Stats be damned
Time to stop worrying about the logic and practicality of the electric Mercedes SUV and just drive it. By Phil McNamara
Who’d have thought it – I miss my 130-mile commute. Well, bits of it: those miles decompressing before getting home to the kids, the current-affairs radio briefings, and really getting under the skin of my long-term test car.
For obvious reasons the EQC is grossly underemployed and a bit of an enigma. It typically glides four miles a day to and from my youngest’s nursery, consuming a disproportionate six per cent of the battery’s charge without topping 30mph. Its incredible rolling refinement, light but responsive steering and pillowy suspension are deeply apparent. As is the merely average rear space – my two-year-old spends most of the journeys demanding I slide my seat forward (note to self: switch the baby seat to behind my wife).
Today, breaking out of this routine, after a top-up charge to full giving 153 miles of range, I go for a proper drive. Less than a mile from the nursery, a dual carriageway drops the chequered flag for the first time in ages. It’s a thrill to stomp the pedal through the firewall, and feel the surge of rapid acceleration lift the prow as the EQC launches forward. There’s a motor on each axle, and the ‘EQ’ displays show the rear wheels provide a great deal of thrust when you kick down. It’s no Tesla, but it’s plenty fast enough.
One of the EQC’s more immersive features is its adjustable regenerative braking force. The left paddle ramps up the deceleration – the first tug emulates engine braking, a second tug and you’re in fierce one-pedal mode. To calm things down with a roundabout looming, a quick double tap and the EQC is slowing like you’ve deployed a parachute. It throws the weight forward, helping the front axle grip to carve through its turn.
The back road to South Mimms has a testing 60mph stretch whose topography is twinned with the moon, and the EQC doesn’t surf it with the aplomb I expect. The soft springs let the body float a little too far and the rebound damping is a touch abrupt. Managing 2.5 tonnes is a tall order, but the impeccable urban ride is not quite so composed on brutal B-roads.
The chassis generates a formidable amount of grip and confidence, though in Comfort the steering feels a touch insouciant. Without adaptive damping and with the need to show some respect to battery drain, Sport mode seems a red herring. But with Individual mode I can programme the heftier, more reassuring steering, while keeping Comfort drivetrain and ESP settings. Now that could be the way forward.
My trip racks up 40 miles. At the end of it, the EQC still has 106 miles left to offer. I’ve been disappointed with the 150 miles or so winter range – but that’s offset today by consumption being largely equivalent to every mile travelled. A reassuring end to a liberating drive.