Mercedes-Benz Eqc400 vs Mercedes-Benz S-Class

What's the difference?

The Mercedes-Benz EQC has been on sale in Australia for a little while now, and aside from the local launch event we haven’t had a chance to spend any quality time with the brand’s first fully electric SUV. Until now.

The EQC 400, as it’s officially known, is the German luxury maker’s first foray into the full-EV landscape, and could arguably be seen as the first true luxury electric SUV on sale in Australia. I mean, yeah, there’s the Jaguar i-Pace, but it has a more premium-sporting intent than the EQC, and the Tesla Model X isn’t aimed at a luxury customer, more so a technologically-minded buyer.

So what’s the Merc EQC like to actually live with? We drove it for a week to find out.

It's only in the running for the title of world's best luxury car. No biggie here, then.

Like Rolex and Concorde, S-Class has become a byword for ultimate, and deserved or not, the Mercedes-Benz defines its segment despite the best efforts of the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus LS and (sadly now-defunct) Jaguar XJ, as well as pointing the way forward with new technologies that eventually trickle down to more proletarian models.

Replacing the half-million selling W222 unveiled in 2013, the W223 is the latest in a long line since the first W187 Ponton debuted in 1951, and includes the famous ‘Finnies' and Stroke-8 models that followed immediately afterwards, but it is the 1972 W116 that really set the template.

Now, seven generations in, the 2021 S-Class is all-new again, with progressive safety and interior features that should help keep it Australia's bestselling full-sized upper-luxury sedan.