Mercedes EQE long-term test: report 1

I’ve gone for base Sport Edition trim, which comes on comparatively small 19in wheels which help give it the greatest official range of all the EQEs (380 miles), but it’s not what you would call generously equipped. 

Yes, you get climate control, LED headlights with high-beam assist, a reversing camera, heated seats, and ambient interior lighting (more on that in a bit), but you miss out on keyless entry, a panoramic glass roof, fully-electric seats, adaptive cruise control, an electric tailgate and a 360-degree parking camera – all of which come as standard on a base BYD Seal or Tesla Model 3.

But do you really need all of that tech? Personally, I don’t mind adjusting the seats manually, nor is it a hardship to shut the surprisingly light boot lid by hand.

On the other hand, I am a little unsure about the interior trim on my car. You see, Sport Edition model get a dashboard that is made up of one massive piece of plastic covered in hundreds of little Mercedes logos that illuminate at night. A couple of passengers have already remarked that it’s a bit gaudy, which makes me wonder whether I should have upgraded to the AMG Line model, which replaces this with a lime wood panel.

What I have no complaints about is performance. With a 242bhp rear-mounted motor, 0-62mph officially takes 7.3sec, but my car feels quite a bit faster than that due to the way the electric motor delivers instantaneous power. And personally, I’d prefer to give up a bit of pace in order to benefit from greater efficiency; the twin-motor 616bhp EQE 53 AMG, for example, has an official range of just 280 miles.