The Mercedes arrived silently on my driveway.
Big, shining in obsidian black metallic and luxurious.
I looked for the chauffeur. There wasn’t one.
This appeared to me like a car that you should be driven in, rather than drive yourself.
It took me a little while to adjust behind the wheel. The seat and steering wheel can be moved easily in any direction. The seats were so soft and luxurious leather. The wood facia is walnut. It oozed quality. The guy who delivered the car showed me some of the controls.
The ‘gears’ – well ‘Drive Park Reverse’ are on a column control to the right of the steering wheel which wasn’t immediately obvious, and you press the end of the column to engage Park. This proved to be slightly problematic later.
On pulling away at first it is a little daunting as you can’t see the bonnet at all nor the tail of the car. Whilst I accept the car is governed by gismos to warn you, I think I prefer to see the parameters of my vehicle particularly as it is so big. As I drove it more this became less of an issue, but I did notice the length when I parked at Morrisons and the rear over-stepped the bay by a good few feet.
The first 60-mile motorway drive to AA HQ was effortless. Perhaps too comfortable if you were feeling tired although it does have sleep awareness kit to keep you awake. The car floated along in comfort mode without trying but had some power if you needed it.
The Mercedes EQS charging at the AA's new Autocentre in Dartford
On the M3 there was a shower of rain and I instinctively pushed down the lever to the right of the steering wheel to switch on the wipers. Alarmingly I had pushed the ‘gear’ level into neutral but thankfully the dashboard told me what I had done so although the vehicle slowed a little, I was able to pop back into Drive. However, it did take me a couple of minutes to locate the wipers, which hadn’t come on automatically, which I eventually found on the tip of one of the levers on the left of the steering column, but you can’t see the wiper sign when in the off position. I thought I had checked out all the controls prior to departure but obviously not the wipers on a sunny day. I do think there is a case to generally keep controls in different cars in similar positions and I’m not convinced putting the ‘gear’ stick on the steering column is the smartest move. However, Mercedes aficionados tell me that Mercs are consistent in their positioning of right and left controls.
Views on the appearance were mixed. Some loved it. Others thought it looked too big. Some just thought it was a Mercedes which I guess it is. Others said they wouldn’t dare to drive it. But it is one of those cars that grows on you and in the end, I was sorry to see it go.
The car does have some unique features such as when you reverse the back wheels turn and the Mercedes badge on the boot pops up to reveal a camera. The manual tells you that you are not allowed to open the bonnet. Luckily our Patrols do know how to do this. As you can’t open the bonnet the screen-wash access is via a letter-box panel on a front wing.
What fascinates me here is that I have written this review without saying this car is electric. As we drive more and more great EVs, the more we accept them as great cars rather than great electric cars.
But as we are talking electric, according to the Mercedes website, this car has a range of 407 miles. I didn’t drive it long enough to know if that is 100% accurate but it is still very impressive to have such a long range on such a big car.
In conclusion, this is first and foremost a high-quality luxury car and that is reflected in the price. It is technology on wheels. It is a Mercedes. I suspect some S Class fans may well make the switch especially as the range is so reassuring. But for me it is an EV for motorcades and chauffeurs but perhaps not for everyday driving.