Mercedes-Benz Eqv300 vs MG Im6

What's the difference?

The EQV is indeed a curious offering. The driving range is decent, but not outstanding, and depending on what you’re using it for, it could be a savvy investment. Especially if you charge using solar power. You’ll also save on servicing costs. But if you’re a limo operator, it really will depend how many kilometres you’re going to do each day. A V-Class might suffice.

Either way it’s great that Benz is giving buyers electric options in a variety of body styles and segments - an SUV simply won’t suit everyone.

If you can live with that ride quality and have the deep pockets for an EQV, there’s more than enough to like. But I suspect there won’t be many of you.

A super solid first outing from the IM brand. Don't let the pricing fool you, there is still bang for buck on offer in the IM6 Performance, even if it at times feels a bit too digital for my tastes.

If you’ve seen a Mercedes van or people mover, you’ll have an idea of the EQV.

The difference between it and its V-Class twin is the ‘EQ’ touches, including the front end that has a definite connection to other EQ models like the EQA.

The chrome-rimmed grille is blacked out and has fins, and that’s the key difference between the two MPVs. Otherwise it’s a very large white box on wheels. Nicely designed 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels, at that. 

Inside, the EQV is showing the age of this vehicle's shared underpinnings. Next year will mark 10 years since the current Vito went on sale in Europe, and while it and its derivatives are still somewhat handsome, the interior is getting on.

It’s hard to fault the materials used inside, and elements like the perforated leather steering wheel, and dash stitching are welcome, but it could feel even more premium. It’s no more high-end than a Kia Carnival Platinum that is more than half the price of the EQV.

But the look of the dash is very reminiscent of Benz models from a few years back - certainly nothing like the twin-screen set-up of the current crop. And given the size of the cabin, the 10.25-inch central screen looks small in this vehicle. 

I feel almost mean saying this, because there will be plenty of people who like the way the IM6 looks, and I don’t want to rain on their parade. But… I’m not one of them.

It reminds me a bit of the pre-facelift Tesla Model Y, in that it’s largely feature-less and a bit blobby, and there’s not a sharp angle anywhere to be found on the thing. Premium to me means powerful and assured — picture just about any Audi — whereas I just find this a bit bland and soft.

Anyway, I do like the big alloys, the insulated glass roof and the light treatment front and rear.

And I like the cabin. The seats aren’t leather, but they’re super thick and comfortable, and there is a genuinely premium air in the cabin, helped by the acreage of screens and the quality elements, like the little door panels.

The doors unlatch electrically, matching the pop-out door handles outside, but they can be a bit fidgety. Someone from MG told me how they worked (you kind of cover the handle and let the door come to you) but I watched everyone else who tried to open them struggle. If you're at the point where you have to explain how a door handle works, you might have over-egged the pudding.

The second screen below the main one acts a bit like a mobile phone. You can alter your home screen widgets and access the main menu, even as Apple CarPlay is synched at the top. You’ll get used to it, I’m sure, but I found it to be a bit fidgety.

Actually it reminds me a little bit of the Lexus trackpad, or whatever that hateful system was called, where you controlled the main screen via a little mousepad thing, though happily it’s nowhere near as annoying as that was.

If space is what you want, space is what you’ll find in the EQV. People movers like the Kia Carnival are incredibly spacious, but they can’t compete with something that’s spawned from a commercial vehicle platform, like this Benz.

Thanks to the flat floor and 2+2+3 three-row seating layout, you can literally stand up (depending on your height) and walk from the driver’s seat to the third row.

Back up front, the old underpinnings mean no fully digital instrument cluster here, just analogue dials, which is not a bad thing.

That also means the air con controls are separate from the central screen and therefore easy to use.

The MBUX system isn’t as advanced as the version fitted to the latest Benz models, and as a result there are fewer functions and it’s less complicated to use. There’s a touchpad as well as the touchscreen but I only ever used the screen.

Another slightly old school element to the EQV is the fact that it requires a key to start. Which is unusual for an EV. Also, the ignition is on the left side of the steering wheel which is great news for left-handed people but it’s somewhat annoying if you’re right-handed.

Storage wise up front, there is a decent space with a cover under the centre stack, housing cupholders, two USB-C ports and a 12-volt charger, but no wireless charger. There’s ample space for very large bottles in the front doors and it has a medium-sized glove box.

The front leather seats with fold-down armrests on each side are well bolstered and are very comfortable, too. No complaints there.

Given this car is designed to ferry people around, you’d hope for a functional rear cabin and on that Benz has delivered - for the most part.

Unsurprisingly given the EQV’s massive dimensions, there is a huge amount of headroom, legroom, and hip and shoulder room in all rows.

Both sliding side doors are power operated and one (the passenger side) can be opened via the key fob. The very large tailgate is also power operated.

Those two second-row captains chairs are comfy and supportive. There are map pockets on the rear of the front and second-row seats. There are floor and roof-mounted air vents, but just roof vents in the third row.

There’s not a whole lot of storage options in the second row, while the third row has stand-up phone holders, but that’s about it. No USB ports back there.

If you’re folding the second row seats, they’re quite heavy and cumbersome. But tumbling them forward via the lever is much easier. That ensures ample space to get into the third row. 

The third row can be folded flat as well but you have to remove the very large and heavy parcel shelf from the cargo area. Like the seats the shelf structure is also on rails and it lifts out if required. That third row can also slide but not as far as the second row.

The shelf can double as a stand-up desk for a computer in the rear if required. It’s actually quite handy.

And it helps hide items in the boot. It comes with plastic folding shopping crates. 

Benz says the boot can swallow 1030 litres with all seats in place, but minus the parcel shelf. It also has a 17-inch spare steel wheel under the rear of the vehicle.

The IM6 measures 4904mm long, 1988mm wide and 1669mm tall, and it rides on a 2950mm wheelbase, with IM describing it as a "mid-large SUV", though I expect it will be classed as a medium SUV Australia.

That said, ICE and EV mid-size electric SUVs are not cut from the same cloth, with the latter making use of a flat floor to maximise space. And so it is with the IM6, where backseat room is pretty damn impressive. I’m 175cm, and I had no problem at all with legroom or headroom, plus the same plush seats from up there are in the back, too.

There are also air vents but no temperature controls, and while there are USB ports, there is no regular household-style plug in the cabin. 

The glass in the windows is laminated, while the roof is double glazed, which MG tells me is Australian summer-proof, but I guess we'll know for sure in a couple of months.

There’s no shortage of cargo room either. There’s a 32-litre frunk up front, and there’s 646 litres in the boot with the rear seats in place. They’re 60/40 split, and if you drop them, luggage space grows to 1621 litres.

The towing capacity is a braked 1500kg, too, but I don’t expect to see many of these towing a camper trailer around.

Premium play means more premium prices, and my IM6 Performance will set you back $80,990 on the road. That might have just sent your eyebrows skyward, but keep in mind it’s faster than some Ferraris, and is swimming with high-end tech, so the bang-for-buck factor is actually still pretty good.

There are cheaper ones, too. The single-motor Premium grade is $60,990 drive-away, albeit with less power and slower charging. Then there’s the Platinum, with a bigger battery and faster charging, which is $69,990

The Performance, though, gets everything IM has to give, including an 800-volt architecture, which means super-fast charging, as well as twin motors, brutal acceleration, a decent driving range and adaptive air suspension.

Elsewhere, you get LED lighting, a big and insulated glass roof, and 20-inch alloy wheels. Inside, there are thick and soft synthetic leather seats that are heated and cooled in both rows, a banging 20-speaker sound system, and wireless charging to pair with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

There’s also 'active noise cancellation', and a seat-aware digital assistant which is about the best, and fastest, I’ve ever used. The IM6’s speaker system can locate where a voice is coming from, so any passenger can use the assistant. For example, if you’re in the backseat and say 'hey IM, lower my window', only your window opens. It’s a technology that I specifically remember the German brands crowing about not so long ago.

There’s also a 10.5-inch central touchscreen that controls much of the vast 26.3-inch screen that runs from in front of the driver to the centre of the cabin, as well as clever little magnets embedded in the dash in front of the driver, as well as in the back of the front seat headrests, that are designed to hold phones, iPads or other little accessories.

Also cool is the IM6’s self-parking tech, but there’s also a relatively useless crab walk function, which leans on the rear-wheel steering system to drive diagonally at slow speeds. I’m still not entirely sure when you’d use that one, to be honest.

Honestly, it’s a lot of stuff, and a lot of tech.

The EQV is a battery electric vehicle that uses a single motor that sends up to 150kW of power and 365Nm of torque to the front wheels. It is paired with a 90kWh lithium-ion battery pack housed beneath the floor. The kerb weight is a hefty 2846kg.

With a DC charging capacity of up to 110kW, topping the battery up from 10 to 80 per cent can be done using a rapid charging station in about 45 minutes.

If you use an 11kW AC charger, like a Mercedes-Benz Wallbox, it will take approximately 10 hours to recharge from empty to 100 per cent.

This is the real party trick of the IM6, because there’s a nuclear power plant under the metal somewhere. All up, the twin-motor setup produces a total 578kW and 802Nm, though I suspect you’re never accessing all the grunt all at once. Still, 100km/h zips by in 3.4 seconds, and the top speed is 239km/h. For the record, that’s exactly as fast the Ferrari Roma Spider I recently handed back, so yeah, it’s properly supercar quick.

According to Mercedes-Benz, the EQV has a driving range of 418km on the NEDC cycle, which is about 355km on the WLTP cycle, which is seen as more real world.

I covered 233km in the EQV and by the end of the week the vehicle’s trip computer was sayong I had used 239km of range, which is pretty close.

As an example of how this vehicle would be used, let’s say an airport transfer driver did six trips to and from the Melbourne CBD to the airport in a day (about 46km), that’s about 276km - which is well within the EQV’s range.

However, when you consider the diesel V-CLass has a range of more than 900km, you can see why some buyers might not want to take the risk.

It consumes 26.3kWh of energy, which was the same figure I achieved. 

The EQV has a CCS charging port.

Also on board is a 100kWh Nickel-Cobalt-Magnesium battery that produces a WLTP driving range of 505kms. Pretty good.

Charging is strong, too. The high-tech platform allows for 396kW DC fast charging, which is faster than what is currently offered in Australia. The claim is 30-80 per cent charged in 15 minutes. There’s also an external vehicle-to-load (V2L) port.

Driving the EQV feels a bit like driving a bus. That’s because you’re essentially driving a bus.

There’s no getting around the EQV’s size and heft, especially in an urban driving setting. It’s massive and challenging to park, especially in inner city areas with small spaces. It also has a pretty sizable 12.9-metre turning circle.

It does also have excellent visibility thanks to a significant amount of glass around you.

After so many years of complaining about Mercedes’ steering wheel-mounted gear shifter, I think I have finally come around to it. Would I prefer it in the centre console? Yes, but I now think the stalk is actually a logical place for it.

A stalk is a less logical place to house cruise control buttons. They are much better on the steering wheel than a stalk hidden behind the wheel.

From take-off, the EQV doesn’t quite flaw you with its acceleration like some EVs can. It’s more leisurely, but far from slow.

The 0-100km/h dash is done in approximately 12 seconds but around town it is responsive enough. In fact, on a particularly hectic day rushing to and from appointments all over town, I was surprised how lively the EQV felt, despite feeling heavy on the road.

As expected, it’s quiet on the road, for the most part - a nice change from diesel engines found in its siblings. But I did notice some creaking noises when driving on less than perfect tarmac.

The steering is weighted on the heavier side and slow to respond but that’s fine for a vehicle like this. You don’t need point and shoot steering for a 3.0-tonne bus. The brakes are not super responsive and require a bit of weight in the foot.

The biggest issue is with the EQV’s ride. The firmly sprung suspension combined with the vehicle’s mass means that you feel, and hear, every single bump.

I understand it is a commercial vehicle platform but given its positioning, Benz could have done more to soften the ride and make it less crashy, especially over speed bumps, potholes and sections of roadwork.

The EQV bumps along the road after you’ve gone over a speed bump and takes a while to balance itself out. It’s this floaty, bouncy ride characteristic that makes all but the smoothest roads a bit of a chore.

First things first, don't get too distracted by the word "performance" here. The IM6 doesn't act like a performance car, it feels bit too plush, and bit too digital, for that.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Performance cars are often loud, raucous and uncomfortable, and the IM6 is none of those things. Instead, those mountains of power and torque make silky, silent progress absolutely effortless, which feels pretty premium to me.

MG makes a big deal of how much work went into insulating the cabin from noise – with active noise cancellation joined by double-paned insulated glass – and it is a properly calming and quiet space.

Also strong is the suspension, with the adaptive air setup soaking up most bumps and bruises, but I found it can clang over really solid bumps, sounding like it's bouncing off a stopper. The steering is solid, too, with a nice weight, if not overly talkative in the feedback department, while the rear-wheel steering helps eat into the turning circle for tight three-point turns.

The downside, though, is that it all feels a little too digital, and like there's been a little too much overthinking gone into it. Having to push a button to see behind you in a hurry is bonkers (see my explanation in the Safety section below), and the secondary screen is more annoying than intuitive. And there were several bings or bongs I couldn't even identify. All of which interrupts the otherwise calming nature of the drive experience.

There is a long list of safety aids on the IM6, and I won't detail the lot here. But I will call out a couple of curious mentions.

As always, the driver distraction warning is annoying, but can be switched off. And MG also counts the IM platform, or what it calls a digital chassis, as part of the safety offering. It has its own digital brain that adapts the air suspension, the rear-wheel steering and the active safety kit on the fly.

The other curiosity is the weird way you see out the back. Rather than fit a digital rear-view mirror to counteract the almost non-existent rear vision, you instead push up on a little toggle on the steering wheel to bring up a live view of what's happening behind you on the central screen.

The EQV is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty for private buyers (that drops to five years/250,000km for commercial buyers), and an eight-year or 160,000km battery warranty. 

The servicing schedule is once a year or every 40,000km.

Benz offers the EQV with a choice of three servicing plans, covering three services ($1252), four ($1959), or five services ($2149).

It also comes with a one-year complimentary Chargefox subscription.

The warranty terms are a little better than the LDV Mifa 9 (five years/160,000km), but you get more kilometres (200,000km) for the battery warranty on the LDV.

The IM6 is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, rather than MG’S 10-year term. Capped-price servicing is offered for the first five years, with your total bill just under $3000. The service intervals are 20,000kms or 12 months.