We've had a few smaller snowfalls lately - lower than average mostly because of the strong El Niño this year. Still, enough to get our roads covered and challenge traction as temperatures dipped way below freezing. On our old GLE, we had a dedicated set of winter wheels with Blizzak SUV tires - truly unstoppable in the snow. Mostly because of the warmer and lower-precipitation winter, I haven't bothered with a set for the EQE SUV this year. That being said, I did have a some opportunities to test the snow performance of both EQE sedan and SUV, and here are my findings, mostly based on SUV:

1. The AWD mechanism creates FAR less drama than an equivalent combustion vehicle. There's just nothing quite like dedicated motors and a nearly-direct drivetrain. The millisecond wheelspin occurs, either side to side or front to back, you barely notice anything. The power train control computer effortlessly shifts traction front to back, and mild ESP/4ETS intervention keeps torque transferred laterally to the right wheels. Just push the throttle, and it just goes. No noises, no lurching, just smooth acceleration. Reduced performance, of course, but it's rather unbelievable how smooth the experience is.

2. If both sets of wheels are spinning, the car actually becomes front biased in its torque output. In the offroad menu, you can see how much motor power is being applied to front vs. rear wheels. Front biasing makes the car handle very nicely - no fishtailing, and predictable performance around corners. Also, ESP doesn't intervene unnecessarily, letting you have very predictable power output.

3. I've heard that the rear axle steering works with ESP to counteract slip. I don't have any visual evidence of it, but lateral grip seems well balanced. The rear axle steering seems to help keep the car from breaking traction around corners, more so than with a static rear axle.

4. A car this heavy would benefit from winter tires in deeper snow for increased lateral grip. There's no way to mask 5700 lbs when cornering. I'll be getting the winter wheel/tire set next year despite the range losses, the peace of mind that you have more lateral grip is worth the cost.

5. The car definitely alters its power distribution and front-axle disconnect profiles when it detects there's been wheelslip. As an example, the car normally is rear-drive on drive pavement, and the DCU disconnects the front axle above 20-40 MPH. However, if there was wheelspin, I've noticed that the front-axle disconnect stays closed for far longer, and the car will apply power to both motors continuously up to 25 MPH before dropping one of the motors (assuming wheelslip not detected again). During regeneration, it'll equally regenerate to both axles to prevent wheelslip - up until it believes that traction has stabilized and DCU can be used again.

6. Even with Maximum Recuperation enabled, wheelslip is rare. However, when regeneration does exceed available traction, I've noticed that the ESP light starts to flash. I'm not sure if ABS is engaging or not when using max regen - the car masks all of the traction issues so incredibly well.

7. I love driving in No Recuperation mode (which ironically maximizes regen after coasting) anyway. However, in low traction situations, it's even better! As mentioned in 6, I haven't seen wheel-slip issues hardly at all with regen, but it's nice to know that I have full control over vehicle dynamics in No Recuperation mode.

8. I know that the car has blended braking - it's amazing how you can hardly tell, if at all, whether you're in regen or friction brakes. Does anyone know if the brake system is fully brake-by-wire, or is there a master cylinder connected? I wonder this because I can't tell if the ABS pulses during braking are synthesized or from the actual ABS pump itself. I can hear it during ABS and during ESP or 4ETS activation, but don't know how it's actually connected.

9. I tried the "Off Road" dynamic profile, but didn't really notice much performance difference in the snow. I did notice that it keeps both motors engaged at all times, to minimize any wheelslip in the first place.

10. If you get the car sideways enough, and the ESP feels that it has exceeded its ability to stabilize you, I've had the PreSAFE Sound activate a few times- sounds like an old TV or radio emitting a loud white noise. Not too loud, but enough to trigger your ear's stapedius reflex to reduce hearing loss during an accident. I'm not sure if this was in combination with the RADAR/camera system thinking something was imminent (it wasn't), or if it was just due to the yaw rate exceeding the ESP's control authority. I'm assuming that putting the car into Sport mode reduces this occurrence.

11. I've read that putting the car in sport mode disables the DCU. That does seem to be the case.

12. I have to say it again, I'm just blown away about how good and smooth the low-traction performance is of this car. They really thought it through. I look forward to seeing how it does with a set of winter tires.

I'll post more if I have any further updates - maybe if we get more than 3" of snow at a time this season!

 

I assume that you have all season tires and not summers.

 

Yes, good catch, I should've mentioned that! Pirelli Scorpion Zero Elec. They're okay. I recently put Continental ProContact RX on the sedan and I think those perform better.

 

I'm going to replace the Michelin HL 275-35/22 PS/4 tires with the HL 275-35/22 PS/4 A/S when my tires get around 5,000 miles on them. The cost of 4 from Tire Rack is about $2250. I've had the Michelin PS/4 A/S tires on my previous E63S and they performed very well in dry and wet. There's not too much snow here in the Winter in Raleigh, but it does get very cold (15 degrees) at times in January. Thanks for the detailed performance review.

 

Well I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one bytemaster. I found my EQE 500 SUV to be absolutely frightening in icy conditions: The stock MOE runflats got hard as rocks. All that weight created a LOT of momentum. And the regenerative braking made me go sideways on black ice several times.

Sure, I could spend five minutes disabling a bunch of stuff every single time I get in my car so it behaves differently but I really have more important things to think about so that's not going to happen. I would not take this car on a winter road trip, even if the EV charging infrastructure wasn't total #$%^.

 

The stock MOE tires are summer tires according to the DOG. Are you using the summer tires in icy conditions?

 

The DOG must be wrong. They're all season MOE tires.

 

I just watched this AWD test for the EQS SUV you might find interesting.

They found that the EQS in Comfort mode was RWD until it detected slip and then sent power to the front. In Off-Road mode, it sent power equally front and back. As far as your questions about the brakes, they are fully brake-by-wire.

 

There are two flavors of MOE tires available, R01 (summer) and R02 (all-season). All-season tires don't do well on ice but are more than adequate in light to moderate snow conditions. What is the brand of tires on your vehicle?

 

Goodyear Eagle Touring MOE-S M+S

Yeah, the perceived hardness is likely just because I aired them up recently when ambient temp was ~35F. When they warm up PSI gets pretty high. I might take some air back out of them even though that'd be underinflated according to the "cold pressure" number on door. They're excellent in wet conditions FWIW, where the three aqua grooves and extra weight really helps prevent hydroplaning.

 

You'll get no disagreement from me when it comes to the OE tires on ice. All seasons have no business being on ice. The Blizzaks that we put on the GLE were just incredible on the ice. Still takes longer to stop, obviously, but it doesn't feel like you're totally out of control. I always put the car into No Recuperation every time I turn it on, just like I reflexively activate Distronic, so it doesn't really take any time out of my day, just one paddle pull.

Ultimately, high weight needs good traction, no bones about it. I was just very impressed with the vehicle with snow performance despite the OE tires being low on grip.

 

This somewhat mirrors my experience, though not quite. I've found that the power transfer, especially when you give it a bit of throttle, is so fast, it really doesn't seem to matter. In the case of the video, the car is also deciding whether to transfer torque laterally as part of the driveway is cleared. His generation of EQS doesn't have the front axle disconnect unit, so the torque transfer is purely software-driven, no clutches to lock up. I wonder if the EQS allows more rear wheel slip than the EQE, or if it was just a low throttle input. Either way, the system works as expected, and once there is wheel slip, the car engages both motors for a period of time before deciding to go back to one motor for reasons of efficiency.

 

With the recent bad weather I also was slipping quite a bit with the Cooper All-Seasons that came with my EQE500 SUV which are only about 6 months old with about 7K miles on them. Talked to the service department about using the winter wheels (255/50R19, Blizzak DM-V2) I bought for my prior GLE550E and both they and TireRack, where I purchased them, agreed they would work on the EQE. With them on now, it's much better driving in snowy/slippery conditions. Always feel safer with the winter wheels especially when the All-Seasons are partially worn. Only issue was that TireRack said I needed special lugs with the wheels for use on the EQE that I didn't need with the GLE. Had them overnighted only to have the service department tell me they didn't feel they were needed and just used the standard lugs that came with the vehicle. The issue I'm having now is that the tire pressure sensors on the winter wheels don't seem to be working with the EQE. Not sure if they're bad as the wheels are a little over 5 years old, but am taking the EQE back to see if the service department can get them to work.

 

Had that exact setup (same wheels, same tires) on our old GLE 300d. I figured the runout would be different, so I traded them in along with the car. Guess I should've kept them! The Blizzak DM2s are absolutely phenomenal no matter what winter decides to throw at you. However, their rolling resistance is insanely bad. On the GLE 300d, it cut at least 5 MPG in highway driving, and in city driving far more. I'm interested to see if the Blizzak LM005s or maybe even Nokian EV winter tires might be close enough in grip but offer better efficiency.

 

I'll give the off-road mode a try next time. Hopefully it distributes power front/back 50/50 like my Genesis did when you pushed the "lock" button (which was all software-based and didn't actually lock anything). It's never going to get used off of a road with the 21" AMG package rims that came on my 500 SUV, that's for sure! The rear ones already have some curb rash from backing into charger locations. But hey, I got 2.5 kwh of juice for FREE while shopping, not counting the $200 in damage to the rim that is. Doh!

 

Will add in another observation here - if ABS or ESP ever intervenes, I've found that the car will enter a quasi-Off Road mode and engage both motors at lower speeds until it feels that good traction has been maintained for a while.

 

After owning EQE for a couple of weeks (our 4th EV), I am surprised that it doesn't have a dedicated snow mode... Our GV60 does and it is rather helpful, locks all wheels, cuts power slightly and disables the regen, which is a bad idea on slippery roads, especially when going downhill, since it's always RWD biased. Certainly not a substitute for the winter tires, but nevertheless...

 

+1 bytemaster--you have summed up my winter experience with my EQE500 SUV on Pirelli's so far. It's just amazing! I've had three opportunities to drive on snowy/icy roads this season and while I'm not blown away by the all season tires--the car does an amazing job compensating for them on the slick stuff. I stopped on my in-laws ice-covered (and steep) driveway to get off the road while I shoveled the rest of their driveway, and when I got in the car to back up the rest of the way the car went up the hill like it would normally. The only thing I noticed was about three icons popped-up on the driver's display for traction/stability, but that is all I noticed--absolutely zero drama on a hill I could barely walk on. Great description on your part and good for new potential buyers (in the north) to be aware of.

 

4MATIC is pretty good but if I still lived in Colorado I would seriously be considering the Polestar 3 as a replacement for my EQE SUV. It has a dual clutch rear motor that does torque vectoring the proper way:

 

Very cool. I do wish MB had proper torque vectoring in most of its 4Matic models. That being said, I'm sure the extra weight and complexity has its drawbacks too. Even the disconnect clutch on the SUVs for the front axle gives me pause. At least the wheel slip recovery with 4ETS seems to be responsive enough, especially on an EV platform, but I agree that active torque vectoring would be awesome for general handling in the twisties and in sticky situations.

 

Those Swedes sleep on ice cubes. They invited the press to a frozen lake to try it out. LOL, now they're just showing off!

 

Polestar is made just about in my back yard, but I never gave it more than a cursory look because I did not want to buy from a car manufacturer with such heavy Chinese involvement.
It has a really unique, fresh appearance.
Sadly, there has been recent news here about financial challenges and ownership "restructuring". So dig deep and do your homework if you're seriously considering Polestar.