I was in the neighborhood and stopped by my Mercedes dealer to see if they had an EQS, and it turns out they did. An EQS580 spec'ed the same as the one Doug Demuro drove, same color and wheels. Got to sit in it and try out the tech, really look at it in person next to a W223 and as luck would have it, a W222 CPO which was also in the showroom.

First off, the elephant in the room...the styling. I don't hate it as much in person as I do in pictures, but it is still not an attractive car IMO. The size of it helps its presence in person, but it doesnt look as long as an S Class nor does it have any regality to it the way an S Class does. It doesn't look like $125,000 (or with the markup on this one, an eye watering $169,000). Both my salesman and the manager there I know (he also drives S Classes and is similar in age to me) thought similarly. When you look at the S Classes (both the 223 and 222) they look like they are clearly flagship $100k+ Mercedes, the EQS could be $60k when you look at it. But, with that said it has grown on me in person some. Nowhere near enough to buy one.

Inside...one thing to understand is this is not an S Class peer, regardless of what Mercedes may say. Material quality inside is clearly a step down from the W223 (which has some areas that are a step down from the W222 but not many). The S Class has real leather on the console sides, door armrests while the EQS does not, its stitched imitation leather. The EQS also has numerous areas with hard plastic, such as the rear of the front console, where those areas are all soft touch plastics or stitched imitation leather or real leather in the S Class. The sunvisors in the EQS are hard vinyl like they are in cheaper Mercedes models, not fabric or alcantara covered like they are in the S Class. The kick plates and sides of the flooring areas are all hard plastic vs carpeting in the S Class. Seating in the EQS is not as comfortable as the S Class, and the interior is not as spacious front or rear, nor is rear seating anywhere near as spacious or comfortable. Door openings in the rear are small. In short, the interior reminds me much more of an E Class than an S Class, both in size and quality.

The hyperscreen is awesome, but the dash is very tall which makes the car seem narrow and the dash almost doesn't feel automotive, it feels more like what you would find in an airplane, very tall and heavily slanted away from the driver. Sitting in my driving position, the dash is considerably taller than the top of the steering wheel. The console is also very tall and reminds me of the floating console in the Gen III Prius. The new active ambient lighting inside is AWESOME. The functionality and quality of the displays is awesome.

All in all, its just never going to be a car for me...it lacks in too many areas inside on the quality front and those things would always hop out at me being accustomed to the S Class and the LS, the shape inside and out is just too weird also. Getting into the W223 afterwards just felt way more appealing and attractive, and even moreso getting back into my W222.

 

Out of curiosity, was the EQS the top-of-the-line Pinnacle trim? If not that might explain the more hard plastics.

 

The comparison was with a base interior S500 W223, so even so the comparison holds up. The basic interior on the S Class is superior to or at least equal to the upgraded interior on the EQS, and some things like the lower footwell cladding and the rear part of the console won't change with options, much like the E Class S Class comparison

 

Thanks for the info, I'm not surprised in the slightest.

 

With that said, if you really want the EV powertrain then these drawbacks can be worked through, but I don't want the EV powertrain enough to do that.

 

That's pretty disappointing. Weird how none of the reviewers even touched on this.

 

Any pics inside and out?

 

With those tall dashes, screens and accent LEDs lighting up in your face, many new cars have such poor visibility, they are downright unsafe for urban environments.

 

I think if you weren't really accustomed to the level of quality in an S Class you likely wouldn't notice.

No, there was another guy there looking at it too, so I didnt get any pics. Essentially, it was the same car as in Doug's review it was just a 580.

 

The ambient lighting was also at the very top of the dash, where in the W223 and the W222 its much lower on the dash

 

did you take it for a drive? I too agree on the styling, the S class always has that executive presence the EQS just looks out of proportion and not elegant at all.

 

No, I didn't ask them to let me drive it. Its the only one they had, it was in the showroom on a platform and with the huge markup I didnt want to put them in a position where they felt like they owed me a drive.

Reading some of the reviews from people on MBWorld they say they find the ride much firmer than the W223 also...which surprises me given the reviews. This is from someone who has had their EQS one week:

 

Most of them don't drive or own a car of this tier. They are blind to the fine details and focus on the shiny new bits and screens

 

well then, that settles it, the EQS sucks.

not feeling a great deal of objectivity in your comparisons.

for better or worse, the W222 design is over. the W223 will stick around for 5 years or so, and it will be done. i would imagine the EQS will evolve some, either towards the W223 or in another direction. the EQS may or may not do well, but it's clearly important to MB and wasn't lightly conceived and executed so a lot of its essence isn't going away any time soon.

 

Haven’t seen the new EQS in person yet, but the more I see these blogs and videos, the more and more I find that I do not like the exterior as I once thought. What really dampened my enthusiasm for the EQS is when MB released the images of the smaller EQE. I also find that the blogs seem to want to just "like" the new EQS because its an EV and I feel as though they would likely dislike the vehicle if it were a gasoline model.

On the other hand, S class looks great on the exterior for the new generation.