Mercedes EQS: it’s an electric S-Class, and more, but it’s not my cup of tea
It’s been a long while.
Roughly 26 months after having witnessed the global debut of the Vision EQS at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show in person, I got to test drive the production EQS today. It was not a media test drive but rather the Mercedes-EQ Test Drive experience organized by Mercedes-Benz USA that I signed up earlier last month. This is an event that takes place in several major cities across the U.S., and this week it’s being held near Boston (similar to what Volkswagen did with the Roadshow for the ID.4 earlier this year).
Today (November 5) was also a very special day: the Mercedes star trademark turned exactly 100-years-old today. So feels very lucky to be test driving the EQS on this special day.
I drove the entry-level 450+ (EPA range of 350 miles) without the much-hyped Hyper Screen, but rather the regular big screen in the center console like the latest S-Class (but I did experience the Hyper Screen on one of the stationery vehicles that was displayed right outside the sign-in booth, more on this later). The test drive itself was rather quick, only around 10 minutes or so through local streets, so I really didn’t get a chance to fully experience the capabilities of the vehicle.
But the ride and handling itself is definitely what you would expect from a Mercedes or an S-Class, except it’s pure electric. One feature I did experience was the option of increased regeneration. When it’s selected you definitely feel the “jerk” of the vehicle “braking” but I was told it’s not as serious as the Tesla Model S.
The Hyper Screen is definitely a little overwhelming even with the so-called Zero Layer I think it’s still not as intuitive as one might hope or what Mercedes has intended. The Hey Mercedes voice recognition feature did pretty well when I asked for it to look for the closest golf course. It spit out several options listed by numbers and all I had to do was say the number and the navigation will start automatically. The lady sitting on the passenger side (I’m sorry I forgot her name, really bad with names) that helped with the test drive was trying to play Tetris on the part of the Hyper Screen “reserved” for the passenger side and it took some time to load.
If we were to compare the Hyper Screen with the center screen on the Model 3 or Y, they are probably the polar opposite of each other: one is extreme simplicity, and the other is rather complex because there is just too much information popping out at you. Not to be negative but in terms of intuitiveness Mercedes will need to do a lot more education for its users on the Hyper Screen than Tesla does on its screen.
One quirky feature I discovered is the windshield washer fluid inlet right above the wheel arch and roughly below the A pillar on the driver’s side. It’s a little panel that looks like a charge port but when you press on it, the panel opens up and out comes the attached little tiny tray with the usual washer fluid sign on it. That’s where you pour the fluid. Not sure why Mercedes is doing this but my guess is that with the EQS being electric you don’t really need to pop the hood that often (there is no frunk by the way) and adding washer fluid is probably the most frequent action, so instead of popping the hood, you pop this little panel to save time and energy?
For specs such as range, power, efficiency, battery capacity, etc. I’m not going to go into details as you can look for them on the Mercedes website, but one interesting thing I noticed is the Wh/mile dynamic energy consumption was up into the 1600s while doing the local driving, compared to the EPA rating of 347 Wh/mile. So not sure what to make of this.
Overall, my takeaway from the test drive is:
Even though it’s the first vehicle designed and developed from the ground up based on the Modular Electric Architecture (MEA), the EQS drives like an S-Class, except it’s electric. For it positioning and target demographic, the EQS will sell because of the brand, comfort and build quality. The Hyper Screen is a little overwhelming for me especially comparing that to what Tesla offers. But the older (and richer) demographic (at least in their 50s and 60s) that this car is targeting maybe more patient and willing to take time to learn and get used to the Hyper Screen.
I think Mercedes has done a great job all around on the EQS and it will do very well. But it’s definitely not my cup of tea.
