2022 Mercedes EQS 580 4MATIC

Test Drive Notes Library

Pros
Tesla who? This is not only a credible alternative to a Tesla Model S, but a very good alternative. It’s a well-thought-out luxury sedan made by a company that’s been making cars for more than a century. So you get the latest propulsion system in a well-engineered car.
Whoosh. The 580 has two motors, front and rear, adding not only all-wheel drive, but extra horsepower vs the single motor EQS450. The EQS580 has 516 hp. And boy are those horses quiet. There’s a magical quality to the propulsion system in the EQS. In normal driving, it just registers as a quiet, competent sedan. But if you punch the pedal, the response is instant and pretty exciting. It reminds us of the opening sequence in Star Trek, where the old Enterprise is just meandering along, and then suddenly it shoots away at warp speed. That’s the feeling you get in the EQS. And it’s guilt free acceleration (relatively), with no noise, little rear squat, and no tailpipe spewing. You’ll look forward to highway entrance ramps.
Serene. Inside the EQS, you’re in a luxury Mercedes. Materials are, for the most part, top quality. The ride is controlled, the handling competent, and the noise level very low. This is a fresh design on a new chassis, so Mercedes took advantage of the packaging of electric vehicles to lengthen the wheelbase. That not only makes the car more comfortable, it increases passenger room front and rear. The heated and ventilated seats themselves are soft yet comfortable. And as you would expect, it has all the luxury accoutrements one’s little captain of industry heart desires.
It’s a hatchback. Mercedes doesn’t call it that, but good for them for adding utility to the EQS. The large, rear hatch opening makes the EQS useful for carrying things. No need to squeeze stuff inside a small trunk opening. Open the hatch and you have easy access to a generous cargo space. Fold down the seats if you need to bring home an original Jackson Pollack.
Good range. When we charged up the EQS, it claimed our range would be 330 miles. In reality, you’ll probably get less than that. We did. But even when driving at 75 mph in cold weather, you should be solidly into the high 200s. There’s fast charging available, up to 200kW, provided you can find a charging station that 1) offers it and 2) works. But that’s enough range to forget about on-road charging for most people, most of the time.
Tech. Inside, the EQS screams high-tech. It shouldn’t have to, because it really is high tech. But one way it does that is with a dashboard that is plastered in screens. Three screens spread across the dash. Right in front of the driver is the semi-customizable digital instrument cluster. To its right is a center screen that would make LG TV engineers jealous. We actually don’t know how big it is, so let’s call it ginormous. It shows a big, beautiful map as a default, and pairs with Apple and Android devices to run your apps. At the bottom of that display live the screen-based virtual heating and ventilation controls. In front of the passenger is yet a third screen, which defaulted to a large compass (Dieter, what the hell are we going to do with this third screen??). The screenage is beautiful.
Head up breakthrough. Mercedes calls their head up display an augmented reality device. The whole EQS is actually an augmented reality device if you ask us. But the head up display actually does seem like a meaningful step up from others we’ve used. The image is projected on the road ahead of you, far out in front of the car. It’s bright and contains lots of useful information. It pretty much eliminates your need to look at the instrument cluster. The augmented reality is most useful when using GPS. There are arrows that animate where you’re supposed to turn — the visual equivalent of “No, here, dummy!” It’s an impressive system.

Cons
MBUX. The screens are beautiful, but require a learning curve to operate. Worse, there are no hard switches. Not even a volume knob. Mercedes avoids the mistake Tesla makes of running absolutely everything, including side mirror adjustments, through a single screen. But they didn’t learn what Honda, and others learned about the desirability of hard switches and knobs for commonly used items. Also, the screens are angled slightly up. Perhaps NBA players will find that to their liking, but we found it an odd choice and would have preferred they face more directly at the driver.
Style. This isn’t necessarily a negative. Mercedes used the long wheelbase to create an extremely aerodynamic silhouette. It has a coefficient of drag of something like .2 — or just slightly more than the suppository your mother gave you as a kid. But to get that shape and maximize passenger room, they gave the EQS a cab-forward design, featuring a short hood. Some may find the EQS doesn’t emit a classical luxury car presence. But what if this is the new luxury car presence? And those long-hooded gas guzzlers look like dinosaurs in a few years? Sure, it has a bit of a beefed up Honda Accord vibe from certain angles, but we say good for Mercedes for maximizing passenger room and aerodynamic efficiency.
Handles. OK, we’re getting nit-picky here, but door handles are things one interacts with a lot on a car, and we don’t love the ones on the outside or the inside of the EQS. Outside, the door handles are recessed and motorized. When they sense your key fob approaching, sometimes they pop out expectantly and wait for you. Sometimes they don’t pop out. We don’t know why. If they don’t pop out, you have to push on them, wait for them to emerge, and then open the door. Seems like an unnecessary extra step for an unnecessary gizmo. Inside, for some reason, the door pull is the arm rest. And it’s wide. So getting a grip on it to close the door is not always easy — particularly if the door is open wide.
Slightly inelegant charging port covers. On a $120,000 Mercedes, you don’t expect to have to fumble with a flimsy piece of rubbery plastic to get access to the fast charging port. We’ve seen more elegant solutions, like on the BMW i4, where you push a button, and the port cover flips out of the way.
Because they can. Someone needs to take away Mercedes engineers' LED play toys. There’s a line of LEDs that surrounds the front passenger compartment, going along the top of the dashboard and across the doors. During the day, it provides a somewhat amusing if useless companion to things like stepping on the brakes. At night, it’s full blown Studio 54. Fortunately, it’s easy to turn off. You can, however, and should leave it on for “alerts.” If you’re changing lanes, for instance, and the blind spot monitor sees a car coming up, the LEDs on that side of the car will turn red, which you can’t miss. That’s actually useful.