Everytime you see an S badge on the again of a Mercedes-Benz, you’re primed with sure expectations. On AMG fashions just like the C63 S, it means larger efficiency and extra aggressive styling, and on Benzes just like the S580 and GLS, it means peerless, understated luxurious. Does the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS stay as much as the usual the nineteenth letter of the alphabet conjures? That’s what we need to discover out.
The flagship EV shall be accessible within the US in rear-drive EQS 450+ and all-wheel-drive EQS 580 4Matic kinds. The EQS is a very new design, with a 107.8-kilowatt-hour battery hidden within the flooring and endowing each 450 and 580 trims with a WLTP-rated 780 kilometers (485 miles) of vary, a quantity that’s seemingly a bit optimistic – determine an EPA vary of 400 miles or so when it’s rated by the Feds. By the way in which, confused by the plus signal within the 450’s identify? It represents an extended-range battery, a meaningless addition since People gained’t have entry to the usual 90-kWh unit destined for different markets.
Totally electrical autos are considerably new to Mercedes-Benz, with a historical past that features solely the discontinued Sensible Electrical Drive and B-Class EV, in addition to the overseas-only EQC crossover. The EQS would be the first Mercedes EV many People will encounter, and it had higher be ok to put on that three-pointed star, a lot much less invoke the vaunted S-Class in EV kind.
Funky City
First impressions will determine that for some of us. Put merely, the Mercedes EQS (sorry, “EQS by Mercedes-EQ,” in the event you can abdomen the automaker’s official identify) will not be a conventionally enticing car. An arching roofline and quick, clamshell-style hood underscore the concept that the EV future needn’t appear like the internal-combustion previous, however not everybody shall be able to make the soar from conventional sedans to this teardrop-shaped liftback. And we’re undecided the bizarre design truly yields many palpable enhancements – there’s no entrance trunk, and a surprisingly lengthy dash-to-axle ratio appears to waste numerous house forward of the driving force.
Nonetheless, magnificence is within the eye of the beholder, and this explicit oculus finds the EQS to be fairly enticing due to its easy kind and neat particulars. The fake grille panel options dozens of teensy little star shapes – a veritable evening sky surrounding the middle badge – whereas the coiled LED taillight parts recall an outdated lightbulb (a intelligent nod to most people’s first encounter with electrical energy). The form additionally contributes to an industry-best drag coefficient of 0.20, serving to the EQS glide by way of the air with little resistance. And the sedan is deceptively giant, imparting it with the regal stance befitting a flagship.
Area And Grace
Inside, the EQS is way much less divisive. The elective Hyperscreen hides three particular person shows below a large piece of curved glass. In entrance of the driving force is a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, and a 17.7-inch OLED show serves as the first infotainment system. New MBUX software program adorns that middle display screen, with a zero layer that overlays audio controls and urged functions on a full-screen map show. The third piece of the Hyperscreen puzzle is a 12.3-inch passenger touchscreen operating the outdated MBUX, permitting the co-pilot to recommend locations, modify seat and local weather settings, and hearken to music by way of Bluetooth headphones.
Over time, the system learns your routine and suggests routes or telephone calls based mostly in your schedule, putting advisable tiles onto the aforementioned zero layer – techno-wizardry that pixel junkies will love. Luddites gained’t have a tough time getting accustomed to MBUX both, due to a bodily local weather management panel and comparatively easy touchscreen interface for audio and luxury options. However even with out contemplating the display screen rely, the EQS is an outstanding luxurious car.
The EQS has an impressively constructed inside, hewn in smooth leather-based, wonderful plastics, and some enticing splashes of wooden and metallic trim
There’s ample house for as much as 5 passengers – Mercedes doesn’t have particular numbers but, however we felt as comfy within the ethereal sedan as we did within the S-Class, with loads of room in all 4 outboard seating positions. There’s loads of house to stash your stuff too, with a big middle bin and under-console cubby that present a great quantity of storage. And with 22 cubic toes of cargo quantity below the large liftgate, Mercedes says a frunk actually isn’t obligatory – although the Tesla Mannequin S boasts as much as 31.6 cubic toes break up between a 26.3-cube cargo maintain and a 5.3-cube frunk. Fold the EQS’ rear seats and there’s 63 models of cargo house.
Serving to underscore its nominal connection to the S-Class, the EQS has an impressively constructed inside, hewn in smooth leather-based, wonderful plastics, and some enticing splashes of wooden and metallic trim. Flimsy inside door handles are a lone anomaly; all the pieces else could be very good. In sum, the EQS feels way more well-built than the cheap-feeling Tesla Mannequin S, whereas providing extra space than the richly appointed – however cramped – Porsche Taycan. Conventional Mercedes consumers will really feel proper at house within the comfortable, cosseting EQ flagship.
On The Run
The large Mercedes EV’s comfy and spacious cabin presages the remainder of the driving expertise. Our first go-round was in a base EQS 450 mannequin, which makes 329 horsepower and 416 pound-feet by way of a single rear motor, pushing the sedan to 60 miles per hour in a claimed 5.9 seconds. Efficiency feels brisker than that, a testomony to the instant-torque response of any electrical motor, and the EQS 450 had zero problem maintaining with freeway site visitors, simply sustaining a drama-free 80 mph.
Both at pace or on the town, the EQS is a sophisticated car. Whereas the silent propulsion of some electrical vehicles can truly spotlight different sensory intrusions, the EQS is quiet and composed, whether or not on pockmarked metropolis streets or chopping by way of the air. Wind and tire noise are well-controlled, and the four-corner air suspension soaks up pavement blemishes like a hovercraft. Our 450 boasted a Nappa leather-based inside in an uncommon Neva Gray and Biscaya Blue mixture, and the elective multifunction massaging entrance seats made the miles slip by with nary a criticism.
Both at pace or on the town, the EQS is a sophisticated car.
Sadly, the EQS 450 revealed a number of unhealthy habits as quickly as our route acquired twisted. Mercedes permits the driving force to pick out the quantity of braking regeneration, and in both the utmost or regular setting, we discovered the brakes tough to modulate between recuperation and friction. Moreover, the brake pedal strikes downward by way of its journey all by itself when coasting with regen activated, that means it’s by no means in the identical place you left it. Solely with vitality recuperation utterly disengaged may we function the brakes easily on a winding street.
The large, heavy sedan isn’t notably agile both. Tight hairpins revealed each pound of the EQS 450’s 5,597-pound weight, with loads of understeer to associate with the obscure steering. The considerably unpredictable dealing with habits additionally exacerbates poor sightlines. An extended, excessive sprint yields a mail-slot windshield, and the sloping entrance finish made all of it however not possible to position the automobile’s dimensions precisely. We didn’t have the identical drawback on the historically formed S-Class, and a decrease sprint would do wonders for the EQS. No less than there’s commonplace 10-degree rear axle steering to assist with parking and metropolis driving.
Lengthy Legs
The EQS 580 4Matic allayed a few of these dynamic considerations (or at the least distracted us with gobs of grunt). With every axle getting its personal motor, it makes a prodigious 516 hp and 631 lb-ft, enabling a 0-60 time of 4.1 seconds – staggering for such a big, non-AMG Mercedes. Though heavier at 5,888 kilos, the EQS 580 feels better-equipped for fast cornering due to much less understeer and added corner-exit grip. It nonetheless suffers from the identical invisible hood and obscure regenerative brakes because the inexpensive 450, however then once more, neither EQS variant is supposed for maximum-attack canyon driving.
The place each excel is in regular commuting and long-distance grand touring, experiences that allowed us to check the Mercedes-EQ sedan’s spectacular driver-assist expertise. Borrowed from the S-Class, the EQS boasts an elective augmented-reality head-up show, which illuminates lane strains and main autos to assist the driving force preserve a protected following distance and hint curves appropriately. Full-speed adaptive cruise management with stop-and-go and wonderful lane centering tech assist out right here as effectively, working seamlessly to ease driver fatigue.
Settling into an extended span of freeway driving, we turned our consideration to the EQS’ battery vary estimate. WLTP rankings are typically slightly optimistic and we didn’t totally deplete the 107.8-kWh battery pack in both automobile, however our back-of-the-napkin math based mostly on a pair days of driving by way of Switzerland suggests the EQS may truly obtain its lofty vary objectives.
We began our drive of the 450 with a computer-estimated 442 miles of vary on a virtually full battery. After 96 miles of largely uphill freeway and switchback driving within the Swiss Alps, we ended our day’s drive with 311 miles of vary left. Our expertise within the EQS 580 was equally spectacular – a three-quarter-charged battery originally of the drive urged we had about 342 miles to go earlier than needing a jolt, and after 109 miles of laborious driving, the vary estimate learn 249 miles with a half-charged battery.
As such, we expect the EQS will handily beat the Tesla Mannequin S’ 402-mile EPA ranking, and it may additionally eclipse the Lucid Air Grand Touring, whose unofficial, estimated vary of 500 miles is the present champ amongst EVs. Serving to the Mercedes stretch its legs between costs is a smart-regen operate that makes use of surrounding site visitors and the navigation route to find out if recuperation-free crusing, most generator drag, or something in between is most acceptable. This operate makes the already unpredictable brakes much more glib about their habits, however utilizing it had a decidedly optimistic impact on electrical consumption.
A 200-kilowatt DC quick charger can cost the battery from 10 to 80 p.c in 31 minutes, including 180 miles of vary in quarter-hour in the event you simply want {the electrical} equal of a splash-and-dash. Mercedes gained’t provide an at-home wallbox for the automobile, however a commercially accessible 9.6-kW AC charger can totally replenish the battery in 11 hours and quarter-hour.
Making Cents
One other check of the Mercedes EQS’ recognition with customers shall be its value, however sadly, we don’t have something to report on that entrance (it’s additionally why we haven’t assigned a ranking to both EQS mannequin we drove). Mercedes-EQ representatives winked that it could seemingly mirror the pricing construction of its S-Class equivalents, so we determine the EQS 450 will begin at $110,000, rising to $120,000 or so for an EQS 580 4Matic. These estimates break up the distinction between the $84,990 Tesla Mannequin S Lengthy Vary and the $129,990 Mannequin S Plaid, each of which supply higher efficiency however decrease inside high quality.
Porsche’s nearest equal to the Mercedes, price-wise, is the Taycan 4S geared up with the Efficiency Battery Plus. EPA-rated (maybe conservatively) at 227 miles, the Taycan 4S earns respect not by way of long-distance cruising however wonderful back-roads habits, although its sporty proportions tax rear passenger house by fairly a bit over each the Tesla and EQS. Then there’s the Lucid Air, which begins at $131,500 for the flagship Grand Touring trim. With the same kind issue and unofficial vary estimate of 500 miles, it’ll seemingly be Mercedes’ largest rival for the wallets of forward-thinking luxurious consumers.
The Mercedes EQS has all of the DNA the final letter in its identify would recommend.
Nonetheless, the EQS advantages from its producer’s a long time of expertise constructing luxurious sedans, a pedigree that shines by way of each time you go for a drive. It feels as much as the duty of an extended journey, due to its easy powertrain and exceptionally comfy cabin. The EQS is brimming with easy-to-use expertise. And it’s downright sensible, providing SUV ranges of cargo and passenger house. The listing of plaudits goes on and on, with demerits showing few and much between. It’d look futuristic, however beneath that pores and skin, the Mercedes EQS has all of the DNA the final letter in its identify would recommend.
