My new EQS580 - 3 week owner review
 

I've had my EQS580 for about 3 weeks now and thought I now have enough seat time to post a review. As context, I took delivery of an EQS580 Premium Trim with only one option - the heated steering wheel. While I have a more loaded EQS580 scheduled for production in about 10 weeks, I have been very impressed with the equipment level of the base model, and even in this configuration I find it stands up very well against the competition.

Overall NPS Score: 10 - I would buy this car again and I plan to in 120 days. Nonetheless there is some room for improvement - Mercedes please take notice.

Things I love:
1) Mercedes build quality and attention to detail. This car has incredible attention to detail throughout. Hundreds of neat touches which make the car extremely livable and convenient. A few of my favorites are the AR navigation, the touch-id and face recognition driver profiles, the traffic light in the hyperscreen, the thought put into where to use physical buttons, the detail and design of the door handles. Also the fact that they didn't skimp on a roof blind which is something I have been using a lot and enjoying after driving a Tesla which was often flooded with too much sunlight on a bright day.
2) Hyperscreen and Zero-Layer MBUX. The Hyperscreen is amazing. I generally hate the proliferation of touch screens in cars, and generally preferred the scroll wheel like in iDrive - until now. The Hyperscreen version of MBUX with its zero-layer design is the best car UI I have ever used. I am amazed how intuitive and easy to navigate it is. Also the sheer size of the screen and the giant icons makes it easy to see and touch things without much distraction. The features you need are always within single click reach as shown in photos below.
3) Power delivery. Like all EVs the power delivery is excellent. The car feels fast, sporty, and incredibly responsive. While it is not as fast as my 680hp Panamera Turbo S e-Hybrid, in day to day driving (non launch control) the EQS580 feels faster. Because the power band is instantly accessible at any time. The car also feels really planted. I was driving in 20 degrees using summer tires over the weekend's winter blast, and the car always felt totally planted.
4) Design. The car is beautiful. I am not saying that some aspects of the design couldn't be better, however the car gets noticed and draws excitement. I was at the St Regis in Atlanta for dinner a couple of weeks ago, and people were coming up to the car and taking photos. An older French guy called his son over and was raving about the amazing design. I've had some of my colleagues at work do the same. I even have people come over and talk about how they love the front end (which is not the forte of this design). The Interior design is a true work of art. So are the wheels, the exterior and interior lighting, etc. There is so much design excellence here and more than in any other EV.
5) Handling, steering and ride quality. The ride quality is amazing, and the handling is pretty good. The last time I drove an S-Class for an extended period of time was a W221 S-Class in Germany which I rented from Hertz. I hated that car. It felt like driving a boat. The EQS has that incredible magic carpet ride, but at the same time it feels alive in the corners. The steering is amazing - responsive, sharp, precise. I have taken this car on a spirited drive on a winding country road, and I enjoyed it. It's not a Porsche, but it in Sport Mode it is as good as a BMW 550i. That is pretty amazing. At the other end of the spectrum, in comfort mode it is so smooth. My 20 month old son sleeps better in the back of the EQS than in any other car. I love that. It's an S-Class in Comfort mode and a BMW 550i in Sport mode. Amazing. The turning radius has been mentioned a lot, but I have to say it is also amazing.
6) Configurability. This is normal for German cars, but since many cross-shop this with Tesla, I have to highlight the ability to configure drive modes is quite special and really amazing.
7) Comfort. The car is very comfortable. I already mentioned the ride quality. I don't even have the best seats on my base model, and yet the seats are still excellent. The rear seat has a higher rise than Tesla S and Lucid Air, and as such it is a much more comfortable rear seat and the best of any EV sedan I have been in. The sense of space is also amazing. I installed a Nuna Revv revolving convertible car seat (takes up a lot of space) and even then there is bags of room. The retractable roof blind is a huge convenience that I open and close every day. I like having the glass roof, but in direct sunlight at midday, it is not so cool. I'm still dumbfounded that Lucid has no way to block out overhead sunlight.
8) Very stable software. The Hyperscreen has never crashed on me after 3 weeks. I couldn't say that about my 2021 Tesla.

Things that could be better:

1) Brakes. I have another post on this. The first couple of days as I learned the car I found myself having to slam the brakes a couple of times due to underbraking. While the brakes are large and capable of rapidly slowing the vehicle (the brakes have better braking distance than the BMW M5), the programming of the brake pedal makes the brakes feel laggy and unresponsive. This is caused by the movement of the pedal during regenerative braking. When you turn off regen the brakes are totally normal. I think Mercedes should have copied Porsche and ensured brake feel is consistent. I have got used to it after a few days, but nonetheless prefer a more normal brake feel like in the EQS AMG.
2) Voice recognition. For some reason MBUX Voice recognition does not work as well as on our 2020 GLE. If anyone has any tips on this please let me know.
3) A few Tesla features like walk-away lock, phone key, gps suspension height, and GPS garage door opener. I am not a Tesla fan - i find their cars so basic and under-equipped that even a Ford has more features. But these specific software features are really well implemented and I would love if Mercedes copied them. The phone key and walk away door lock in particular are things I miss every day. I often find I forget to lock the car, and then lock it from the app later. At least the app reminds you.
4) Laggy UI in some instances. There are two instances where lag is evident and i fear the issue may be a substandard graphics processor. One is the red light camera view, where the cars crossing the screen appear to be choppy. The second is when i stream Disney Plus on the web browser and the video is choppy.
5) Audio System. The Burmester 3D is good, but when you are used to the Burmester 4D, then you find this sounds like a Bose or a Harman Kardon in comparison.
6) Side window shades - or lack thereof. Side window shades are not as important as roof shade, so Mercedes did slightly better than Lucid which has the side shades but no roof shade. But it is nonetheless a surprising omission. My much cheaper 2012 BMW 550i had side window shades. I don't understand why the EQS does not - not even as an option.
7) Multicontour massage seats, heated steering wheel and 4-zone climate should be standard even if it raises base price. These features I think should be standard on a $120k car. Even if that means they need to make the price $121k vs $119k they should have done that.
8) Traditional buttons vs capacitive touch ones for seat memory. For some reason I always find myself struggling with the seat memory button. The capacitive touch buttons on the steering wheel work fine, but the seat memories are so closely spaced, that I often get the wrong response.

Photos
1) The car looks very sleek and almost Panamera-like. Maybe not as beautiful as the 2nd gen Panamera, but definitely close and a lot better than the first gen. I get a lot of complements on the front end and the grille.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...8709d6ffbd.jpg

2) The rear end looks best when the light bar is on. I wish we could program Rear-DRL so the light bar is always on when driving like on the European spec models.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...6bcf97a949.jpg

3) Another beauty shot
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...7625641ca8.jpg

4) The Ambient Light with Hyperscreen makes it feel like a Space Ship.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...479e232bef.jpg

4) The incredible Zero-Layer interface. Navigation, with AR Directions Overlaid. At the same time the controls for the Audible Audio Stream are right there easy to reach. The Phone button is also right there and easy to pull up.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...16a8705058.jpg
I love the phone menu is so large and easy to click. You don't get too distracted trying to press the right name.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...63b9ee9baa.jpg
CarPlay is gigantic, and they have used the extra space to fit more stuff on the split screen view.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...6752254d67.jpg

Great review! Coming from ICE panamera - do you notice more road noise in comparison to highway/ city driving because of a lack of ICE noise? There is a certain ride quality I have gotten used to with the luxo-barge ICE , I currently drive. Getting excited to take delivery soon.

No I don’t notice more road noise. I think it is quieter than the Panamera. The Panamera was also very quiet but you could hear tire noises on rough pavement highway sections. On the EQS you don’t hear much. I don’t even have the acoustic package which I am buying on the next EQS.

Fantastic review, stealth.pilot. I'm very surprised to find out that there are no side window shades. That's the case even for the pinnacle trim?

Great review @stealth.pilot Got AMG Wagon from M-B of Atlanta Northeast last May.

How about review of that "mini" Jeep EV in Garage?

​​​Thanks and looking forward to write ups on future EVs for Son who might transfer to Tech after starting Computer Engineering next Fall at KSU...not an ICE fan like his Pops.

Yes it is. No window shades in any US configuration. I don’t know if European models offer it.

That's great! Sounds like your son is thinking ahead!

That Mini EV Jeep in the garage is actually quite good. Was a gift form his grand parents. It is for driving off-road in the back garden. It can go up hills too. 24V, AWD, Quad 45W motors, top speed of 7mph which is pretty good for one of these kid cars. Also has self centering steering which a lot of these cars don't have. Remote controlled of course.

Thanks for the credible review. Thanks in particular for the braking comment. That seems to line up perfectly with pro reviewers comments. Also appreciated the handling comparison to the S Class. When one was been tested on the Mercedes track during an early review, they drove a S Coupe beforehand and as you say it was a complete boat in comparison to the EQS. Looks good in black shined up.

Thanks for the review stealth.pilot. I’ve had mine for about 4 weeks and agree with everything you wrote. Especially the missing “Tesla features”. Until I had my first Tesla I didn’t realize how convenient those features were and I remember wondering why they are not on every car.

I’ve had one MBUX crash and it was while driving. The driver display stayed on but the other two rebooted. Car drove fine so no real issue.

I think at least your MBUX crash demonstrates a degree of resiliency and redundancy. With my Tesla Model Y I sometimes couldn’t even start the car until the computer was rebooted. And in other instances, with no screen I had no instrumentation, no parking sensors, etc.

The brakes definitely feel different, coming from an M550i, I would agree. However, they do stop well. I have been in a couple of urgent sudden stop situations in traffic, and they performed very well. The feel takes some getting used to. I have no idea if they can be programmed differently to feel differently, but I do know that I have full confidence in them. The review was great, mirroring many of my thoughts. The EQS really is a marvelous car.

Kids
 

Great Gift from his Grandparents! Your Son has found the way...better hide the keys to your EVs in the near future! From an early age both my Kids were Tesla fans which was perplexing since I always had at least 2 GM Muscle Cars in the Garage since they showed up. Finally lost my Employee Discount 3-years ago when GM kicked all Legacy Hughes Aircraft Folks off the program. Knew I was getting a pay raise when Daughter graduated MIT last June so ordered AMG Wagon for my troubles. My Son is at least reasonable...in addition to his love for anything Tesla his dream car is THAT McLAREN! After wife's 2020 CRV AWD Hybrid kicks the bucket will let the family drive around ICE Pops in their Electric Vehicles...

Awating next installments of your EV experience especially with the next 3 in the pipeline!
​​​​

Wow. Your kids sound amazing. Huge fan of MIT.

It's interesting how kids develop these tastes. My 20 month old is also a huge fan of Tesla. Over the holidays we were at the rental car place in Fort Lauderdale renting a car and he ran to the Tesla and got inside. And my wife could not get him out. He refused to get into the BMW X3 that we rented. We had to strap him into the car seat kicking and screaming. His other favorite brands are Jeep (he just likes the look), Lamborghini and Porsche. He has just become a Mercedes fan thanks to the EQS, but his favorite Mercedes is the AMG GTR Black Series - he's always trying to get in that one when we visit the dealership. It's great - I can leverage his expensive taste to motivate him when he goes to school.

Try no regen it should be the most normal feel. Let us know.

I'll give it a try tomorrow. I have not tried that, because I usually run in normal regen, and toggle to strong regen for one pedal driving in traffic. But, for you, I'll give it a try!:D

I 6 try that setting since I really liked auto and left it there. In auto its seems prescient. It is since the radar decides the most desirable setting depending on the radar info.

Yea, I gave Auto an honest three day trial. Hated it. Don't like the coasting feeling (feels like no control, although I know the radar is active....didn't like it's reaction time), would rather use the normal/strong regen the way I'm doing. To each his own. But I will try the brakes tomorrow in no regen mode, and report back.

Probably because you're EVknowledgeable . Im still ICEified for me, no deceleration is what I expect. ​​

Stupid question but how do you put it in Auto? I have Strong, Normal and No Regen. Is Normal = Auto?

Hold any of the paddles for a few secs. The display will show D auto.

Normal is where you have nothing next to the D. It is normal regen. There are 4 settings for regen: Strong, Normal, No Regen, and Auto.

I would say brake feel is best in normal or no Regen. However even in those modes it is too weak for my taste. Also in those modes you lose range. I tend to drive in Auto which is probably the worst for brake feel, but it is also the best overall driving mode once you understand how it works. I have learned to live with the brake programming, I just wish it was better.

Great review. I'm glad to see your able to at least enjoy an EQS of any kind as I know you have been waiting extremely patiently anticipating your custom order.

​​​​​​ regen is the Actually, no regen is the thriftiest mode for highway driving (or so Ive heard). The car is so aerodynamic it can simply coast ridiculously long distances with zero power needed regen interferes with the coasting savings. In fact, that's why auto uses no regen when there is no traffic. Take it as you see it. I do not know how true that is.

BTW, Im getting pretty darned jealous I can't be figuring this stuff myself.😡

You don’t have long to wait now! Hopefully!

Most of my driving is city rather than highway which is why I prefer Auto. The coasting is amazing, but the regen is needed at times too.

The intelligent Auto mode is actually pretty amazing.

My sense is the reason they made the brakes this way is the same as why some cars have a soft throttle pedal. It leads to more efficient driving behaviors. It ultimately helps the Range by motivating you to use regen by braking more lightly and earlier. In my Tesla I tended to brake later and use less regen because the brake pedal felt normal, and so I used braking in a normal way.

I'm consistently getting >4mpkWh using normal regen, and toggling to strong regen and using one pedal driving in heavy traffic. Not sure how much more efficient it could be. I agree the coasting is amazing, almost weird. It freaks me out, because I don't believe the radar response is quick enough, and then the brake feel is strange. I just want more control, not ready yet to trust all these driver assistance programs. Admittedly, the way I do it makes the car feel like a sports car with a manual transmission, using the gears to help braking. I like that. YMMV.

4mpkw is actually quite good. Hwy driving should be about 3. City driving should be the thriftiest given the constant use of regen. If there is one thing the EQ is a champ at it's regen. The 580 can max out at 290 KW.​​​​​​​Another thing Im curious about is how the 450 and 580 differ in regen "feel". Its not possible that they "feel" the same. The 450 is doing all the regen braking with the rear axle while the 580 proportions both. Inquiring minds want to know......

That's pretty amazing efficiency. I get a lot less.

OK. So I tried the braking with no regen today, and you are right, it does feel the most normal of them all. And coasting is absolutely amazing.....so much so that it is scary!. I have gotten used to the brake feel now in normal regen, and totally trust it. I will continue to run in that mode, except for traffic, where I will continue to use strong regen and practice one pedal driving. I only got 3.2 mpkWh on the way to the golf course this morning. No traffic, doing the speed limit most of the way with Spring Break here. However, heavy traffic again on the way home and I again got 4.5 mpkWh using strong regen. This is an amazing city car, especially since you are doing all this in such comfort and quiet. I would suspect the 580 would be amazing in traffic as well, although I'll bet MB modulates the feel of strong regen for the twin motors? Would love to drive a 580 to see how it compares.

I finally got an update this morning. My EQS 580 is on the Sirius Highway vessel on the way to Baltimore. The ETA to Baltimore is March 24. The general manager is guessing that I'll have it either at the end of this month or early April. Can't wait!

When did your order?

Originally, I ordered way back in June but I think the system didn't really confirm the build until early October.

Maybe Ill get lucky......🤞

Ok. At the risk of :beatdeadh, I'll post just one more mileage experience. Today I played golf, which I do 5 days a week. The golf course is 22.6 miles Northwast of my house. I drove today, in no traffic, at 70-75 mph into a strong NW wind of 20-30mph to the course, at 53 degrees ambient temp, and got 2.7mpkWh, one of my lowest readings. So, slick as it is, headwinds make a huge difference in mileage. I drove home in traffic, using strong regen as usual, downwind, 68 degrees, and got 5.0 mpkWh, my highest reading ever. Crazy what existing conditions do to an EV. OK, I promise, I'll stop now. :D

What is the elevation change between your home and the golf course?

Not sure, probably not more than several hundred feet. Pretty flat to there. Seems to all revolve around morning vs afternoon temps, and traffic. High speed, low traffic runs where there is no opportunity for regen are not nearly as efficient as lower speed, heavy traffic runs with warm temps and the frequent use of strong regen. The wind usually is SE....todays strong NW wind just added an extra element of variability which I though was interesting.

No worries these are all good data points. And yes indeed climate conditions, in particular head or tail wind will make a significant difference. We must remember 108kw is about the same energy as 3 gallons of gas! If you take into account the thermodynamic losses of an ICE engine (about 60%) its still only about 5 gallons total. The best hybrids in the market provide around 50mpg. With that efficiency all you would ever get is 250 miles on 5 gallons. Sooo not bad at all! Again the EQS, despite being a big lardass provides 92mpge!

FYI. Just heard from my nephew who’s girlfriend works for the company that owned the car carrier that recently caught on fire and sunk. Fire apparently started with a Volkswagen ID 4 sparking and the crew tried to extinguish it and seal off compartment but they didn’t have the proper equipment to put the fire out and it spread to other Volkswagens. She said now insurance companies are balking at insuring the carriers with electric cars because they don’t have the necessary equipment to handle electric car fires. On a positive note said WWL is continuing to ship cars now but who knows what the future will hold. Just what I need. I’ve been waiting forever already for my 580 and don’t need any further delays.

That could be a problem for the EQS down the road. I sure hope not, though.

Damn, that is great man!

I have a new ETA to Baltimore for my EQS 580. It was stuck at a Belgian port (ZEE BRUGGE) for days. The new ETA is April 1. The good news is that it's now on its way to Baltimore. There are no other planned stops. I'm following the progress on a map.

Double

Temper your hopes.....After arrival in port it can still takes weeks before delivery. Hope for a week, but expect up to a month🥺

Underway doing 16.6 knts off the coast of Dover. I also tracked my previous S class cars from Germany to Baltimore. Once the carrier gets far enough offshore I had to subscribe to a satellite based AIS tracker to follow the ship across the Atlantic. I’m planning on doing the same when my 580 order finally gets to production.

I was told by the General Manager at my dealer that's no longer the case (That use to be the case until a month or two ago) since this was already done near the port in Germany. He said that it now only takes 1-3 days at the VPC. I'm hoping that I'll have it by about April 10.

My EQS AMG arrived in Baltimore on the 14th of March and is still there, hoping it gets on a truck to Pittsburgh in the next few weeks, my dealer said could be a month or more. Keep your fingers crossed BeanTrader, that is all we can do! 🤷🏼‍♂️

Having looked at this for another couple of weeks, i'm wondering if elevation change is the difference. There is a 550ft elevation increase to get to the golf course. I've had wind from both directions, cold and hot, and both traffic and no traffic both ways. But, try as I might I cannot get better than 3.2mpkWh going to the golf course, but regularly get 4.3-4.8mpkWh coming home. No mileage difference, similar ET, and average speeds. Any other thoughts?

My thought is it has to take more energy to get a 2 ton car up 550' elevation gain than it does going down, plus are you using regin going down the hill?

560 ft will make no difference at all. Furtheremore, if you take the same route up and down its effect will be mostly offset by the "down leg" of the trip.

Over 23 miles the 550 foot elevation change certainly seems imperceptable. I probably do use strong regen a little more on the trip home, because afternoon traffic is usually a little worse, and I use that in traffic. Happened again today, 3.2mpkWh goiing, 4.8 coming home. AC on full each way, traffic about the same. Hardly used strong regen at all either way. It's interesting. Wish I could explain it.

Though the uphill trip is no big consumer, the downhill lets you enjoy a lot of "gliding" thus requiring very little energy.

I own a 2020 E53 Cabriolet, the brakes work great! My 2021 S580 the brake feel, well, like I'm wondering how hard to step on it to stop, kind of spongy. When I test drove a EQS450 I didn't feel that but can't remember what regen mode I was in? I was told the brake pull away only happen on max regen, I guess I'll wait another 8 to 12 weeks to see when my EQDS580 gets here.

My Subaru has both side window shades and sunroof shade. Come on Mercedes.

So does the BMW i7. I don’t know why they missed this. I’m sure some here will make excuses for them though.

I well recall a '60s Fiat I owned that had double front window sun visors, when most far more expensive cars didn't.

Sometimes it takes other brands time to catch up on innovation. However the frustrating thing here is that it was a step backward to leave them out. If they wanted to save cost or weight, they could have just had the manual side-window blinds. Those do a perfectly good job. It is not necessary to be electric. But leaving the functionality out is a miss.

It was due to supply chain issues. I have no idea but just offering an excuse. :)

Great review Stealth!