So, I've been "ping-ponging" back and forth between the Lucid Air and the EQS. I have a reservation on the Lucid Air and was "convinced" that was what I wanted. But, after watching almost every Lucid youtube review, I'm feeling it doesn't have the smoothness and quietness that I'm looking for - especially at that price. So, I've turned to the EQS as a possible purchase. I've never had a MB car before - in fact, I have never even ridden in a MB car. After reading/watching almost every EQS review, I'm feeling the EQS will meet my expectations on smoothness and quietness. And after the recent Edmunds "real-world" driving distance test, I'm encouraged the EQS 450 will exceed it's EPA rated distance.

So, my real question - and I realize there is no exact answer for this question - how do you think MB will do on EQS quality and reliability - both short and long-term? For those of you that have been long-term MB owners - how has MB quality fared when releasing new models? Unlike Tesla, I suspect EQS fit and finish will be stellar. I suspect MB has a lot riding on their first EV...so I gotta believe they don't want to garner the reputation of poor EV quality and reliability. I also realize not everything will be perfect - so I'm accepting some of that. Sorry for the open-ended question.... but I'd like to hear others thoughts on this. Thank you, Dave

 

Dave - there are folks here with far more M B experience than I, and you will probably see a wide variety of answers, a few of which may even be relevant.

I bought my first Mercedes in ‘71 and am now driving probably my 6th, whilst awaiting delivery on my 7th - an EQS450+.

I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever about the quality of my incoming EQS.

Nothing more needs to be said.

 

I am in exactly the same boat as you, going back and forth between Lucid Air and EQS 580. Have orders in on both. We have owned S class and GLS and absolutely have no doubts whatsoever about the quality of the upcoming EQS. MB will definitely not bring a car forward unless it meets their internal standards that are among the highest among legacy carmakers. The allure of the Lucid is the potential of the car in terms of groundbreaking EV tech and really great design. But like you, while I had high expectations, it is slowly becoming evident from early user posts that they are after all still a startup and the Lucid UI, in particular, is really not a finished product despite all of the hype. The lack of basic features that I am accustomed to will really frustrate me. So I am back leaning towards the EQS. The only thing that would push me back to Lucid is if the MB dealers really take advantage of us and the purported dealer markups of $30-50K become a reality for the EQS 580. I will not sign up for that.

 

As someone who's family has primarily driven Mercedes since the 80's, the quality short term will be great. Mercedes is known for its build quality. As for long term, we're kinda in uncharted territory. Most of the common issues with Mercedes typically involve the powertrain. But with the electric drivetrain, that shouldn't be much of a problem. Also Mercedes are giving a 155k miles/ 10 year warranty for the battery so that should give you some peace of mind (also longer than the Lucid warranty).

Depends on the car, but for the most part engine issues are typically the major fault part of any Mercedes my family has owned. 2014 S550 after 122k miles the turbo broke and would have required the engine to be replaced. 2020 GLS, 48V battery issues after 20k miles (seems like a common cause as everyone I know who owns this car or any Mercedes with a 48 volt battery has this problem). But for the most part, my family typically trades in their cars after 80k miles and we haven't had any problems.

Haven't had many electronic problems. But my only concern is after watching reviews of the 2022 S-class and EQS is the door handles appear to have some gremlins. But those should be fixed with a software update.

My family will be getting the EQS in a few weeks and are really excited about it! After test driving the S-class and EQS, we found the EQS to be the better car (Although the S-class had more comfortable seats and cheaper AWD option). Also definitely better than the Model S

But for you, I would do a few things.
1. Test drive the EQS and decide if you want it. My family was originally dead set on the S-class, but after driving the EQS, they changed their mind almost instantly. The Mercedes dealership near you should have a demo car available for test drives.
2. If you decide to get the EQS, find a dealer that won't have ADM on the car.
3. If you decide to get the Lucid, wait for them to build 10k cars before buying one. This is a new car from a new manufacture. After 10k cars, the number of manufacture defects are a lot less than the ones before 10k. Also you'll be getting a car from a startup that doesn't have a customer support network. Despite the air being an impressive car, if you have a problem, you're going to have a hard time getting it fixed. Mercedes has 383 dealerships. Tesla may have their problems, but they have more than 120 service centers (and it's mobile service providers). Lucid, at the moment, has six service providers (3 in CA, 1 in WA, 1 in AZ, and 1 in FL) and no real mobile service center yet. If you don't live near one of the service centers, I would reconsider.

 

Thank you for all the comments/input. I'm excited to become a first-time MB owner!!

 

Lucid do have a groundbreaking car right out of the gate, but it’s a start up with an uncertain future, many competitors, an extremely tight job market severely limiting the ability to find good people, and virtually no dealer network to support you long-term. I would worry about buying into that until they have a few years under their belt. Mercedes quality and durability are matched only by Toyota, and as mentioned they have a very extensive dealer and parts network, with over 100 years experience in producing millions of cars.

 

I’m going to provide a different pov.

I had the privilege of test driving both the EQS and the Lucid Air DE in the same week.

interior:

the interior of the Lucid Air beats the EQS hands down. The EQS had a lot of plastics throughout. It disappointed me quite a bit, I was expecting an interior with materials very close to what my Taycan has. Instead, there was a lot of that quasi-plastic/leathery material that feels and looks terrible, the roof lining was really cheap as well. It was clear MB has taken a lot of off the shelf parts to put in here.

Lucid on the other hand, had really nice premium materials throughout. Everything was nicely covered, Alcantara and leather throughout. There were no cheap plastic pieces we could tell, and the few that were plastic were very high quality (like the hidden door release handle was plastic hidden behind leather and alcantara).

(As an aside, Lucid seems to have a real actual massage function as opposed to the typical one MB has. Feels more like a massage chair then a typical car one)

the drive:

This is personal preference. Both handled very well. The MB felt very “floaty” and while we felt a lot of bumps we could not “feel the road”.

The Lucid felt significantly more connected to the road. Handling felt closer to our Taycan, but not quite sports car level.

The Software:

MB impressed us here. We were expecting much slower and buggier then we saw, based on our Taycan (yes, different companies, but both are legacy).

The software seemed to work well overall, albeit a bit laggy.

Lucid definitely has a way to go here. It was smooth and pretty, but missing several items we expected to see (such as satellite maps) However, I fully believe Lucid will do extensive OTA updates like Tesla does. MB I am assuming “what I see is what I get and it will never change”.


service:


MB you will deal with dealers. If you like that great, if you don’t, you have no choices here for official warranty service.

Lucid only has a few service centers, but is prepped for mobile service throughout the country.
I fully expect their service to be similar to what Teslas was when they only had the model S, which was great. The service quality fell off a cliff at Tesla when they added the 3 and Musk decided he would run the entirety of service himself.

(Note Tesla quality has always been garbage, but their service at least was good at one point in time)

 

Can you comment on any differences in outside/road noise? I also saw a Lucid review video where you could significantly hear the whining sound of the electric motor - that might bother me (don't know yet). I sometimes drive between Texas and California and really want a car that is quiet and smooth. I really need to test drive a Lucid...I just hope I can before my reservation needs to be turned into a real order.

In general, I'm not worried about Lucid being a new company - I'm more than willing to run with that risk. I live in Houton and Lucid is almost finished building a service center here - so that would help with service items.

 

I found the road noise louder in the EQS. It was lower in the Lucid.

Note: The sound system in the Lucid was impeccable. We could not hear any road noise with it even on its lowest volume. MB was better then our Taycan and worlds better then Tesla, but not quite as good.

 

Thank you.

 

Road noise is subjective unless you are using a decibel meter to compare which I have not seen in any reviews. The MB has an infrared laminated safety glass option which is recommended for warm climates and should reduce road noise. Code 596 for $1010. I have it in my EQS 450 which has been sitting in Sindelfingen for a month now with no boat assigned.

 

Yes...I will add that option if I order the 450.

Quick question - should the MBUSA website build match what the dealer is quoting me? The dealer says they sell at MSRP...but their price is $1,325 higher than the MBUSA build price.

 

Look for delivery charge missing.

 

Buy a Lucid and good luck with service support and to find a repair shop in case you get in a accident. They barely have enough parts to build those cars, imagine if you need parts to fix the car. Also be ready for a very very premium charge on the insurance because they have no idea how expensive will be to have a Lucid fixed.

 

How do you track that?

Edit: Figured it out

 

actually, my insurance is quoting me about 50% more for the EQS then the Lucid.

(I’ve done a lot of digging on the two cars, I’m leaning more towards the Lucid, but I’m still following both)

 

What about motor whine? That was a issue for me with the base Taycan that I drove. Loved it otherwise.

 

The whine of the Taycan base bothered me quite a bit though it wasn't that loud. You couldn't make it go away on the highway. It sounded like differential whine. So if you are used to Mercedes quiet it will bug you. I hope that is not the case with the Lucid because I am kind of a fan as I am of the Taycan except for that.

 

I really like the Lucid, but I'm not someone who's willing to take a risk on a first year company, especially in regards to service and/or parts availability. If you have a minor accident with the car you could very easily be screwed. Like someone else said, waiting it out is likely the best idea.

 

Watch this Lucid Air test drive video - you can hear the whine in the beginning of the video -
BTW - the guy that bought this Dream Edition is asking $200K plus for it at his used EV dealership.

 

I don’t notice any whine in either vehicle. Then again, I’ve been driving electric for years. We have had the Ford Focus Electric (crap), Model S (lemon law), Model 3 (sold to sister), and the Taycan.

Taycan drives the best of any of them from a sporty point of view. Lucid felt the best general driving. EQS felt the most “floaty”.

I think a lot of the decision also comes down to risk tolerance. Do you want to support a new company with breaking edge tech, and the same creative minds behind Tesla? (Albeit without Musk being Musk) Or do you want to go to a legacy company that has been around for decades?

Im most likely going for the next gen and the company building everything from the ground up. However, that is tied to my willingness to be on the bleeding edge. If you are more risk adverse, the EQS is the choice


ninja edit: If anyone is seriously between the two, post on the Lucid Forums also, there are two of them. Posting here will edge heavily EQS as this is an MB forum, Lucid forum will go heavily Lucid, but posting at both will give you information from both perspectives.

 

So I am really talking about on the highway. I didn't hear it on the video but that could be because it was masked by the road noise and maybe the Taycan is quieter in that regard such that the whine comes through. I kind of expect some whine accelerating and decelerating.

 

No idea on quality but I would undoubtedly lease an EQS especially the first couple years. Mercedes will work out whatever tech gremlins exist, which I am sure will be many. IMO EV's are more appliance like.

Can't speak to the Lucid vs EQS but I sat in an EQS lat week and must say it was very nice. Mercedes nailed it, Tesla is levels below. Personally I find it nicer than new S interiors well. Quality is not the same as past S class cars but that ship has sailed, we may never see that level build quality again.

 

Yes...I only heard the whine at low surface street driving - not on the highway.

 

I expect the EQS will have fewer "gremlins" than any other "premium" EV out there simply because aside from the platform proper, most of the rest of the car is based on stuff that comes from other MB vehicles that are otherwise mature tech
Air suspension, MBux, etc. Even the electric drive systems have been developing in one way or another for about a decade in hybrids and so on. Electric cars are much simpler than ICE cars, you rarely see complaints about EVs that leave you dead on the side of the road, most of the complaints are about bugaboos with the non drivetrain accessory electrical systems which is also true of modern ICE vehicles.