Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV Review & Prices

If you’re in the market for a premium electric SUV, you need to be looking at the Mercedes EQS SUV. You’re spoilt for choice in its segment, as the Mercedes goes up against the BMW iX, Tesla Model X and Volvo EX90 that definitely grab the attention.

It’s like choosing a classy Chanel handbag, instead of one from Louis Vuitton, Gucci or Prada – it’s all down to what style you prefer and suits you best.

Taking the styling cues from the EQS saloon, the SUV is effectively a jacked-up version of the high-end cruiser. You have the same large solid ‘grille’ with the Mercedes star and mini logos in the design, but it’s all a bit taller and more imposing.

It also comes with a high roofline that gets lots of glass to help brighten up the cabin, while you get a full-width lightbar across the back – which doesn’t have the most exciting look, much like the other bespoke Mercedes EVs.

Mercedes always does a stylish job with its cabins, so the EQS SUV is pretty swish inside. Large screens, shiny trim pieces and high quality materials are the name of the game here, and that makes for a lovely experience. There are some scratchy plastics on the stalks though, which are quite a let-down in a car at this price point.

Space-wise, you have plenty. The front seats have lots of adjustment, while the rear offers lots of head and legroom. There’s a flat floor for your feet to slide under the front seats and you could easily get three in the back, although headroom at either side may be limited by the roof cutting in sharply.

Practicality is good with the EQS SUV. The 880-litre boot with five seats is considerably better than a BMW iX’s 500 litres, but it’s outclassed compared to the Tesla Model X and Volvo EX90 in five- and seven-seat layouts though.

Take the EQS SUV out for a drive and you’ll find that the premium fit and finish is just as obvious on the road.

The standard air suspension helps soak up most bumps – unless they’re really sharp ones at slow speed – and that allows for smooth, almost unrivalled comfort in town. The electric motors give you plenty of performance out of junctions and away from lights, while the steering isn’t heavy at all.

You get rear-wheel steering as standard to help with manoeuvring and 360-degree cameras and parking sensors as well, so you shouldn’t be bumping into things. But even without the cameras, visibility is great – although the A-pillar is quite chunky.

Out of town and you could easily do a lot of miles in the EQS SUV. The standard-fit seats are superbly comfortable – although only top-spec Business Class models get massage seats. As standard, you get the full suite of safety systems available, including blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist and emergency braking assist.

The EQS SUV isn’t really made for dynamic driving, but with sport mode engaged, body control on a twisty section of road is very good without disrupting ride comfort too much. You wouldn’t class it as exciting though.

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Out of the slowly growing luxury electric SUV market, the Mercedes EQS SUV is by far and away the most expensive. Building on the already-costly EQS saloon, the SUV version is considerably more and outstrips the starting price of alternatives by at least £30,000.

The BMW iX starts around £60,000 less than the EQS – although it isn’t quite as luxurious – while Volvo’s EX90, which is set to be similarly comfortable and luxurious, is around £30,000 less.

Based more in comfort, driving the EQS SUV is pretty simple, although it feels very big in town

In town

Being sat so high up, you get a great view all around you in the Mercedes EQS SUV – bar a rather chunky A-pillar that can block your view over the front corners. You get 360-degree cameras and sensors to help make manoeuvring around much easier, but you can’t help but feel a little nervous when you’re going down smaller urban streets because it’s so wide.

To help with manoeuvring, the EQS SUV comes with rear-wheel steering as standard. That means the rear wheels move in the opposite direction to the front wheels at low speeds to decrease the turning circle – however, the wheels move the same way when you’re driving at higher speeds for improved stability. Having this makes the EQS SUV surprisingly nimble for its size.

The standard-fit air suspension does feel a touch harsh over bumps at slower speeds. Beyond that, it smooths out bumps excellently and makes for one of the smoothest rides you can currently buy. You can recoup energy when braking, and by using the paddles on the steering wheel, you can go into close to one-pedal driving – or pull and hold the paddles to get intelligent recuperation for the best energy efficiency.

On the motorway

Taking the behemoth out on the motorway is where it’s really at home. With its smooth suspension soaking up most imperfections and the comfy seats, hundreds of miles will pass without much disruption – until you need to charge it of course.

You get adaptive cruise control with lane keep assist and steering control, so you can set the distance to the car in front, your speed and then let the miles roll away – it’s such a nice cruising experience.

The EQS SUV comes with two dual motor setups but the same 108.4kWh battery. Whichever one you go for you get great acceleration – the slowest 0-60mph is 6.0 seconds from the 450 4Matic – and that makes overtaking and getting up to speed very simple. Blind spot monitoring helps make sure your path is clear to unleash the SUV’s performance.

On a twisty road

While it’s not a “performance” SUV, the EQS SUV manages to do reasonably well in the twisties. The normal ‘Comfort’ driving mode doesn’t quite give the body control for higher speed cornering, but switching to ‘Sport’ mode does give you less body roll and a sportier experience. It’s never overly firm, just feels more dynamic to drive.

The steering in Sport mode is a bit heavier to make it feel more sporty at higher speeds, but you never get over the fact the EQS SUV is more than 2,800kg.

Even though there will inevitably be an AMG version, this more comfort-oriented version is best at letting you take your time and calmly taking in the twists and turns of the countryside.

You won’t be wanting for space inside the cabin, but alternatives have more practical boots

As it’s the biggest electric SUV Mercedes makes, you won’t be struggling for space in the EQS SUV. You get plenty of adjustment in the driver’s seat, with electrical controls for the steering wheel and seats making it very simple.

Practicality-wise, the EQS does well here too. You get large door bins on either side and a floating centre console that gives you lots of space on top with cup holders and a bin under the armrest, as well as a large space underneath where you have charging ports. You also get a charging pad and further ports under the large central touchscreen for further practicality.

Space in the back seats

Much like the front, rear space is excellent and you get electrical adjustment for the seats to make things really simple. Thanks to the flat floor and only a small hump in the floor, legroom is fabulous, while – even with a panoramic sunroof in place – you get lots of headroom.

Sitting three across the back is quite simple, but the central seat is a little higher than the other two. It doesn’t give quite as much under-thigh support as the outer two, but you’ll be able to go reasonably far without being too uncomfortable.

Storage is quite similar to the front as well, as you get big door bins and decent spots for charging devices. Aeroplane-style folder pockets are on the back of the seats that feel high-end, while you can store longer items with a loading hatch in the middle seat.

Boot space

Compared to its alternatives, the EQS SUV is okay but not special. The 880-litre space isn’t exactly pokey and against the BMW iX’s 500 litres, it’s huge. But when you take the Volvo EX90 and Tesla Model X into account, the EQS is a little outmatched.

The Model X makes the most of the space up front, with 185 litres under the bonnet as well as 1,145 litres behind the rear seats in its five-seat layout. The Volvo EX90’s boot is 1,010 litres with five seats up, though the front is 37 litres at most. Not great, but then again you can’t even open the EQS’s front area without a special technician.

Going for seven seats only increases the rift. The EQS SUV gets 195 litres with all seats in place, the Tesla has 357 litres, while the Volvo gets up to 365 litres.

You can fold the seats down easily enough thanks to switches that electronically fold them down. They’ll go back to their original position by using the switches too. You get some useful underfloor storage for cables and small bins either side.

You get a luxurious cabin with the EQS SUV with large screens, but there are some areas of disappointment

Mercedes always manages to make stylish cabins and the EQS SUV’s is pretty nice too. You get a premium feeling interior with high-quality materials throughout, including leather on the dashboard, door cards and centre console. You also get dark wood on the front of the dash that looks and feels great.

Where the cabin feels disappointing is the feel of some of the major touchpoints. Only the steering wheel feels truly premium with leather and metal, but the air vents and stalks for the drive selector and indicator all feel a bit cheap and plastic – something you don’t expect from a car costing upwards of £130,000.

What’s more befitting of the price tag is the two huge displays mounted on the dashboard. As standard you get a 12.8-inch infotainment touchscreen alongside a 12.3-inch driver’s display, while a crisp head-up display is standard on all models as well. All are customisable to display the information you want.

You can also get the EQS SUV with the Hyperscreen setup, which adds a third screen for the passenger and mounts all the screens into one panel. It does run the risk of reflecting a lot of light into your eyes, but it looks fabulous. If you do get curious about what's on the passenger screen, the car will sense it and dim the screen so you’re less distracted.

If you choose, you can run Apple Carplay and Android Auto wired or wirelessly, but by choosing those to run your navigation, you would miss out on Mercedes’ very swish augmented reality directions. Those are projected on the head-up display of the more premium models and they can be more helpful than map-based navigation.

As the AMG Line Premium Plus and Business Class trim levels are both very well-equipped, you won’t be needing much in terms of add-ons. Mercedes doesn’t offer many packages for that reason, but you can still get authentic Mercedes accessories, such as child seats, different carpets and rubberised mats for the boot.

Being the top-end Mercedes electric SUV, the EQS SUV gets the biggest battery. All versions come with a 108.4kWh pack and dual motors. The only true difference between the 450 and 580 models is the power output.

Charging up the battery pack is pretty straightforward. You can charge at up to 200kW on a DC charge, going from 10-80% capacity in around 30 minutes, while on AC you can charge at 22kW. Charging from a wallbox, going from 10-100% can take five and a half hours.

As it’s not the most sleek car in the world though, you definitely won’t go as far on a charge as the EQS saloon – which has the same battery and motor setup – but you can still go a fair distance. You can do up to 363 miles on the 450 model, while the 580 version can do 364 miles on a full charge. You will have to average 3.4 miles/kWh in terms of efficiency though.

Although the EQS SUV doesn’t emit any CO2, you’ll still need to pay road tax, as the car starts from more than £40,000.

Throughout the EQS SUV line-up you get an impressive set of safety systems. The Driving Assistance Package Plus gives all models active blind spot assist to help spot vehicles close by, active brake assist with cross traffic alert and active emergency stop assist for emergency stops, evasive steering assist and lane keeping assist to help with cruising. That’s an awful lot of help, and that’s on top of the active distance control for the adaptive cruise control system and many other safety features fitted.

The EQS SUV has yet to go through the Euro NCAP safety test cycle. The EQS saloon has though, scoring five stars and performing excellently across the board. It also won an advanced award from Euro NCAP for its Mercedes-Benz Cloud system, which communicates to other cars about the condition of the road when you’ve been driving. You also get ISOFIX points on the rear seats, with the anchor points simple to get to and the door openings wide to get bulky seats in.

For such a premium model, the Mercedes EQS on which the SUV is based has suffered a fair few issues. Recalls have included one for the towing eyes, incorrect materials on charging cables, brake disc calliper failures and incorrect earthing in the charging system – really quite surprising for a high-end machine. These haven’t happened to the EQS SUV, but it’s worth noting if reliability is important to you.

With every new Mercedes, you get three years of warranty with unlimited mileage, while the battery gets a 10-year, 155,000-mile warranty. Mercedes also offers a full service care system and breakdown cover.