Driven - James May drives the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (10/11/1998)

[@gearknobofficial]

Thanks for the views everyone! Just uploaded more clips of James May from the same episode of Driven: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXPSe56Het6Vrdk kzbin.info/www/bejne/goKrc5mjeKZpj6c

[@igorabasjidze1194]

And the music than. Was it Beethoven??

[@humushumus2219]

It all makes sense now: He is Doug's father!

[@tr1ppy86]

I thought Jay Leno was Doug's father?

[@p1xlb522]

so he's lying to us about not having kids?

[@Karrguy1973]

Lol dang I was like this was an early Doug video thumbnail..... then click 🤦🏽‍♂️ Captan Slow!!!

[@TheRazvy1990]

And klarkson the papa

[@jamp12008]

I absolutely thought it was a young Doug as well. I’m sending this to someone to get YTP treatment 😂

[@sanghoonlee5171]

May's signature long haircut was once voted the worst in Britain. But then you watch an old clip like this, and you realize he picked the right look for himself.

[@nr1pimme]

Are you kidding me? :P He looks waaaay better with this haircut! Though 22 years of age shaved off probably helps aswell^^

[@nbn292]

@@nr1pimme I disagree but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. So neither of us are wrong or right.

[@soundseeker63]

To be fair, both James and Jeremy have publicly acknowledged that they have very dubious "hair styles" (while also taking the piss out of Hammond for being over-styled). In this clip he sports a typical 90's lads cut but more recently his hair (and clothes) is stuck in the 1970s.

[@nvery5497]

Yeah like Doing Demuro

[@trevakemistri]

And his voice. I now can't imagine the voice without the hair.

[@captainevenslower4400]

He looks like Doug DeMuro in the thumbnail

[@_zigzak]

Lmao I thought it was doug

[@cryo2156]

Same lol. Was expecting "THIIIIISSS is a 1998 Mercedes Benz S class".

[@rtteettr5382]

@@cryo2156 he was born in 1998 :)

[@ccllvn]

@@rtteettr5382 no he wasn't lmao

[@chrish.7965]

Clickbait.

[@omarrajab4881]

“this is an enormous car” 2020 mini is almost the size of that s class

[@Patrick-tf1ri]

Cars of 2020 is that of 1970s

[@Adamucha123]

i get your point but please tell me which mini is over 5 meters long

[@soundseeker63]

In 1998 James May was 35....but he still dressed like he was in his 60's even then! :-D

[@Fanboy1222]

I must utterly disagree he looks quite good

[@zinthos99]

thats just britain

[@soundseeker63]

@@Fanboy1222 I didn't say he looks bad. Just that he has always dressed way older than he is (I can even imagine him having dressed that was as a teenager! lol)

[@juzoli]

No, he dressed like people at that time did. Old people clothes are not a specific style. Old people clothes are young people clothes from a few decades ago, people just stop changing their style above a certain age.

[@bignateliving4056]

nullkomma 9 ya no, that sweater is gastly.

[@DerpEye]

Well, 22y later, this car still looks contemporary.

[@jacobfleming565]

Yeah they aged great its crazy

[@ericcarabetta1161]

KZbin: “You’ve been watching old Doug DeMuro videos, here’s an old James May video where he *looks* like Doug.”

[@eaubert1]

The city is Zurich, Switzerland and the lake is the nearby Wägitalersee!

[@tobyey9134]

I just realized that this isn't how trams look like in all other cities but I just was so accustomed to it that I wouldnt have noticed, hadn't it been a video in English

[@eaubert1]

@@tobyey9134 .... I live in Switzerland and regularly meet my friends in Zurich. So, I happen to know that every Swiss city has a different color of trams: Zurich is blue, Basel is green and Berne is red. As to the lake: it's not even the most spectacular lake in Switzerland. That prize has to go to the Klöntalersee!

[@fadingbeleifs]

I have the 2006 S430 base w220... 248k miles on her now... If the Energizer Bunny was a car... Just bought a 2006 S600 with 43k on the clock.. I love these big cruisers... And they're shockingly cheap and easy to repair and maintain.

[@funkymonkey1198]

Clicked on it for James may, stayed for the car. The car that all modern cars base their tech on

[@jdonegan92]

He looks like Doug DeMuro’s British cousin.

[@k3kboi665]

James is proof that you can look better in your 40's and 50's than in your 30's

[@blarkdexture8899]

nah

[@Future-Classic-Comics]

He has a pot belly and floppy grey hair and his face has aged badly, so how does he look better in 40/50's than 30's?

[@k3kboi665]

​@@Future-Classic-Comicsnow he looks like a boheme respectable old man now and before he looked just like an incell.

[@Future-Classic-Comics]

@@k3kboi665 I just looked up the term incel, I think we live in a very sick sad world where everything is dicected & has a label on it. Yeah he looks cooler with long hair, I myself have long hair, don't disagree with you on that Padre.

[@최영재-e2u]

I thought he was doug demuro for a sec when i saw thumbnail

[@cryo2156]

Same lol

[@curtisjackson40]

me too LOL

[@marcpale7481]

Now we know how Doug is gonna look like when he is 50 something 😂

[@InanMusharut]

He is Doug’s dad

[@luckassmith1391]

Who is dug

[@pyrotechnick420]

Even back then they were calling him the Captain

[@stevejones1488]

He went from mid 30s to mid 70s over night.

[@troesler81]

His so young I felt like James came into the world at 45.

[@gwendolinkirkegaard1812]

'this is an enormous car!' oh how the times have changed...

[@aboodmki3]

It is almost the same dimensions as a 2020 S-Class or 7 Series what have changed?! 😅

[@gwendolinkirkegaard1812]

@@aboodmki3 the massive GLE/X7 next to it.

[@gwendolinkirkegaard1812]

@@aboodmki3 i just realized, that my comment heavily depends on where you live. Where I live, huge cars were the absolute exception, until SUVs became a huge fashion about 7 years ago. My comment prob. Doesn't work for some US Americans f. E., them beeing used to pickup trucks etc

[@aboodmki3]

@@gwendolinkirkegaard1812 Oh So, the GLE and X7 entered the chat, I think the word fit for those two is gargantuan 😅

[@guguigugu]

this car is large even by modern standards. it is five meters long.

[@genericusername4579]

seeing James without his signature mop bristle hair is....frightening

[@thegreatafrican3367]

"Guess what... Families have small children" You don't say

[@MzeeWeeed]

He has a point

[@2112starman54]

"Bim! Guess what? Families have small children!"

[@martf8014]

that's kind of the point you clown

[@MeDicen_Rocha]

That ABC suspension that today totals these cars, back then was cutting edge and even today still handles great, as long as its working properly. Its basically a Citroen Hydropneumatic but in steroids and with more german and less french.

[@omostim2385]

The ABC can be a problem. I think it’s worth keeping if the car is in good enough shape. I have an 03 S430 with airmatic and there’s no excuse for not keeping it in order. It’s only an air pump, valve block and lines going to struts

[@MeDicen_Rocha]

@@omostim2385 Indeed. The biggest problem those have usually has to do with the system getting neglected, it developing a leak that usually leads to the pump failing.

[@omostim2385]

@@MeDicen_Rocha Exactly. A neglected system could pretty much total out the car cost wise. But when it’s working it’s brilliant. Makes me wonder what’s going to happen to all of the current Mercedes vehicles with trick suspension

[@nassimnassim6019]

What is trick suspension?

[@MeDicen_Rocha]

@@nassimnassim6019 All the modern air suspension systems that have "trick features" like predictive bump dampening and stuff like that

[@spasticusautisticus44]

He looks like a roman with that hair

[@soundseeker63]

Thats a class 90's lads cut, very popular back then.

[@nathanclark2424]

He kinda looks like the concept version of Vulpes Inculta

[@mohammadcheema7375]

This is from a Channel 4 programme called Driven. It was a short lived rival to the BBC’s Top Gear. They are completely different shows made by two completely different organisations. The show ran from 1998 - 2002

[@filipbarabas8941]

The previous S class was not the first one to be equipped with an AIRBAG - the car featured in this clip is a W220, so the previous one should have been the the W140. Prior to the W140 was the W126 which was first equipped with an airbag in 1981.

[@williamh2294]

his voice hasn't changed that's for sure!

[@yudhabagaskara98]

Still one of the best looking s class

[@johnny5805]

He was a STUD !

[@NokiaHumanForm]

Can we put aside his similarities with Doug to admire the true beauty of the W220?

[@waverleyjournalise5757]

Now introducing 'James Stephen Fry May'

[@ThomasVanQuaelle]

This!.... is a 1998 Mercedes Benz S-Class. And it’s *chuckles* absolutely huge and has many quirks and features

[@thetruth7633]

3:45 “previous S class was the first car with an airbag” nope the W126 already had them

[@DiscoFang]

And neither he nor you are correct. The first production car was the 1973 Chevrolet Impala.

[@DiscoFang]

@@AdamJDM1 The only thing experimental was seeing if the buyers wanted it. They were initially marketed as an option on the fleet trim of the normal production Impala, then available to regular consumers. In ‘74 it was alsomade available on Cadillac models, again as an option, but also with passenger airbag. All mass production cars. The W126 was available in 1981, and like the US cars in the previous decade it was available as an option.

[@DiscoFang]

@@AdamJDM1 Here you go straight from the Wikipedia’s mouth.... “The GM cars from the 1970s equipped with ACRS had a driver-side airbag, a driver-side knee restraint,.[34] The passenger-side airbag protected both front passengers,[34] and unlike most modern systems, integrated a knee and torso cushion while also having a dual-stage deployment dictated by force of the impact. The cars equipped with ACRS had lap belts for all seating positions, but lacked shoulder belts. Shoulder belts were already mandatory in the United States on closed cars without airbags for the driver and outer front passenger, but GM chose to market its airbags as a substitute for shoulder belts. Prices for this option on Cadillac models were US$225 in 1974, $300 in 1975, and $340 in 1976 (US$1,528 in 2019 dollars.”

[@DiscoFang]

@@AdamJDM1 Yep yep, keep refining and reframing your parameters until you become right. You said they were prototypes - they were not. You said only 1000, there was not. You said there were 10000 and somehow that defines why they weren’t available on a mass production car. Yeah, right right. Mercedes weren’t first, by almost a decade.

[@flybobbie1449]

Here he is 3 years younger than me, now he looks 10 years older.

[@avi8r944]

Smoking and alcohol will do that to ya.

[@davidmanning1474]

They called james may the captain even back then

[@SRG-re9yo]

If you told me James was 70 in here I would believe it

[@DoubleDeckerAnton]

I'm not a failed bus driver, but I do drive a Volvo estate.

[@pl2514]

Obligatory 'hands in pockets' except when you are driving naturally.

[@hafiywahid6730]

Why this video popped up in my suggestion?and i happened to watch this in 2021..

[@zzhughesd]

22 years ago James May looked normal. Like a nice young professional

[@kristjanveski]

0:36 "That aspiring Captain of *Slow"

[@honguenloh4612]

He looked so much better then

[@hugo2762]

it's like he has yet to become James May.

[@trolltv1282]

What a guy

[@nathansharma87]

In another dimension James May is Doug Demuros mother and Jay Leno is his father.

[@rao1118]

Why do 90s videos look like a painting?

[@SergeAznavour]

That SIEBEN SIEBEN SIEBEN had me in stitches

[@Destin5258]

Love how this car was the car of world leaders in the 90's and now the only people I see driving it are crack dealers.

[@MGT600]

Yeah exactly!😆

[@ExactConsciousness]

Same thing.

[@mattyg267]

Remember when the Lexus is200 was bought by lawyers and dentists? Now they're 800 quid and every one I see is a 'drift car bro' you can tell by the shit wheels, eBay lowering kit and crappy wing on the back.

[@03056932]

@@mattyg267 tis a good value car

[@tomdagg6545]

No money in crack!!! Now!

[@usman2131]

I feel so old 😞

[@alexb151]

"best car...pause...in the world"

[@BratislavMetulskie]

The british version of Doug

[@omostim2385]

M.I.A💪🏾

[@liana.chawngthu]

Doug is the American version of James may

[@davidtoups4684]

Rare footage from the last day James had a haircut

[@waqqasakhtar8885]

James never cut his hair ever !! It just grew and grew !

[@ahmedriyazhaniff2420]

Lovley review on the s500.

[@MrLense]

Brown really is his colour

[@ChrisAPenner]

That hair makes him look like he's 13 years old

[@emanvad3rll]

RE the actual car - great product; way ahead of its time

[@LoneWolf-wp9dn]

What a lad!

[@alexwallex1721]

Holy moly he looks young

[@morgandollar7146]

James May was young once!

[@Banglish123]

He managed not to mention the fate of an S class in a Parisian tunnel the year before.

[@bookshelffury]

You guys are weird. All i saw was James may with short hair in the thumbnail. Doug has many quirks and features on his face that James may does not have.

[@Charlie-jj4jr]

somehow, James May with a short haircut just looks like Michael Schumacher

[@petergibbs]

I'd forgotten how young he once was!

[@TheFreakonhell]

That was awesome to watch! ...spoken from a german...

[@joelcrooker2907]

I can hear Clarkson saying “ Tonight...James has had an accident with a Flymo”

[@bidipbo]

I'm not the only one who clicked this vid to leave the comment that the thumbnail of young James looks like Doug DeMuro.

[@Visionery1]

Can you believe it, he had a haircut and actually looks quite respectable!

[@beijingbond]

James went from being 22 to 68 in 20 years

[@JYMAHJAMES]

U think he looks 22 here? 💀

[@justinhamilton8647]

awwww what a small james

[@TamasDemeterM]

If you know Shmee, look at the thumbnail and think again. Is it just me?

[@perarduaadastra873]

The shocking march of time...... May is a young man here.

[@Varoom21]

Back when he played the keyboard for Oasis...

[@rnbv_the_only]

the most important and correct thing in this car is the steering wheel on the only right side

[@straightbusta2609]

Thissssss is old Doug Demuro

[@maco6298]

James looks like Pacey from Dawsons Creek...

[@buckeye5500]

Man Benz was 30 years ahead of every other car around

[@amero3577]

Nah, bmw was one step ahead of Mercedes with the designs and plus the V12 situation

[@jamessheehy4895]

The range rover has taken the s class crown

[@eradaalmasi7590]

0:17 Guess what? Bim

[@szili76]

Legend!

[@infidel6728]

This was shortly before May's barber retired.

[@VladerickTheVladster]

I love my S Class

[@RiandaOktafiansahNerdVox]

Ah yes British Doug Demuro from 17th century

[@patricaomas8750]

Who'd have thought he would turn into spam sandwich-making Worzel Gumage.

[@gavinmellon9313]

It looks refined, quite well proportioned but still has a whiff of old man about it. As for the car........

[@nemoswimming1458]

Fuck the sound came out while closing the door, i dont want that shit

[@zzhughesd]

Who’s James’a co presenter please. Wanna see how years caught up Mays mate

[@davidduncanson3847]

Looking very James Blunt-ish.

[@thelifeofbatteries2603]

He looks like a skinny Mike Brewer

[@NextStop2030]

30 years of Capt Slow. Consistency.

[@andrean-rakka]

Everyone said James May look like Doug Demuro, of course i agree..

[@decodolly1535]

Man alive! He looks so young!!! Did he record this instead of doing his homework?

[@ElvisCarReviews]

Good old times

[@BomberFletch31]

Personally, I think this was the worst looking S-class ever, never mind how good it actually was. I prefer the W140 over this.

[@Corvolet5]

I know right? I was shocked when May said the W140 looked ugly compared to THIS.

[@OKANGUVEN99]

@@Corvolet5 In my opinion W140 looks like a tofas sahin (google it). It looked like a cheap economy car that took steroids. This and all the newer s classes (except the newest 2021 one) looked much better.

[@Corvolet5]

@@OKANGUVEN99 That thing looks more like a child of the Alfa Romeo 33 and a Mercedes W201. I can't think of a single part about the W140 that looks like an economy car, unless we're talking Lexus. If anything people probably confuse the rear of a W220 with the one of a W203.

[@t1mech1ldtc60]

@@Corvolet5 Had to tow the line ... most car journalist dissed W140. LMAO

[@TheFarCobra]

I don’t think he has had a haircut since this day.

[@snuckyr]

Still handsome today. The car that is, not May, of course

[@SB-groupEKB]

Академег хули там делает в начале?

[@Mietek1937]

1:37s GOlf III VR6

[@MrTaff22]

if only James would known at that time what a pain in the ass this car will become..

[@DPoner]

James May before that trip he did ayahuasca

[@DannyMercer1993]

Well at least he only mentioned the war twice

[@cgavin1]

25k in 1998 was a ton of money!