Chrysler 300 vs Mercedes-Benz EQE53

What's the difference?

The Chrysler 300 SRT is a big, fast, well-equipped and super-comfortable point-to-point tourer that’s also able to soak up the stresses of a city commute with ease. It’s also showing its age in terms of design, obscenely thirsty, dynamically flawed, and offered with a bottom-of-the-class ownership package. A fun place to visit but make sure you’re ready for permanent residency.

In the wild new world of fully electric cars there isn’t really an ‘average’ of what to expect. If there was, I’m sure the EQE 53 would exceed it. Its electrification brings the ambiance of a luxury car, while its performance reminds you of what AMG is capable of.

There’s a bit of the mechanical engagement of AMG missing, a relatively small boot, and some won’t be sold on the function-over-form looks, but the EQE 53 is a pleasantly surprising look at the future of fast Mercedes.

The NSW Highway Patrol has adopted the 300 SRT as its weapon of choice, and psychologically I reckon they’re onto a winner.

A high waistline, small glasshouse and big 20-inch rims combine to give the 300 a chunky, take-no-prisoners stance. And this intimidating beast filling the mirrors is enough to make even the most determined speedster drop their bundle.

Except for the SRT badge at the back, the exterior is a chrome-free zone, with black finish on the big honeycomb grille, window frames, and dark chrome wheels dialing up the overall air of menace.

The rear view is similarly imposing, with a large slab of almost right-angular boot lid topped by a pronounced body-colour spoiler.

At this point, we have to call out less than perfect panel fit. On our test car for example the intersection of the bonnet and front clip above the headlights was messy with inconsistent shut lines and poor alignment.

Inside not much has changed over the current 300’s seven years on sale, and the design lacks the integrated approach of more modern competitors.

An 8.4-inch colour media touchscreen sits in the centre of a squared oval panel between the central air vents and under an analogue clock, that shape bearing no resemblance to the form of the heating and ventilation control panel below it or the instrument binnacle alongside.

A mass of buttons confronts the driver across the centre stack, steering wheel and door, while genuine carbon fibre inserts add a racy if slightly ironic touch in a close to 2.0-tonne car.

Leather and suede sports front seats look (and feel) the business, and the strongly illuminated gauges are divided by a 7.0-inch multifunction display including a clear digital speed read-out. Which is just as well, because the fussy increments on the analogue dial are hard to read.

The EQE is certainly a departure from the classic lines of the current E-Class sedan. Mercedes-Benz has chosen to take a completely new approach for the electric era, embracing the need for ultra-low drag designs, and a corresponding newfound love for curvaceous surfaces.

It’s fairly imposing too with enormous wheels and an abundance of panels. Needless to say some will find this new design direction challenging. It proved quite controversial in the CarsGuide office, at any rate.

I can say it looks a bit more approachable when witnessed in the metal, and the AMG branded 53s I sampled for this review added a few more much-needed points of interest to this single curve of a design.

This is particularly notable around the rear of the EQE 53 which adds a little tail spoiler and glossy rear diffuser, which help accentuate the width and terraced design of the rear window.

Around the front is a little more featureless, with the blanked-out grille losing the intricate three-dimensional appeal of this car’s combustion equivalents. There’s just something a bit plain about the EQE’s face, although Mercedes has tried to spice it up with interesting headlight clusters.

The inside is spectacular, with a smorgasbord of screens and lights to match an abundance of glossy touch-based surfaces. Some may not be sold on the over-the-top approach, but it feels as futuristic as an EV should be.

The material choices are nice, too, with soft-touch materials atop the dash, doors, and running down the centre console. The ambient lighting is particularly flashy, and works in with the consistent single-piece sort of design which makes up the whole dash.

While the LEDs might be a little too much for some, there are some more subtle detailing points, like the way the centre air vents are delicately worked into the flow of the dash, and the rotor designs of each vent at the edges are intricate pieces.

At just under 5.1m long, 1.9m wide and close to 1.5m tall the 300 SRT is a sizeable machine, so it’s no surprise there’s plenty of room inside.

Those up front are provided with a pair of cupholders in the centre console (complete with heating or cooling at the press of a button), storage bins and medium-size bottle holders in the doors, a long oddments tray and a small storage cubby (with 12-volt outlet) near the gear shifter, as well as a sunglasses holder in the overhead console and a big glove box.

There’s also a lidded storage box between the seats, complete with sliding tray, two USB ports, an ‘aux-in’ jack and a 12-volt outlet. Even old school nicotine enthusiasts are catered for with an ashtray insert ready to slip into one of the cupholders and a cigarette lighter to drop into the main 12-volt socket.

Rear seat passengers pick up a fold-down centre armrest with two cupholders and a lidded oddments box, decent door bins with bottle holders, as well adjustable vents at the back of the centre console, two USB ports, and switches for the standard heated rear seats.

Sitting behind the driver’s seat set for my 183cm position I had ample legroom but only adequate headroom. There’s enough shoulder room for three adults across the rear, but the broad transmission tunnel throws a spanner in the works when it comes to centre foot room.

The fully-lined boot is nicely trimmed, with a pair of flip-out bag hooks (22kg capacity), load tie-down anchors, and useful lighting included.

Volume is 462 litres, enough to fit our three-piece hard suitcase set (35, 68 and 105 litres) lying flat on the floor, or the CarsGuide pram, with heaps of room to spare. A 60/40 split-folding rear seat adds extra space and flexibility.

In the case of a flat tyre your only option is a repair/inflator kit, and it’s worth noting towing capacity for the SRT is the same 450kg for a braked or unbraked trailer, where the standard V6-powered 300C can tow a 1724kg braked trailer.

The EQE is plenty practical up front, with an odd SUV-like seating position providing a commanding view of the road. This seat positioning isn’t an accident or a necessity of facilitating batteries under the floor, but a deliberate design decision by the brand to try to emulate some design choices which have made SUVs so popular.

The result is surprisingly effective, but doesn’t help the view out of the rear of the car, which is a restricted letterbox aspect courtesy of a slinky roofline and tall boot lid.

Still, peering down on the road lets you position and park this large EV more easily. Adjustability isn’t bad for the front passenger, and space is healthy both in terms of width and height. One dimension which can’t be altered is the particularly tall dash height, and while this is largely overcome by the taller-than-average seat, it could be an issue for shorter drivers.

Storage is great, with a big bottle holder and bin in the doors, a huge cutaway below the floating centre console for storage, with an elastic strap for tying down objects. There are a further two bottle holders in the centre console and a bay with a wireless charger, too, and the split-opening armrest box is deep.

One of the more divisive points of this car’s practicality offering is the screen-based functions. Everything has been moved into the massive centre screen. There are no tactile buttons or dials for this car’s functions, with it all controlled through context menus.

To be fair, with the amount of real estate on offer, the touch elements can afford to be massive, and there is a permanent set of climate controls at the base of the screen, but adjusting these functions on the fly is never as easy without physical feedback.

The same goes for the touch-centric wheel controls. Benz says the idea with the four-zoned touch panels on the wheel is to offer unrivalled ability to control the car’s functions even when the wheel is at an angle, but it is also easy to accidentally hit various touch functions, and they can require some delicate action to use properly.

The back seat is impressive. It maintains the tall seating position of the front, letting you look down on the road as though you’re in an SUV, and the comfortable seating and surfaces continue. Legroom is particularly impressive, with leagues of space behind my own driving position. Headroom is even okay considering the descending roofline. It’s quite dark in the EQE 53 we tested thanks to its black-on-black trim, giving the illusion of a space which is smaller than it actually is.

Storage is good, too, with a big bottle holder in the door cards, quad-zone climate control, complete with a separate touch panel for rear passengers, adjustable air vents, and solid clamshell pockets on the backs of the front seats.

The EQE has a boot capacity of 430 litres which doesn’t seem enormous given the footprint of this car, and no doubt has a lot to do with its slinky aerodynamic design around the rear. There’s no ‘frunk’ either so this is a car perhaps more focused on driving and being driven in than its ability to carry things.

We don’t yet know which EQE variants will be offered in Australia. The car we drove for this review, the EQE 53 AMG is the top of the range, and will be the launch variant in Australia, but the brand is yet to settle on how it will fill the line-up underneath.

Representatives said to expect at least two more Mercedes-Benz (as opposed to AMG) branded variants, with the option of a rear-wheel drive entry model and an all-wheel drive mid-grade. Whether they adopt the same spec level as the European-market EQE 350 remains to be seen.

As for the EQE 53, CarsGuide understands a price north of $200,000 is likely when it arrives before the end of 2022.

Its rivals will include other high-end four-door models like the Porsche Taycan, Audi e-tron GT, and the updated Tesla Model S. In the coming years this segment will continue to heat up with the yet-to-launch Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Polestar 5.

The EQE is fairly large, offering dimensions comparable to that of the CLS which came before it, and is quite unconventional in a host of areas.

The standard suite of equipment we sampled is impressive, too, with performance enhancements on the 53 including four-wheel steer, adaptive dampers, a performance brake package, and torque-vectoring all-wheel drive.

Massive 21-inch alloy wheels featured on our car, and there is also the option overseas for even higher performance carbon ceramic brakes.

Outside also features LED headlights, DRLs, and tail-lights, while inside impresses with the massive dash-spanning ‘Hyperscreen’ with panels for the digital dash, centre multimedia screen, and a third panel for the front passenger.

This set-up is optional on the EQE range in Europe, but we’ll have to wait and see what becomes standard for the Australian market. The car we sampled had wireless phone mirroring tech, wireless charging pads, built-in navigation with augmented reality directions, a head-up display with configurable panels, and full USB-C connectivity throughout.

Quad-zone climate also features, as does the brand’s latest steering wheel, in our case clad in Alcantara and leather trim.

The seats, even on the EQE 53 ship standard with the ‘Artico’ synthetic leather trim, although they can also optionally be upgraded to full Nappa leather. Electrical adjustment is standard for the front seats.

It’s a flashy cabin which feels primo, and little touches like unique materials for the EQ range across the dash and ambient lighting configurable to any colour you can dream up are neat, too.

Check in closer to the EQE’s local arrival time before the end of 2022 for more accurate pricing and spec, as well as the list of option packs.

Forget hybrid, forget turbos, the Chrysler 300 SRT is powered by 392 cubic-inches of Detroit iron… although the 6.4-litre ‘Apache’ V8 is actually built in Mexico.

The engine’s block is indeed cast iron although the heads are aluminium, with the ‘Hemi’ name derived from its hemispherical combustion chamber design.

It’s naturally aspirated, direct fuel-injected and produces 350kW (470hp) at 6150rpm and no less than 637Nm of torque at 4250rpm.

Drive goes through an eight-speed automatic transmission to the rear wheels with a limited-slip diff standard.

The EQE 53 punches out huge power, with the standard car producing 460kW/950Nm from its dual electric motor set-up, or with the 'AMG Dynamic Plus Pack', producing even higher figures of 505kW/1000Nm.

Clearly, AMG’s electric vehicles will safely outrun their dramatic combustion predecessors. In fact, with the Plus Pack, the EQE 53 is capable of moving its bulk from 0-100km/h in just 3.2 seconds. Extreme for something carrying a whopping 90.6kWh of batteries under the floor.

Enhancements include torque-vectoring all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer, adaptive dampers, and the choice of standard performance brakes or a carbon ceramic package.

A model of fuel efficiency this car is not. Claimed economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 13.0L/100km, the 300 SRT emitting 303g/km of CO2 in the process.

Over roughly 300km of city, suburban and freeway running we recorded 18.5L/100km (at the bowser), and the on-board computer threw up some horrifying short-term numbers as we explored the car’s performance potential.

Minimum fuel requirement is 95 RON premium unleaded and you’ll need 70 litres of it to fill the tank… regularly.

Electric vehicles appear to have the same issues as their combustion counterparts, in that they still drop in efficiency the more powerful you make them. In the case of the EQE 53, this means an average WLTP-rated consumption number between 20.3kWh/100km and 23.2kWh/100km.

'Thirsty' for an EV, although it is on par with the Porsche Taycan and still below Audi’s e-tron S.

When it comes to charging the EQE 53 can charge at a rate of 11kW on the AC standard, or a whopping 170kW on DC - allowing 180km of range to be added every 15 minutes. It also has the convenient option of a 22kW AC charger, a welcome inclusion if you intend to charge your car often at public outlets.

Total range for the 90.6kWh battery is 513km on the WLTP cycle.

Roll onto a smooth, dry surface, engage the SRT’s standard launch control function and you’ve dialled in the ability to storm from 0-100km/h in a ludicrously rapid 4.5sec.

Unlike smaller capacity turbo engines, the big atmo Hemi takes a while to develop maximum torque (637Nm), hitting peak pulling power at 4250rpm. Keep the throttle pinned and full power (350kW) is achieved on the cusp of the rev limiter at 6150rpm.

All this fire and fury is accompanied by a beautifully brutal V8 roar courtesy of an active exhaust which tweaks the pulsing note it produces according to drive mode and throttle position. It’s hard not to love it, complete with rude pops and crackles on the over-run.

Beware though, this car is relatively loud all the time, so you’ve got to hope the love affair is a long-term one.

Suspension is by a short and long arm (SLA) and upper A-arms at the front, with a five-link set-up at the rear, and Bilstein adaptive dampers all around.

The switch between Comfort and Sport is swift and marked, with the latter best kept for billiard tables and race circuits. Around town ride in the more compliant setting is agreeably smooth.

Push the big 300 along your favourite backroad and you know you’re asking two tonnes of metal, rubber and glass to move against its will.

The eight-speed auto responds well in manual mode (with wheel-mounted paddles), and the grippy sports front seats do decent job of keeping their occupants stable and balanced, but the sheer mass of this car means you’re never going to get a corner-carving hot hatch-like experience.

And despite a chunky, leather-trimmed sports wheel, the hydraulically-assisted ‘SRT Tuned’ steering isn’t exactly the last word in road feel or sharp response.

Having said that, the fat 20-inch (245/45) Goodyear Eagle F1 rubber grips hard with minimal impact on ride quality, and in a more relaxed mode the SRT is a stress-free and comfortable tourer.

Big acceleration is balanced by big brakes, with beefy ventilated rotors (360mm fr / 350mm rr) clamped by Brembo four-piston calipers front and rear.

The system’s outright power is impressive but can be abrupt on initial application at around town speeds, until you get used to greasing the pedal pressure in.

‘SRT Performance Pages’ allows you to scroll through multiple real-time data screens (timers, G-force, engine performance, etc), which is fun, with outputs downloadable to a USB stick or SD card. The 19-speaker harman/kardon audio system absolutely cranks, and the active cruise control works intuitively, without the frustrating conservatism (taking forever to pick up the throttle) of some other systems

The way the EQE 53 drives was deeply unexpected. Just looking at this massive sedan, I would have expected it to feel burdened by its batteries, and with its length and shape, cumbersome in the corners. That wasn’t the case at all.

The EQE 53 feels remarkably coherent from behind the wheel. The seating position works well to give a nice view of the road, the steering feels a tad artificial but still direct with some AMG magic having worked its way in.

What surprised me most is how agile it feels. Once you gather some speed and attack some corners, this car shrinks. Control is excellent thanks to the massive tyres, all-wheel drive system, and all-wheel steering. It sounds like a lot of complexity, but you don’t notice any of it. Each system does its part to allow you to simply point the car where you want it to go at pretty much any speed. It is very impressive.

The ride feels supple, too, thanks to adaptive dampers, but offers plenty of control. The speed is Tesla-style violent. Put your foot to the floor in Sport or Sport+ mode and you’re thrown to the back of your seat as the car enters a state of warp. AMG says there won’t be a 63 version of this car, and I can’t imagine why you could possibly need anything faster or more capable than this 53 version. 1000Nm of torque!

This overwhelming number perhaps makes it more impressive that it’s hard to extract a squeak from the tyres. Sure there’s torque-vectoring magic at play, but even at full acceleration they hold on for dear life.

It also makes a noise. AMG is very specific about what went into making the soundscape for the EQE because in the electric era its performance can be achieved silently, and the brand knows full well its badge usually comes hand-in-hand with aural drama.

I stuck it in the stock mode and varied my driving from 'Comfort' to 'Sport+.' The sound builds as the car gains speed, but it also interacts with your accelerator and brake inputs, as well as being one of few EVs with a specific noise for regenerative braking. It sounds… odd.

There’s certainly a kind of drama to it, and to me, it’s better to have it as a way of gaining some feedback from the car. But, its artificial nature and loudness became a little too much for sustained driving in Sport + mode. I found the best balance in the more regular ‘Sport’ mode, or even toned down to ‘Balanced’ which puts it in the background.

This leaves quite a void, though. While the sound is welcome, and the throttle alarming, there’s just something missing from the usually brash AMG badge promise.

As an EV, the EQE 53 has three regen modes quite distinct from one another. Mercedes says the choice to have just three modes is deliberate, as it didn’t want to dilute the personality of the car with an overwhelming choice of regen. The three modes include: basically no regen, moderate regen, and the full regen, essentially a single-pedal driving mode. I preferred the strongest setting for efficiency's sake (plus it brakes for you as you let off!).

The EQE 53 is surprising in so many areas, and much more engaging to drive than its exterior visage might suggest. I’m impressed.

We don’t yet know what standard safety equipment will arrive on Australian-delivered EQE variants, but you can expect a high-end suite of gear including auto emergency braking to freeway speeds, lane and blind spot assistance, driver and road monitoring tech, as well as the brand’s rather good autonomous cruise suite.

The EQE pairs the expected set of airbags with an additional driver’s knee airbag and centre airbag for some markets, as well as a second set of side impact airbags for rear passengers. There are dual ISOFIX mounts on the rear outboard seats, and expect there to be the usual three top-tether mounts in Australia, too.

Stay tuned closer to the EQE’s arrival toward the end of 2022 for more accurate specification.

The warranty world has moved significantly in recent months, and the 300 SRT’s three year/100,000km warranty is now well off the pace.

Yes, it includes corrosion cover and 24-hour roadside assistance, but with the likes of Ford, Holden, Honda, Mazda, and Toyota now at five years/unlimited km, Chrysler is way behind.

Kia moved to seven years/unlimited km in 2014, and there are whispers of the Korean brand shifting to 10 years sooner rather than later.

Service is required every 12 months/12,000km, and no capped price servicing program is currently offered.

With the caveat that labour rates will inevitably vary between dealerships, Chrysler Australia estimates five year standard servicing cost at $2590 (including GST).

Mercedes-Benz in Australia currently offers a range-wide five-year and unlimited kilometre warranty, a standard which is spreading to other premium brands.

We don’t know what the service schedule or running costs will look like for the EQE range yet, but expect it to be most affordable when chosen with a multi-year prepaid service plan at the time of purchase. Check back closer to its launch time to see the full details.