The new EQE 53 4MATIC+ is the first fully electric and future-ready super saloon from Mercedes’ high-performance AMG division. Prestige takes it for a drive.
When in the late 1960s a pair of former Mercedes-Benz engineers named Hans Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher set up AMG, an independent engine-tuning operation, it was initially with the aim of making the products of their erstwhile employer more competitive in the worlds of motor racing and rallying. Later, like so many other tuning businesses, they also began modifying the company’s road cars, slotting in bigger and more powerful engines, adjusting chassis, suspension and braking systems to handle the increased outputs and speeds, and – possibly with the occasional nod and wink of encouragement from Mercedes itself – turning the conservative conveyances of Germany’s post-war bourgeoisie into machines that were exhilaratingly raw and raucous.
Evidently the halo appeal resulting from AMG’s activities wasn’t lost on the powers-that-be at Daimler-Benz. By the early ’90s, the board in Stuttgart had agreed to a formal cooperation between the companies, which soon led to the acquisition of a controlling interest and ultimately, in 2005, a full takeover by the bigger of the two. Mercifully for lovers of fast cars, however, that final step in the relationship hardly changed the nature of the automobiles on which the high-performance operation worked its magic.
In fact, Mercedes’ AMG-badged variants remained as gloriously characterful and rowdy as ever, with big, rumbling multi-cylinder engines that propelled them to enormous speeds, and exhaust systems that would crackle, pop and, now and again, even spit out a lick of flame – mighty machines such as the CLK 63, the gullwing SLS coupe, various C 63s, the supercar-fast E 63 S saloon and the AMG GT R coupe (the latter especially in its unmistakable Green Hell Magno paint job).
And that was pretty much the standard recipe within the sub-brand that had come to be known as Mercedes-AMG – until, that is, around 2015, by which time it had become abundantly clear to almost everyone in the industry that the future of the motor car had very little to do with noisy, gas-guzzling V8s and everything to do with clean and quiet electricity. Whether or not this was an existential moment for them, it certainly meant the folks in Mercedes’ high-performance division needed to reflect upon – and possibly redefine – almost every attribute their brand had stood for in order to transition convincingly into the age of the electron. And now, some eight years on, I’ve been able to sample the first fruits of that re-examination in the form of the fully electric AMG EQE 53 4MATIC+, which arrived on these shores only recently.
As it happens, AMG does have previous form with EVs, having produced in tiny numbers the wildly costly Electric Drive SLS coupe of 2014, which for a time was the world’s fastest production electric car.
It’s also been able to draw upon a long and admirable track record of transforming unexciting automobiles into ones that genuinely thrill, an ability no less essential when turning its attentions to the first of Mercedes’ current crop of future-ready, clean-air saloons – for while the standard mid-size EQE is undeniably electric, even its most ardent fans would be hard pressed to call it electrifying – than it was with those solid, stolid sedans of 60 years ago.
Granted the 53 model shares the same bland silhouette with its less-performative EQE siblings (though that teardrop shape is slippery enough for an impressive drag coefficient of just 0.22), but I will concede that AMG’s distinctively aggressive Panamericana front “grille”, a discreet rear spoiler and chunky 21-inch Y-spoke alloys shod with bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport tyres do add more than a suggestion of muscularity. A further clue to its abilities comes from the small “4MATIC+” badges ahead of the front doors, which indicate not only all-wheel drive but also the presence of twin “permanently excited” synchronous electric motors – they’re exclusive to AMG models – that feed power to the front and rear axles in a constantly varying split of torque. Maximum power and torque in Sport+ mode are 617bhp and 950Nm respectively, with a temporary “overboost” provided by the AMG Dynamic Plus Package’s Race Start setting that raises both figures to 677 and 1,000. To put those numbers into context, Mercedes-AMG’s outgoing petrol-powered E 63 S saloon – a fire-breathing, tarmac-consuming monster if ever there was one – provides 603bhp and 850Nm, so even without driving it you know this new electric contender is going to be ridiculously fast.
Closer inspection of the specs inspires further optimism: air suspension with adaptive damping, active rear-wheel steering, variable-rate steering and no fewer than five driving modes, each with its own power ceiling, all sound like boons in a car that weighs more than 2.5 tonnes and measures just a few centimetres shy of 5 metres. Should you require even greater stopping power than is provided by the standard high-performance brake system, you can even option carbon-composite rotors.
Seated behind the small three-spoke wheel, the EQE 53 feels just like another AMG – in a nice touch, the power-used dial on the virtual instrument display even mimics a traditional rev-counter, while the column stalks and buttons are almost identical to those on a combustion-engine Merc.
All that’s missing on start-up – and it’s a big miss – is the engine noise, a welcome aural intrusion promising thrills aplenty that was ever integral to the AMG experience. As a form of compensation, a quick fiddle with the settings generates a spacey soundtrack in Sport and Sport+ modes whose volume and intensity rise and fall according to speed, and which can even be heard outside of the car. It isn’t authentic and surely won’t appeal to everyone, but as the notion of accelerating to – and hurtling along at – quite unfeasible velocities in almost total silence seems beyond weird, these sonic simulacra kind of work. Or at least they do for me.
As for hurtling, that’s exactly what the EQE 53 does, with acceleration so immediate, sustained and rapid it threatens permanently to rearrange your internals. According to the figures, it reaches 100km/h from a standstill in just 3.5 seconds, with Race Start shaving off a couple of extra tenths, while Dynamic Plus raises the maximum speed to an autobahn-only 240 (though when tanking along at velocities such as those you can wave goodbye to achieving anything like the claimed range of 525km). Short bursts of overtaking acceleration are quite simply phenomenal, with the ESP software doing a fine job of keeping the car in a straight line as you flash past the slowcoaches.
Handling is, quite simply, staggering for what by any standards is a big and heavy car, partly thanks to the steerable rear wheels and partly because it feels so planted and stable on the road, with superb body control. The ride is excellent, too, even if you’ve selected one of the firmer chassis settings, and the steering seems ideally weighted, neither too light nor heavy, perfectly direct and surprisingly communicative given the oodles of electronic mediation. It’s far more enjoyable to drive than I’d ever have imagined, even nudging Porsche Taycan levels of fun and involvement.
Hilariously fast, hugely competent and as refined, comfortable and luxurious as anyone would expect a Mercedes to be, the AMG EQE 53 4MATIC+ is undoubtedly among the best EVs you can buy – and, purely as a driver’s car, it’s way better than the same company’s EQS 450 that I raved about early last year. Whether its superlative performance and sparkling dynamic qualities mean it’s an echt AMG, though, is another matter entirely. Although loving almost every minute behind the wheel – to the extent of grinning stupidly throughout most of the experience – I still find myself missing the full-throated roar of a V8, which no amount of digital trickery can make up for, and the feeling I’m in charge of a beast that will never be completely trainable.
If it’s visceral old-world thrills you’re after, AMG still has those aplenty in other models. But if you’re determined to rush headlong towards a fully electric future, there are few more rewarding ways of doing so than in Mercedes’ most impressive effort thus far.