Previously all-BMW owner and most recently a 530e + Kia Niro EV for errands, so well acquainted with EV life.

Issues:
1. High wind noise at 75MPH+, much louder than I would expect from this car. Worth checking out?
2. Why the heck are the wipers so strongly pressed against the windshield? Effective but there's so much force it squeaks loudly and almost struggles to wipe. Also the lowest-sensor setting is still way too fast.
3. The headrest plastic casing on the backside of the passenger side is not assembled correctly and rattles horribly, will take this in to fix.
4. The bluetooth mic quality is abysmal, will need to have this serviced and checked, it's almost impossible to understand on the receiving end and there's static.
5. The 360 camera has failed to start up from park twice. This is a software issue and can be immediately resolved by holding down the power button on the screen for ~5 seconds for a soft reset.
6. The DAS has failed once at ignition, with cruise, lane-keep and front collision detection all throwing warnings, powering on/off did not resolve. Self-fixed the next day.
7. The rear camera unfolds itself when coming to a stop (stop sign/red light, etc.) for no reason every other day. I've found other similar posts pointing to "calibration" but there's absolutely no need or reason for this to happen so consistently.
8. The lack of speed-variable volume settings for media. Combined with the wind noise on freeway, I have to consistently manually increase volume at high speeds, then lower. Very basic feature.
9. Cannot activate active lane-keep unless in cruise mode. This is against convention of all other DAS-enabled cars I've driven.
10. The rear middle seat is like a torture chair. The firm hump from the cupholder/armrest causes immediate back pain for me.
11. Poor ventilated seating performance. Loud and low airflow, without AC-powered cooling. Does nothing to help cool you down when the cabin is hot.
12. Cumbersome to switch between the various driver displays, you can assign a shortcut to the back button but would prefer the ability to quickly cycle between favourites
13. No rear sunshades or handlebars?

Pros:
1. Impressive ride and build quality other than specific issues above. Decent handling although would prefer more responsive/stiffer pedals.
2. I like the look and design of both exterior and interior, LED lighting, generous trunk space and rear legroom.
3. MBUX is very responsive and Android Auto integration is great. Still iffy on the touch-heavy controls though. Loved the BMW iDrive.
4. DAS lane keep is very good, may be the best I've ever used. Although in slow stop-and-go situations, the acceleration and deceleration are jerkier than other offerings and not very comfortable.
5. Very good Electrify America free charging offer and ~100+ KWH charging speed is great.
6. Rear-axle steering is a game changer. The turning radius and ease of parking is unbelievable. I thought this would be a gimmick but it's not.
7. Great panoramic moonroof.

Overall, I am enjoying the car. The local dealer was blowing these out so it's a great deal as well. I would recommend with the expectation that some of my complains can and will be addressed at some point.

Oh, and would not recommend the gray interior. The light color fabric is EVERYWHERE on every surface and gets dirty with the lightest touch.

Month 3 Update:
I have not gone to the dealer to address any of the previous mentioned issues yet. There was OTA MBUX update, couldn't not see any functional changes, hopefully it's more stable.
1. The upper back ventilation on my driver side stopped working. Absolutely no air comes out of it, but the bottom seat still does. I compared this to the passenger seat. Although the airflow is so subtle, I'm beginning to question if it ever worked.
2. Consistent rear camera calibration / opening is still an almost daily annoyance.
3. MB is absolutely selling detailed diagnostic data. My rear wheel took a nail and is experiencing a slow leak as of a couple of days ago. I did not search on any phone/computer about flats, tires, etc. and I am getting tire repair suggestions on Youtube. Awesome.
4. The Mercedes Me app on Android has no way to force a refresh on the car info while you're in it. Every time I get a notification for door unlocked, etc, I go into the app and it'll be 100% out of date information. The only workaround is to swipe force close or use the back key and confirm the "Are you sure you want to close..." and relaunch. Immensely poor experience and annoying.

Other than that, still okay! LOL

 

Thanks for the review. Fellow Kia Niro EV owner here. Real curious about the noise resolution as you know the Niro EV's are not the quietest on the road and would expect the EQE to be substantially quieter. Also how does the behind the seat cargo volume compare? What is your consumption rate?

 

I complain about the noise on the EQE but the Niro has by far the worst road noise at freeway speeds I've had LOL. If I'm comparing it to that then the EQE is totally fine but I'm holding to a higher standard. My 530e was whisper-quiet.

Rear trunk space is almost double the Niro I would say, plus a huge underfloor storage (think four full shopping bags).

 

I'm getting around ~360WH/mile or 2.7miles/KWh, Niro gets me more around 3.1/3.2

Although most of my driving is ~75-85MPH on a hilly area so consumption is higher. Range is ~260-280 miles without babying it.

 

That's pretty good for the EQE all things considered. We got 4.4 yesterday at 67 MPH. Pretty level all the way.

 

Yeah I am seriously thinking about adding some sound deadening to the Niro. Let us know if there is any improvement on the EQE.

 

Posted to the wrong forum. There is a dedicated EQE SUV forum now. If you repost there I will add my impressions.

 

Nice review, @toastedcoconut1 . I've driven Distronic for several years while, so I'm not used to any steering assistance (lane centering) without engaging the full adaptive cruise. I think MB is trying not to confuse people about which system is on and which isn't, I'd assume. As for the active lane keeping assist, which is lane departure prevention, that remains active for me at speeds above 40MPH regardless of whether or not Distronic is activated. On my sedan, I also had the rear camera opening automatically for a while - with our GLE, the "calibration" process works, with my sedan, it seemed to stop happening (or I stopped noticing) after a while. I wonder if there is some condition that causes the car to want to use it, whether for parking assistance, rapid camera deployment, or something else. Would be interested to know what causes it. My dad's X294 also had Distronic and related systems shut off once, restarting the vehicle solved it. Usually this happens when a RADAR system finds an "implausible" condition.

 

I solved my wind noise issue by bending a trim piece slightly. You can see in pic driver's side still sticks out a little further than passenger side. I didn't want to risk breaking it by bending it further by hand. Still get a little noise from sunroof area but it's really very minor now. Probably wouldn't even notice in an ICE car.



Driver side


Passenger side


Area I bent in a little

 

Yes, I mean the active steering can't be turned on without adaptive cruise. The lane departure assist is always active as expected.

 

Thanks, I will go check later

 

BMW used to allow this, but my current BMW and I believe all the newer ones don't allow this any more.

 

Oh and btw the contract for Electrify America states 30 minute charging sessions and 1 hour cooldowns. It will disconnect you at the 30 minute mark but I've never had an issue or have been charged by just unplugging and plugging the cable in again to continue charging.

 

Today powered on the car and was welcomed with all the icons on the dash flashing; 12V battery malfunction service required; active brake assist inactive; blind spot inactive. The icons (dangerously) wouldn't even show me the currently selected gear during its warning cycle. Then it would calm and repeat the warnings every ~30 seconds. Tried resetting MBUX, powering car off completely, locking car, restarting, no effect. Between the 30s intervals, got the car into gear to drop off my daughter at school, warnings galore the entire way.

After I returned to the car, all the warnings disappeared and the car was back to normal.

Second time now in 3 months of ownership this has happened on a cold start and self-resolved later.

I'm really glad I only lease these cars sometimes!

 

MB are at a critical point as the EQ line could be considered as critical to their future and reputation. These cars are loaded with technology that does not appear to have been "hardened" from extensive lab and real world usage. They are likely not alone with this challenge.

The hope for those of us with long term ownership expectations is for the issues to settle down. There does not seem to be widespread reports of issues, which is strange, but that is hard to assess from just posting here. The second expectation is for multiple recalls to address problem that we have not yet experienced and taken in for service. I would not be surprised to have three or more recalls over the next two years. These recalls could be for software updates or hardware components, but it would not be a surprise if they were all for software.

 

@toastedcoconut1 , sorry to hear about the issues. Could be something as simple as a 12V battery being weak for some reason. I'm sure you've considered going to the dealership, at a minimum one would hope that some codes have been written to memory. Please let us know how this plays out, and I hope dealership can help you out on this one.

 

Thanks further review on the list of pros and cons. I am probably going to change from my current Tesla model X to the EQE suv 350. It sounds like the self driving capabilities of the Mercedes and the tesla are very similar. I test drove the EQE and agree that the Mercedes gripping of the steering wheel is much nicer than the jiggling of the tesla we wheel to avoid the self driving warnings. (I am not very happy with the new Tesla's that now have a cabin camera watching)

I am trying to figure out the connectivity of the car especially when it comes to media/music. Currently in the tesla I used tune-in radio to stream music and sports talk radio. Does the Mercedes offer anything similar? Also the tesla had conductivity through, I believe, the Verizon network. After a certain number of years one could choose to continue Tesla premium connectivity for about $100 a year. I instead use my mifi or phone to tether to the car. This allows me to continue to stream music or use the web browser. I do not use the web browser a lot, but do stream audio. What does Mercedes use for connectivity? Is it unlimited are only for a certain time? What are people using for media in the car?

Right now I am looking at getting a 2-year lease. Mercedes seems to have a large stock of EQE and is giving very good least deals. This allows me to try the car, and since I enjoy technology gives me the option to change to a new tech in a couple years. I do plan to test drive a Lucid this weekend before coming to a final decision. Has anyone compared the EQE to the Lucid which seems to be similarly priced?

Thanks for any insight or thoughts

 

When I was still contemplating road tripping in a non-Tesla electric I came close to buying a used one. Think it was one of Out of Spec Dave's videos on YouTube that convinced me otherwise. To put it in a nutshell: if you think Mercedes' software is a little buggy drive a Lucid for a while and in comparison it'll seem rock solid. Dave just posted a video 22 hours ago saying he sold it.

 

A few months ago Mercedes lowered the residuals on 2-year leases. That made 2-year leases a lot less attractive compared to 3-year. I'm not sure if they've changed that recently but definitely compare the two. Check on leasehackr for deals. General consensus there is that the deals aren't that great right now.

Regarding media streaming: TLDR: don't bother with Mercedes streaming and just use CarPlay.

Mercedes streaming sucks. They have two services, "Internet Radio" and "Online Music" but that only gets you access to the apps/services and doesn't include data to actually use the services. There's an annual Mercedes Me Connect subscription that includes the first two services for $150/year with the first year free. So you'd pay $150 to run the app but need to tether to use the app. And on that, Mercedes doesn't seem to have a way to automatically connect to a phone's hotspot, you'll have to go through the search every time you turn on your car. Or you plug it in every time.

The apps themselves are also not great. I never had great success with the Tesla apps for TuneIn or Apple Music but the Mercedes apps are even worse. It's the only way to use Dolby Atmos spatial music but other than that, there's no advantage to using the built-in apps.

Myself, I use a combination of CarPlay and USB stick. Podcasts and news streaming over CarPlay lets me keep all that in sync. Mercedes Me voice control also works with playing playlists from my USB stick.

 

You can actually tether your car to your phone for Internet without using Android Auto or Car Play. In the settings, you can tether with WiFi or Bluetooth to your phone. Works well. I have my car associated to my home WiFi network, to which it connects until out of range and then 4G radio kicks in. MBUX also has Tune-In radio, which works. Need data from phone or WiFi or pay for services. Agree that using phone with Android Auto, etc., is a better experience, though I actually rarely use it. MBUX map is far preferable to me.

 

I'd be interested in hearing exactly what you like about it. It seems to think I need to know where all the gas stations and ATMs are located, even though I can't pay at EA or EVGo or any other public EV charging station with cash. It also keeps telling me there are stalls available and pre-conditioning my battery only to find out that the 1/6 "available" really means 1/6 broken and there's a line for the other 5. I find Waze and PlugShare vastly superior and wish they integrated better with my car so I could use their navigation to precondition my battery. But maybe I'm missing something super fantastic about it...

 

I mean, it's likely an example of "to each their own", but consider that I'm coming from various generations of MB map interfaces. I'm used to them. GMaps has come down in usability for me lately - it is of course my go-to on mobile, but the layout while driving is less reliable, not great with space usage, and is missing key information that is so much more apparent on MBUX for me. As for the charging station availability, it has been rock-solid reliable for me. A few weeks ago, it marked an entire station offline. Reason? Software upgrade on EA's side. Fixed a day later. I found that any time there are availability differences, it's always originating from EA's data feed. Think about it, MB has no way to get the data without EA (or other provider)'s data feeds about which stations are available. With that one EA station software upgrade as an exception, it has always perfectly kept me up to date on charger availability. I've road-tripped across KY, to TN, and to Chicago in the last few weeks. All have displayed without error or confusion, at least for me. Google Maps' integration with EV charging stations is pitiful - I'm really shocked at how bad it is for a $trillion market cap company. At best, it's an afterthought. Plugshare is a rather shoddy, half-usable app. It works well enough, but route or trip planning and any kind of strategy planning is an exercise in frustration. It's great for crowd-sourcing charger reliability, and I use it as such, but otherwise, I rarely open it. I haven't had a trip go wrong in over 7k miles with MBUX yet, and as station reliability and prevalence improves, that's only going to be more positive. You may say "sounds like a fanboy talking", but to that I'd say that I had ABRP and Plugshare running in parallel with MBUX for the first month or two of road trips. Eventually, I just stopped using the apps because the experience built in was just better. All of this with a big grain of salt though, as it's only my experience. Maybe our charging network up here in KY is reliable overall, or maybe there are other issues from where you may be, but it's been a solid experience so far.

 

Thanks for the discussion. Now a silly question from a possible nubie what is MBUX?

I've always assumed that the supercharging network will much worse than Tesla just because of their lead in infrastructure. I have heard issues with the FPL stations on the turnpike here in Florida.

I do not do a lot of distance travel, but I am glade to here that at least in part of the country people are having good experience outside of Tesla. I am sure with time it will only improve.

It sounds like the best option would probably to pay about $10 a month for a Spotify or Pandora account and just use car play.

Thanks for the info.

 

Not a silly question - it's the name of the interface for infotainment/navigation. Upcoming cars will feature MBOS, which will be MB's first entirely in-house developed system. MBUX is currently provided by a third party, but it is generally well received by users and reviewers alike. Some won't like it, others do. I certainly do.

And yes, chargers have improved. The last time I had a failed charge was in early June. I think the extreme negative publicity got some of the providers off their *****. Every DCFC experience for me in the last 3 months has been positive. I know there are regions in the country where that is not the case, but maybe it's a good sign.

 

A question on your long road trips: do you plan/document the route ahead of time using a smartphone app with stops for charging/rest/meals, or do you just start off in the car and put your destination into MBUX and let it plan the appropriate stops?