Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV (2023- ) Electric review

In list price terms this is a six-figure car, which will immediately put off many who can’t see where the extra value is to be had over large electric SUVs from cheaper brands. It has a huge battery on board, which is great for range but expensive to charge. We plugged in at a hotel overnight whose rubbish slow charger still cost us 75p per kWh. That meant a bill for about £90 in the morning, which wipes out the major cost-saving for electric cars. However, charge at home overnight on an off-peak tariff and that cost will be more like £10. Phew. For company car drivers, the Benefit In Kind tax saving is the best way to make this car work financially. Watch out for the insurance premium, though – at the time of writing at the close of 2023 they’ve shot up for electric cars by 79 per cent year on year.

The Mercedes owner forums are full of satisfied EQS SUV drivers so far, with an emphasis on the excellent build quality. However, Mercedes as a brand has been languishing in the bottom third of most reliability tables. For examole, the What Car? 2022 reliability survey put it in joint 23rd place with Vauxhall, out of 32 brands. We shall see - the smaller EQE SUV shares much of the same tech, and the EQS saloon uses the same platform.

As you’d hope from a car costing this much and at the very pinnacle of a luxury line-up the EQS SUV is packed with all the impressive safety systems on the market today. Loads of airbags, collision warning systems a-plenty, blind-spot warning system (pretty much the only useful one), reversing camera, parking sensors, head-up display for speed and sat-nav directions are all on board. We love the active cruise control, which takes over steering, acceleration and braking as long as the car senses your hand on the wheel, ready to take over. At a more subjective level the EQS SUV doesn’t have that additional sense of safety you get from more boxy, traditional SUV designs because the sides of the car slope softly away, but that’s largely in the mind anyway.

Space, space everywhere. The boot is massive, there’s loads of legroom and even headroom with that sloping roof in the rear isn’t too bad. And, of course, it’s silent on the move, with loads of sound deadening. The materials are plush, with soft Nappa leather on the seats, although we found that massive sloping slab of grey open-grain wood which is plastered across the dash really ugly and quite off-putting. There’s a Business Class trim level with reclining rear seats for those who need to escape the stress of life and, best of all, you can specify seven seats if required.

You can’t argue with the bells and whistles Mercedes includes on this car. We love the kaleidoscope of colours on offer for the interior lighting that surrounds doors, footwells and vents, and the extraordinary technology packed into the touch-screen, from the fingerprint unlocking to the augmented-reality sat-nav which uses the front camera to give you an image of the road ahead as you approach junctions with a blue arrow overlaid on the road you should take. The Burmeister sound system is also excellent. The upper level trim versions turn the touch-screen into a ‘Hyperscreen’ which is basically a wall of glass along the dash offering three different layouts. There’s smartphone mirroring, wireless charging and a good 360-degree camera.

There’s no way round it - the handling and ride of the EQS SUV are shockingly bad in every aspect, from the numb steering to unpredictable braking which sometimes presents you with a pedal that feels like it won’t budge, and sometimes uses the regenerative braking to slow the car surprisingly quickly. It lumbers round corners and crashes through potholes, which is disappointing given the air suspension. However, that large battery offers impressive range. With everything blasting on a cold day you’ll still be getting 300-plus miles out of it. There are two version on offer, the EQS 450 (355 horsepower) and EQS 580 (536 horsepower). Both have all-wheel drive and Mercedes says there’s only one mile of difference in the range, equating to 364 miles for the 450 and 363 for the 580. Really, it’s a matter of power, and 355 horses will be plenty for most people in a family-oriented SUV like this, even a luxurious one of this stature.