The Mercedes EQS SUV sets the standard for a whole future era of high-end full-electric large luxury Crossovers. Jonathan Crouch drives it.
Ten Second Review
If you want the ultimate large luxury SUV, it has to be all-electric and it has to seat seven, then you have to look at this car, the Mercedes EQS SUV. It's a lot more than just an EQS on steroids. The cabin is suitably futuristic, the drivetrains are potent, the technology's impressive - and of course, the prices are high.
Background
Having already developed the EQS full-electric large luxury saloon, you might think that it would have been pretty straightforward for Mercedes to create a trendy SUV version of the same design. Not a bit of it. Development of the EQS SUV took six years and 80% of the work that went into creating it was unrelated to the car's all-electric drivetrain. That of course was carried over unchanged, as was the basic EVA platform that all EQS and EQE models share. With everything else though, there was a lot of work needed to make a powertrain and structure designed for boardroom saloon work equally well for a higher, heavier 4WD SUV with up to seven seats.
To create it, Mercedes leaned heavily on lessons learnt in the creation of their combustion powered GLS model. Blending this with EV technology developed for their EQXX concept car, which is based around the MMA platform that will underpin the next generation of all-electric Mercedes models. In the EQS SUV, the end result of all this is a more significant car than you might think, the first of what will be quite a few large exclusive SUVIP crossover high luxury models from the premium brands. Basically, this is the next stage on from a BMW iX. Perhaps a stepping stone to a Rolls-Royce Spectre EV. Got the picture? Here's the detail.
Driving Experience
This car is prodigiously heavy - up to 3,118kg - much of which is accounted for by the prodigiously large 118kWh battery all versions of this model now use. The mainstream variant choice kicks off with the 360hp EQS 450 4MATIC, which makes 62mph in 4.1s. Alternatively, there's the 544hp EQS 580 4MATIC, which improves that sprint time to just 4.7s. Both EQS SUV 4MATIC models claim a range of up to 401 miles and a top speed of 130mph. The other EQS SUV variant is for oligarchs only, the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV. This has 658hp, gets to 62mph in 4.4s and offers a range of up to 369 miles.
You might not expect the dual motor 4WD system fitted on all EQS SUV models to take this car far off piste; you'd be wrong actually. With the optional 'off-road' driving mode fitted, the air suspension rises by 25mm and primes the 4MATIC system for slippery terrain. The 360-degree camera system can also provide off-road graphics - and special images like the so-called 'transparent bonnet view', ideal when driving over rocky surfaces.
There's four-wheel steering too, with the rear wheels able to turn by up to 10-degrees. Which at parking speeds means an extraordinarily tight turning circle for a large SUV. Go faster and you should find that the car's ability to vary the amount of drive to each individual wheel depending on the grip available makes it feel more agile through the turns than the huge kerb weight would lead you to expect it to be. When cruising, the air suspension's ride height falls at above 74mph, which improves aerodynamic efficiency and ups the driving range. Refinement and luxury are central to the EQS SUV, which means special acoustic foams as well as rubber insulation of the electric drive units have been used to reduce interior cabin noise to a near whisper.
Design and Build
The EQS SUV is certainly a more imposing thing than the EQS saloon, but it's not Mercedes' largest SUV. Measuring in at 5,125mm in length, 1,959mm in width and 1,718mm in height, it's 82mm shorter than the brand's GLS. But it's 3mm wider than that car and, more significantly, the wheelbase is 75mm longer. Styling cues borrow from the EQC SUV and of course from the EQS saloon. As there, the car has a clamshell bonnet designed to be opened only during servicing, but what's different with the EQS SUV is that unlike the EQS saloon, the doors are framed.
Inside, you do of course sit higher than in an EQS saloon, but the dash display is much the same. Which means as standard, you get a 12.8-inch portrait-style central infotainment monitor paired with a 12.3-inch digital instrument screen. As an option (or as standard on the plusher EQS 580 model), there's the 1,410mm-wide Hyperscreen, a signature EQS feature, which uses an 8-core processor and offers 24GB of RAM. The Hyperscreen set-up includes a 17.7-inch centre screen flanked by a 12.3-inch instrument display and a further 12.3-inch front passenger-side screen. Second row passenger space is generous. The third row seating (standard for our market) is a different matter; you'll certainly find it more squashed at the very back than in a GLS. And with all three rows in place, there's only 195-litres of luggage space. That increases to as much as 800-litres with the third row folded - and to 2,020-litres with the second row folded too.
Market and Model
At the time of our test in Summer 2025, Mercedes was asking you to think in terms of a price starting point of just under £130,000 for EQS SUV ownership; that's for the base EQS 450 4MATIC model. Obviously, you'll need significantly more (around £140,000) for the faster EQS 580 4MATIC variant. Both come with seven seats as standard. Two trim levels are available with both powertrains: 'AMG Line Premium Plus' or (for around £15,000 more) the plusher 'Business Class' spec we tried.
Think in terms of needing just under £7,000 more to upgrade to an EQS SUV from an equivalent EQS saloon. If you're comparing against the brand's combustion-powered equivalent model, the GLS, then you'll need to know that GLS pricing as we filmed for mainstream petrol and diesel models was sitting in the £111,000-£125,000 bracket. You'd think that Mercedes in the UK would be able to retail an EQS SUV at somewhere near that kind of pricing ballpark if it was able to import a version of this car with a bit less power and equipment. As it is though, there's quite a price jump to get yourself into this EV model.
We should point out that if you really are a fan of excess, there is another EQS SUV option - the vastly more expensive Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV, which has its own 658hp dual motor powertrain. As we filmed, this very top model was priced from just over £200,000 in standard 'First Class' form - or from around £240,000 in top 'First Class Night Series' guise.
But it's the mainstream versions of this model that we focus on here. The key alternative target model is the Range Rover Electric - which hadn't been put on sale in the UK at the time of this review but which we expect to be in a similar pricing ballpark to this Mercedes. It's hard to see any other credible seven-seat full-EV alternative to this EQS SUV in this segment. But it is worth pointing out that cars like Hyundai's IONIQ 9 and Kia's EV9 do much the same thing without a premium badge but at nearly half the price. So think carefully.
Cost of Ownership
SUV downsides in terms of weight and bluffer aerodynamics are well illustrated here. Whereas the EQS in 450 4MATIC saloon form will cover 467 miles from a single charge, basically the same 118kWh battery in the EQS SUV 450 4MATIC will take you up to a maximum of 400 miles, with much the same range applicable to the 580 4MATIC version. That 400 mile figure falls to 378 miles with the larger wheels of the plusher 'Business Class'-spec model. The Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV (also with the same battery) manages up to 374 miles.
A 10-80% DC charge in all versions of this car will take only 31 minutes. And Mercedes claims that up to 186 miles of range can be added in as little as a quarter of an hour. As for home charging, well if you've only a single-phase 7.4kW wallbox, you're not going to be able to charge this car overnight because that would take 18 hours and 30 minutes for complete battery replenishment. Don't even ask about the charging period if you find yourself in a situation where you've only access to a domestic socket; you'd probably need a calendar to time that. Obviously, things improve a lot if your home (or office) has a three-phase supply. Using an 11kW wallbox, you can reduce that full charging time to 10 hours and 15 minutes and if you take advantage of the way that this EQS can be AC charged at up to 22kW, you can further reduce that time to 6 hours and 15 minutes.
What else? Well all EQS SUV models are insurance-rated at a top-of-the-shop group 50. And as with all EVs, you'll have to pay road tax but your Benefit-in-Kind taxation will be low - at 3% at the time of this test in mid-2025. Maintenance visits will be every two years or every 19,000 miles, whichever comes first. You'll get a message both on the dashboard and via your 'Mercedes me' app reminding you when a service is due. Fixed price servicing is available and most customers opt for the Mercedes ServiceCare plan based either on a two-service/two year deal, three years with three services or four years with four services. The warranty is the usual three year / unlimited mileage package you get with all Mercedes models and there's up to 30 years warranty against perforation due to corrosion. The brand also offers pan-European Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance, which is free for the first three years and thereafter automatically renewed for 12 months every time the car undergoes a full Mercedes Recommended Service, until the car is 30 years' old. The EQS's batteries are separately warrantied for eight years or 100,000 miles.
Summary
What's been achieved here as a result is in its own way quite impressive. Whether it's worth the amount of money Mercedes wants to charge for it is another question. Still this car's Range Rover Electric arch-rival has an equally sky-high asking price; your choice between the two models will come down to the statement you want to make. Choosing this Mercedes will mean a few compromises in drive dynamics. No one expects the handling of a luxury electric SUV of this size to be particularly engaging but to be frank, we'd hoped for a little more than is served up here. Still, that probably won't bother the target audience here very much.
This Mercedes reminds us quite a lot of the last rather quirky niche-market seven-seat SUV the Stuttgart maker sold here, the unusual combustion-powered R-Class of 2006. That car, like this one also US-built at Tuscaloosa in Alabama, didn't attract a large enough audience to justify long term UK market existence - and we wonder whether a similar fate awaits the EQS SUV. The differentiating factor here of course is the EV powertrain - and presence in a segment where currently there really isn't that much choice for those who simply have to have a premium badge with a car of this kind. Perhaps that'll be enough to keep this model relevant in our market. It'll be interesting to see.
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