Humphrey Bogart never said ‘play it again, Sam’ in the Hollywood classic Casablanca. The actor famously suffered a height ‘issue’ with his willowy co-star Ingrid Bergman, and had to stand on blocks or sit on cushions to make himself seem taller. None of the scenes in the epic film were actually shot in Morocco. It was filmed almost entirely in Burbank, California.

There’s never been a modern-day re-make of one of cinema’s greatest love stories. Should the film ever get re-commissioned, perhaps production could stick to script and shoot in North Africa. For a present-day getaway car, I’d suggest the new Mercedes-Maybach GLS600. It might cost almost a quarter of the original movie’s total production fee, but it makes a strong case for being worth every penny.

‘Bogey’, who was notoriously difficult on  a film set, would surely have found sanctuary in the back of this luxury SUV with limousine-like qualities. For one thing, there’s a champagne fridge and polished goblets in the back, where you’ll find aircraft-style reclining seats and twin television screens. 

A new arrival to Mercedes’ ultra-luxury line-up, the 2024 Maybach GLS600 costs from a whopping £177,595, but feels far more exclusive than a top-flight Range Rover. With a staggering suite of in-car goodies, first-class seating and some show-stopping features, the most expensive GLS ever made is opulence personified.

The GLS600 may be the lap of luxury on Tarmac, but can it cope with an old caravan route through the Atlas Mountains and the vast desert beyond? As the third model in the Maybach offering, the latest GLS600 complements the S580 and S680 saloons, as well as the fully electric EQS600 – the latter being officially quieter than a Rolls-Royce. And while Mercedes’ flagship SUV is big, very big, some eye-catching styling ensures the Maybach looks distinctly different to an entry-level GLS, which costs from £80,000 less.

There’s more than a touch of the theatrical when you approach a GLS600 – providing you’ve got the right key in your pocket. At the start of my journey in Marrakesh, puddle lights in the car’s doors project the Mercedes-Maybach logo onto the asphalt below. Despite a conventional SUV profile, the GLS600 is arresting from every angle. Enormous 23-inch wheels come in a myriad of eye-catching designs, including some that cost £6,400 per set. Just what you need when scrabbling up a rocky Moroccan dirt track littered with sharp-edged boulders. 

This flagship Maybach has more than a splattering of badges to set it apart from lesser GLS models, fronted by an enormous, reworked chrome grille with air inlets, plus optional two-tone paintwork. The vertically-challenged Bogart wouldn’t have needed his infamous platform shoes to step up to the rear cabin, either – the GLS600 offers automatic running boards.

Inside, the Maybach features just two rows of seats, instead of the three in a standard GLS. While both front and rear passengers can expect air-cooled or heated seats with massage function, the back is where any self-respecting film star should find themselves. 

A pair of reclining executive armchairs rival those in a first-class airline cabin. Nappa leather covers most surfaces, while a panoramic glass sunroof gives an even airier feel to an already spacious interior. The 27-speaker Burmester system has 3D surround sound and pumps out tunes with truly awesome power.

While the best place to be in a Maybach is the back seat, a rare stretch of decent desert road allows me to put the bi-turbo V8 engine to good use. Heading towards the fertile valley town of Boumalne Dades, the GLS600 proves it’s a sensational driver’s car too – although why anybody would prefer to steer a Maybach is a mystery to me.

A V12 might seem the obvious choice for such a gargantuan vehicle as this, but the 4.0-litre V8 develops 550bhp and 730Nm of shove-in-the-back torque. That’s more than enough, and ensures the Maybach will still get you from nought to 62mph in 4.9 seconds, restricted to an autobahn-only top speed of 155mph.

To emphasise its luxury credentials, the nine-speed GLS600 offers not one comfort mode but three. Opt for the ‘Maybach’ setting if you have passengers, because it’s designed for chauffeuring. No one will be spilling their Pol Roger under enthusiastic acceleration. On the more twisty roads of the Anti-Atlas – lesser mountains but equally demanding to drive – I switch to ‘Sport’, which gives the 3,250kg Maybach an extra turn of speed. This is where the car’s technical wizardry comes into play, with predictive adaptive suspension using radar – yes, radar – to iron out the bumps before I reach them. 

Combined with fancy 48-volt self-levelling suspension, there’s remarkably little body roll for such a large vehicle. After two days of driving for seven hours on the most unforgiving terrain, there was, I’m happy to report, no need to schedule a trip to the chiropractor. 

Very few Maybach owners will ever push their new luxury SUV to the absolute limit, of course. They’ll be too busy savouring their surroundings from the backseat. 

And I, for one, really wouldn’t blame them.

From £177,595, mercedes-benz.com

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