Will you test drive the Mercedes EQS?

[B61]

Signing off here, but will keep lurking.

Just change your profile photo and let us know about your new EQS experiences...

 

[Scandinavian]

I guess I need to change my pic and say good bye to the fellowship. My Taycan is back to the dealer (offer I could not refuse). I did buy an EQS 580, so for those interested here is the short version after few days of ownership - compared to my 4S

1. Looks: definitely Taycan is the sexier car on the outside. Definitely EQS more exiting interior. The navigation screen is huge, very well lit, and with excellent graphics. Much improved over Taycan.
2. Handling: definitely Taycan is better. Faster, very steady on the ground. The EQS is just a whiff slower to 60, but feels a little like a very comfy boat. Comfort rather than sporty, no question
3. Software: definitely EQS better. No glitch on the software, no errors, works from the beginning. That was my biggest problem with the 4S, the uncertainty of car communicating with the Porsche server.
4. Space. EQS is bigger. Seats in the back are very nice, but headroom is limited.
5. Noise. No big difference at highway speed, but slightly better on the EQS. At lower speeds, my Taycan had the annoying front engine noise and the pedestrian warning was not well insulated. Mercedes has done a better job at it.
6. Consumption: EQS is more thirsty than the Taycan under similar conditions, but has longer range due to the larger battery.

Signing off here, but will keep lurking. Once Porsche starts making the electric Panamera I may be back. I am at a point in my life where I need comfort more than sexy looks, but I still have a lot of love for the Taycan, such a drop dead gorgeous car...

Hi, have you any summary of your experience with your EQS.

I have had a test drive and was impressed with a lot. But it is a completely different car to the Taycan and it ceratinly is a big car. It felt like a huge car, especially trying to park in normal French car parks.

I am especially interested in hearing about your experience about range and charging speeds? On paper the range for the EQS is much better, but is that reality?

And expereince about SW glitches and quirks?
Thanks

 

[Tsingtao]

My local MB dealer finally received the EQS 580 (in black) with hyper-screen so I swung by for a look. The thing was sold already so I could not drive it, but I could get inside, play with the settings, etc.

Outside, the car did not look bad at all in real life, nor did it look overly huge. As noted above, it was black, so perhaps the color had a "slimming" effect on its appearance. Overall, nothing about the appearance blew my hair back, but it did exceed my rather low expectations.

Inside was a different story. I had very high expectations for the whole hyper-screen-space-age-lux experience. I was, to say the least, underwhelmed. Sure the center screen is really, really large compared to a Taycan which makes map-reading easy even from the backseat. So if that is a thing of value, then it is a great effect. When using navigation, I typically let Siri bark out directions so I'm rather ambivalent about a huge map on the dash. The big disappointment was sitting in the driver's seat. Despite the car's large size, it did not feel roomy compared to a Taycan. Stuff just seemed too high (eg center console, center screen, etc.) And it really lacked the zen-like feel of the Taycan. Call me crazy/prejudiced, but It just felt like a busy interior. The big round air vents seemed ridiculous and the door panels (like almost all MB's) were overcrowded with controls.

Back seat was however incredibly spacious compared to the Taycan and I really liked it. But, I like the ICE S Class executive seating much better. (Don't know why MB did not offer executive seating in the EQS).

Overall, it is a nice place to be, but it is not in any way shape or form a competitor to the Taycan. If you love being in a Taycan you will not love being in an EQS. But, you will love getting in and out of the EQS, it sits much higher up and is way easier to enter and exit.

Footnote: Once I finished playing in the EQS, I found a crowd of young MB sales reps congregating around, and admiring, my Taycan.

 

[B61]

Footnote: Once I finished playing in the EQS, I found a crowd of young MB sales reps congregating around, and admiring, my Taycan.

 

[Mr.Smith]

This makes a great companion to the Taycan, the lines look better than the Sedan. Extremely smooth and a 7 seater.

 

[W1NGE]

This makes a great companion to the Taycan, the lines look better than the Sedan. Extremely smooth and a 7 seater.

2.7T monster and doubt it will rate highly in the handling stakes.

Decent range with its monster battery too.

Definitely one for NA market and unlikely many on a UK school run.

 

[ithinkmac]

I really wanted the EQS SUV for this tax year. 179 write-off.

BUT, the local dealers want $25k - $50k markup. the higher the trim, the higher the mark up.

One dealer was able to do MSRP, but no delivery in 2022 unless I paid markup.

Argh.

Endup with a X Plaid due to end of quarter end push, order to delivery was 20 days.

-ThinkMac-

This makes a great companion to the Taycan, the lines look better than the Sedan. Extremely smooth and a 7 seater.

 

[W1NGE]

I really wanted the EQS SUV for this tax year. 179 write-off.

BUT, the local dealers want $25k - $50k markup. the higher the trim, the higher the mark up.

One dealer was able to do MSRP, but no delivery in 2022 unless I paid markup.

Argh.

Endup with a X Plaid due to end of quarter end push, order to delivery was 20 days.

-ThinkMac-

I think it outrageous that dealers can get away with this practice.

 

[B61]

Any news/rummors about software reliability?

 

[W1NGE]

Any news/rummors about software reliability?

Got a reasonable review in UK (handling not great) and as it's based on EQS (S-Class) its been around for a while software wise and therefore stable.

Own battery tech and cathodes use a lot less cobalt (10%).

Impressive that Mercedes beat all the other manufacturers to the first proper premium 7 seat SUV EV - the others are some distance behind ( including Porsche).

 

[Rusk]

I was looking forward to the EQS SUV but I’m not even going to bother going to take a look since it’s starting price is £130k. Far far too expensive, no idea how they think the SUV commands a nearly 30k premium over the saloon.

 

[Mr.Smith]

2.7T monster and doubt it will rate highly in the handling stakes.

Decent range with its monster battery too.

Definitely one for NA market and unlikely many on a UK school run.

This one is built in the US and it's definitely a US centric car.

The handling was actually pretty good. I was talking to a Taycan owner that I asked him to take the back seat with his son.
I took the a few turns at high speeds, tried to kick the back out. Body roll was there, but I was expecting much more.
Overall its engineered right.

Huge problem for me are the materials used on the interior. No leather because it's sourced from Russia, but the other alcantara substitute used is total garbage for me. Feels like a wetsuit.

I had a long discussion with people at Mercedes Corp about this.
The lengths they go to save .50c is comical

I really wanted the EQS SUV for this tax year. 179 write-off.

BUT, the local dealers want $25k - $50k markup. the higher the trim, the higher the mark up.

One dealer was able to do MSRP, but no delivery in 2022 unless I paid markup.

Argh.

Endup with a X Plaid due to end of quarter end push, order to delivery was 20 days.

-ThinkMac-

They had 2 in stock, wanted $10k over MSRP and they are the biggest MB dealer in the US.
I could have got it for MSRP and there is a way to still get the $7500 Federal credit.

I agree the gouging by dealers destroys the buying experience.
On a side note, there are many salesmen at this dealership that made over $1,000,000 selling cars last year. Let that sink in

 

[Mr.Smith]

Any news/rummors about software reliability?

I heard nothing negative about the software. It's really snappy and just a beautiful interface. Everyone loves the screen so much they ignore the rest of the interior.
The biggest wow factors are the screen and the ambient lighting. It's dazzling

 

[f1eng]

SUV commands a nearly 30k premium over the saloon.

Fashion

 

[johnarpy]

I feel like we are comparing bananas to tomatoes. For the last 25 years I've bought Mercedes exclusively. I absolutely would compare the Taycan turbo S to my e53 cabriolet in performance, (the Taycan wins), but the E53 isn't electric. I would compare my S580 to a Panamera, but not to the Taycan. The EQS is ugly. Yes I said it. I've seen them in pictures and in person, and the ugliness doesn't change. Honestly if Mercedes made an electric car that was beautiful, I would have bought it. Now I have a Porsche and the concerns I had about maintenance of owning a Porsche ICE is gone. If your goal is distance on a charge, buy a Lucid. Car buying is very subjective and emotional. I'm a bit tired of people talking about cost when you can spend almost 200k on a car from a company that didn't start producing cars until this last year. If money is your goal, don't buy a Porsche or a Mercedes or a BMW. Buy a Kia and move on.