The Exclusive adds four-zone climate control, massaging front seats and a head-up display. The Premium is the entry-level model, but still includes features like 64-color ambient lighting and a Burmester 3-D sound system. Both models will be available with one of three trim packages: Premium, Exclusive and Pinnacle. Those aren’t the only choices you have, though. The EQS 450+ has the same 12.8-inch infotainment screen as the current-gen S-Class, which is more than adequate, but the Hyperscreen certainly takes the EV’s sleek and modern interior to the next level. The tri-display MBUX Hyperscreen is only available on the EQS 580 4MATIC as an upgrade. Power trains aren’t the only differences between the two EQS models.
These same options, along with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility, are also accessible via a standard 12.8-inch infotainment screen if you opt against the Hyperscreen, but what’s the fun in that? Which EQS is Best for You? The 17-inch infotainment and 12.3-inch passenger displays will allow you and your passengers to select entertainment options, check out your route and adjust the climate control settings. The 12.3-inch driver’s display will act as a digital gauge cluster from which you can monitor the car and journey. It comprises three displays seamlessly blended together via OLED technology: one for the driver, one in the traditional infotainment position and another solely for the front passenger should they get tired of gazing at the open road. The massive infotainment touchscreen stretches across the whole width of the car, and offers up a staggering 377 square inches of visual space, broken up only by integrated air vents. The EQS’s most stunning feature may be its 56-inch MBUX Hyperscreen. Overall, the EQS may look slightly less stately than the S-Class, but its lines are decidedly more modern. The hatch-like rear is adorned with a similar lighting motif. In addition to providing front end lighting, this panel also houses a number of cameras and sensors, including radar and lidar.
It’s topped by a continuous LED band that connects the two Digital Light smart headlamps. With no combustion engine to cool, Mercedes’s Panamericana vertical-slat grille has been replaced with a black panel sporting the brand’s iconic star logo in its center surrounded by a field of smaller three-pointed stars. In fact, it’s reported to have an aerodynamic coefficient of 0.20, touted by Mercedes to be the new benchmark for production cars. While not as futuristic as the dreamy prototype, it’s equally wide-set in stance and shares its curvilinear shape, with sweeping lines traveling from front to back in an attempt to make the car as aerodynamic as possible. The two sedans certainly look like they belong to the same family, but the EQS has more in common with the Vision EQS concept from 2019. But Mercedes realized that if its flagship EV was going to stand on its own, it needed its own distinct look. If the EQS was just a new S-Class with an electric power train, it would be a striking car. But Mercedes set high expectations for its EV, so it was both surprising and disappointing that it couldn’t quite deliver. In fact, both models will be among the longest-range EVs currently on the market. Those figures, of course, aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination (especially for the more powerful sedan).
In the end, the EV couldn’t deliver on that promise, with the EQS 450+ receiving a range rating of just 350 miles from the EPA, while the AWD EQS 580 4MATIC was rated for 340 miles. When the EQS made its debut earlier this year, the car was expected to offer a range in excess of 400 miles (indeed, that’s what we were told specifically on our last test drive). “The EQS evokes a feeling of well-crafted, old-world solidity despite its unrepentant digitization, which includes a 12.3-inch virtual instrument panel, a 12.8-inch central display and an available Hyperscreen, which adds a customizable touchscreen display ahead of the front passenger,” he wrote. Meanwhile, writer Basem Wasef came away from his time with the production version impressed by Mercedes’s ability to imbue it with genuine gravitas. “It’s so silent, otherworldly and responsive that I start to wonder if the wheels of this zero-emissions concept are actually touching the tarmac or floating a few inches above,” he wrote at the time. Automotive editor Viju Mathew test drove the concept, the Vision EQS, in March 2020 and was struck by just how different the experience felt. Robb Report has actually had the chance to take the EQS for a spin twice already.