without them, but they look so good at night, tastefully lit. 

  • Interior accent lighting: Here, they really went all out. The LED lighting circles the entire cabin, from behind the dash displays, all the way around the doors, and wrapping behind the back seats. And also in the footwells. And you can change the color (blue and purple are the favorites here) and intensity. It's all indirect, so you don't see any individual LEDs. It really makes spending time in this car at night feel like an occasion (of course, you can dial down the intensity or turn the off, if you prefer). And it's all hidden and invisible during the day. 


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