2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV (inc. 0-100) detailed on/off-road review

CarExpert

Mercedes-Benz has gone all in on EV and this is the first SUV on a full EV platform for the brand. Is it any good? Paul Maric test drives the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV in EQS 450 4MATIC trim to find out! It includes a 0-100 run and a detailed look at the Mercedes-Benz hyperscreen.  Hardness tester, noise and lane keeping results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/121Auf6HGvaBqRToYcuAz94alin7Sw55SpOPECBDlnKE  More Mercedes-Benz content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mercedes-benz More Mercedes-Benz EQS content: https://www.carexpert.com.au/mercedes-benz/eqs  Skip Ahead: Intro: 00:00 Exterior 0:58 Interior 7:08 Infotainment 8:54 Safety 15:46 Practicality 17:08 Charging 25:02 On the road 25:53 0-100 35:55 Off road 36:36 Verdict 43:02  We review every new car on the market, bust car myths, cover the latest car tech and answer your burning questions.  Whether you need new car advice, purchase validation or simply love learning more about new cars and technology, we are your car experts.  Subscribe to Car Expert: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DvMhvy3H7ntEgn9n3xQcQ?sub_confirmation=1  You'll find us dropping new video content three times a week. If you'd like to ask a question about one of our videos, simply leave us a comment. If you'd like to give us any feedback on our content, feel free to email us, or alternatively, hit us up on social media.  Finally, we want this channel to grow with your support and feedback. If there's anything you don't like or would like to see us change, we'd love to hear from you!  Follow us on social media to see what we're up to and to ask any questions!  CarExpert: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarExpertAus Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CarExpertAus Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carexpert.com.au  Paul Maric: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulMaric Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/PaulMaric Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PaulMaric  #mercedesbenz #eqs #review #ev

Transcript

00:00 G'day, I'm Paul. I am very excited to drive this. It is the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, and I'm excited

00:07 because it is the first proper ground-up electric vehicle from Mercedes-Benz in an SUV trim. Prior

00:14 to this, they were doing like internal combustion conversions, whereas this is just a sort of

00:19 electric SUV. Now, this competes with things like the Tesla Model X, the BMW iX, but it doesn't

00:25 really have many other competitors that are strictly ground-up EVs. Now, this is the 450 4MATIC,

00:32 which means it's an all-wheel drive version. It's the entry-level all-wheel drive. We will be getting

00:36 this car in Australia. There are a number of other variants as well that I'll run you through shortly,

00:40 but this is what we're test driving today. Today, we're going to do a detailed review of this car,

00:43 so if you do want to skip ahead to other parts of this video, you can use the time codes on the

00:47 screen, or if you're on YouTube, you could scroll down and use the chapters below. And if you haven't

00:51 done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon, because that is going to help you

00:54 find out every single time we drive a ground-up EV.

00:57 Now, before we get into the external design, let me run you through the variants that are going to

01:04 be launched with EQS. So, the entry-level is going to be the 450. That will be just rear-wheel drive.

01:09 Then, it goes up to the 450 4MATIC, which is this one here. It's all-wheel drive, and this is what

01:14 we'll be getting in Australia. There will be a 500 as well. We'll be getting that in Australia too.

01:19 And finally, the range is topped out with the 580 4MATIC. That is the bee's knees. We don't know

01:24 whether we'll be getting that in Australia yet, but that will be the fastest version that you can

01:27 get. And there is no AMG version, by the way, so they're not doing any of that stuff for this

01:31 particular platform. Now, let's talk about the colours. We don't know exactly how many this is

01:35 going to launch with, but if you look at the EQS sedan in Australia, it's offered with 10 exterior

01:40 colours. This one here, the white, I think really suits this with the black offsets. Have a look at

01:44 this grille. So, similar to the BMW iX, it's all closed off there, and it is an enormous grille.

01:49 This one's been optioned with the Mercedes-Benz stars in here, and I think this looks really

01:54 cool. It's just that extra little bit of marketing that, you know, doesn't go unnoticed, so I love

01:59 that. Big Mercedes-Benz logo in the centre here. This doubles as a radar, but also has these little

02:04 elements within it for heating, so when it does snow, this will melt the snow away. You've got a

02:09 camera down here for the 360 camera. I like this black treatment, but also this rose gold coloured

02:14 shadow chrome. That sort of runs along the bottom there, and it really sort of offsets the black

02:19 nicely. Down the bottom there, you've got a set of louvers for heating and cooling the battery as

02:23 well. Now, depending which market you're in, you can actually get a glowing Mercedes-Benz logo

02:28 here. I wish we got that in Australia, because that looks really cool on some of these cars.

02:32 You then have an LED strip that runs along the top of the bonnet there that connects these two

02:36 sets of headlights. Now, speaking of headlights, this is available with digital headlights,

02:41 and that means they have 1.3 million micro-mirrors per headlight unit, and they can then project

02:47 images out onto the road. So, if you're coming up to a construction zone or roadworks, it can then

02:52 notify the driver by way of projecting something onto the road, so you can see it ahead. Really

02:56 good innovation there, and super powerful headlights as well. Now, this section down here,

03:01 you can get a number of different style packs on these. This is kind of a sporty look, and you can

03:06 see here they've gone to town on aero. There's like a little hole in there that spits air out

03:11 around the side, and that's all partly to reduce your aerodynamic drag. Now, the EQS sedan actually

03:17 holds the record for the lowest coefficient of drag at 0.2, so this is obviously not going to be

03:22 that low, given it is an SUV, but 0.2 is incredible. This won't be that much higher. It really just

03:27 cuts a nice line through the air there, and it reduces drag as much as possible. Now, there are

03:32 a stack of innovations in this car. I'm going to try and get through as many as I can. One that I

03:36 can immediately see there is a little hole there on the window. This actually works by adjusting

03:41 your climate control depending on the sun position, so I'll explain that a little bit more

03:44 when we get inside the car there, but that is the section that I'll be referring to when we do hop

03:48 inside the car. Come around to the side here, I'll show you the wheels. So, you have a number of

03:53 different wheels you can pick from, from 20 to 22 inches. This one here is a 21-inch wheel. You've

03:57 got that chrome look on the outside with piano black on the inside. Mercedes-Benz even went to

04:02 the effort of creating aerodynamic alloys as well, because you can shave a little bit of drag off the

04:08 car by making sure your alloys are nice and slick as the air runs over them. Everything about this

04:13 car is about getting a little bit of extra range by just improving aerodynamics wherever you can.

04:19 Under there, you've got a set of air suspension with adaptive damping. Given this is a Benz,

04:23 I'm hoping that means it rides really nicely, because I want it to be plush and nice to sit

04:27 inside as opposed to sporty and rough. Up here, this looks interesting, doesn't it? So, when you

04:31 crack that open, this is actually the hole for the windscreen wiper fluid. The reason it's here is

04:37 because this doesn't open, it doesn't have a frunk. Under here, you have an enormous HEPA filter,

04:42 and inside the cabin, you can actually monitor the airflow and the air quality as you're driving. So,

04:47 that means this is where you're going to fill your wiper fluid. Then, in addition to that, EQS up the

04:52 top here, just so you don't forget what you're driving. They're working on an EQE SUV, so

04:56 obviously that will say EQE when that is launched, and there's probably going to be something beneath

05:00 that as well. Over here on the wing mirror, you've got piano black up the top there, indicator built

05:04 into there, camera on the side, and an LED light there as well. Another part of the aero that

05:09 they've worked on is down the side here. So, this car doesn't have it, but you can option running

05:14 boards, and while they help you get in and out of the car, they actually work to reduce the drag as

05:18 well. So, they've thought of every little bit here along the way. The door handles are really cool

05:22 as well, so they look perfectly normal, but behind there, you actually have an LED that lights up the

05:27 door handle. You have a chrome section along the top there, and then to get inside the car, all you

05:31 do is wipe your hand there, and then it pops out. You can see Mercedes Benz written on there as well,

05:36 and then to open the door, you simply pull on that door handle, and then it cracks open. Piano black

05:40 up the top there, along the bottom rail there as well. You have privacy glass up the top there,

05:45 and before we jump around to the back, this has four-wheel steering, and it can turn up to 10

05:50 degrees on the rear axle, which reduces the turning circle immensely. I'll demo that a little

05:54 bit later on so you can see how it works, but yeah, this is making sure that you can drive this

05:59 in and around the city without it feeling like a big bus. Come around to the back. Now, how big is

06:03 this, I hear you asking? It is slightly smaller than a GLS in terms of size, and it's also shorter

06:09 than the EQS sedan. In terms of actual dimensions, it sits on a wheelbase that's just over three

06:14 metres long. It's a little over five metres long, just under two metres wide, and a little over 1.7

06:20 metres tall, and you can also adjust the ride with the air suspension by jacking it up into an

06:25 off-road mode that increases the ground clearance too. Now, in terms of the air, have a look at this.

06:29 They've added this section, so as air comes along here, there's a little flick there to stop

06:34 turbulence building at the back of the car, so this is helping reduce that drag as well. These

06:39 taillights are full LED, but they have a 3D element in them, and they're frosted as well,

06:44 so they really do look fantastic at night time. EQS 450, and then over here you have a 4MATIC

06:49 badge because this is all-wheel drive. You crack the boot open by pushing the Mercedes-Benz logo

06:54 just there. Down here you've got piano black, and then a little bit of this sort of fake exhaust

06:58 built into there as well. So, let me know what you reckon about the design. Do you think the EQS

07:03 SUV looks good? I'm keen for your feedback, so let me know in the comments section below.

07:08 So, we are inside the EQS SUV. We'll start off with the key. So, here it is. You've got lock up the top,

07:15 unlock, boot. It's got this beautiful metal surround, and then on the back it's blank. This

07:20 is a proximity sensing key, so you can leave that in your pocket. Grab the door handle. Once you're

07:24 inside, your start button is just here. So, the design. This is full-on. So, this is the first

07:30 time I've sat in an EQS, and this one has the Hyperscreen, which I'll run you through shortly,

07:35 but this is really just out there in terms of the way that it looks. When you consider the price

07:41 that this car is going to be when it does finally arrive in Australia, it's going to be expensive,

07:45 but this looks and feels like it's worth every single dollar of whatever they want to charge for

07:50 it. So, really nice setup. When you don't have the Hyperscreen there, it is a slightly different

07:54 design, but that still looks nice and premium too. I like these finishes here. So, you have

07:59 wood grain on the centre there. You've got these finishes along the top of the dash there as well,

08:04 all the way around. Love these LEDs as well that change colour depending on what you're doing.

08:09 The interesting thing as well is Mercedes-Benz says that they now are able to offer an animal

08:14 free interior, including the steering wheel. So, that is an option if that concerns you. So,

08:19 they sort of cover all bases there in terms of design and also what the interior looks like.

08:24 Now, what about touch points, I guess? So, all that stuff's nice, really nice there in the centre,

08:31 and soft on the door as well. How soft are they though? Well, we've got our durometer,

08:36 we've tested the main surfaces in this cabin. If you want to see how this car compares to others

08:40 that we've tested before, have a look at the link in the description below. Build quality,

08:44 I'm having a bit of a play with this today, and it is all very nice and solid. And what about our

08:49 door? Yeah, nice. Sounds very nice and solid as well. Now, moving on to infotainment. This is

08:56 probably the thing I'm most excited to talk to you about because this hyper screen is insane. I've

09:02 never seen anything like this in a car, and the way that they've integrated it is really cool as

09:06 well. So, we'll start off with the centre screen. So, this is almost 18 inches in size. It is

09:13 absolutely enormous. It runs basically from there all the way down to there, and in fact,

09:18 the screen runs from here all the way to the other side of the car. So, these two screens are OLED,

09:23 whereas this one here is LCD ahead of the driver. These two also have haptic feedback, so when you

09:28 are moving around and then clicking, you can actually feel a response through your finger as

09:33 well, which I think is really cool and just something a little bit different. It also has

09:37 force feedback, so the harder you push, it's able to then do different functions within that

09:42 actual infotainment system. The other thing they've also implemented here as well is what they call a

09:47 zero layer design, and that means that all of your critical functions are on that display to

09:52 begin with. You don't have to dive through menus, and I think that's really handy because previously

09:56 with MBUX, it has been a little bit confusing having to go back through menus to access things,

10:01 whereas here it's all very logical and they're in front of you. Now, before I run through some of the

10:05 actual functions, I want to talk about the actual display itself. This is actually moulded at 650

10:11 degrees, and there's a top layer on that glass that is there specifically for fingerprints,

10:16 and at the moment, I can't see any fingerprints on the screen at all, and we've been playing around

10:20 a lot with that, so that actually works, which is good news, and I want to run you through as well

10:24 the computing power here, because when I saw these specs, my head literally almost flew off.

10:29 This is more powerful than some gaming PCs, so 24 gigabytes of RAM, it has eight CPU cores,

10:36 and in terms of processing power, 46.4 gigabytes per second. Like, it is just incredible, and that's

10:43 what you need to run some of the functions that the car actually needs to operate. So, located in

10:48 here, you have satellite navigation that's just built into that display. This works pretty well.

10:53 We've got it on a satellite overview at the moment, and then as you move around, it will sort

10:57 of shift with it. It can be a little bit laggy at times, I've noticed, if it has to preload content.

11:02 Once it is loaded, it works okay, but you can see there that it is sort of pretty quick,

11:06 and in addition to that on the audio front, you have AM, FM, DAB, digital radio. You also have

11:11 online radio streaming, and it's all plumbed through a 15-speaker Burmester sound system.

11:16 This also has 3D surround sound with Dolby Atmos, so it is a pretty full-on sound system. I don't

11:21 know where you would ever need to use 3D surround sound, maybe if you went to the drive-in movies or

11:25 something, but yeah, it's pretty cool to see that it has all of that processing power.

11:29 Then on the smartphone mirroring front, you have both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

11:33 Both of those are wireless. I'll show you what Apple CarPlay looks like.

11:36 Look at that, that is like the world's biggest Apple CarPlay display. Holy moly, that is enormous,

11:43 absolutely enormous. Let's see what the maps look like. That is unreal, I love that. And this is

11:48 what Android Auto looks like. So again, full-screen integration. When you do dive into maps, it then

11:54 holds that menu for you as well. So yeah, pretty impressive here in terms of that central display

12:00 and the mirroring features. Other sort of curious things that you can actually do here.

12:04 This is also where you can control the other screens inside the car. You can also basically

12:11 tell the car what you want displayed on the other screens. So we have screens in the back,

12:15 the passenger screen as well. So this is kind of like the hub for all that. And this is also

12:20 where you can set other things and also download apps to the car. So you can see here there's a

12:23 beginner driver mode, valet service mode. These are all things that allow you to restrict certain

12:28 functions of the car depending on who's accessing it. So if you've got your kids driving it,

12:31 you don't want them doing skids and all that sort of stuff, you could set all that up in there. Same

12:35 story with valet, they won't be able to see previous contacts and other private information.

12:39 You have a web browser built into here. You also have connectivity with Mercedes me. So that is

12:44 the application that allows you to connect into the car. This actually works really well and they've

12:49 enhanced this massively. So you can see here this allows you to virtually just manage all of the

12:54 functions in the car, lock, unlock, charging status. You can find where your nearest charges

12:59 are. You can also set things like those valet modes, do over the air updates. Really is quite

13:04 sophisticated. And just on the topic of over the air updates as well, Mercedes-Benz is working on

13:09 bringing extra functions to these cars. So that includes things like 10 degrees of turn on the

13:14 rear axle. They'll be able to update that. They'll be able to send you other functions for the car

13:18 and also the infotainment system over time as well. So good to see they're getting on board

13:23 that train as well. What else can I show you here on the central display? Yeah, look, when we go for

13:29 a drive, I'll run you through some of the actual EV functions, but this is really comprehensive

13:34 and I love that they've put so much effort into this. It's not just a gimmick. It's not a huge

13:38 screen just for the sake of having a huge screen. It is really good to use and I'm a big fan of

13:42 that. Let's jump over to the screen ahead of the driver here. So 12.3 inch display. This is quite

13:47 similar to the other Mercedes-Benz vehicles we've reviewed before, so you can change the look of

13:52 that display and the theme pretty sort of easily. And then in addition to that, you can adjust

13:58 things like your augmented reality on the head-up display ahead of the driver, things like speed

14:02 limit signs and everything. You can adjust exactly what it looks like ahead of the driver as well. So

14:08 it is just full on there in terms of what you can do. Let's jump over now to the passenger side

14:14 display. So this is also a 12.3 inch display. Now the reason the camera angle is so weird is

14:18 Sean is actually in the car now. You have to be sitting there for this to work. So we'll switch

14:22 that on. So you can see here it kind of mirrors the main display. You can then adjust what you

14:27 want loaded onto that display. So you can have images, you can go through all of the vehicle

14:32 settings there as well should you so desire. It is sort of quite comprehensive. In addition to that,

14:36 you can also display different images there. So depending on what you want it to show,

14:41 if you don't really want any of the interactive stuff, all you do is set the display to have

14:47 passenger screen decorative image. You can just then switch to different images there

14:53 as well instead of having the actual active display. Now you can also play video over here.

14:58 And the cool thing is if you do decide to play video or watch some television, if the driver

15:03 puts their eyes on the screen to watch as well, it has a two second timeout. Once you hit the

15:08 two seconds, it will basically stop the screen from displaying anything. It's actually a set

15:12 of cameras up here. And when you do glance over here, it'll give you two seconds before it switches

15:17 that screen off entirely. But I hear you asking, how does it know whether you're looking at the

15:21 screen or the actual wing mirror? Well, the cameras are able to use the angle of your face

15:26 in relation to the seat position to see when you are looking at the mirrors. And it will just ignore

15:30 the fact that there's something playing here. So it is some incredible technology here. And look,

15:36 will passenger side screens take off? I don't know, but I think it is pretty cool that this

15:40 stuff exists. And the fact that you can listen to audio from that in headphones or separate to the

15:44 driver, I think is pretty cool. Now, safety technology, as you can imagine, this thing is

15:49 jam packed full of safety gear. So you have autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and

15:53 cyclist detection. You have an auto dimming rear vision mirror there, sort of nice and sleek as

15:59 well. In addition to that, you have blind spot monitoring built into the wing mirror, rear

16:03 cross traffic alert, front cross traffic alert. You have radar cruise control with lane keeping

16:10 assistant, lane departure warning, semi-autonomous steering function. One of the other things they've

16:14 talked about bringing in as an over the air update is level four autonomy for car parks and other

16:18 bits and pieces, which is pretty cool. On the parking front, you have both front and rear

16:23 parking sensors and a 360 camera. I will show you what that looks like. It's actually surprisingly

16:28 good. Like it's quite high resolution around the edges there. And then what you can do is whip the

16:33 camera around as you go just to see what you're near. And then you have these presets as well.

16:38 So you've got curb cam on both sides, then you can go wide on the rear and then even super wide

16:44 as well if you want. You can see our suitcase there pretty clearly. Front view as well, again,

16:50 wide and super wide. So yeah, pretty impressive camera set up there. On the parking assistance

16:55 front, let's have a look at that. This has like a semi-autonomous parking function. So it shows up

17:00 here, but it also shows up here on the screen when you come to a spot where it can then automatically

17:04 park for you. So yeah, pretty impressive camera and parking sensor set up. Moving on to practicality,

17:09 and we'll start off with your connectivity. So behind here, you have two USB-C slots. You have

17:14 a wireless phone charger. Down the bottom here, you've got another two USB-C slots. In the centre

17:19 console here, you've got another two USB-C slots. So you have stacks of connectivity within the car.

17:24 Hidden under there is a 12 volt outlet. In terms of storing your phone, where's it going to live?

17:29 Well, you can whack it down there on the wireless phone charger, or literally you've got a litany of

17:33 other places to put that, which is really cool. Bottle storage, it lives in here, and you can also

17:39 fit it inside the door without any problems. This has teeth in there as well. You can also get rid of

17:45 those cup holders too, should you so desire. Now, the interesting thing as well is the coffee cup.

17:51 So because we are in the States, I thought, well, let's just use an American Paul size coffee cup.

17:57 And as you can see, that kind of fits in perfectly as well. Now, what about your other storage? So

18:01 you've got storage room in there. This centre console is huge, and it's really nice and deep

18:06 as well. They are fully utilising the maximum space they can with this AV platform. Down here,

18:11 you've got even more storage. And finally, you have a glove box over here. Glove box is not all

18:18 that big, but it is okay. But yeah, I am pretty impressed here how they've been able to package

18:23 everything and give you as much storage as humanly possible. Let's talk about comfort now. So you have

18:28 quad zone automatic climate control, so two zones for the front here, two for the second row.

18:33 Front seat also comes with heating and cooling for the seats and the steering wheel. You have

18:38 this enormous HEPA filter, which is what exists under the bonnet there, which is why you can't

18:42 open it. And I love the fact that when all this stuff is on, you actually get a reading both

18:48 inside and outside the car in terms of the air quality, which I think is quite fascinating.

18:53 Now, I did touch on this very briefly early on when we were talking about outside the car,

18:57 but those sensors down the front there, they're actually there to help distribute flow around

19:02 the car. And we'll see if they actually work when we go for a drive later. And when I say flow,

19:06 I mean climate flow. They're designed to basically pick up where the sun is sitting,

19:10 the temperature outside, the temperature inside, and then adjust airflow as required. Often,

19:14 if you are driving into the sun and you change direction, it can sometimes adjust what it feels

19:18 like inside the car. So we'll see if that stuff actually works. I'm excited to test that out.

19:22 Now, what about your seats? Oh, they are so comfy. So they hug you in nicely. You've even got this

19:28 amazing sort of headrest here. I think when level four autonomy comes around and you can have a bit

19:33 of a kit behind the wheel, that's going to be pretty awesome. You have full electric seat

19:37 adjustment for the driver and front passenger, so you can go forwards, backwards. You can extend

19:41 this bottom section forwards and backwards. You can move the backrest forwards, backwards,

19:46 lift the base at the back or the front. And then you also have electric adjustment of the headrest

19:52 as well. So good. In addition to that, you have seat memory for both the driver and front

19:58 passenger. Steering wheel is electrically adjustable for both tilt and reach. And then

20:03 on our reach test, all of this stuff is easy to reach while you're driving. But the good news is

20:07 you have a great voice recognition system that will pick up virtually anything you can't actually

20:11 reach while you're driving. So second row of the EQS SUV. Have a look at this. I have stacks of

20:17 room. So knee room is excellent. Toe room is fantastic. Headroom is pretty good as well. There

20:23 is a surprising amount of space back here. Flat floor, thank goodness. I remember that was the EQC

20:29 that was sort of based on the GLC platform and that weird hump there. This is all entirely flat,

20:34 so maximizing use of as much space as possible. In terms of the features that you have here,

20:40 so this car has the optional rear entertainment system. So both of these are touchscreens,

20:44 and then you can basically get whatever you want to appear on here. In addition to all of that,

20:48 down here you have a set of USB-C ports and HDMI as well if you do want to watch any video.

20:53 Over on the doors is where you'll find your adjustments for the seat and also seat heaters. So

20:59 here you can push that row forwards and backwards and then also tilt the backrest as well should you

21:05 so desire. Air vents here and also here as well. And in addition to those air vents, this is where

21:10 you control your climate for the second row. Have a look at these LEDs that are built into the roof,

21:14 they're pretty cool. A set of dual-pane sunroof there with its own cover that comes across.

21:20 Have a look at this centre armrest though, I think this is pretty cool. So here you have your own

21:24 tablet, you can eject this and if you can't be bothered using the touchscreen, you can then

21:28 actually configure all of your screen settings on here and then switch between the screens as

21:34 required. Storage here in the centre, that's also where you're going to find a wireless phone

21:39 charger. A set of cup holders here as well, easily fit the bottle there without any dramas at all.

21:46 Children, if you have some of those, in terms of seating you have ISOFIX points on the two

21:50 outboard seats with three top tether points. And what about our window test? So it's auto up and

21:58 down, boom goes all the way down. Very impressive there from Mercedes-Benz. Okay, so third row,

22:05 what's it like, how easy is it to get in and is it for adults? Only one way to find out. So

22:10 the second row moves electrically out of the way and I love the fact that it actually moves

22:14 the front seat out of the way as well, which means it's much easier to climb into the back. So

22:19 let me give this a shot now, we'll see how it goes. Okay, so I am in, let's have a look at headroom

22:26 first. Yeah, headroom's okay, it is kind of just wedged into there. So with one click of the button

22:32 on top of the seat it brings it back into a first position and then once it's in that position I can

22:37 manually then keep bringing it back to the point where my knees are jammed in there. So look,

22:42 that's probably about as far back as I'd want to go, so headroom is pretty compromised. My knees

22:47 are kind of into that seat now as well, toe room is pretty good though. In terms of creature

22:50 comforts, you do have heated seats here for the third row. You've also got an air vent just here,

22:56 you've got storage off to the sides there with another set of two USB-C ports, which is great.

23:01 Look, I think as an adult you could probably fit in here for a short to medium-term drive,

23:07 it wouldn't be the end of the world, but you wouldn't want to be in here for too long.

23:10 But look, I think it's fine and kids are going to enjoy it back here as well.

23:14 Now let's talk about cargo volume. So you open the boot by pushing on the Mercedes-Benz logo.

23:20 Now this has a number of different configurations and spaces depending on whether you go for seven

23:26 seats or without your seven seats. If you do go for the five-seat option you have a little over

23:30 600 litres of cargo space with the third row folded. If you go for the seven-seat option

23:35 though it is a little under 600 litres of cargo space. Now before I show you the room in the back

23:39 here, under the cargo floor here you have room for the cargo blind. I would have loved to see

23:43 maybe a much deeper floor here. If you think about stuff like Tesla Model Y for example,

23:48 you can actually just have so much stored in here. With this it's kind of a little bit limited,

23:53 which is a little disappointing given it is an entirely EV platform. In terms of our storage

23:58 spaces, try our suitcase in here. I wonder if that will close actually. Let's see what happens.

24:04 Hopefully it does. Oh no, it doesn't close. Okay, so it doesn't fit a mid-sized suitcase in there

24:12 behind the third row. Let me clear the third row out of the way though. So push this down to drop

24:16 the headrests and then you have to manually move this out of the way, which I think is a little

24:21 bit disappointing. It would have been nice to see an electric third row adjustment here. So with

24:25 that out of the way, we can drop our suitcase in and I'll grab my laptop bag as well. Pop that in

24:30 next to it. There you go. You have stacks of room once the third row is out of the way. Then what

24:36 you can also do is drop the second row. That is electrically adjustable, so you can just flick

24:43 these two here and then the seats will disappear out of the way there. Once they do disappear out

24:49 of the way, if you are in five seat configuration, you have 2,100 litres of cargo space. In seven

24:54 seat configuration, it's a little over 2,000 litres and it is worth pointing out as well that

24:58 you have a 12-volt outlet just off to the side here as well. Now before we go for a drive, I

25:03 want to show you this. So this is the charging port and it's going to come with a number of

25:07 different options depending on what you want to spec. So you have both AC and DC charging. Here

25:12 for the States, you have a different type of charging plug, but in Australia it will be a

25:15 Type 2 plug and a CCS Type 2 combo plug. It comes standard with 11 kilowatts of AC charging, but you

25:21 can get the optional 22 kilowatt three-phase charger, so that will put a little bit more juice

25:26 into the battery. The battery is big, it's about 110 kilowatt hours, so it is a mammoth battery.

25:31 And in terms of the DC charging capacity, it will run at up to 200 kilowatts and it will sustain

25:36 that for quite a long time as well. So it does mean that this will be quite a quick charge when

25:40 it comes to it. It is on 400-volt architecture, they haven't gone to 800-volt like some other

25:44 brands, but they think that this is the way to go. So yeah, look, this all looks pretty good to me

25:49 and nothing sort of too out of the ordinary here.

25:52 So I've just hit the road in the EQS SUV. I know I keep saying this whenever we review

26:01 electric cars, but damn, this is so quiet in here. And I don't know, I think this is the big

26:07 difference with brands like Mercedes-Benz now sort of fully getting into EVs and this being on a

26:13 dedicated EV platform. It's going to mean that we'll see big advancements in terms of refinement

26:18 and stuff that we kind of haven't seen yet in the EV space. So that is a big bonus.

26:23 So right now we're driving the EQS SUV, the 450. So it's the entry-level all-wheel drive

26:30 version. This is the car that we're going to be getting in Australia. And at this stage,

26:34 I think that this is going to be a really good stopping point for someone who doesn't want all

26:40 of that ultra performance but still wants a bit of punch behind the wheel. So this uses two electric

26:44 motors, one on the front axle, one on the rear axle. So it produces 265 kilowatts of power as a

26:49 peak with those two motors and 800 newton metres of torque. Now what does all that feel like behind

26:55 the wheel? We'll see if this does all of our fun EV stuff. Looking for that punch. Yep,

27:00 can confirm it does. It really sort of pins you back in the seat. And look, I think that's what

27:05 you come to expect with these EVs. And you've got to consider with this car, it has an enormous

27:09 battery. It means that it is big and heavy as well. So when we go for a bit more of a spirited

27:13 drive, I'm keen to see what it feels like. But it is good to see that it does have that

27:17 poke behind the wheel. Now in terms of the other specs that are available for EQS, if you are

27:24 watching this outside of Australia, you have the 450 entry level, which is just rear wheel drive.

27:29 You've got a 500, which is a 4MATIC all wheel drive version. And then the top spec is the 580,

27:34 which is, you know, the powerhouse. We'll put the numbers up on the screen because it'll be a little

27:40 bit too confusing if I run through everything. But as you can see, having almost 1000 Newton

27:44 meters of torque means that this thing will absolutely not dawdle. And that is kind of

27:49 regardless of which variant of the EQS SUV you go for. Now there is something fascinating that

27:54 goes on here with the all wheel drive system. They actually decouple the front axle regularly.

28:01 And the other thing we noticed as well, at low speeds, they'll also actually operate it as a

28:06 front wheel drive if they need to. So depending on which situation is going to be the most efficient,

28:12 they're basically taking the approach that we will then use that set of motors. So in some instances,

28:17 you might have better rolling resistance from the front axle compared to the rear axle.

28:21 It might be more efficient to accelerate with the rear axle. So they will pick those as they go.

28:25 And it means that when you are just cruising along, typically this is only powering two wheels.

28:30 Now that is important in an EV because you can do that instantaneously. It's not like

28:34 an internal combustion car where you have to have a clutch pack, or you have to always have one of

28:39 the axles spinning up to have instant torque. Because this is a fully electric system, everything

28:44 is always available immediately. Or alternatively, you can switch it off and have it re-engage

28:49 immediately as well. And you really don't feel anything behind the wheel. When you go for the

28:53 throttle, it just hits you in the back. There is no delay. Everything happens just as you would

28:57 expect it to happen in a product that has zero lag. Now let's talk about our regen modes. So

29:03 I've got a number here to pick from. I'll start off with normal recuperation. When I roll out of

29:08 the throttle, it starts sort of slowing down gradually. If I do want to increase the recuperation,

29:13 I can use the paddle shifter here on the steering wheel to go to strong recuperation.

29:17 That slows the car right down, but it won't bring it to a complete stop. Once we get to a lower

29:21 speed, it will then eventually just sort of roll along at a sort of constant pace. You can then go

29:29 to no recuperation, and that means if you do let out of the throttle, it just coasts and you're not

29:34 sort of getting energy back into the battery pack. They do have one final mode here, which is

29:39 intelligent recuperation. What that does is it uses the GPS to see where you're driving,

29:45 but in addition to that, it can also bring the car to a stop if you're approaching an intersection

29:50 and the DISTRONIC, the radar system, has detected a car stopped ahead of you.

29:54 Look, in theory it makes sense, but we did test out a little bit when we left

29:59 sort of Denver downtown, and it didn't really work that well. It didn't really pick up cars

30:04 until the last second, and then the other problem is if you're coming up to a red light where there

30:09 aren't any cars stopped, such as you being the first to approach, it's kind of a bit pointless

30:14 because it won't come to a stop, whereas something like a Nissan LEAF or a Tesla or even the Hyundai

30:18 Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, they will do a traditional single pedal driving mode where it will come to a

30:24 complete stop regardless of what's ahead of you. So I think that is probably a better option,

30:28 and hopefully that's something they can deploy with an over-the-air update.

30:31 And just also on that with brake pedal feel, I did notice here when we are in the strong

30:38 recuperation mode, the brake pedal is actually actuating on its own, and in the other EVs I've

30:44 tested that doesn't actually happen until the car comes to a full stop if you are in a single pedal

30:48 driving mode, and here I'm finding it a little unnerving because if I roll out of the throttle

30:52 and go to the brake, it's in the process of pushing the brake, and then when you go for

30:56 the brake pedal, the pedal is really hard, so it does have that stopping confidence,

31:01 but you really have to dive onto the brake pedal, and yeah, it just doesn't really sort of

31:05 fill you with confidence when you hit it for the first time.

31:08 Now what's the ride like? It is absolutely sensational. So depending on the country and

31:16 the spec and stuff like that, you can get this with air suspension, and that's what we have in

31:20 the car today, and that air suspension comes with adaptive damping as well, and Mercedes-Benz,

31:24 they're known for having a ride that is sensational regardless of the type of road that you're on,

31:30 and this is no exception to that rule. It really is nice and smooth when you hit potholes, bumps,

31:35 you don't feel anything coming through the cabin, it's all isolated within the body,

31:38 and it also has an off-road mode. Later on we'll do a tiny bit of off-road driving,

31:42 I'll show you what that looks like, but in the off-road mode you can jack the suspension up by

31:46 about 25mm, and that will give you that extra clearance if you do want to do any light off-roading.

31:50 Now let me point out something else cool here inside the cabin, it comes with augmented reality

31:58 for the navigation, and we have seen this before in Mercedes-Benz products, but I think the

32:02 implementation here is sensational. So on the head-up display, that display is 77 inches in

32:09 diameter when it's projected onto the road ahead of the driver, so it is enormous. In addition to

32:14 that on the central display here, the augmented reality actually overlays a camera image of what's

32:19 coming up, and then gives you arrows telling you where you need to go. And the other amazing

32:23 feature as well, and I have no idea how this works, on the head-up display it tells you which lane

32:28 you're in. So normally a head-up display will tell you, okay you need to turn off soon, this will

32:33 actually tell you which lane you're in and then which lane you need to be in to make the next

32:37 turn. So it is pretty awesome technology that's fitted here as standard. Now I did mention when

32:42 we were outside the car, all the sensors and stuff for the climate control, it is working remarkably

32:48 well. So as we're going down this mountain and going through switchbacks and stuff, you can

32:52 actually feel that the cabin just feels really nice. There's no requirement for me to touch any

32:58 of the controls, it actually just feels really nice and calm in here. So the system definitely

33:02 works. I know that it won't work for my wife though, because regardless of what the temperature

33:06 is, she always wants it to be like a polar blast on her face. It's just, she's a strange person.

33:14 But yeah, it seems to work well here for normal people like me.

33:17 All right, let's talk drive modes super quickly. So you activate them here on this sort of lower

33:26 section and you can choose between off-road, eco, comfort, sport and individual. Let's pop it into

33:33 sport. We'll go for a little fang up here and see what it feels like. Okay, so let's get stuck into

33:37 this. So immediately I can feel there's a whole lot more acceleration there. It's a whole lot

33:43 more eager to sort of get up and moving. Still not loving that brake pedal feel. It sort of,

33:48 yeah, it doesn't really inspire much confidence. I can jump on the pedal, but then it's, yeah,

33:53 not very confidence inspiring. But in terms of the body, it's actually sitting nice and flat.

33:59 So you've got anti-roll mitigation here and it's actually working really well. As the body tips in,

34:06 you can sort of feel it hunkering down the other side of the car

34:10 and then you can just punch it out of a corner and it sort of has that

34:13 confidence inspiring feel as you sort of tuck it in, especially with those rear wheels

34:20 assisting you with the turning. You can really dive into these tight corners

34:26 and it sort of just does its job really well. So it is a good sort of electronic

34:32 torque vectoring system. On the tighter stuff too, it is surprising how something this size

34:38 can actually feel nimble behind the wheel. So yeah, look, it's actually pretty impressive.

34:44 I wasn't expecting something this big to be as nimble or agile as it is. It actually does a

34:49 really good job of just hunkering down and giving you that confidence behind the wheel.

34:55 Now let's talk 0-100. So we stuck it up against our V-Box and we came back with 5.6 seconds,

35:01 which isn't too bad for a vehicle this size and also isn't too bad given that this is going to

35:06 be the entry-level variant in Australia. Let's talk about visibility. So this is a big vehicle.

35:13 Yes, it is slightly smaller than the EQS sedan, but it does still feel big here behind the wheel.

35:19 And look, it's not such a bad thing. I don't actually feel like it is too big. So I can

35:24 clearly see down the front corners there. Visibility out the back isn't too bad. Keep

35:29 in mind though, if you do have your third row deployed, visibility will be a little limited

35:34 there. Visibility out the sides is fine as well. Those wing mirrors are big enough and they have

35:38 blind spot monitors built into those. And then when you are parking, I mean, it has a litany of

35:42 parking sensors and a litany of cameras to make sure you don't nudge or hit anything while you

35:48 are driving. Now what about towing? So if you do want to do any towing, it comes with an 1800kg

35:54 braked towing capacity. And the other cool thing as well, just on turning circle, it can pull the

36:00 wheels in by 10 degrees on the rear axle. And that means you can do the tightest U-turns known to man.

36:06 Today we had to do one in a straight and I thought I was going to have to do a three-point turn,

36:10 but it literally just tucked itself in and did this remarkable U-turn. So that's something

36:15 Mercedes-Benz is going to be deploying as part of an over-the-air update. So standard, I think it's

36:19 around four degrees of turn in for the rear axle, and then they'll put out that over-the-air update

36:23 that allows you to go up to 10 if you want, which is pretty impressive. And that means you're

36:27 basically reducing turning circle from around 12 metres to 11 metres, which I think is pretty

36:32 impressive. Now let's quickly talk about off-road. I mentioned in the drive modes there is an off-road

36:39 button. As part of the launch, they actually have an off-road course set up for us. I have high

36:45 hopes, to be honest, to see how a luxury SUV is going to perform off-road, but we'll see how it

36:50 goes anyway. They've actually set up different cars specifically for off-road, so I'm going to

36:53 switch into one of those and see how it performs. So we are now on the off-road course. What I'll

37:00 do here is just run you through some of the sections that we're doing, and we'll just sort

37:04 of jump between them because it's such a long course that I probably won't have enough to talk

37:08 about the whole time. Yeah, one of the benefits here when you are in off-road, it jacks the

37:12 suspension up by 25mm. Depending on the market, it can go a little higher as well. And one of the

37:17 other benefits of an electric car off-road is that you have instant torque at the wheels. You

37:22 have better ability to do torque vectoring, and it means that the traction control systems don't

37:26 have to work as hard when you get surges of torque going to the wheels. I love also the camera view

37:31 as well, because at the moment we have this steep climb. It's a 30% grade. I can't see over the front

37:36 of the car, but with the camera view, I can see pretty much exactly what's happening ahead of me.

37:40 So yeah, I think that is a pretty cool setup. Right, so we're approaching a section now where

37:47 the rear wheel steering is actually going to come in handy, because it is a super, super tight turn.

37:52 But just before we sort of arrive to there, it's quite rocky along here. It's actually pretty

37:57 impressive how smooth and comfortable this is, given how rocky and rough this terrain is. The

38:04 air suspension is actually levelling it out really nicely. So this tight turn here, there is no way

38:09 you would be able to do this in most cars, because it's a tight turn and then a climb through these

38:15 trees. But because we have that steering angle on the rear axle, it's actually letting us tuck it in

38:21 really nicely there, and then you just lean on the throttle out of here, and it just really

38:27 easily gets in there. So yeah, so impressed with this. And this is also great as well, because

38:33 we're trying to get through these trees here. And again, I can't really see much, but the camera is

38:38 showing us sort of exactly where we're going, so I don't rip the front end off this new car.

38:43 So we've got a long climb here. It's like a 30% grade, which is almost 20 degrees. To put that

38:50 into context, if you watch some of our other videos where we do off-roading, we're climbing a 25-degree

38:55 climb. So it is pretty steep here, and one of the things that the Benz guys have done to these cars,

39:00 they're standard outside of the tyres, and the tyres on these are kind of like a pretty much

39:05 a mud terrain, all-terrain tyre. They're quite sort of chunky, and that's to prevent the sidewalls

39:10 from breaking open with these rocks, because they are quite sharp. But in saying that, it is actually

39:15 really impressive how well it's handling the limited traction we have climbing up here,

39:19 because you've got a steep climb with loose gravel and then rocky areas as well, and sometimes you do

39:25 see traction control light flashing here, but you always have torque available to you. So I am keen

39:31 to see when we get to this Mogul they've got set up, how it actually performs once we get a wheel

39:35 off the ground, because typically with some of the dual-cab utes that we test, you have to have

39:40 a locking rear diff to actually get over Moguls, because once a wheel is in the air, it just free

39:44 spins and traction control generally isn't enough to get it across. So we'll see how it goes.

39:49 So this bit here that we're coming up to is a little bit technical, because it goes,

39:54 it's a steep right-hand turn with a drop-off that leads down to our Mogul. So I just want to make

40:00 sure I get this set up right. I've got Charlie, my co-driver here. Are you happy for me to turn in

40:04 now? Yep, okay. We're basically just going to let the car drop in here. Wow. It is, yeah, that is

40:20 some serious terrain there, because literally had a wheel off the ground there as it was descending,

40:25 and it's weird with the regen in the mode that it's in, I'm able to ride the brake and it's

40:31 then using a mix of engine braking with regen as it goes down. So you're always slowing down a

40:37 little bit without having to do anything, which I think is pretty cool. Next up we have our Mogul,

40:42 so I'm just going to set up for this, and I'll do what we do with all of our dual-cab utes as well,

40:48 which is basically dropping it into the Mogul. We'll let it settle for a bit and just see how

40:52 it goes in terms of traction. The offset Mogul, this is way steeper than the one we have at home,

40:58 so I'm keen to see how this goes, but I'll drop this in so we get that rear tyre off the ground.

41:04 So there it is there, and right now all I'm doing is just leaning on the throttle as it comes

41:08 through, and it's doing a remarkably good job here with the stability control. It's just managing all

41:14 of it, and that's a benefit you have with two electric motors, because it can just send torque

41:19 wherever it needs to go. I've got the front wheel off the ground now, and I'll just roll back into

41:22 the throttle as we drop into this part of the Mogul. That is seriously good. I'm so impressed

41:30 with that. I think when we get to the point where electric vehicles are off-road ready and capable

41:36 like this is, we're going to see just off-roading become a much easier task, because the electric

41:42 motors will just manage everything for you, and you just jump in the car, lean on the throttle,

41:46 and away you go. So it is a pretty impressive setup. So we're wrapping up the off-road course,

41:52 and the last thing we're going to try here is the hill descent control. The cool thing is you can

41:56 actually adjust the speed, so you can see there if I adjust my cruise control lever, I can go up and

42:02 down in terms of the speed, and then that controls the way the car handles this terrain. I've said

42:07 this before in off-road videos that I prefer to do the sort of descent myself, but here in an

42:12 electric vehicle it actually kind of works okay, because you're not really just using brakes,

42:18 you're using, I guess, engine braking in some instances, so it has better control over the

42:22 ability to slow down as opposed to some vehicles that are just sort of grabbing at the brakes over

42:27 time, and then that means if the terrain is very wet and loose it can sort of send you a little

42:32 further than you want to. So it seems to work well. So look, I've been pretty impressed with

42:36 this from an off-road perspective. I definitely was not expecting it to be, I guess, this capable

42:41 off-road given it is a luxury SUV, and it does make me excited for electric off-road vehicles

42:48 to arrive, because I think that they'll be able to get really creative with torque control and

42:52 just managing traction without having to have mechanical differential locks and things like

42:56 that. So yeah, pretty cool setup here in the EQS SUV.

42:59 So the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV. I'm really looking forward to getting this back to Australia to see

43:11 what it's like on our roads, because I've been pretty impressed with it here, and also impressed

43:15 with it off-road. I really wasn't expecting it to be that capable, and I think that if you are

43:18 buying one of these as a family, then you can go do a bit of light off-roading, going camping and

43:23 stuff like that, and not be too concerned about this getting stuck just because it is an electric

43:27 vehicle. In terms of the things I didn't like, I wasn't a huge fan of the brake pedal feel. I think

43:33 ultimately that kind of lets it down a little bit, and I'm hoping they can fix that over time,

43:36 either with software updates. I just think that it just needs to be a little bit more progressive.

43:41 But outside of that, this has more than enough punch for what will be the entry-level model in

43:44 Australia, and it is super luxurious inside, and so smooth as well. So it is like the ultimate

43:50 luxury electric SUV. Now, let me know what you think about it in the comments section below,

43:56 and if you did enjoy this video, please make sure you like it and you share it with your mates,

43:59 and if you haven't done so already, subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon.

44:02 But until next time, see you later.

Category

Transcript

Recommended