X351 vs W221 ?
 

Hi,

Knock, knock, coming from the XK section of the forum...

I own a 5.0 XK an I am now thinking of replacing my sedan (an older BM 7 series). Did a little bit of research here but couldn't find an answer to my question.

I'm looking for some first hand comparison between the XJ and the S-Class (and other competitors, why not), in their respective gasoline variants. I am specifically interested in cabin noise levels, if someone had the opportunity to drive both cars. A quiet cabin is of utmost importance to me for longer rides.

Thanks !

I dont have that much experience with the 221s, but the couple i have been in did feel more vault-like than the Jag. Not substantially better, the Jag still has a pretty damn quiet cabin, but more road noise does seem to get in (despite tires). But to that end, I also feel the Mercedes interiors are seriously boring and dull places to be. I had a W219 CLS and the interior was just bland. Quality of materials was good, but it was just pretty "meh". Contrast that to the Jaguar, and its not even a fair comparison. Depending on the year you get, the COMAND system might be pretty terrible, not user friendly, poor UI, very old and outdated navigation. I know the Jags are outdated too but those are much worse. The 221 might have the newer, updated touch-screen, but the earlier generation 221s will still have old COMAND.

The other thing is that MB transmission. I hate that transmission. Whether its the 5 speed or the 7 speed, its ****ing terrible. Its slow to shift, especially down. It wants to climb gears WAY too fast, regardless of what mode you have it set to. It has a weird 2-1 downshift situation going on. I just hate it. I hated it in my MOPAR products and i hated it in the Benz. That was a huge experience killer for me when i got my AMG.

I even chose the Jag over a pre-owned 650 GC, and that drove fantastically, but the Jaguar just felt more alive. Given those arent direct competitors, but I wasnt actually shopping for a full size luxury sedan, just something that appealed to me, and this did more than anything else I drove.

Hope that helps a little bit.

I've a '14 CL550 (last year version). I drove/selected it over the S class because I considered it a touch quieter than the S. Double insulated glass in the windows and windshied helps. The XJ has similar glass.

Mine is a '17 XJL. I took delivey with the '19" wheels over the 20" wheels for a quieter ride on long trips. I just came back from northern CA sunday, a trip of 1760 miles on I-40. I condider it almost as quiet as my CL550. Close call. Larger wheels/tires like '20" make Noise, road roise and are quick to crack/bend when hitting a large pot hole vs '19" wheels/tires. I've experience in this last Dec at 2AM fifty miles west of Albuquerque, NM with outside air temp 18*F. Not good a'tall.

I'm surprised at how well the 340Hp version of the XJ does. I needed AWD (I drive on the beaches on North Padre Is), so didn't get the 470 hp version. The S class would have approx 449 hp (V8), 516 lb/ft of torque, and get approx the same mpg as the 340 hp Jag. I'm surprised I can drive at a steady 80mph and get 27mpg with the XJL. Headwinds can drop that to 24mpg.

All that BS said, I like my XJL as a interstate road tripper and it has very good looks inside and out. Wish they had a coupe version. I hate 'B' pillars to pieces. Also hate the rear seat head rests to pieces. I can't remove them it seems according to the manual.

No, I'm not ragging on the Jaguar. I like my XKL very much. I've also been known to drive for hundreds of miles wearing Bose Quiet Comfort headsets to kill any road noise plus listen to my ITunes with bluetooth and or turn the music off and just wear the Bose for a quieter driving experience.





Touch screens suck. You have to reach fwd and down to start a function on the screen. Something as simple as getting the nav to repeat itself causes you to rake your eyes off the road and touch a green stripe on the nav screen. On the CL all I do is keep my eyes on the road and double click the control knob to hear a repeat.

Too much time spent taking your eyes off the road and staring at the touch screen on the Jag. Crude. The touch screen has latency, built in evidently.

I'd suggest going to Amazon.com and buying a decibel meter for less than thirty bucks. Then after learning how to use it, go for a test drive in the Jag and the Mercedes to see if the difference is much if anything.

Another annoying thing about the XJL.......... I drive a Lot at night. I'd like to dim the nav display but leave the instrument display controlled by the rheostart for lighting. It 'seems' that I can press a button below the nav display and darken it.....but it also dims the instrument lighting, which I do not want dimmed. It could be I don't know how to dim the one and not the other but I've not found out how to do so. On the CL a click on the 'star' button below the command knob does the blackout of the nav screen without dimming the instrument panel lighting. That is 'good'. vs the XJL.

Thanks Hailers. Interesting that you found the CL even quieter than the S. I've only tried a CL twice. The last one was on 20" wheels and that really killed the overall quietness of the car... Overall, many of your comments match what I'm been told by other people having owned both cars : the MB wins hands downs in terms of ergonomics... and also keeps the lead in terms of cabin noise (or absence of).

Ride comfort and noise are also my #1 priority in choosing a car. Don't care for 'sporty handling' because, let's face it, all cars in this class handle perfectly adequately if you don't drive like an idiot. The following is my test drive ranking based on numbers (lowest to highest) from my decibel smartphone app.

2015 S-Class Coupe > X222 S-Class Sedan > Lexus LS460 > Jaguar X351

As a previous poster mentioned, a lot depends on the wheel size. But anyone who chooses a Jag would consider (exhaust) noise to be a plus rather than a minus.

Very interesting thread - thank you.

Welcome any more experiences comparing similar...