A fine Model Y rival
Pity the latest Merc EV costs more than twice as much as the Tesla
With pricing that makes it more expensive than some versions of the rival Audi Q8 e-Tron, Polestar 3 and Porsche Taycan 4 Cross Turismo, and which makes the slightly smaller Tesla Model Y look like an absolute steal, the new SUV version of the EQE really ought to be exceptionally good.
You can get the entry-level EQE SUV, the 350 in AMG Line trim, for £90,560, or you can go up to £121,760 for the 500 in Business Class spec. Other markets also get more potent – and more expensive – AMG versions. Our test car, the 500 in AMG Line Premium spec – which means it comes with just about everything aside from rear-wheel steering and the cabin-spanning Hyperscreen – sits on the high side of average in terms of price and performance. For £108,760 you get 402bhp and a 4.9sec 0-62mph time, plus a WLTP range that promises 324 miles, but maximum charge power limited to a time-consuming 170kW.
Like all EVs, the EQE SUV produces instant torque by the bagful. Once you have silenced all the warning chimes, the virtually noiseless waftability turns this low-drag luxury liner into a beautifully kitted-out cocoon. This is a great tourer – spacious, refined, comfortable, suciently potent and very well equipped. The four drive modes orchestrate the power and torque delivery, fine tune the throttle response and mastermind the brake action.
Effortless and progressive deceleration is nonetheless still the Achilles’ heel of every EQE and EQS model including this new SUV. How come? Because the left pedal is more interested in regenerating energy than in stopping the car. It feels vague most of the time, requires too much pressure, lacks feedback and is not intuitive to modulate. Fully aware of this flaw, Mercedes promises a fix before the end of the year.
Available as part of the Premium Plus pack, the rear-wheel steering carries a £3.5k premium, but we wouldn’t bother because the tighter turning circle is offset by more
erratic high-speed turn-in behaviour which feels as if you are overdriving the car without wanting to. Even though the Airmatic air suspension is standard on UK vehicles, the less synthetic steel set-up we drove for reference actually does a better job in terms of body control, ride comfort and handling balance. While the front air springs are well behaved, the rears tend to be caught out by sharp-edged potholes and transverse ridges.
All in all, this is a nicely compliant chariot which conceals its feisty kerbweight of over 2.6 tonnes rather well. The directional stability is without fault, but the over-assisted steering feels rather light and mushy, and this haptic listlessness tends to increase as you wind on more lock.
Route planning has never been so effortless, with charging opportunities neatly factored in to the nav algorithms, and voice command is now so failsafe that the busy touchscreen and the flimsy multi-mode steering-wheel controls have just about made themselves redundant.
The EQE SUV does many things well. But not so well that it’s worth the asking price.
It’s a great tourer – spacious, refined, comfortable, potent and very well equipped