The proliferation of designs in the Mercedes-Benz lineup has all but undone founded relationships involving the stars in Stuttgart’s merchandise constellation. But two of the firm’s luminaries stay gravitationally locked, a binary star program: the S and the E. The S-course is Mercedes’s supergiant, its brightest light. The E-course is the secondary star, however effulgent nonetheless just big, shining at somewhere all around eight-tenths the intensity of the S.
This is why, not extended immediately after the debut of the all-electric EQS sedan, cosmic symmetry has us sampling the all-electric EQE. The former is the predicted technological showcase. But Mercedes was not information to make the latter just the envisioned eight-tenths replicant, so the EQE is made to be the EQS’s “sporty more compact brother.”
This starts with the EQ subbrand trademarks of a black fascia panel and a sound light bar throughout the rear, connected by the “a single-bow” greenhouse that arcs from cowl to tail. Amongst the superficial variations between the two EVs, the EQE lacks the EQS’s reliable mild bar throughout the major of the grille and matches marginally diverse headlights and DRL signature.
The EQE’s dimensional adjustments intensify sportiness. Over-all duration is about nine inches shorter than the EQS, but the wheelbase shrinks by only 3.5 inches. The EQE maintains the visual link to the EQS in spite of truncated overhangs rendering the aspect look at relatively stubby, an effect bolstered by the EQE staying the similar peak as the EQS but fractionally wider.
The battery tucked within just the wheelbase is a 10-module model of the 12-module unit packed into the EQS. It really is excellent for 90.6 kWh of usable power and what we are advised will be a assortment further than 300 miles. As on the EQS, optimum charging level is 170 kW.
The cabin provides up absolutely nothing but a number of sybaritic frills to the EQS—the Burmester audio’s Atmos process isn’t obtainable right here, for instance. The interior provides an inch of front shoulder space and a few inches of general size as opposed to the present E-class, a sedan we have lauded for its luxurious digs.
There is a quirk to the rear quarters, however, primarily on entry. The condensed a single-bow greenhouse also curves downward along its edges. This makes a noticeably compact rear doorway aperture, necessitating a duck of the head to get previous the curved lintel. Mercedes equipped the EQE with a trunk instead of a hatch as on the EQS, reducing overhead hinges to improve headroom. Nonetheless, the ground-mounted battery pushes the rear hip issue 2.5 inches higher than in the classic E-course. It really is comfortable back there, but adult rear passengers will find the curved cabin ceiling at any time-existing in their eyesight.
Relocating to the entrance row offers a glimpse into our autonomous future. It feels like sitting down in a tailor-made pod. The leading edge of the doorway panels sweeps up from the windows and ahead towards the windshield. There is hardly any width to the doorway panel at the shoulder line, so forget about about resting your elbow there unless of course the window is open. While this will not likely issue in the autonomous foreseeable future, the cowl even further eats into visibility, and the state-of-the-art-driving-help tools at the top rated of the steeply raked windshield obscures the previously compromised forward perspective even much more. The curved ceiling cuts the top of the aspect home windows, and the significant A- and B-pillars shrink their width, although the rear window as considered by way of the rearview mirror is a bunker slit. This is a cockpit for on the lookout inward alternatively than outward.
Blessed there’s a good deal to do within, then. The common instrument panel places a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster at the rear of the wheel and a 12.8-inch pill in the center dash. This is what goes for minimalist now, and it is really handsome, set versus a sweeping backdrop of wood or gloss-black trim.
The optional Hyperscreen, making its 3rd visual appeal soon after the S-Course and the EQS, spreads a few screens throughout extra than 56. inches of curved glass panel, in addition to the head-up exhibit which is provided with the Hyperscreen. The consumer interface retains the most frequently-utilised methods these types of as navigation and songs on the leading level, typically doing a superior job of keeping mission management legible. There were being a number of curious tics that may have been mitigated with better familiarity, such as figuring out when the tunes controls are going to present up at the base of the middle screen or on the ideal side. And among the the navigational peculiarities, the augmented reality video clip feed pops up on top of the map in the center monitor, hiding the arrow glyph we are utilized to monitoring. We finished up triangulating three nav displays at all times—one in the HUD, one particular in the instrument cluster, and one in centre screen. Which is a good deal of scanning and a waste of at the very least two shows.
Our suggestions: Start out your children on video game titles proper now. The driving of the upcoming is heading to gush scads of information.
The driving encounter is every little thing a single expects. The single motor in the EQE 350+ places out 288 horsepower and 391 pound-ft of torque. We would formerly take into account people middling quantities to shift some 5200 lbs of Swabian heft, but what a distinction electric powered propulsion makes. On snaking streets, the sedan hits its “sporty minimal brother” concentrate on, a product or service of the instantaneous torque, the optional rear-wheel steering (up to 10 levels), and a control bodyweight which is a several hundred lbs . lighter than the EQS.
The superior driver-support devices could use some polish, nonetheless, exhibiting occasional learner’s-permit foibles like late braking and skittishness on slender roads with oncoming traffic. But above-the-air updates promise to add finesse.
We’ll want to get the EQE in for tests to measure its sound degrees compared to the EQS. Our unaided ears found the executive transport far more hushed at 110 mph on the German autobahn than other gas-run and electrical vehicles we have pushed at much tamer highway speeds. In truth, the EV era could renew Mercedes’s name for bank-vault solidity—what produced the greatest effect was the vacuum-of-place quietude. Mercedes engineers earned their obsessive rep searching noises to reduce. Just take the powertrain provider: They put the electric powered motor in a damped subframe that sits inside of a further subframe with the energy electronics, shrouded people electronics in a sandwiched deal with, then damped that subframe assembly from the chassis. Elsewhere, Mercedes rerouted climate-command and cooling plumbing to get rid of fluid-gurgling noises, and the foam-filled tires have their lettering slash into the sidewall in its place of climbing very pleased of it. All over town, the sedan rides serene as a crypt. At 1 Frankfurt stoplight we understood the only factors we could hear ended up our tinnitus and neuroses.
Even with its foibles, the EQE is previously excellent. And a 402-hp twin-motor EQE 500 4Matic and the EQE 53 4Matic+ are nonetheless to appear. Although the kids are urged to get razor sharp on Gran Turismo and Electronic Fight Simulator, we endorse meditation classes for EQE customers. The quietude is likely to give them a large amount of time with their feelings.
Specifications
Specs
2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+
Car Style: rear-motor, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
Price (C/D EST)
Base: $70,000
POWERTRAIN
Motor: long term-magnet synchronous AC, 288 hp, 391 lb-ft
Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 90.6 kWh
Onboard Charger: 11. or 22. kW
Transmission: direct-travel
Dimensions
Wheelbase: 122.9 in
Length: 196.6 in
Top: 59.5 in
Curb Bodyweight (C/D est): 5200 lb
Functionality (C/D EST)
60 mph: 5.5 sec
1/4-Mile: 14.5 sec
Top rated Speed: 130 mph
EPA Gas Economic climate (C/D EST)
Mixed/Town/Highway: 97/97/97 MPGe
Array: 300 mi
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