Mb12388

I just got an EQS 450+ the other day and so far have mostly positive impressions. I've had an electric car for over 6 years (Model S and most recently a Model 3 Performance), so I'm not new to electric, but I am new to Mercedes. I definitely wanted the 580, but it was just much easier to come across a 450 at this point and not pay a ridiculous markup. I'll probably go more into detail on the negatives, not because I don't like the car, just because I think the positives are already well known. The car is awesome and I have no regrets so far.

The Good:

• Quiet - Coming from a 2018 Model 3 Performance, this was a big reason for wanting an upgrade and the EQS does not disappoint. There is some noise on the highway (maybe the optional glass lamination can further reduce), but it's very minimal. The sound system is also great and you can actually hear it without having to turn the volume up too loud.
• Smooth - Much smoother over bumps. I think I felt a little motion sick at first as the car feels more like a boat in the way it absorbs bumps, but you get used to it.
• Seat - The seats aren't the most comfortable, they are a bit too firm for my liking, but the massage is great and definitely worth it.
• Lights - The EQS is best at night. Interior LED lighting is great as are the headlights. It's a little annoying how many features of the headlights are locked in the US, but hopefully they can unlock some of that soon given recent legal changes. You still get a cool startup animation sequence and projections onto the roadway (for example if you're veering out of your lane it will project an icon on the road or if you're doing an auto lane change it will project an arrow showing you where you're going). I feel the headlights are a bit too low for my liking, I'm not sure if that is adjustable at the service center, although my understanding is they are supposed to be auto leveling.
• Being able to open the hatch with a kick of your foot!
• Rear Wheel Steering - Awesome!
• HUD - The HUD is very large and I believe the optional augmented reality one you can get with the 580 is even bigger. At night it can be a little overwhelming and get in the way, but time will tell if I will get used to it or just disable it at night.
• Parking Cameras - They work well although I will say I get overwhelmed between all the options you have between the different camera views, sonar warnings, etc. It will take some time to get into a routine of which tools to use for different scenarios, but there are a lot of options, which is good.
• Lots of other things.

The Not so Good:

• No walk away locking doors - I believe this is actually the case with all Mercedes, but it's pretty lame. You have to manually touch the button on the door handle or use the key fob/app to lock the doors rather than just having them automatically lock when you walk away from the car. I'm sure I will get used to it, but it's still pretty annoying for a car in 2022. The app will notify you if you've left the car and the doors are still unlocked (although the notifications are not sent consistently and sometimes are very delayed). It also means if you aren't locking your car when it's in your garage, you'll get a notification every time. I really like how in Tesla you can just set it to not lock when you're home and every other time you leave the car it will auto lock.
• Missing location triggers - With Tesla, you can have the mirrors auto fold/unfold and the garage automatically open/close when you arrive at or leave home. At least there are physical buttons for the garage/mirror folding, but it's still something they could easily add to software. They do have the ability to automatically turn on the parking cameras at certain locations, so hopefully they can just add it in a software update.
• No phone key - Another big benefit of Tesla and BMW (which is even better with native Apple CarKey) is never having to carry a physical key fob and letting your phone act as a proximity key automatically. You can even carry a credit card shaped keycard in case your phone ever dies. I think Mercedes may have this with some models so possibly it could be added as a software update.
• Dimensions - The car is huge, but it is manageable especially given the rear wheel steering and parking cameras. The length takes some getting used to, especially making sure you are not sticking out of a parking spot or about to close your garage door on the back of the car (tennis ball or parking cameras can help). It is also difficult to get a good driving position. If you have the interior assistant option it can automatically set the seat and steering wheel positions, although when I did this, it had my head a millimeter away from the roof (I am only 6 foot). It was tough to find a good seating position where my head was not hitting the roof or the steering wheel was not blocking the driver screen. If not for the driver screen, it would probably be a lot easier to find a good position. The good news is if you cover the top of the driver screen with the wheel, you're covering the current speed and speed limit and you can have those shown in the HUD. The back seat has very little head room. I tried sitting back there and my head hits the roof.
• Driver Assistance is mostly pretty good. It's not quite as good as Tesla. It definitely loses the lanes occasionally and will start to drive you off the road especially around curves, but it mostly does a good job. Unlike Tesla where there is a lot of resistance in the wheel and if you go past that AutoPilot is disabled, you can provide manual steering corrections pretty easily without disabling the system. The wheel is touch sensitive so it doesn't require continuous jerking the wheel like in AutoPilot to avoid being nagged by the system which is nice. There is no way to easily turn off the automated steering. There is a button on the wheel to turn cruise control on/off, but if you want only cruise control and not steering you will have to go into the MBUX system to turn it off, which is not the safest way to handle it. With AutoPilot you are always choosing whether you want just cruise or cruise + steering (by pulling the lever either once or twice) which is handy when you may only want to use cruise control on backroads, for example. There are no audio cues indicating whether cruise/steering is being turned on/off so it will take some getting used to. You do have feedback in the HUD, which is handy.
• Recuperation Setting - The car resets to normal recuperation unless you have selected the intelligent recuperation. I much prefer strong recuperation since it is the only way to get a good one pedal experience, which is one of the big benefits of electric cars. I honestly find it a bit unsafe that it resets every time since as soon as I start driving and let my foot off the accelerator, the car starts flying down the street since there is not much regen being applied. It's nice that you can change it with the paddles on the wheel so it doesn't require a bunch of touch screen presses and hopefully I'll just get into the habit of pulling the paddle as soon as I start the car.
• User Profile - When you get in the car it always asks you to select a user profile. If you only have one user profile, it will select it automatically, but it takes 30+ seconds before it actually selects it if you don't manually press it every time. Is there some other option I am missing? I will be the only one driving this car, please just turn on with my profile without the long delay. I even put the car in reverse, it showed the parking cameras, I put the car back in drive after I pulled out of the space, and the screen went back to the profile selection, still waiting.
• Start/Stop button - Very minor, but I much prefer just tapping the brake pedal to start the car rather than having to push a button.
• Software Updates - This is not actually a negative so much as an unknown. Mercedes claims the EQS will get over the air software updates, but who knows how often they will actually do it and how many will require dealer visits. All of the negatives I have with the car other than the dimensions can be solved with software updates, so I really hope Mercedes will refine the car experience and not lock enhancements behind newer model years.
• There are a bunch of things in the User Manual that I don't seem to have, I'm guessing because they are not available in the US even though the manual says nothing about it being region locked. There is supposed to be remote parking, where you can use the app to enter/leave a parking space, as well as memory parking, where you can record a parking procedure on private property and it can replay it. I don't seem to have those settings in my MBUX.

hlothery

My user profile comes up each time, but I only have one programmed. A quick scan of my fingerprint, and the car audibly and physically welcomes me back and all is well. It takes only a few seconds to do this. Have you programmed in your fingerprint? That might simplify the procedure for you.

Mb12388

I actually disabled biometric/pin protection hoping that would make things faster. There's not much difference between touching the fingerprint scanner or touching your profile on the screen, I just want it to select it without me having to do anything. It's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, it's just clunky and doesn't add any value. Going from Tesla, where it's sit down in the seat, hit the brake and you're good to start driving vs. sit down in the seat, hit the brake, push the start/stop button, tap your profile on the screen or touch the fingerprint sensor, and then you can start driving.

StormingHabs

Agree with pretty much all your “negatives”, especially since I’m coming from 5+ years of driving Teslas. The start-stop button is completely unnecessary in an EV and the lack of auto-locking when you walk away has caught me out a few times.

With regards to the profile I agree but what I do now is to push Start and immediately touch the fingerprint sensor which works really well, it’s almost instant at that point.

I’ve gotten used to the regen paddles and while I always switch it to Strong when starting the car, I’ve realized that using Normal on freeways make for a much smoother drive. The ability to easily switch modes is growing on me.

superswiss

I'm guessing this might have changed with all the biometric doodad they added, but earlier models had a setting to control whether you want the profile selection screen to come up every time the car is started. I have that turned off in my car, since I'm also the only driver. There are technically two profiles. Yours and guest. I also thought you can setup face recognition in lieu of fingerprint or does that require another option? Thinking that with face recognition it would recognize you as you are sitting down and quickly select your profile.

hlothery

I use normal recuperation most of the time, but in traffic I always hit the left paddle and switch to strong recuperation, and enjoy the benefits of one-pedal driving, and the energy generation is provides. Never having driven an EV before, I don't mind the start/stop button, the fingerprint scanner, or having to lock the vehicle. I actually enjoy having to actively participate in the process. YMMV.