Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
Photography Credit: Tom Suddard
Wanna cruise with GRM crew in Monterey?
[Get the most out of Monterey Car Week: 2023 insider guide]
Mercedes-Benz graciously tossed us the keys to an all-electric 2023 EQE 500 4MATIC SUV for us to drive during Monterey Car Week.
Follow along for updates–and feel free to drop any questions or comments you have.
Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
Day: 2
Starting SoC: 53%
We picked up the Benz yesterday with a nearly full charge at the San Francisco airport, then drove it down to Pacific Grove to start Car Week.
Pacific Grove doesn't have any "fast chargers" but does have a few medium-speed level three chargers. We haven't used any yet, instead plugging into a slow 3kw level 2 charger during lunch yesterday. After a trip down 17 mile drive and over to Carmel Valley for dinner, we parked the Benz half-full at the hotel. That's where our story picks up today. We're headed to Salinas to pick up some event stuff, then tootling around Monterey for the rest of the week.
How's it drive? We'll get to that....
J.A. Ackley said:
Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
That's a 1 point deduction for me. 
J.A. Ackley said:
Where are the rear cup holders for the coffee of Marketing Coordinator Nicole Suddard.
Apparently you're halfway there. Poke that little pen holder thingy again, it comes out more the second time.
Interesting that the battery has a 10 year 155,000 mile warranty. Why 155k and not 150k? Or 160k? That just seems oddly specific. But pretty cool that they're warrantying the battery for a long term. How does that stack up against the market?
wae said:Interesting that the battery has a 10 year 155,000 mile warranty. Why 155k and not 150k? Or 160k? That just seems oddly specific. But pretty cool that they're warrantying the battery for a long term. How does that stack up against the market?
155k miles is 249.4k km. Wonder if it's a 250k km warranty and they just picked a round number when converting to miles?
-Rob
I would think that if I'm paying $89,000+ for a vehicle I wouldn't have to add $450 for ventilated front seats?
wae said:Interesting that the battery has a 10 year 155,000 mile warranty. Why 155k and not 150k? Or 160k? That just seems oddly specific. But pretty cool that they're warrantying the battery for a long term. How does that stack up against the market?
I know that a Tesla Model 3 LR has a battery and drive unit warranty or 8 years/120k. The Model S and X have a 150k limit, and the SR Model 3 is 100k. Basically, the bigger the battery the longer the warranty in that case.
More importantly, have they figured out the rear cupholder yet?
So, initial impressions: This feels like a $50,000 compact SUV with a nice interior. Sort of like if you took a Model Y to a custom shop and asked to feel like you're sitting in a Bentley. But I have no idea how this could possibly cost $100,000.
The driving dynamics are fairly atrocious, worse even than the Model Y. Think malaise-era American body control and steering feedback. This is a Mercedes tuning strategy in general--the past few modern Mercedes SUVs I've driven have been under sprung with disconnected steering.
It's also not fast. Road noise/wind noise is on par with a $50,000 car.
On the bright side, the turning radius is insanely good thanks to four-wheel steering. Like, U-turn on a two-lane road good. That, paired with the chassis tuning, makes me think the city is what this is aimed at.
I need to spend more time in it, but the first 150 miles have not been ideal.
I think it will be an interesting week with all the EVs coming to the area and not that many chargers yet ,
I hope you like it better by weeks end because so far your review is not going to make points at MB HQ :)
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