Hello everyone! I’m Zhang Yu Ge, a Model 3 owner and also a lucky guy who got the opportunity to test drive the Mercedes-Benz EQC400 for 5 days from Garage 42. (P.S. The staff of Garage 42 was extremely nice, even waiting for me until 8PM on a rainy day and taking me to charge. Grateful for that!)
I mentioned my driving experience in the beginning because EQC is the third car I’ve driven for more than 5 days. The first one was my father’s Mercedes-Benz ML350, the second one was my own Model 3, and EQC is somewhere in between: a luxurious electric SUV from Mercedes-Benz that serves as a transition car from traditional fuel cars to pure electric cars. It maintains the luxury, workmanship, and experience of Mercedes-Benz in traditional fuel cars, while also delivering the acceleration and technology of electric cars.
In this article, I will share my deep experience with EQC from three angles:
- Exterior and Interior Design
- Driving Experience, including some driving details like HUD display, L2 autonomous driving, 360-degree cameras, and others.
- Charging and Battery Life Experience.
Exterior and Lights
Let’s start with a comparison between the appearance of EQC and ML without talking about the length, width, and height data.
From the intuitive picture, EQC is slightly smaller than ML in height and should be about the same size as GLC. Its price and positioning are also the same as GLC, and its target audience or customers should be those who want to drive GLC, X3, Q5 and similar car models. However, its advantage lies in being a pure electric car, making it a competitive option in Shanghai, where green license plates are free and out-of-town license plates are about to be restricted.
When I first saw EQC, I was impressed by its tail lights. The continuous taillights are very high-tech (unlike those of Model 3, which are not very attractive), and the door handle lights and rearview mirror lights add to the luxury feel of the car.
The most amazing thing to me is the dynamic lights when starting the car. It really gives me the feeling of luxury and intelligent car. When you start the car, it feels like a ceremony.
Interior DesignFrom the moment you press START, you can quietly enjoy the six seconds of pleasure, feeling the technological and advanced sense of the car.
At the same time, you can also enjoy the luxury of the interior, from the comfort of the driver’s seat, such as the leg rest, to the support of the head, which is also very comfortable.
Moreover, the deep blue leather extends from the driver’s seat to the front of the car and the passenger seat, looking very coherent. Most visible areas are made of leather, metal and wood, maintaining the luxury of Mercedes-Benz. The piano lacquer panel in the center console and the large screen complement each other. The rose-gold air outlet and the metal strip on the dual doors complement each other very well.
Ambient Lighting
As an traditional strength of Mercedes-Benz, the ambient lighting in this car is still excellent. Even during the day, it is very clear, not to mention the effect at night. But it is worth mentioning that the details in places like the footwell lights and the handles on the door are also very well done, and the color can be adjusted according to your mood at any time.
UI
As an electric car, the entire UI interface must be different from traditional gas cars because electric cars do not have a tachometer. However, as a manufacturer that started with gas cars, they must have considered the feeling of gas cars. Therefore, most of their designs are exactly the same as traditional gas cars, and I won’t go into details here.
The driving mode of this one is Classic mode.
In Sport mode, the entire UI color changes from blue to yellow, very exciting!
Personally, I like this Future mode more. It is very futuristic, and it is worth mentioning that it is very clear to see whether you are accelerating with electricity or through power recovery on another screen with a similar color tone, where red represents driving, using electricity to accelerate, and blue represents energy recovery to charge the car, which can increase the cruising range.
There is one thing I need to mention, the trunk. Considering the daily needs of people, I took a look at how to open it when I had some free time. I searched for a long time but couldn’t find the button. Then I had a sudden idea that maybe it could be opened by a kick. As expected, this idea worked. The whole trunk space is quite large, which should be enough for daily luggage and self-driving trips.
Driving Experience
My mentality in driving Model 3 is all about acceleration, overtaking, lane changing and push back feeling. I don’t really care about anything else. On the other hand, when I drive Mercedes EQC, I have a luxurious feeling, enjoying the whole driving process by sitting in comfortable seats, listening to the audio of Berliner Rundfunk and looking at the HUD in front of me. From the whole driving experience, there are a few highlights that are worth mentioning and make me feel very convenient.
The first highlight is HUD and AR, the second is L2 autonomous driving, and the third is the 360-degree camera.
As for acceleration, I don’t have any particular comments. The 5.1 second acceleration experience is still very fast. As I mentioned earlier, I drive this car to enjoy the whole driving process, so I don’t focus on the acceleration feeling.
HUD & AR
The HUD head-up display is personally the coolest “black technology” I’ve ever seen. I always thought that Tesla should add this feature because with this function, even the screen can be saved. The head-up display is very clear both during the day and at night.
Those who have been driving Model 3 for a long time know that the original navigation system is very dull. Therefore, I initially used the mobile phone navigation. However, one day, I had a sudden idea to try the original navigation and see if there would be any surprises. As a result, a hidden feature was activated. Not only could I see the direction on the HUD, but also on the large screen, which made me feel much more convenient. Finally, I don’t have to squint at the small screen of my phone anymore!
There is also CARPLAY mode, but as I did not purchase a Type-C cable, I haven’t experienced this convenience personally. However, these features that I have encountered so far have already made me very comfortable.
L2 Autonomous Driving
Starting with Tesla, various new energy cars have begun to have autonomous driving, so this car also has these features. As a poor person, I did not buy FSD in my Model 3, so the AP function that I use most daily is the advanced version of cruise control, which can keep the lane and control the distance from the front car.
I also used the automatic lane change of this car for the first time. The overall feeling and experience are not bad. When you turn on the turn signal, it will show that it is going to change lanes in the direction you are heading, and if you do not move the steering wheel for a long time, it will also appear on the HUD and screen with a red sign to remind you to pay attention to moving the steering wheel. When encountering a traffic jam, it can also control the distance between the cars well so that you do not feel stressed.
360
Most cars have a 360-degree panoramic view function. The reason why I want to talk about it is that it is different from other cars. When EQC thinks that it has reached a relatively narrow place, it will automatically pop up 360 and start the driving recorder.
Because of the 360-degree view, it not only has the rearview image but also the image of the front car, allowing people to know the situation in front, but the sound of the radar needs to be improved, and sometimes it will be ignored.
Lane Change Assistance
Another feature that needs to be mentioned is the lane change assistance. When a car approaches, it will appear in red. When the safe distance is exceeded, it will disappear. I think this is very useful for novices.
Disadvantages
There are still several points that I personally think need to be improved on this car.
- There is no rearview mirror heating. Because it was raining during the days I drove, I couldn’t see the rearview mirror clearly. I feel that this function is important.
- The voice recognition is only relatively poor. I don’t know if it’s my own speech problem, or if something needs to be activated, which is troublesome. It cannot recognize the places I want to go to.
Charging and Range
The most worrying issue for electric cars is the problem of range and charging convenience. During these five days, I charged a total of six times and experienced Little Orange, Techrules, NIO’s home charging, and Tesla’s home charging. Overall, EQC is still highly applicable for charging.
During charging, the whole page will be displayed like this, and it will tell you the charging power in kW and the charging time.
The location of the charging port is the same as that of traditional oil cars. You need to park, turn off the power, and then open the charging cap and protective cover.
The home charging pile is a slow charging one. Its position is different from that of fast charging. After plugging it in, it will turn green to tell you that it is charging. I have also used the Tesla home charging pile to charge it, but it is not applicable.
Charging spots on the original factory navigation
Once, I had a sudden idea to use the original factory navigation of the Mercedes-Benz to find a place to charge. The result took me to the wrong place and did not open the charging mode. Fortunately, my electricity was enough to find another place to charge. Therefore, I do not recommend everyone to use the original factory navigation for charging.
TELEC
Previously, I had tried to charge my Model3 several times using the TELEC, but it did not work. So I specially tried it once and the charging effect was good.
From 13% to 95%, it took a total of 100 yuan and 66 degrees. Therefore, my rough estimate is about 75 degrees of electricity, and the total charging time is about one and a half hours, which is similar to the supercharging speed of Tesla.
With 95% battery, the range is approximately 337 kilometers. Based on my personal driving experience, the displayed range and the actual distance traveled are similar.
Range
This is my car’s energy consumption rate: 23.1wh/100km. In Beijing’s WeChat group 42, some members reported a rate of 33.1wh/100km. This difference in energy consumption is due to regional variations in weather, driving habits, and use of air conditioning.
Long-distance Driving
This is my daily commute, about 65 km on mostly highways, with 10 km of traffic lights.
On the first day, with a total consumption of 60 km and a distance traveled of 65 km, the ratio is 1:1 due to the car’s comparable range.
On the second day, with the same distance traveled, the total consumption was reduced to 53 km.
Air Conditioning and Heated Seats
One curious or perhaps intelligent feature is that turning on the air conditioning shortens the car’s range by 38 km, while turning it off increases the range.
Summary
As Mercedes’ first pure electric midsize SUV, the EQC doesn’t differ much from traditional gasoline-powered vehicles in terms of overall appearance. However, its limited driving range and charging inconvenience set it apart from traditional vehicles. This car is best suited for urban commuting, but its overall comfort is much better than that of Tesla and other similar vehicles.
If you’re not interested in Tesla and other radical brands, I highly recommend taking a look at the EQC. Although it may not be as edgy as Tesla, it is still an impressive vehicle.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.