i think performance wise the audi s8 is a good deal, but not in love with the looks.
mercedes have a lot of issues as reported in all consumer reports/evaluations.
i went with a jaguar xjr. like the looks, very large car but surprisingly nimble, and very light for its size. the new construction is amazing. all aluminum bonding process, more so than the audi. gives it more structural rigidity AND lighter.
2nd choice was mercedes but the only model that was same size and similar performance to xjr also cost 125k.
jaguar has also been ranked very high in consumer ratings for past couple of years.
oh yeah, the interior is superb, and the functions hoo-haas are amazing AND intuitively easy to use. never had to open the owners manual. Had it for six months and no problems.
an afterthought was the maserati quattroporte---but there are some apparent issues there. BEAUTIFUL car imo, but not very enthusiastic reviews. similar price point to xjr, ever so slightly smaller, not quite as good performance.
