The 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQ 350+ slips into the electric-luxury mainstream

Mercedes already has grabbed the third rail of luxurious by turning on the S-Class to electrical energy; we’ve taken you for a experience in that 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS and its AMG EQS improve. 

However what occurs now, because it banks its benchmark mid-size sedan into the identical EV pocket?

For 2023, the E-Class will get its personal electric-car companion within the type of the Mercedes-Benz EQE 350. It sports activities the same battery, a single electrical motor, a shrunken EQS-like design, and choices that embrace the Hyperscreen management interface and rear-axle steering. 

It’ll want them because it takes on rival EVs with extra vary and faster acceleration, such because the Tesla Mannequin S and Lucid Air, in addition to opponents from its personal yard, together with the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan.

A CLS-sized form

The EQE breaks no new floor by way of design. It left the heavy lifting to the EQS, which debuted final yr. Inside and outside, the EQE appears to be like similar to the EQS, however the headlights function totally different LED daytime working lights that look extra E-Class than S-Class. Whereas the EQE nonetheless incorporates a cab-forward design with a brief hood, quick rear deck, and an extended cabin, the wheelbase is 3.5 inches shorter than the EQS with an general size that matches that of at the moment’s CLS-Class. The distinctive black nostril band throughout the entrance finish carries over with an EQE-distinctive therapy, and so does the full-width band of taillights, each EQ hallmarks. 

The well-groomed look of the EQE has extra presence than the EQS due to the marginally abbreviated rear quarters. Nonetheless, it’s obvious right here as with the EQS that Mercedes penned the cleanest form it might to increase the automotive’s usable battery vary. It’s a tender and anodyne form, not practically as distinctive because the E-Courses of the latest previous. Mercedes’ Imaginative and prescient EQXX idea demonstrates how EV vary and sensual shapes can co-exist, and underscore that the EQS and EQE are beginning factors as Mercedes learns design longer-range electrical vehicles.

The EQE inside appears to be like like that within the EQS, too, nevertheless it’s extra dazzling even in default mode. An ordinary 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster is augmented by a 12.8-inch OLED touchscreen infotainment system. Mercedes’ 56-inch Hyperscreen dashboard—which consists of a single pane of glass, a 17.7-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen for the passenger—is an choice. The wonderful chaos of Hyperscreen will get muted with the smaller display screen setup, nevertheless it’s to the EQE’s benefit: it exposes sq. ft of sprint trim that, in our check automotive, highlighted laser-cut wooden with pale-blue checks. Nightclub-like LED lighting comes commonplace, both method.

Protecting it within the household

The EQE 350+ units the preliminary tempo for the U.S. variations of the brand new mid-size electrical sedan, with extra highly effective fashions swinging on the on-deck circle.

Within the 350+, a 90.6-kwh lithium-ion battery pack powers the only rear motor that produces 288 hp and 391 lb-ft of torque, which fits to the rear wheels by a single-speed transmission. Mercedes mentioned the EQE will run 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds on its method to an estimated high pace of 130 mph. In comparison with the EQS 450+, that’s down about 10 kwh in pack power, however a number of tenths of a second faster.

Swift and practically noiseless, the powertrain dupes the motive force into forgetting pace restrict indicators; I’m ready to see how a lot the intense speed-camera gentle that flashed at me on some city Frankfurt byway will price. Paddle controls let the EQE slip by a variety of regenerative braking modes, together with one which adapts with navigation knowledge to undertake the perfect ratio to increase driving vary. Flipping by gentle regen in small German cities for smoothness, kicking into heavy-regen mode for mountain switchbacks, the EQE skimmed by northern Frankfurt suburbs, flung itself round rubbish vehicles and Fiat minicars in passing zones with out fault, and breezed as much as 110 mph on the quick stretches of autobahn the place the slashed white circle on the gauges indicated limitless pace (although it left no room for a top-end 130-mph clip). 

When it’s depleted, the EQE 350+ battery wants 9.5 hours to recharge from 10% to 100% on a 240-volt Stage 2 charger. That point drops to 32 minutes for a ten% to 80% cost on a Stage 3 DC quick charger at 170 kw. As for complete driving vary, the EQE hasn’t been EPA-rated but, however we anticipate it to return in proper round 300 miles when absolutely charged. 

Two different fashions ought to arrive inside a yr of launch. The EQE500 4Matic provides a entrance motor and greater than 100 hp, for a complete of about 400 hp. It’ll pale subsequent to the EQE 53 AMG and its twin-motor peak of 617 hp and 701 lb-ft of torque—or 677 hp and 738 lb-ft with an out there Dynamic Plus Package deal. That interprets to a 3.2-second 0-60 mph in its quickest type, with 250 miles or extra of driving vary.

In all types, the EQE stays mid-pack in pack efficiency, effectively off the blistering acceleration and vary numbers posted by Lucid and Tesla. However, as we’ve discovered, these necessary yardsticks don’t measure the issues the EQE can do higher.

Honed for pace

That checklist of issues can begin with experience high quality. The EQE doesn’t really feel so distant from the EQS in its primary dealing with parameters, however it’s extra maneuverable, extra firmly sprung, and has extra direct and heavier steering than its large hatchback predecessor.

The fundamentals embrace a four-link entrance suspension and a multilink rear suspension each derived from the newest S-Class, with an choice for an air suspension and adaptive dampers. A alternative between rear-axle steering methods presents drivers both 4.5 or as much as 10 levels of steering angle, the latter of which may shrink the turning radius from 41 ft to 35. Base vehicles will roll on low-resistance 19-inch tires, whereas 20- and 21-inchers might be out there.

Configured with Pirelli P Zero 255/35-21s in entrance, 285/30-21s in again, and the adaptive suspension, the EQE 350+ unlocks the in-app poise management the EQS can lack. In its Consolation settings, the low middle of gravity and light-weight, nearly feedback-free steering generates a dreamy experience that leaves numerous wheel journey for scabby pavement—of which Germany has very, little or no. It undulates softly and bounds frivolously on the entrance finish; with a lot weight (within the 5,500-pound vary), it snubs off what little street rash it finds in its homeland with out a lot fear. 

Flip it into Sport mode, and this EQE 350+ snaps a chalk line for experience management, doing all it may to keep up that horizon line. The damping companies up, the steering loses the vaguely related high quality, however neither render it overly agency or heavy on the wheel. Its terribly stiff physique does plenty of the work right here, smothering dissent with sheer mass. 

That may make the EQE really feel like extra of a connect-the-dots driving expertise on tightly wound roads: choose some extent within the distance, press the pedal and hurtle towards it with just a little little bit of wind noise and just a little little bit of tire noise, dip into the regen and brakes, let the mass settle into its chosen groove, then twist the steering dial to the subsequent level on its rocket-launch agenda. Driving it, like driving strongest electrical vehicles, feels one thing like utilizing autofocus on a professional-grade DSLR—nevertheless it’s nonetheless a extra supple and smooth-riding car than any Tesla or Lucid we’ve pushed. 

Large pixels, skimpy head room

At 196.6 inches lengthy, 77.2 inches huge, and 59.5 inches excessive, the EQE strains up towards the Tesla Mannequin S, inside an inch of these essential measures. 

In comparison with the bigger EQS hatchback, it’s not far off, both, because it rides on the identical EVA2 platform. The extra placing comparisons include the gas-powered E-Class: the EQE sits 2.5 inches larger, has 3.5 additional inches of inside room, and sits on a 122.9-inch wheelbase that’s greater than seven inches longer than that of the gas-powered E-Class sedan. It’s bigger inside, Mercedes says, nevertheless it hasn’t produced U.S.-specific inside volumes for a direct comparability.

The EQE’s entrance seats rival these in any upper-end E-Class, with a terrific vary of adjustment and spicy-hot heating for the steering wheel and seats, if not fairly sufficient lumbar assist.

It’s the rear seat that, like that within the EQS, comes up shy on head room. Even below the panoramic roof’s skinny cloth shade, a 6-footer will contact that silky materials even when they’re slouching on the EQE’s deeply pocketed low bench seat. Knee room is ok, however it will profit drastically from a extra laid-back seat again. 

It doesn’t want any recommendation on stellar trim high quality, the place Mercedes’ luxury-EV competitors falls off and the place unlikely badges like Hyundai and Kia mark its actual check. The EQE check automotive offered by Mercedes wore smooth alpine grey paint exterior; inside, a blue leather-based sprint cap with distinction stitching set a superb tone as paired with laser-etched, blue-studded wooden trim and beige leather-based. It’s as on-point for luxurious as Hyundai’s pitch-perfect Ioniq 5 is in its Nineteen Eighties groove.

The protection glow-up

Each Mercedes-Benz security and driver-assistance system might be out there on the EQE, starting from automated emergency braking and adaptive cruise management to blind-spot displays and energetic lane management, and extra. It additionally options car-to-X communication with the flexibility to speak with different autos in regards to the driving situations.

There’s a lot help, the EQE feels extra just like the vanguard of a really immersive assisted-driving expertise than something we’ve been in. It helps out with every little thing, from the automated stops it performs at site visitors lights to the brake maintain it releases as soon as the sunshine modifications, from cruise management that minds metropolis pace limits with stop-and-go management as much as 35 mph. It has energetic steering help to remain within the lane’s middle, and energetic lane-change and blind-spot steering help to push back approaching vehicles. 

It’s not simply in security that it pitches in, both. The EQE has a welter of environmental assists which have begun to knit the cockpit itself collectively right into a coherent zone the place the motive force wants fewer buttons to get snug behind the wheel. Voice instructions can shift the hue of the sprint’s pipes of sunshine: “Hey, Mercedes, change the lighting to white,” it hears, and so it’s accomplished. 

It’s not with out execution flaws. The speedometer sits too excessive on the digital gauge cluster, forcing some tall drivers into choosing a better steering wheel place than they might in any other case like. The pinnacle-up show’s smorgasbord of data could be too brilliant and might chew up an excessive amount of of the imaginative and prescient of the street forward. We solely drove the EQE with the lesser setup, however as we’ve discovered within the EQS, the Hyperscreen atmosphere could be a bit like using in a pachinko machine, with its fixed barrage of colourful, gamer-style info.

Fantastic, however how a lot does it price?

Mercedes hasn’t launched costs but, however the EQE 350+ will include a 12.8-inch central touchscreen with navigation and wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; wi-fi smartphone charging; an automated charging-port door; heated and cooled entrance seats; artificial leather-based upholstery; Burmester sound and satellite tv for pc radio; ambient lighting; a panoramic sunroof; and 19-inch wheels.

Choices will vary from the Hyperscreen atmosphere with its three-screen shows below glass; an air suspension; a surround-view digicam system; augmented-reality navigation; a perfume dispenser; a head-up show; a heated steering wheel and heated rear seats; AMG Line trim; and the 2 rear-axle steering choices.

From our first drive of the EQE 350+, it’s clear that differentiation would be the key with battery-powered vehicles. The EQS has a extra slippery hatchback physique, a barely extra genteel driving disposition, and extra commonplace gear. Pared of some weight and size, however nonetheless outfitted with a lot of the most forward-thinking expertise, the lower-priced EQE—how does $70,000 sound?—could strike many drivers as a greater step into their very own electrical future.  

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Mercedes-Benz paid for journey to Stuttgart to assist us convey you this check drive evaluate.