580selblack

I have been taking my 580 to the dealer for various warranty repairs and every time they stick me with a gas mini suv loaner. Do any of the dealerships in and around the Bay Area CA provide EQ loaners ?

LasVegas_89135

Here in Vegas, the 2 times I received loaners they where GLB and GLC

Utopia Texas

Though my local dealership is great with service my loaners the last 7 years have always been C Class units. I personally don’t care as long as it moves.

superswiss

Highly unlikely at this stage. I'm not aware of any. Since the loaner fleet is shared among all customers, those who drive an ICE likely wouldn't be happy suddenly having to figure out how to go about their day with an electric car if they've never driven one before, so having a pure ICE loaner fleet makes much more sense from a reservation management standpoint. I've heard some Audi dealerships started to keep a few e-tron loaners for their e-tron customers. They don't give them to ICE customers, but they are limited in their number, so you still might end up with an ICE loaner if all the e-tron loaners are out.

MB dealerships don't even have AMG loaners for their AMG customers. Most times I get stuck with some basic GLC or something. Terrible cars, but for just a few days I make due. Actually I'm starting to prefer using their Uber vouchers as I don't really need a car during the week. My C63 is currently at the dealership to get a stuck button fixed before my warranty expires on May 5 and the appointment was short notice as I just discovered it over the weekend, so no available loaners. They sent me 2 Uber vouchers that cover both ways.

W205C43PFL

Sorry to hear about the stuck button, I am curious what caused it and which button is it because I have read a few cases on this forum.

superswiss

It's the manual transmission mode button. No idea what caused it, because I normally engage manual mode via I* and I also had it mapped to one of the two AMG Drive Unit steering wheel buttons, so I rarely used the button in the center console. I've recently started to use S mode more in normal driving and moved the suspension mode to the steering wheel button so I can quickly put the suspension in Comfort but stay in S, and so I started to use the center console M button and discovered that the spring mechanism failed. I could still push it in, but then it stayed in or only came out slowly. Part arrived today and they are replacing it now. Actually had a similar issue with the Back/Home button on the touchpad, so this is the second time they are replacing that whole thing. Warranty is up on May 5, so it was good timing to discover it.

W205C43PFL

I see, I am sure you don't have juice or drinks in the vehicle so that couldn't be it, I wonder if some sort of glue or adhesive reacted with the heat? I guess same for the steering wheel?

superswiss

Tech note says no signs of outside influence, so they replaced the left button bank under warranty. The other one wasn't the steering wheel. It was the touchpad in the center as well. Also was replaced under warranty.

W205C43PFL

Hmmm, now I am curious how they failed in the first place could it really just be defective or it has to do with the environment (heat/humidity, uh... UV?)

superswiss

Almost seems they failed due to lack of use. As said, because I had the transmission mode mapped to the steering wheel button I almost never used the center console button. Similar for the touchpad. I don't really use the touchpad, so the home and back button also weren't used much. Can't really remember if they ever worked properly from the factory. I wanna say the M button was notchy from the beginning, but it's really too long ago to remember. One suspicion I had was that the disinfectant they sprayed around the interior during COVID my have washed some dust into the buttons. That stuff certainly left watermarks and I had to wipe it down after every service. Glad they stopped with that crap.

W205C43PFL

Hmmm, it is probably lack of use, or caused by whatever they used to sanitize the vehicle that you mentioned.

allsideswater

FYI When I took my car in for service at my dealership (Mercedes Benz of Walnut Creek), I was given a EQS. The guy at the loaner car desk mentioned that they try to give EQ loaners to EQ owners if they are available.

W205C43PFL

I guess the empathsis as others mentioned is that you need to be an EQ owner to get EQ loaners I mean make sense as how it was explained by others, you get used to gasoline you don't want to have to be forced to adapt to an electric vehicle at that time or if you got used to electric vehicle you don't want to force to be adapting to ICE again (although no big deal in this scenario).

AzurSL

We have three MB dealers here in San Diego and at least one of them gives out EQ loaners to EQ drivers. I’m not sure which one(s) do, but I’ve seen a silver EQE with a big “MB Courtesy Vehicle” plastered on the side of it driving around my area a couple times.

W205C43PFL

Hmmm super strange they don't advertise the dealership name as well....

AzurSL

I’m sure they did, I probably just didn’t pay enough attention to look at it. My guess would be Mercedes Benz of Escondido as they are bigger than the San Diego dealership and Carlsbad dealer, and to my knowledge are the only one of the three who plaster the “courtesy vehicle” stuff in big on the side of the car.

W205C43PFL

I see that is probably it then.

580selblack

I was able to work with my advisor and get a EQB loaner. It looks like dealerships are starting to add EV loaners to their fleets now.

BTW love the EQB 250+ .. its quite zippy , nice range and feels very sporty !

W205C43PFL

I see interesting but it is a poor value proposition , at least in North America.

c4004matic

I demoed an AMG EQS. They wanted 156k for it so no disciunt at all. I said no. The payout on my 580 is 60k. I loved the AMG but not for 200 k plus.

J_Boxer

The number of EV loaners a dealership provides is likely proportional to their sales volume for electric cars. Dealerships with a low sales volume of EVs, such as my local dealer, would likely not have many EV loaners available. Ideally, the loaner car should match the vehicle being dropped off, but this may not be possible due to limited availability. As suggested a few times, it would be doubtful for an ICE customer to be given an EV. In all four instances that required a loaner, I was given either an EQS sedan or SUV, except for one occasion when I asked for an S class for comparison purposes. If available, you can always request a specific loaner, and the dealership will likely accommodate it.

superswiss

Interestingly since I last posted in this thread, my dealership is giving EV loaners even to ICE owners now. During the most recent service at the beginning of this year I was given an EQS 450+. I was chatting with my SA afterwards when I picked up my car and he was saying that apparently their dealership sells the most EQS vehicles out of any dealership in the world. Don't know if it's true, but they are located in an affluent suburb here in NorCal, so It's possible. I didn't mind the EQS. Frankly, compared to the usual 4 banger or even S Class they are handing out, this one had a proper throttle response, but still ended up having to drive it in Sport the entire time to be somewhat satisfied. Still wish they had AMG loaners for us AMG owners. I wouldn't mind an EQE AMG or EQS AMG for a couple of days.

c4004matic

On my 580, my "individual" setting is power on "comfort" and everything else in "sport".

JoeMa

I test drove an EQE AMG SUV a few weeks back and it is a rocket ship (617 hp and 0-60 in 3.4 secs.) Being shorter and lower to the ground than our EQS 580 SUV made it feel much more nimble on the curves. You should test drive yourself.

superswiss

I do you one better. I drove the EQE AMG last year at an AMG Winter Driving event in Austria. I had previously driven the EQS AMG 6 months earlier at the Nürburgring. No SUVs for me. We were lacking snow, but there was some frost and they had a skid pad to exercise catching a sudden drift, and some man-made snow. I liked the EQE AMG, but at the end of the day the A45 and C63 were just way more fun. Dynamically the EQE just doesn't hold a candle. AMGs are not known to be lightweight, but the EQ models are just insanely heavy and it's very apparent on a handling course. We did all the fun drifting and sliding with the A45 and C63, because the EQE is just not suited for it. Nice for the occasional twisty road, but just not in the same category as an RWD platform. The A45 isn't my favorite, either, with its artificial drift mode, but it was fun on the skid pad.