Mercedes-Maybach S680

Scope of this guide

This guide is scoped to the Z223 Mercedes-Maybach S 680 4MATIC in its European and UK specification, the long-wheelbase four-door saloon that Mercedes-Benz revealed in May 2021 and put on sale in the United Kingdom on 2 July 2021, with the first British cars due in early autumn that year. It has a 6.0L twin-turbo V12 petrol engine, a nine-speed 9G-Tronic automatic gearbox and all-wheel drive, which was a first for the V12 Maybach. It is not a guide to the V8 Maybach S 580, to the limited V12 Edition that PistonHeads reported in September 2025, or to the facelifted car that was reported in March 2026. It is also not a guide to a United States car, because the American specification quotes a different power figure, as we explain below. An advert that simply says "S 680" can describe any of these, so confirm which one you are looking at.

We have not driven this model for this article. Everything here comes from three cited sources: the Mercedes-Benz UK launch announcement for the Maybach S-Class as republished on conceptcarz.com, PistonHeads' news report on the Maybach V12 Edition, and the government recall checker. We also read Motor1, Autoevolution, Auto Express and Automotive World coverage of the launch, and where those disagree with each other we say so instead of quietly choosing one.

The figures at a glance

The engine is a 6.0L twin-turbo V12 petrol unit of 5,980 cc, with no electric assistance. In European specification Mercedes-Benz rates it at 450 kW, which is 612 PS. The UK launch table prints the output as "450/612", and the text of that page calls it 612 hp, which is the metric figure with the wrong label. Converting 612 PS gives 604 bhp (612 multiplied by 0.9863 is 603.6), and Auto Express prints 604 bhp for the British car. Autoevolution and PistonHeads print 603 hp and 612hp respectively, so expect the same output to appear under three labels. We use 604 bhp in this guide, and the catalogue figure changes from 621 to 604 for that reason.

Torque is 900 Nm, or about 664 lb ft, available between 2,000 rpm and 4,000 rpm according to the UK launch page. Mercedes-Benz USA printed a different figure in its May 2021 release, 738 lb ft, which is about 1,000 Nm, and Motor1 repeated the 1,000 Nm number as hearsay. We treat 900 Nm as the figure for this guide because it appears on the UK launch page, on Auto Express and on PistonHeads, and because 664 lb ft is simply 900 Nm in other units.

Acceleration is quoted as 4.5 seconds. The sources print that as a 0-62 mph time, and 62 mph is 99.8 km/h, so it is effectively the 0-100 km/h time that the catalogue stores. It is a manufacturer claim, not a measured result, and the American release printed 4.4 seconds to 60 mph for the more powerful car. The top speed is 250 km/h (155 mph), electronically limited, and the American release says 130 mph for its car. Published weights disagree: Motor1 gave 2,350 kg from a Russian configurator, PistonHeads says about 2.4 tonnes, and a data aggregator lists 2,275 kg. We do not give a weight figure of our own.

Why the power figure differs by market

The researcher hint that went into this entry said the V12 makes 463 kW, or 630 PS. That figure is real, but it belongs to the United States car, which Mercedes-Benz USA rated at 621 hp at 5,250 to 5,500 rpm. A 621 hp figure is the SAE horsepower label, and 621 hp converts to about 463 kW or 630 PS. The European car is rated lower at 450 kW and 612 PS. Autoevolution's June 2021 report says the European power is "actually less than in the U.S." That is why the production catalogue row of 621 bhp was wrong for a UK guide: it mixed the American horsepower figure with the European 900 Nm and 4.5 second claims. One search summary also says Australia lists 463 kW and 900 Nm, so a grey import or a car from another market may carry the higher output. Check the build plate and the registration documents instead of trusting a badge.

How the V12 and 4MATIC fit together

The previous V12 Maybach, the S 650, drove the rear wheels only. The S 680 is the first to have 4MATIC all-wheel drive, with a torque split of 31 percent to the front axle and 69 percent to the rear according to the Mercedes-Benz USA release. Motor1 describes it as replacing the rear-wheel-drive setup of the S 650. Auto Express says the nine-speed automatic is the same as the V8 car's, the UK launch page lists rear-axle steering for the First Class, and it lists AIR BODY CONTROL air suspension for the car. The page says the more advanced E-ACTIVE BODY CONTROL system is only on the S 580 models, so a buyer who expects the active suspension of the V8 car should not assume the V12 has it.

The UK launch page describes the S 680 4MATIC First Class as having 21-inch forged wheels, two wireless headsets, folding rear tables, individual rear seats, a ten-litre rear fridge and champagne flutes. PistonHeads describes the V12 Edition as nearly five and a half metres long. A car of this size and weight is a chauffeur-style saloon first and a driver's car second. Auto Express puts the V12 at 4.5 seconds to 62 mph against 4.8 for the V8, so the extra cylinders buy a little speed, but the brief is refinement.

What to check before you buy

PistonHeads' September 2025 report gives no reliability, running-cost or ownership data, so we have none to pass on from a cited source. Its author calls the V12 "almost certainly now on borrowed time", which is an opinion, not a fault report. The checks below are our own reasoning from the specification, not findings from a source.

Start by confirming the car is what the advert says. The V12 badge sits on the front wings, but badges can be added, so ask for the build record or VIN check from an authorised Mercedes-Benz or Maybach dealer, and compare the engine code and output on the paperwork with 450 kW. Confirm it is a UK or European car and not a United States import, which would carry the 621 hp rating, and ask for evidence of the import route if it is not a UK-supplied car. Check which equipment the car has: the First Class rear fittings, the fridge, the tables and the headsets are expensive to repair, and each one is a separate fault to test.

Next, look at the air suspension. The car should sit level from cold and should stay level after standing overnight. A corner that settles points to a leaking air spring or valve. Test the rear-axle steering at low speed in a car park, and listen for noises from the four corners over bumps. A large saloon of this weight works its tyres and brakes hard, so check the tyre dates, the wear pattern and the brake discs. Ask for a full diagnostic scan covering the engine, transmission, 4MATIC, air suspension and driver assistance modules, and check that software updates were applied at the dealer. A battery that has stood for weeks can throw many misleading warnings, so ask for a charge and test before you judge the car. We did not find a verified fuel consumption figure from a cited source, so budget for heavy fuel use and do not rely on a brochure number.

Recalls and paperwork

Use the government recall checker before you buy and again after you have bought, with the registration number or the make, model and year of manufacture. It covers manufacturer safety recalls that have not yet been checked or fixed. We have not run the checker for any specific S 680 and we did not find a recall notice specific to this model, so we claim none. A clean result on a public checker is not proof that every update has been done, so ask an authorised dealer whether any campaign is open against the chassis number.

Paperwork matters more than usual on a car that may have been supplied through several routes. Ask for the first registration date, the service record with dealer stamps or digital entries, the number of keepers and any import documents. A car first registered in autumn 2021 is the earliest likely British delivery on the evidence we have, so a very early registration date deserves a question. We have not quoted prices because they vary with specification and condition and we could not verify them.

The ownership case

The Z223 Maybach S 680 offers a 604 bhp twin-turbo V12, 900 Nm available from low revs, 4MATIC all-wheel drive with rear-axle steering and a rear cabin built around the passenger. It does not offer startling acceleration, and the claimed 4.5 seconds is ordinary for a car with this much power, because the weight and the chauffeur brief matter more than a stopwatch. What you are buying is a V12 saloon that, on press reports, may be the last of its kind for Europe, because a March 2026 German report says the facelift replaced the V12 with a V8 there. We read that only in search summaries, so treat it as a lead and not as confirmed fact. We have not driven it, so read the sources, get a specialist inspection and treat every published performance figure as a claim until someone measures it.