Our review of the locally-assembled Mercedes-Benz EQS 500 4MATIC.
Electrification has been the great equalizer in the car market, upsetting established trends in the premium space while putting pressure on mass market manufacturers to quickly electrify or risk being left behind. There are arguments for it and against it on both sides of the divide and some brands have already made up their mind. One brand that hasn’t quite gone all-in is Mercedes-Benz. Their flagship sedan offering in this space, the EQS 500 4MATIC, shows just how they’re approaching the problem.
The Market For Full-sized EVs
All brands are being forced to take sides – are they going fully electric or not. Mercedes-Benz has managed to make a commitment while also having one foot in the old world. Their commitment is to go all-electric by 2030… but only where market conditions allow. That essentially gives them a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card in case this whole battery electric vehicle movement starts to show its limitations.
In Malaysia, Electric Vehicles are currently being sold without excise duty or import taxes – a clearly unsustainable practice for a government so reliant on these revenues. Even in these favorable market conditions, the EQS 500 4MATIC is priced at RM648,888 while the S-Class comes with all taxes paid at just 10.8% more expensive. Even in such favourable market conditions, the EQS is only barely cheaper than the car it could replace in 2030.
Is The EQS An Electric S-Class?
What’s more, it’s clear to us that Mercedes-Benz hasn’t quite created an Electric S-Class with the EQS. Instead, the EQS serves as a replacement to the CLS. This is in contrast with BMW’s approach, which is to offer the 7 Series as a petrol-hybrid model and as an EV (the i7). The EQS is quite clearly not an Electric S-Class. It’s built on an entirely different platform, has an entirely different design philosophy and doesn’t have the same sense of space. Did they get it wrong?
For the oldest carmaker in the business, electrification presents an existential crisis. The EQS shows that the company is still keen to keep the S-Class sacred while also being completely open to a new way of thinking. Will there ever be an electric S-Class? We think so, but the limitations of the technology and prevailing costs probably forced Mercedes-Benz to keep it back a generation. This is probably a good thing for maintaining the S-Class’s reputation for high build quality and conservative design — both antithetical to current electric vehicle construction. BMW, who ignored the realities of EV building created one of the ugliest flagship vehicles in history with the i7/7 Series.
Designed For The New Generation Of Car Buyers
In stark contrast to the BMW i7, the Mercedes-Benz EQS is an extremely elegant sculpture free of any hard edges save for the the duct tail spoiler. It’s low and wide with the same sense of occasion of an S-Class product from a distance.
There are light strips across the front and back quite a lot of glossy black plastic. The “EQS” branding can be found on the A-pillar, which is typical in the EQ series.
This is a well-designed exterior and one that evokes memories of what one might imagine an electric car would look like before they became a reality, as my Autophiles colleague Bo suggested.
Inside, the story is much the same with lots of light strips and “flowy” design that catches the eye and the imagination. The star of the show is the MBUX Hyperscreen, which really sets the EQS apart from the EQE.
For the first time in any car, the entire dashboard has been transformed into a curved glass panel that houses three separate screens under one continuous piece. It’s a fascinating take on car cabin design and one that still has some room to develop further. The vision clearly is for the entire Hyperscreen to be a screen, but for now we’ll have to make do with the three distinct display panels.
The light show is especially captivating at night and it’s cool to see how it’s all synchronized with the car’s many systems. The light strips on the dashboard will pulse blue or red when the climate control is adjusted, and this is even tied to the individual zone. These lights also strobe in conjunction with the blind spot warning indicator, bringing all attention in the direction where a car might be hidden.
Not Quite An S-Class Interior
While the design is certainly spellbinding, the EQS’s design doesn’t quite hold up to scrutiny. Outside, the black glossy panels that replace traditional chrome radiator grilles look and feel like what they are — plastic. Inside, the over-use of glossy plastic robs the ‘special’ out of this would be a zero-emissions Sonderklasse.
The thing about the cabin that really makes it feel one rung below an S-Class is the size. The front seats are just a little narrower than one might expect but it’s the rear ergonomics that aren’t quite right at least for someone of my size. The rear occupants end up sandwiched between the sloping roof and the thick underfloor battery pack. Again, this feels more like a CLS replacement than an electric S-Class.
The thing about my EQS experience that surprised me the most was that most of my complaints seemed trivial to people who aren’t really car enthusiasts. Mercedes-Benz is a brand that’s pretty near and dear to me, personally. To most people, this is just another luxury brand and the EQS is just another smash hit. I got to use the EQS for two weeks in total this year and not once did any of my passengers complain about anything.
Driving Dynamics
If there’s one aspect that really redeems the EQS 500 4MATIC, it’s the way this thing handles. Mercedes-Benz are one of the few brands that can make a barge handle like a speedboat. The EQS is super maneuverable even in the tightest car park spaces thanks to rear wheel steering. It’s also extremely agile at speed despite literally weighing 2 and a half tonnes.
It’s also very long, but neither the weight nor the length hold it back in the driving department. Mercedes-Benz Malaysia package this thing in the “500” guise, which gives it a grand total of 443hp and 828Nm of torque.
The EQS 500 4MATIC takes 5 seconds to go from 0-100km/h but it feels much faster than that. Like any electric vehicle, the torque is immediate and visceral. Adding to this sensation is the sounds that Mercedes-Benz pumps in through the speakers. Push this car hard in Sports mode and it almost feels as if it’s there’s an predatory animal growling, except it’s growling in harmony with the throttle input and the car’s overall speed. I’m not kidding when I say the sounds it makes activate a primordial fear in me, like hearing a tiger roar while hiking through a jungle trail.
However, the EQS has one weakness on the roads and it’s speed bumps. It’s not that you hit the bump stops going over them, it’s that you literally scrape the vehicle floor over even moderately tall speed bumps going as slow as 7km/h. It’s essential that the vehicle’s height is increased whenever those black and yellow stripes appear on the horizon and this is thankfully just 2 button presses away no matter where you are on the infotainment screen.
Unbeatable Range For A Respectable Price
If there’s on aspect where Mercedes-Benz has thoroughly succeeded in delivering a segment best, it’s in the range department. The EQS 500 4MATIC has an incredibly large 108.4kWh battery pack which is capable of nearly 700km of range on the WLTP cycle. In practice, it’s a little lower than that but it’s still the longest range of any electric vehicle on sale in Malaysia today. Even when we put it through our excel sheet of EVs, the EQS manages to deliver better Ringgit per kilometer of range than other luxury rivals at RM932 per kilometer. Importantly, it’s better value in this metric than the BMW i7 (RM1,132 per km) and the Audi e-tron GT (RM1,333 per km).
To me, the Mercedes-Benz EQS 500 4MATIC makes sense if you are looking for a replacement to the CLS. It’s more shouty than an S-Class, and works better with you behind the wheel than as a chauffeur-driven EV. Its strengths are its exciting and capable dynamics, thrilling drive experience, unbeatable range, elegant and eye-catching looks as well as a sense of occasion. Unfortunately there are loads of options in this space and the actual S-Class is not that far off in terms of pricing. Plus, because it looks so much like the EQE, if it’s the design that you love you could get a pretty similarly fascinating EV from Mercedes-Benz at a much lower price and the range and cabin size isn’t appreciably lower.
Mercedes-Benz EQS 500 4MATIC Review
Motor: Dual Motor all-wheel drive
Battery Capacity: 108.4kWh
Range: 696km
Max power: 443hp
Max torque: 828Nm
Top Speed: 210 km/h
0-100 km/h: 4.8 seconds
Price: RM648,888
