Audi Sq8 E-Tron vs Mercedes-Benz EQS

What's the difference?

There’s not doubt large, luxury SUVs like the SQ8 have a lot to gain from electrification in terms of refinement, performance and running costs. The flip-side is the extra mass of the batteries and other electrical gear but, in this case at least, there might be a silver lining there in the way the hulking SUV manages to force the air suspension into agreeable submission.

For our money, the station-wagon variant is the one to buy. It’s cheaper to begin with and with its greater luggage capacity, it simply makes more sense. Which is not to say the Sportback version is compromised in luxury, safety or performance terms, but if practicality doesn’t figure highly in any purchasing decision involving an SUV, then we sense a great disturbance in the force.

Regardless of what’s powering the SQ8, the driving experience is vintage Audi and that’s a good thing, and even that massive kerb mass can’t blunt the sort of chassis dynamics and feedback we’ve come to expect from the brand.

Some buyers will possibly baulk at the projected range and the Audi’s appetite for electrons, but when lined up side-by-side with its major competition, the SQ8 is every chance to emerge as the one to buy. We’ll need a proper comparison for that, of course, but the Audi should be on any short-list of big, deluxe, electric SUVs.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.

It’s unquestionably fast, certainly luxurious, but I’ll be honest, I don’t think the EQS is going to be for everyone. The styling will be challenging for some and the glittery interior tech offering might be a bit much, even for the more rusted-on Benz traditionalists.

Then again, shouldn't an electrified flagship be all about challenging the status quo, trying new ideas, and bringing new fans to the brand? If anything, I think that might be what the EQS does best.

Stylistically, the big news is that the SQ8 is the second model to take up Audi’s latest exterior design language. That includes the two-dimensional Audi grille logo as well as a 'singleframe' (Audi’s own word) light bar that links the matrix headlights.

The SQ8 also gets Audi’s Sport Package as part of the price of admission, and that includes black roof rails and other touches.

Of more technical interest is the way the front of the car has been designed to aid air flow around the front wheels. Controllable flaps in the front fascia as well as underbody winglets keep the air flowing around the wheels without contributing to excess aerodynamic drag at speed.

In an engineering sense, the big news is the adoption of a three-motor layout. While some manufacturers are yet to see the value in this, having a motor on each of the rear wheels means there’s no longer a need for a rear differential.

We’re going to start with design, because from the outset it is a topic which simply must be addressed.

Mercedes has flipped the script when it comes to its next-generation design language worn by its dedicated range of ‘EQ’ electric cars. It follows a trend we’re seeing across the industry of larger, more amorphous vehicles which need the space to accommodate batteries, but also the aerodynamic traits to extend driving range and keep energy efficiency as high as possible.

The issue when it comes to the EQS is it essentially puts the iconic S-Class shape, refined over generations, in the bin, and replaces it with something a bit more challenging to the eye.

Gone are the angles, louvres, and deeply three-dimensional grilles, replaced by sleek rounded edges, wheels which reach to the very edges of the chassis, a blank, almost plasticky grille and a more liftback-like profile than one of a traditional sedan.

You’d better get used to it, too, because the smaller EQE is near identical in shape, a trend which will no doubt continue across other EQ models.

It’s the finer details that add character, particularly for the 53 with its AMG-leanings. The lack of shapeliness down the side makes the massive 22-inch wheels stand out more, and the rear three-quarter might be this car’s best angle, with a colour-matching spoiler flicking up off the small bootlid, and delicate badgework illustrating this car’s place in the world. Our car, which appeared in a silver shade timeless on Mercedes-Benz models, made the black AMG highlights on the front and rear bumpers shine, and some of the usual Benz shape is claimed back through the EQS’s LED light profile, both at the front and rear.

There’s no doubt it’s a step into the future, and an overall shape which is a marriage of both form and function. While looks are always subjective, I still think it may be a hard sell, even to some of the most committed fans of Mercedes design.

There’s absolutely no question Audi knows a thing or two about cabin layouts and ergonomics. Like other contemporary Audis, this one features the fully customisable Virtual Cockpit with a huge range of possible displays and layouts. And again, as usual, it all works seamlessly and efficiently.

The head-up display is amazingly clear and the twin touchscreens divide the car’s tasks logically. Yes, there’s a lot going on, but compare the way the Audi applies logic to the menu strategy to the scatter-gun approach of many others, and you can see that plenty of thought has gone into this stuff.

Also, it goes without saying, of course, that there are multiple charging points as well as plenty of connectivity with good wireless connections available. That includes wireless phone changing.

The front seats are sporty but not too firm, even if they do give you a bit of a squeeze thanks to high bolsters and lots of contouring. The rear seat is likewise firm initially and is really best for two backsides thanks to the sculpting of the rear bench.

That said, it will accept a centre passenger, but that seat will be the last one occupied. Rear legroom – important in a car like this - is good, there’s enough room for your feet under the front seats and headroom, even in the allegedly racier looking Sportback, is ample if not huge.

The panoramic sunroof means there’s plenty of light to counter the dark interior colours, and the only real surprise is the amount of hard plastic on the upper part of the door trims, just below the glass. Given the acres of much plusher trim farther down the door, this seems a bit odd.

The other comment we’d make is that the SUV body simply makes more sense in terms of load carrying (569 litres plays 528) and makes more of the SUV’s claim to practicality.

The Sportback is also a bit of an acquired taste and while it’s not the first SUV-coupe mash-up we’ve seen, to many eyes, the combination never looks right. Coupe on stilts? Surely, not for everyone.

On that subject of practicality, the SQ8 bucks the trend in EVs by being able to tow up to 1800kg with a braked trailer. The factory towing pack is a $2180 option.

The EQS is enormous, so it’s a good thing there’s huge amounts of interior space, even for what is ostensibly an S-Class, and with its bespoke electrified underpinnings, it also scores the kinds of innovations we like to see from electric cars.

These include things like a huge cutaway under the floating dash for extra storage, which the brand has seen fit to add elastic tie-downs so your objects don’t go flying in corners!

Storage up front is otherwise excellent with decent bins in the doors with height-limited sections for bottles, a flip open tray which houses the wireless charger and a set of fold-away bottle holders, and split-opening armrest console box which is deep and features yet another set of USB-C outlets.

Adjustability is great for front passengers, but ergonomically I found something a little weird about the digital dash. For me to rest my arms and hold the wheel, I had to set it so low the top of the wheel obscured the instruments, and if I set it high enough to see the full cluster, to comfortably hold the wheel my elbows would need to float above the armrests. Weird.

It doesn’t end there for the entirely touch-based controls either. While the (admittedly very cool-looking) wheel is packed full of buttons and touch sliders, they require near-surgical precision to operate with your thumbs, distracting while you’re driving, and the enormous centre screen’s main drawback is the fact CarPlay, for example, was not designed for the buttons and functions on the far left to be a metre away from where the driver’s hand is. Again, it’s distracting to have to lean out of your seat to hit the ‘back’ button on most context menus.

I would like to tell you at this point the Mercedes-Benz menus are mercifully simple to aid you with such an overwhelming system, but this isn’t true either. For some reason, there’s a ‘vehicle settings’ menu accessed easily through the main panel, or another menu with a separate set of key functions activated by a car-shaped shortcut button on the floating console. Why? Why aren’t these menus the same? I discovered this in my attempts to use the ‘raise vehicle’ function when faced with a steep driveway. You’re going to need to use this function often in a car measuring over 5.2 metres long, so hiding it in a confusing menu is an interesting choice.

The back seat is where the EQS should shine, and in terms of space it’s stellar. I can barely touch the seat in front of me when set to my own (182cm tall) driving position. It comes with some soft pillows which attach to the headrests, the sunroof extends back there nicely while not impeding on the great headroom, and the lavish trims all continue into the doors and seat bases, too.

The drop-down armrest has a trick pop-out bottle holder in it, and there are a further two on the doors. Amenity-wise rear passengers score four adjustable air vents with two climate zones adjusted via their own touch-panel, but I was interested to see there was a lack of screens back there.

This is particularly notable as most S-Classes are bought to be driven in rather than to drive, and the screens are so much in the front, I was expecting a matching offering for rear travellers. Not so.

You also can’t adjust the rear seats at all, and unlike some EVs coming out in this space, there’s no recliner mode for the full business-class experience.

The boot is much larger than in the smaller EQE, with the EQS making use of its extended dimensions nicely. The floor is fully flat, and has a secret compartment underneath for the storage of both your included Type 2 to Type 2 public AC charging cable, and Type 2 to wall-socket converter for garage charging.

With a total space of 580 litres, the EQS comfortably consumed our entire CarsGuide luggage set with space to spare.

At a whopping $328,400 before you start ticking options boxes or apply the necessary on-road costs, the EQS 53 is at the pointy end of the price scale, even for an electric car.

Dig a little deeper though, and there are some surprises. For example; this top-spec EQS still manages to be more affordable than the top-spec combustion S-Class ($335,100) and when compared to its rival from Porsche, the Taycan Turbo S ($351,000), it comes out with a cost-advantage.

It is significantly more expensive than BMW’s electric flagship, the upcoming i7 sedan, which starts at $297,900 before on-roads for the xDrive60.

Still, falling between BMW’s core EV offering and the Porsche Taycan is a fitting sweet-spot for our Mercedes EQS.

Equipment is out-of-this world, with the EQS not only having ridiculous performance figures we’ll talk about later, but also standard four-wheel steer, all-wheel drive, adaptive suspension, full leather interior trim with multi-way adjust for the front seats, complete with heating, cooling, and several message programs.

It also has the (again, completely over-the-top) 1.4-meter long MBUX ‘Hyperscreen’, which is made up of two large screens for the instrument cluster and passenger touchscreen, as well as an enormous centre panel for the climate and multimedia functions, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity with matching wireless phone charging bay, augmented reality sat-nav, a panoramic sunroof, LED headlights, LED interior lights with selectable RGB settings, and an auto tailgate.

Enough stuff for you? Wait! Says Mercedes, there’s more! The Dynamic Plus package ($7690) boosts performance even more and adds an extended cooling system and launch mode, an aesthetic Night Package ($3990) which adds mainly black and chrome trim pieces as well as 22-inch wheels, ceramic composite brake package ($9990), augmented reality head-up system ($2690) and a wall box home charger ($1450).

Plenty for buyers to work with then. For now though, they’ll only be able to choose the top-spec AMG-tinged 53 version, as lower grades are yet to arrive in Australia. It will be the same for the smaller but near-identically specified EQE 53 when it arrives in Australia, so the message is pay big or go home to get on the latest EQ tech early.

While many electric all-wheel-drive vehicles use a motor on each axle, the Audi electric 'Quattro' system here arguably goes one better with a total of three motors.

The front axle features the traditional single motor while the rear axle has two; effectively a motor on each rear wheel.

When they all chime in, they bestow the e-tron with a maximum of 370kW of power and an astonishing 973Nm of torque; more than enough to get the 2.6-tonne e-tron moving.

Enough, in fact to get the car from rest to 100km/h in a claimed 4.5 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 210km/h.

A single-speed reduction transmission is fitted and drive is constantly sent to all four wheels via an electric version of Audi’s famed Quattro all-wheel-drive layout.

Suspension is by adaptive air springs and there’s adjustable (via the steering wheel paddles) regenerative braking.

In the electric era, do performance figures matter? AMG would argue a resounding ‘yes’ although I would argue the art for premium automakers like Mercedes is now in producing suspension setups that can handle the weight of batteries.

Regardless, the EQS has a dual-motor setup, capable of providing a whopping 484kW/950Nm in its standard form, or an even more incredible 560kW/1020Nm with the Dynamic Plus package. Look, you’re spending over $328,000 already, what’s an extra $8k or so to put pretty much any other four-wheeled object in your rear-vision mirror? With the Dynamic Package, a sprint time of 3.4 seconds is… brutal.

The four-wheel drive system is necessary to keep all that power under control. While some enthusiasts may be turned-off by the four-wheel steer function, I’d read on to the driving section to see why it’s not only worth having (try turning a 5.2-meter long sedan around without it) but also not as intrusive as you think it’s going to be in the corners.

Moving this much weight at such velocities and for such distances requires a big battery. In fact, Audi claims the SQ8’s battery, at 114kWh is the biggest in the business.

But, again, it needs to be, especially with the claimed energy consumption of a hefty 28.8kWh per 100km for the SUV version and 28.0kWh per 100km for the slightly slipperier Sportback.

That gives a theoretical range of 417km for the SUV and 430 for the Sportback, both of which are numbers some potential buyers won’t consider sufficient.

But those same people should consider the fact that in a mix of winding country roads and some freeway running, we were able to beat those consumption claims, recording closer to 26 or 27kWh per 100km which, if nothing else, suggests the published range figures might be somewhat closer to reality than the EV (or any other segment of the car industry) market typically gets.

The standard charger runs at 11kW but on a 10-amp household socket, home charging will be limited to 7.2kW, although an optional 22kW charger ($6900) is also available from Audi.

The DC charging is the highlight, however, and the SQ8 can cope with charging speeds of up to 170kWh, meaning it can theoretically get from 10 per cent to 80 per cent charged in about 31 minutes on a commercial charging station with enough grunt.

Even at the official energy consumption of 23kWh/100km, the EQS’ drivetrain is essentially the electric equivalent of wielding a massive V8 under the hood. It’s not by any measure impressive, but then, with 107.8kWh of lithium batteries under the floor, it’s perhaps impressive it’s not worse than an Audi e-tron, particularly since the EQS weighs in at nearly three tonnes.

The battery is one of the largest on the market in Australia, offering the EQS a driving range of 585km on the WLTP cycle. Very impressive.

On the charging front, the EQS can charge at up to 200kW on DC thanks to an advanced cooling system, and on AC charges at 11kW in its stock form or 22kW with an optional $2490 upgrade. Again, at $328k, why wouldn’t you want the best charging system you can get for so little extra?

You can also package in a Mercedes-Benz branded wallbox for your home garage, valued at $1450 before installation costs.

To give you an idea of charging times: Expect a little over two hours (from 10 per cent) on a common 50kW DC public charger, nearly ten hours from an 11kW AC public charger, and a number not even worth mentioning from a home wall socket.

Almost a thousand Newton-metres (not to mention 370kW) infers some pretty serious performance and so it is.

When you press down on the throttle pedal, there’s an instant and somewhat furious response from the driveline. And just as the Audi’s touchscreens have been calibrated to respond on a human scale, so too have the major driving controls.

That said, while there’s more acceleration on tap than most drivers will ever have experienced, the SQ8 doesn’t move forward with quite the irresistible force the bald numbers might suggest.

And that’s purely down to the thing weighing the wrong side of 2.6 tonnes. Sure, Audi claims 4.5 seconds and that seems fairly believable, but it’s not quite as ballistic as some other current EVs.

Still, that’s hardly its mission in life, anyway. Top speed, in the interests of thermal management, has been limited to an entirely understandable – not to mention adequate - 210km/h.

But one thing all that kerb mass has (arguably) done is make the suspension work properly. Speaking purely personally, until I’d sampled the SQ8 over a variety of bitumen joins, potholes of all sizes and even clattering level-crossings, I was yet to drive a passenger car on air suspension that worked as well as the brochure claimed.

Historically, air suspension has been okay on smooth roads and even sometimes bigger lumps and bumps. But it usually fell short of expectations on small amplitude, high frequency stuff that made the suspension judder and stutter. Not this Audi.

Even on the 'Dynamic' setting, the ride never falls beyond plush although you will notice a little more stiffness being dialled into it by the computer.

The best advice is to leave it in the 'Comfort' setting where there’s still lots of roll and pitch control, yet an even higher degree of suppleness that fundamentally refuses to be beaten by a lack of post-Covid road maintenance. And this from a car that rides on 22-inch wheels and tyres.

Perhaps compressed air doesn’t scale in a linear manner, making the addition of a couple of tonnes of sprung mass a positive, rather than a negative.

The other thing Audi has done well to maintain is that almost indefinable corporate steering response.

It’s kind of muted this time around in terms of its ability to talk to you, but there’s still an over-arching Audi-ness to it with an instant pointiness without the frenetic feel often associated with a quick ratio and sticky tyres.

The EQS is quite surreal to drive, and you’ll notice a whole bunch of odd things first.

Immediately the driving position will be surprising. It’s nothing like what a traditional sedan feels like. This is because you sit high in the EQS. This helps facilitate extra under-floor space for the batteries, but the way Benz puts it, this driving position is deliberately SUV-like to grant buyers the more desirable view of the road which they now (apparently) seek.

It has some oddities, as mentioned earlier, with the fixed digital instrument cluster, and the way the wheel can block it depending on your height, but on the whole I found visibility in the EQS to be pretty good, despite limitations out the distant rear window.

Sound-wise AMG has created a bespoke soundscape for its electric models, two soundscapes, in fact. One sounds like a facsimile of a distant, digitised, V8 (weird) while the other is a bit more sci-fi. I can’t decide which one I really like, but props to the brand for thinking of individual sounds for things like accelerating, regenerative braking, as well as turning the car off and on. There’s even a humming tone for when the car is idling. 

AMG says “it doesn’t work without sound” and I suppose it does add some sort of feedback to the experience which would otherwise be missing. I’d rather have it than not I suppose is the take-away here.

The acceleration is completely over-the-top in Sport or Sport+, allowing you to move such a large vehicle forward in an almost comically quick fashion. It has the sudden urge of a Tesla, but with an element of grace that follows courtesy of the adaptive suspension which, not only settles the ride, but keeps the car comfortable.

It is the suspension though which sets cars like the EQS (and even rivals from BMW) apart from the likes of Tesla. The ride in the EQS is superb, befitting the heir apparent to the S-Class throne. It’s hard to find a ride so void of issues, particularly in the everyday Comfort drive-mode. It’s not just the fact I can’t complain about brutality from this car’s oversized 22-inch wheels, but also there has clearly been delicate work conducted to control the rebound, body-roll, and jiggle which can occur as a result of moving around a near-three-tonne chunk of aluminium, steel, lithium and leather at enthusiastic speeds.

This settled ride combines gloriously with the four-wheel steer system to make the EQS a keen corner carver, despite gravity constantly working against it.

I was surprised to find the four-wheel steer system to be pretty much identical in feel to the system also employed in the EQE and new C43, in that it is unobtrusive to the overall feel of the car, only helping to add a little extra turn-in to the corners when need be.

In a vehicle as long as the EQS it’s a bit more noticeable, and requires a moment of brain-adjustment, as the car (bizarrely) goes exactly where you point it, requiring no over- or under-adjustments, the grip from the enormously capable four-wheel drive system refusing to let any shift under sensible driving conditions. 

So, it’s comfortable enough to be an S-Class, fast enough to be an AMG, but I must say there is something a bit clinical about how it attacks the road. Missing some of theAMG drama we’ve become so used to from the brand’s combustion range, perhaps?

The S-Class has always been a safety leader, and it appears the EQS is no different.

On the active front expect Autobahn-speed auto emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert, traffic sign recognition and driver monitoring.

The Mercedes semi-autonomous adaptive cruise control suite is just as good (perhaps better in some areas like distance control) as the stuff from Tesla in my experience, and this car also had a notably comprehensive 360-degree parking camera which is brilliant enough to show you the top-down and full rear view cameras all in one screen.

The EQS is yet to be officially rated by our local crash authority, ANCAP, but it received a maximum five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2021.

Audi’s factory warranty is a good, but no longer remarkable five-year/unlimited warranty on most of the SQ8.

The exception is the battery which is covered by a six-year/160,000km warranty. Audi will also come to your home and connect the standard 10-amp charger and there’s an Origin Energy green power offer that comes with it.

Charging is taken care of for the first six years with a Chargefox subscription as well as Audi Connect. You’ll also get six years of free roadside assistance and the first six years of standard servicing are also included.

The SQ8 also makes good on the EV promise of less maintenance with service intervals every two years or 30,000km, whichever comes first.

Like many electric cars, the warranty on the EQS is twofold. Firstly, there is the whole vehicle warranty, which from Mercedes-Benz is five years and unlimited kilometres, but the high-voltage battery is covered by a separate, and quite healthy, ten-year, 250,000km promise.

Benz throws in a three-year subscription to ChargeFox, offering owners free charging for the duration (to give you an idea, it cost me about $30 to charge the EQS to nearly full from 20 or so per cent).

Service intervals are surprisingly standard, at 12 months and 15,000km, and the EQS’ pre-paid service program is $1750 for three years, $2750 for four years, or $3250 for five-years, working out to about $650 a year. Far from the cheapest we’ve seen for an EV, but chump change for owners considering the up-front cost of this vehicle.