A true luxury car stuffed with amazing tech … at a price, of course.

Price: $310,900
Powertrain: Dual motor electric, 484kW/950Nm, all-wheel drive, economy 23kWh/100km.
Vital statistics: 5223mm long, 1926mm wide, 1520mm high, wheelbase 3210mm.
We like: A true luxury car packed with leading edge technology; cheapest AMG ever to feed. 
Not so much: Coarse chip degrades an otherwise eerie refinement.

AFFORDABLE electric cars are coming, but it’ll be a special day of rejoicing when the magnificence that is the EQS reaches the budgets of lower income buyers.

In the meantime, those few who can afford to entertain ownership can be assured the big, big buck outlay – a sobering $310,000 for the car as provisioned on test – is buying a heck of an experience.

Within the electric sphere alone, this car is something special; a moment in its maker’s illustrious history setting a true standard. If not wholly for technical excellence – because there are some very clever players out there – but for prowess in engineering, design and quality.

The other ‘S’, (out of America, if you didn’t already guess), that was such a popular go-to for extrovert big spenders just a few years ago, is utterly humbled in the Benz’s company, I suspect.

The most remarkable part, perhaps, is that its a taste of the future buyers can still choose to ignore, if they want to, because the fossil-fuelled S-Class this car is designed to replace is still in circulation.

That won’t always be the case, but at the moment, when there’s no clear picture about when fratricide will occur, it’s quite something to see the two cars together. Both are giants, clearly, because the S-Class always has been, and each puts good argument for selection.

Really, with EQS, it’ll come down to desire to be seen in a front-footing car. In respect to what it does, and how, it’s a solid presentation in most respects.

If you imagine the biggest, most affluent Benz car being employed mainly for swishing around cities, with occasional imperious long-distance open road forays, then the car wed to a future-proofed tech and feel-good of being powered by a home grown, mainly Green energy source that’s abundant and cheap holds its own, no argument.

Sure, life with a big battery – and, at 107.8kWh, the EQS’ is among the larger types – demands a different approach. The positives of plenty of energy and smashing performance delivered with a seamlessness beyond any combustion engine drivetrain is undeniable and massively attractive. 

Yet there’s no denying it also imposes. A battery adds weight to a car that’s always been a hefty proposition, and while that doesn’t seem to degrade the oomph, it does in this instance influence.

Replenishment demands patience. Though the battery technology and the AMG-specific power management cleverly draws as much energy as is available in as quick a time as possible, a 400-volt system offering up to a maximum charging rate of 200kW will seem a bit slow for those who have familiarity with 800-volt systems. Really, though, it’s just another of those increasing count of EVs caught short by an incomplete support infrastructure. Hyperchargers are its best friend, but so far they’re restricted to between Auckland and Taupo, so there’s a lot of New Zealand where the optimal choice will be a 50kWh commercial unit. Using those is not a total faff, but you might want to bring reading material.

Downtime on the plug allowed opportunity to take in the car’s design and features and to discover more about the wondrous 55.5-inch Hyperscreen, an enormous touch-operated digital space combining three separate displays spanning the entire console that wows not just for look but also the capability, as it majors on artificial intelligence.

The driver display is a 12.3-inch screen showing all relevant driving data, the second 17.7-inch central display is for the main media, navigation and infotainment controls. The third 12.3-inch unit mounted on the passenger’s side of the dash is potentially of least important, as it functions primarily as an adjunct interface for the front seat passenger to use. If so not desired. Mrs B wanted no part of it. So I mainly had it in a dormant state, where it becomes a screen saver showing selectable artwork of the car in concept form.

The car knows when the front passenger seat is empty, anyway, and it also uses its smart logics to adapt to user behaviour in other ways, to point of suggesting the right functions at the right times thanks to “context-sensitive awareness” with a “zero-layer” system that means users don’t have to scroll through menus and sub-menus to find the function they want. Just as well, for there are many. A week was not enough to discover everything.

Hooking up to a charger nonetheless offers perfect opportunity to reconcile the fundamentals all, fine-tuning the audio, seat position and climate settings. Simply monitoring the rate of charge is a fascination in itself. Watching how the car uptakes from the grid, it crossed my mind that regardless of why moot the issue of fuel cost is to buyers of cars of this price, there will surely be pleasure from knowing this is the first and only $300k Mercedes that can be refilled from empty to full for less than $30.

Will this alone make it a better bet to withstand the ogre of depreciation that traditionally tears hard at this category of car? Funnily, industry observance is wary about that; remarkable as it might sound, experience so far is that electrics seem to lose value just as quickly as combustion engine equivalents. I cannot quite get my head around that one.

It’s long been easy to understand why the S-Class has been a top tick for VIPs, diplomats and tycoons who prefer quiet, assured affluence over gaudiness.  As a symbol of self-reward, status and success, Mercedes’ flagship has always taken some beating. The S450 I drove a year ago impressed as the epitome of a large luxury car.

Even so, when comparing notes from then against those taken from time with the EQS, I’m of a mind the electric betters the best. Everything you expect of an S is upscaled and improved upon here. ‘Out of this world’ seems such a tired cliché but, frankly, what else can you say after experiencing its eager electric powertrain, flashy technology and amazing interior.

Of course, just a walkaround relates how much this is a new chapter of a well-known story. Benz has fully exploited opportunity to flex its design and technological muscles.

Sure, the styling takes quite different path to the an S. It it almost seems to bear no relationship. That’s not a bad thing. All I’d suggest is that you do yourself a favour and avoid falling into deep discussion about the rights and wrongs of this. Basically, it doesn’t have to ape the familiar design path because … well, it doesn’t have to. And, while it stands out as being singularly different now, it won’t seem so extrovert once the EQE and EQS SUV roll in. They also adopt the softer-edged approach. One aspect about the EQS I do like is how well in uses lighting as part of the design statement; the various lightbars and illumination of the three-pointed star on the glossy grille insert looks amazing when you unlock it at night.

As for the overall shape? What you see is realisation of what designers said would happen when not only freed from the traditional constraints of having to shape a vehicle around a big lump of a powertrain up front, a fuel tank at the back, a gearbox and so on but also given a whole new platform.

The EQS doesn’t have a big imposing nose, like a regular S, because it doesn’t need it. Packaging of reasonably small electric drive units fore and aft and a big battery between them, under the floor, explains an extremely long wheelbase relative to the length of the car.

The visual aspect is different; but the car looks affluent and powerful, which to me is all it needs to do. The benefit of how it looks at the kerb pay off in aerodynamic efficiency from a low co-efficient of drag and when you slip inside.

Those who hold that cars of this ilk should first and foremost cater to the comforts of rear-seat passengers will be hugely satisfied. This car has massive legroom in the back and, regardless of the super low and sloped roofline, it does well for headroom, too. The shape breaks from three-box design but instead sells as a liftback. The boot offers 610 litres of space that rises to 1770 litres with the rear seats folded down.

The big benefit of it having such a large battery is in the range - the official 587km range claimed is very respectable and highly believable; average energy consumption of 21.3kWh/100km from this 512km test being below the stated average. Maybe I was driving with a level of restraint actual owners won’t necessarily abide by, given it arrives with an AMG badge and some spectacular performance statistics worthy of that accreditation.

The combined output of 484kW and 950Nm is significant and, though there’s an enhanced edition 560kW and 1020Nm, having it in the state might potentially be over-egging for this market. The higher outputs are, in any rate, only available under certain circumstances, including the correct battery state of charge and temperature, and only when Race Start is selected in Sport Plus driving mode.

As is, the standard fitout hardly seems lacking. Hard acceleration is what EVs do so well thanks to the smooth delivery of almost instant torque and, while it’s not quite as quick as the Audi RS GT tried some months ago, this thing is seriously fast. It seems to me that the ‘53’ element of the designation is a red herring or an in-house joke. On AMG’s petrol fare that numeracy would denote a model that is fast but not full-out fire-breathing (those are the 63s, or 65s). In this instance, though, it’s hard to imagine why you’d want any extra ferocity.

You need to put it into the optimal performance mode to unleash the full effect, which is prudent. Then it is quite theatrical; hunkering and shooting off with an intensity that is simply gob-smacking.

Inevitably, those used to the old will lament the new one’s lack of an emotional combustion soundtrack. AMG’s painted itself into a corner here, because it’s products are famous for delivering a rich heritage of engine noise. The electric approach is to introduce synthesised noises. There are three levels – balanced, sport and powerful - that can be chosen to enhance the driving experience, all piped through the interior speakers as well as to the exterior of the vehicle. The most strident is certainly imposing, it has what sounds like just a little combustion rumble woven in, but as expected it didn’t wash with the owner of an old-school AMG who came for a ride. On the other hand, he did agree that the lack of sound when the car runs less strenuously is basically a strength. While it doesn’t back at extremis, neither does in drone at lawful pace.

Given its customer base, it’s no surprise that the S-Class focus in respect to dynamic dexterity has tended to be on finding the ideal balance between an engaging experience behind the wheel with comfort and everyday usability.

In respect to the latter, EQS is very much helped by the rear-steering axle, that can dial in as much as nine degrees of lock. It’s an assist you’ll be thankful for in in urban usage, where it gives this car the turning circle of an A-Class.

Suspension tune is the one aspect of uncertainty. Serene ride is normally a given with electrics because of the placement and weight of the batteries and the EQS also has adaptive air suspension and adaptive dampers. But this an AMG, so there’s a sporting bent, which trades off some suppleness, an effect far more obvious at open road pace than when cruising.

Refinement is imporant in all EVs, at this level doubly so. When driving in the more sedate modes, the EQS is unerringly schmoozy. The electric drivetrain is hushed and all extraneous sounds are diminished. The lack of wind noise is down to the car’s slippery shape and massive effort that was put into smoothing all exterior joints. The cabin is almost too well-isolated from the outside world; I found that, even on overcast days, the air conditioning was working quite hard to keep the interior temperature in check.

The car has sensitivity to different surfaces that might be a talking point, depending on the quality of roads you know. On one the development engineers would be well acquainted with, smooth tarmac, it is stunningly silent; you only know the road is there because you see it. But the nemesis is coarse chip, from which comes a touch of jitter. It’s not insufferable, but it is noticeable. Perhaps the EQS 450 set to join this edition in time will be less involved.

The AMG tuning, and the car’s low-set stance and its weight, all contribute to it being a pretty amazing thing when taken through corners at pace. There’s little body roll to speak of – especially in Sport or Sport Plus modes – and the steering is tuned with a bent to sharpness and feedback. Ability to carry itself so confidently in bends makes it all the more effective as a no-nonsense A-to-B cruiser. Slowing in a hurry isn’t an issue, with four-piston fixed calipers at the front and single-piston sliders at the back, plus there’s up to 300kW of regenerative braking available – triggering that alone was brought it down to a crawl ascending the steep hill from my home.

It’s incredible to think this is actually AMG’s first go at a fully electric vehicle. For all that it is expensive, that it arrives at a time when the national charging infrastructure is barely ready for it, that it can be challenged by the uneven qualities of our national road surface it nonetheless stands out as a truly remarkable feat.