- The 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV is the latest model in the Mercedes EQ electric lineup.
- It has an optional third row that allows seating for seven and, in the dual-motor EQS580 4Matic version, has 536 horsepower.
- Mercedes hasn’t released an official range rating for the EQS SUV, but we expect it’ll go at least 300 miles per charge.
Mercedes is finally ready for the world to meet the 2023 EQS SUV, the third model on the automaker’s dedicated battery-electric EVA2 platform after the EQS and EQE sedans. Because obedience to aerodynamics forbids anything like the grandiose form factor of the GLS-class, the EQS SUV looks more like a svelte but stout wagon. Think of this as an EQS sedan and then some.
That starts with output. The single-motor, rear-wheel-drive EQS450+ SUV makes 355 horsepower, 26 horses more than the equivalent EQS sedan, and 419 pound-feet of torque. The dual motors in the EQS580 4Matic SUV produce 536 hp, 20 horses more than in the comparable sedan, and 633 pound-feet of torque. With an already prodigious benchmark in the EQS sedan, we suspect the SUV’s accretions will be too meager to be felt in the seat of any banker’s slacks.
What will be felt is the extra room inside, packed into a shell that’s not too far off the sedan’s, sizewise. The five-seat EQS SUV’s 126.4-inch wheelbase is the same as the sedan’s, but the SUV’s body is 3.4 inches shorter, at 202 inches. The roof stands 8.5 inches higher than the EQS sedan, at 68 inches, but front-row headroom with the panoramic sunroof (standard for the U.S. market) is 0.6 inch more. Compared to the ICE-powered GLS SUV, the EQS SUV is three inches shorter in length, its roof sitting 3.8 inches lower.
Optional third-row seating makes this the second all-electric EQ sub-brand vehicle that can carry seven, joining the EQB on the water polo team shuttle run. The second row can slide five inches, and the backrest moves forward to ease ingress to the third row. Mercedes hasn’t given a legroom measurement for this ultimate pew, but the automaker does not advise the same 5’4″ maximum height recommendation here as it does with the EQB. We were able to slide our hale 5’11” frame into the third row during an EQS SUV walkaround in Germany, but we wouldn’t want to be back there long.
Load space in the five-seat version ranges from 23 to 31 cubic feet behind the second row, and the middle bench seatback can incline 14 degrees forward to make room for bulky cargo without having to be completely lowered. The seven-seater tops out at 28 cubic feet with the third row down. If you raise the last row, shopping-bag space shrinks to seven cubic feet.
Battery specs for the 12-module pack in the floor hew to those of the sedan: 107.8-kWh capacity, 9.6-kW onboard charger, 200-kW maximum DC fast charging speed, 31 minutes at full juice to get from a 10 percent to an 80 percent state of charge.
As Mercedes continues to fine-tune the production model, engineers are not yet ready to offer a curb weight, coefficient of drag, or range figure. The U.S. EPA rated the EQS450+ sedan at 350 miles on a charge and the EQS580 sedan at 340 miles. Figure a small drop from those numbers for the SUV because of the less slippery form factor and likely greater weight.
When we got a shotgun-seat ride in a camouflaged prototype a month ago, Mercedes showed us the Off-Road driving mode but wouldn’t tell us much about it. It will only be available on the EQS SUV, not the sedan, and is limited to trims with 4Matic all-wheel drive. Developed for the few times the EQS SUV finds itself on an unbeaten track, the Off-Road settings raise the SUV up almost an inch, a feature Mercedes believes might be useful “for steep driveways or speed bumps.”
We think the variable ESP settings will do more good. In the Off-Road mode with ESP on, the EQS SUV limits wheelspin on wet ground; with ESP off, the vehicle permits the kind of copious slip necessary to trudge through sand.
The 2023 EQS SUV hits the market later this year, with pricing to be announced closer to launch.
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Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
