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Video: 2023 Mercedes-EQ EQE Sedan: Review
By Cars.com Editors
September 27, 2022About the video
The 2023 Mercedes-EQ EQE Sedan has all of the bigger EQS Sedan’s novelty, controversial styling and stunning abilities, but in a shorter, less-expensive package. Come along with us in our first drive of the Mercedes-EQ EQE Sedan.
Transcript
For years German automakers were criticized for the whole design idea of what was casually called, one sausage, three sizes.
That means they kind of made one design of a vehicle but they made it in three different sizes in terms of like a large full size sedan, a mid-size sedan and a compact sedan. Now over the years, the German auto makers kind of got away from that and they went differentiating their models a little bit better. But for the Mercedes-Benz EQ lineup, their all new electric lineup, it seems that idea is coming back into vogue. Witness this, this is the new 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE and if you think it looks like the larger EQS, you're right, it does look like the bigger EQS. The EQS is meant to be the big full sized S class flagship. The EQE is the mid-sized E-class model that sits below that, but it shares a lot of components, a lot of design features and a lot of technology with the larger EQS. So is it different enough or is it just a little bit smaller and a little bit cheaper? We'll come with us and we'll take you through the new Mercedes-Benz EQE to show you just how different and how similar it is. The nice thing about the whole one sausage three sizes idea is that if you like the way one of the vehicles look you're gonna like the way they all look. The design of the EQE is very similar to that of the larger EQS and that's kind of necessitated by its aerodynamics. They're both extremely aerodynamically efficient vehicles. They need to be in order to maximize the range of the electric powertrain. It starts from the front, which has a closed off grill, because why wouldn't you have a closed off grill? There's no power train inside there that requires air or cooling. So you've got a much more aerodynamic front end. Down the side, you've got two arcs, one of them along the belt line, one of them along the roof line. The entire aesthetic is what's called cab forward, meaning you've got a short hood, this really long roof and a very short trunk in the back. This is not a hatchback, this is actually a trunk. The whole idea is that it moves the passenger compartment forward a bit and really maximizes the amount of space that the passengers have on the interior. Is the overall design all that distinctive? Well, it looks fairly different from a lot of other electric cars, but I don't know that it necessarily screams Mercedes-Benz. But again, the nice thing is if you like the way the big EQS looks, you're gonna like the way the EQE looks too. So if it doesn't look all that different from the EQS does it at least drive all that different from the EQS? No, it really doesn't. It feels very much like the larger EQS. All of the good points and bad points really seem to have carried over to this mid-size version of their full electric sedan. Now it is extremely quiet. It is really nice to drive and that it is very calm. It is relaxing, it is smooth. The ride is excellent despite the fact that you've got very low profile tires. But there's a couple of quirks with just the way this thing is designed that make it a little bit difficult to operate. First of all, the driving position, I'm not a huge fan. This dash is so high, just like it is in the EQS, that in order to be able to see half of this digital gauge cluster I have to have the steering wheel up much further than I normally like having it. So I've got this kind of arms raised. I feel like I'm riding one of those monkey handled motorcycles that you see out there. It just doesn't feel very natural. It feels very high up in order to be able to see half of the digital gauge cluster. The visibility out is also a little bit wonky. Yeah, you can see forward into the sides fairly easily but again, this really high dash does kind of limit your forward visibility. But to the rear is really not good at all. The rear window is basically this gun slit looking thing so I can see half of the GMC truck behind me but only the lower half can't see the upper half and I can't see the horizon very well at all either. So the visibility outward also takes a hit. That's really pretty much a function of the aerodynamics of this vehicle. Aerodynamics were key in developing both the EQS and the EQE. It has to be as efficient as possible in order to get as much range as possible out of this vehicle. This is the EQE 350 4MATIC. So it has two motors, one on the front and one on the rear axle for all wheel drive. It makes 288 horsepower and 564 pounds feet of torque and that's good for a zero to 60 shot, Mercedes-Benz says of about five and a half seconds and I believe it. It's not overly quick but it is a heavy car. It does handle really quite well however, and that is thanks largely to the rear wheel steering. You can get up to 10 degrees of rear wheel steering in this vehicle which really makes it feel a lot more nimble than it actually is. It's also really good for like tight handling situations in urban environments or doing things like three point turns. It makes it really a shorter turning circle which really does help in terms of handling. But you also feel it out on these twisties as well, when you're curving through banked turns and it just follows the line beautifully. They really did a good job in terms of that ride and handling balance in this thing. The area that I'm less impressed with just like in the EQS, is the breaking system. They feel very soft and very artificial and if you put the region mode into strong region it actually actuates the brake pedal for you and moves the brake pedal away from where you would expect it to be. So it's already breaking the car to slow it down. When you go to hit the brakes the brake pedal's not where you expect it to be and you hit the brakes a little bit harder. That was a foible with the EQS. It carries over unfortunately, into the EQE as well. The interior in here is nice in terms of most of the materials and design choices, but there are a couple of questionable options such as this top of the dash here. It's in a lighter colored gray and when the sun hits it just right, it basically washes out most of the windshield, which makes it feel like you're driving through haze or smoke. Again, that reflection issue was an issue in the EQS, it carries over here into the same design problem with the EQE. Now, the bigger issue that I have with this EQE interior is actually one that we have with a lot of modern Mercedes interiors and that it is really complicated to use. The multimedia system, all the touch sensitive panels, all the menus. Even just looking at the navigation system there is so much information changing and going on and presented, that it is just difficult to actually figure out what you need to touch in order to do anything. And on top of that there's things you can't touch in the interior, like most of the steering wheel. The only thing you can touch on the steering wheel regularly is the rim. If you touch any of these spars they're all touch sensitive, capacitive touch sensitive controls and you will change something, which is really, really annoying. So it's not terribly easy to use. You can't see out of it very easily. Some quirks, like this driver's side mirror aren't adjustable enough for somebody sitting in my position. I see mostly the side of the car and nothing I do seems to be able to move the mirror out any further. Visibility out the rear not great. Riding and handling, brilliant. Acceleration brilliant. So there's pros and cons with the EQE just like there are with the EQS and whether or not you're able to live with a lot of these compromises. Well, that is gonna require probably a lengthy and extended test drive. If your local Mercedes-Benz dealer will let you take one home for a weekend I recommend doing so because with all of these EQ vehicles there is a rather significant learning curve, just in terms of figuring out how to work everything. I have a feeling that owners once they get things set up to where they're comfortable and they have the settings just how they want them, then it might be a little bit easier to live with. But if you're just getting in one and going, it's tricky. So there are pros and there are cons to the new EQE, just like there are with the EQS. Is it perfect? No. Is it fun to drive? Yeah. Does it have some quirks to the technology that are now present in pretty much all of Mercedes-Benz vehicles? Yeah, it comes with that as well. Now, it will provide a really interesting competitor to vehicles like the Tesla Model S, but really what we're most interested in is what's coming after this, the EQE SUV, since SUVs really are pretty much what people are buying these days. The new EQE will be arriving in showrooms very soon and it's gonna start at right around $85,000 or so. Now, if you'd like to learn more about the new 2023 Mercedes EQ, EQE 350 you can look everything up @cars.com.
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