YouTuber test drives 140 years of luxury cars in eye-opening video

One YouTuber has gone to the effort of test driving over 140 years of car history across a single video, and it's eye-opening quite how much the world's most popular vehicle has changed over that period of time.

While some of the earliest cars to be invented still share the same four wheels and seats that we see in the electric vehicles and luxury marvels that take to the roads in 2025, everything else around that has changed unbelievable across the last 140 years.

Factors such as speed, fuel efficiency, and safety have all improved dramatically as companies have iterated on their designs, and one major car manufacturer in particular can be easily tracked across the history of automobiles.

Thanks to one YouTuber we're able to see the history of Mercedes Benz across a single video, and it's remarkable quite how much the company's output changed and improved since it's very first vehicle in 1889.

Titled 'I Tested 140 Years of Cars', the latest video from tech YouTube sensation Mrwhosetheboss gives us all a glimpse of how the vehicles we drive every single day have evolved into what they are now.

Starting 136 years ago with the Benz Patent Motorwagen, we're able to see Mercedes Benz founder Carl Benz's first, admittedly unsuccessful attempt at a car.

It is barely anything more than a giant tricycle with a lawnmower attached to it, and boasting just 0.75 horse power it was a complete flop as people generally preferred the safety and speed of their horse and carriage.

Benz's invention quickly gained attention when his wife went on what is considered the very first road trip though, and he used that fame to catapult onto the next major iteration - the Mercedes Benz Nürburg in 1928.

The Nürburg is far closer to what you'd recognize as a car, although it was designed for the upper classes who would have had a chauffeur drive them around as opposed to taking the wheel themselves.

It was both heavy and expensive though, and that's why the Mercedes Benz Ponton in 1954 proved itself to be the company's first majorly successful car for 'regular' people, making it have far better aerodynamics, which resulted in greater speed and efficiency on the road.

The first Mercedes Benz S Class in 1972 marked the start of a long series of iterations for the company (YouTube/Mrwhosetheboss)

This evolved then into the stunning Mercedes Benz S Class W116 in 1972, which was a major improvement for drivers who wanted something more than just a regular car. Boasting a 0 to 60 mph speed of just 7.4 seconds, this triumphed over the competition, which made it an excellent choice alongside key safety features like ABS and air suspension.

Mercedes Benz then began to refine the S Class vehicle over the next few decades, improving its speed over time and also adding major new enhancements like an airbag, which would help meet that sweet spot between power and safety.

Then came a barrage of luxury additions from DVD players to cameras inside the vehicle, and following popular trends in the automotive industry Mercedes now boasts a number of electric options too, fighting competition from companies like Tesla.

While there did reach a point where cars stopped introducing as many radical changes as the ones in the early 20th century, it remains still remarkable to see quite much much things continue to change and improve every decade, and who knows what cars will start to offer as time goes on.