The 2024 Mercedes-AMG EQE five-passenger SUV is an all-electric luxury vehicle. The brand hopes that its loyal fanbase and prior owners will move in this direction instead of favoring one of the many great five-passenger SUVs and sedans the company offers with conventional powertrains. This being an AMG-branded Mercedes, it is intended to appeal to those Mercedes shoppers who want serious power and some high-performance bits.

The Mercedes-AMG EQE offers a high-quality fit and finish for those who are searching for a battery-electric luxury vehicle. We call it solid and substantial. This vehicle will appeal to shoppers for whom price is not a consideration and who want something special in this crowded segment.

There are a few things that keep us from calling the AMG EQE a “Good SUV.” The price makes absolutely no sense in this segment. It is roughly double what every other premium model is selling at. The weight is a head-scratcher. It is about 30% greater in mass than key competitors. Finally, the EQE has a 235 mile range, near the low end of acceptable for any EV.

Very few details are missed in the EQE. We would like to see a compact spare tire, a heated steering wheel, a volume knob in the center of the dash, and controls for the front passenger seat that faces the driver.

Some consider the Tesla Model Y a luxury vehicle, and others a performance vehicle. Either way, it is the top-selling vehicle in this segment, and we are pretty confident it outsells all the other competitors combined.

The EQE is about 30% heavier than a Model Y Performance. That matters in a performance vehicle. A lot. It’s also double the price. The Model Y also has a 20% greater range. Although we like many things about the Mercedes-AMG EQE, it is not even close to as good as two Model Ys.

The Genesis GV60 is very similar in many ways to the EQE. It has a similar passenger volume and the same exact EPA-estimated range. Having tested both, the GV60 is the sportier of the two. It’s dramatically lighter than the Mercedes.

The Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV starts at $109,300. Our test vehicle had a price of $121,500, including options like a head-up display, special race equipment, and a package that allows it to make angry alien spaceship sounds when you do things like lock it. We have a hard time understanding the pricing logic here.

The Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV is an all new offering for this year. For consumers who love the brand and for whom price is not a factor, this new SUV has a lot to offer.

The theme of the AMG-EQE is performance. It has a whopping 701 lb-ft of torque, and that can be bumped up to 738 when using RACE START mode. Wait a minute, who the heck races a six-thousand-pound SUV? And where would they race it? Against whom would they be racing? Why would they bring a vehicle like this to a race?

The brakes are special, and they need to be to bring the three ton EQE SUV to a halt after you catapulted it forward with 738 lb-ft of torque. The suspension is fancy. AWD is included.

If you have room in front of you, the AMG EQE SUV can leap ahead like all of its main competitors do. EVs all have this novel trick. However, the bulk and heft of the AMG EQE SUV is always felt. We did a few quick launches, and we did punch it a few times during our week of testing, but the vehicle is not sporty. It just felt odd to be flinging this weighty vehicle forward at such a rapid pace.

Handling is fine. Maybe it’s outstanding on that imaginary racetrack. We can’t comment on its racing abilities. On the road, the EQE SUV feels heavy and bulky. It’s the opposite of sporty. This is not how vehicles like the Genesis GV60 and Model Y feel. They drive a lot more car-like.

One aspect of the AMG EQE SUV that does make driving it more enjoyable than the Tesla or the Genesis is the infotainment setup. Mercedes has screens from door to door in the EQE. The big center screen is the most useful. We have never seen a more gorgeous use of Google Maps. The audio is superb. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are wireless, and in our testing, Android Auto worked flawlessly. Tesla won’t give you these features at all, and the Genesis makes you plug in to use them. Mercedes has the best infotainment system on the planet in the EQE. It’s a volume knob short of perfection.

The driver’s position is a bit unusual. The wheel feels as if it is higher up than in typical vehicles. When we lowered it down using the controls, it blocked the camera that monitors the driver for attention monitoring and gave us a warning. So weird.

On the highway, the EQE is brilliant. Silent. Smooth. Comfortable. We tried out the driver assist system. It is not hands-free, but is darn close. It can drive for you, but you need to remain attentive and tap the wheel or nudge it every so often, or it will warn you to do so. The automatic lange change system is neat. It will safely pass a car and then bring you back from the left lane to the center lane when passing is done.

The EQE has a short 235-mile EPA-Estimated range in ideal conditions despite having a pretty big 90 kWh battery. We would guestimate this ideal range drops to about 150 miles on the highway in cold winter. During our testing in warm weather and at mainly lower-than-highway speeds, we covered a range of about 275 miles with a full charge.

We charged in public on a ChargePoint DC fast charger, and were able to pull about 120 kW (the max rating of the charger) for about ten minutes until ChargePoint network problems knocked the charger offline. Mercedes says the EQE’s maximum DCFC rate is 170 kW. That’s about half the maximum possible speed of a Genesis GV60 and about 60% of the speed of a Tesla Model Y.

To open the charge door, one has to tap the infotainment screen a couple of times to get to the opener icon. There is an illuminated manual charging stop and handle release button inside the charge port area.

At home, your EQE will be able to make use of up to 40 amps of current. Its max AC charge rate is 9.6 kW (240V x 40A = 9.6kW). We confirmed the charge speed using a wall-mounted Emporia Level 2 EV charger as well as an EVIQO Level 2 electric vehicle charger. The 2024 EQE uses the old (now outdated) J-plug and CCS-style charging system which is being replaced across America by the NACS (Tesla-style).

We couldn’t find any safety tests for the EQE SUV at IIHS or NHTSA. Our guess is that the volume is too low and the cost too high to perform such testing. We can only say that the long list of safety nannies is mostly invisible and not bothersome.

Consumer Reports gives the EQE a 23/100 score, with higher being better. The publication offered this comment on the EQ: “Mercedes’ below-average brand reliability hurts its Overall Score.” J.D. Power ranked Mercedes in the bottom quarter of brands on its 2024 Dependability Study.

We would consider the head up display option worthy of purchase, but would not opt in for any of the other options offered on the AMG EQE. In fact, we would avoid the “AMG Sound” option. It sounds obnoxious to us.

Mercedes covers the EQE SUV with a four-year/50,000-mile limited warranty. This is a relatively short duration warranty. Genesis provides a much longer period of coverage. The battery has its own warranty, and it spans ten years and 155K miles.

• Basic: 4 years / 50k miles
• EV battery: 10 years / 155k miles
• If buying used look at our best extended warranties

The EQE SUV seems like an ideal candidate to lease. It has a staggering up-front purchase price cost. Although the EQE is new, we are already seeing news reports about its platform being “canceled.” With the EQE being so low in volume, its resale value is questionable. We would expect to see heavy depreciation of this model.

Editor's note and disclaimer: Car Talk is supported by our fans, readers and listeners. When you click on some of the links on our website, we may receive referral compensation. However, you should know that the recommendations we make are based on our independent editorial review and analyses.