Porsche Taycan vs Mercedes-Benz Eqs450

What's the difference?

Porsche says its Taycan models have always been performance-focused and this updated version is even faster than the car it replaces, in a straight line and point-to-point. It’s better equipped, more efficient, and yes, more expensive but every millimetre a Porsche in the way this EV sedan and wagon package has been executed.

It’s an impressive car likely to appeal to Porsche newcomers rather than traditionalists, although you may already have other Porsches in the garage. But with the Macan EV landing any minute and the pure-electric 718 Boxster and Cayman just around the corner it's a key part of the changing face of this iconic German brand.

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

Does electrification enhance the seven-seat SUV experience? In the case of the EQS450, the answer is yes. Smoother, quieter and with plenty of easy-flowing power, the brand's family-focused luxury electric SUV behaves exactly as you might expect.

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

Porsche has freshened up the Taycan’s front and rear end, the nose losing the vents dropping down from the headlights as previewed by the original Mission E Concept in 2015.

Matrix LED headlights are standard with high-resolution HD available. But there are no major sheet metal changes to the bulk of the car. And why would you fiddle with it? The drag coefficient is an ultra-slippery 0.22.

Around the back the Porsche logo in the rear light strip has been given a cool three-dimensional treatment al la the 911, Panamera and other current Porsches. And if you have eyes for the Turbo or Turbo S the brand’s glamorous ‘Turbonite’ metallic silver colour is now available.

Inside is a screen-rich environment with a three-dial digital version of the brand’s five-dial instrument cluster customisable through roughly 5000 configurations and there’s a new multimedia software interface for the central screens with additional functions. A passenger display is a $2860 option.

It’s a handsome SUV, and one that’s not immediately recognisable as electric — especially given there are little exhaust-pipe-mirroring design flourishes at the rear which make you look twice.

Aussie-spec cars get the AMG exterior treatment, which includes AMG alloys, aluminium-look side steps and the power-domed bonnet, but there's still nothing overly 'shouty' about the design, with the sleek, smooth body panels (accentuated by the hidden handles) making the EQS450 look smaller than it actually is.

Inside, it’s a super-comfy space to spend time, and the little fluffy pillows attached to the headrests should be standard in every car. The tech on offer is ample, too.

But it does all feel a little gigantic, with great swathes of wood panelling and massive screens, all of which make you feel bit like you’ve been shrunken down and are now living amongst the giants.

At nearly 5.0m long and 2.0m wide but less than 1.4m tall the Taycan is a low-slung large sedan.

In the front of the Taycan I’ve got plenty of breathing space, lots of headroom and enough shoulder room and you don’t feel cramped relative to the co-pilot.

In terms of storage, there are pockets in the doors with room for bottles, a couple of cup and bottle holders in the centre console as well as a tray under the flying buttress type upper console section.

A lidded box between the seats housing a couple of USB-C outlets and a 12-volt socket is handy and there’s a decent-size glove box on the passenger side. 

Interestingly, an in-car video function enables video streaming on the central display (while the vehicle is stationary) and the passenger display at any time with the vision hidden from the driver by a lenticular-style screen.

In the back, sitting behind the driver’s seat, set for my 183cm position, I have ample legroom and space for my feet. Problem is my head hits the roof solidly, even with the extra room afforded by the panoramic glass insert, which is a no-cost option from the Taycan 4S up.

Standard configuration is two rear seat positions, although a ‘4+1’ set up which adds an occasional centre rear position is optionally available. Trust me, that’s tight. 

On the upside you have adjustable ventilation for the rear seat passengers (climate control zones on the Turbo grades) with a small oddments shelf below them, slots in the doors for bottles and two more cup or bottle holders in the fold-down centre armrest.

No map pockets on the front seat backs, so while there’s some room for storage it’s not exactly over supplied in that department, or for breathing space in general.

Boot space is relatively modest at 366 litres in the sedan but the 60/40 split-folding rear seat liberates more space if required. The Cross Turismo wagon offers 405 litres and a much larger load aperture for greater flexibility. An 84L frunk sits in the nose of all Taycans.  

Interesting to note Taycans in other markets boast an extra 41L of boot space. It doesn’t feature here because Porsche Australia has made the high-end Bose sound system standard and its sub-woofer eats into available capacity. 

A power boot lid or tailgate and auto self-levelling to maintain the car’s ride height under load is standard but there’s no spare tyre of any description. A repair/inflator kit is your only option, which is less than ideal.

The EQS450 stretches 5136mm in length, 1965mm in width and 1718mm in height. That's about the size of a Nissan Patrol and long enough to make it a proper seven-seater.

The middle row can be adjusted forwards or backwards, and with the front seat set to my 175cm driving position, I found I had ample head and knee room to get comfortable.

USB-A charge points abound, and there's wireless device charging, and because of the sheer size of the cabin, the storage options are plentiful. The central bin between the front seats, for example, seems styled on the Grand Canyon.

In the third row, though, things get a little tighter, but it’s perfectly good for kids. My knees were touching the seat in front, however, and it still requires some acrobatics to climb into.

At the rear, with all three seats in place, you'll find 245L of room (measured to the ceiling), growing to a maximum 1030L with the third row flat. Stow the second row, and you'll find a maximum 2020L of storage space – which, and take my word for it – is plenty.

One small quirk, though. While the second row is electric, stowing away at the touch of a button, the third row isn't. That means, when it's flat, you have to climb into the boot to pull it back up, or attack it from the rear door. Either way, it's more awkward than it needs to be.

Arguably the biggest hurdle the EQS450 has to clear is its asking price, which is a considerable $194,900, before on-road costs.

Inside, you'll find leather seats and trim, a big 12.8-inch central display (and a head-up display), a 12.3-inch digital instrument display, a Burmester sound system with 15 speakers, a panoramic sunroof and cooling and heating in the front seats.

Outside, there are 21-inch alloys, flush-fitting door handles, illuminated running boards and LED lighting, which Benz calls 'Digital Lighting', and offers 1.3m pixels of light per headlight.

The entry-level single-motor RWD Taycan features a new electric motor that’s 10kg lighter and seven per cent more powerful but more notably produces 22 per cent more torque than the unit it replaces.

Both it and the additional motor fitted to the front axle of AWD models are permanent magnet synchronous units with outputs up across the range, the Turbo S producing a stonking 700kW and more than 1100Nm.

That 700kW peak number for the Turbo S comes courtesy of an ‘overboost’ function with Launch Control. And Taycan models equipped with the Sport Chrono package and the Performance Battery Plus have up to an extra 70kW courtesy of a 10sec push-to-pass button.

There’s a two-speed transmission on the rear axle and a single-speed on the front of AWD variants.

There are two electric motors delivering the driving power, one at the front axle and one at the rear, which will deliver a combined 265kW and 800Nm, fed through a single-speed transmission and with all four wheels being powered.

That's enough for a sprint to 100km/h of 6.0 seconds.

The Taycan runs 800-volt electric architecture which means it can charge at up to 320kW on a DC fast-charger which is 50kW more than its predecessor. In fact, charging at more than 300kW for up to five minutes is possible. 

You’re looking at a 10-80 per cent charge in 18min on a fast charger which is down from 37min. It’s 46min on a more typical 120kW charger.

An 89kWh lithium-ion battery is standard on the entry-grade Taycan. It boasts a nickel, cobalt, manganese cell chemistry which Porsche says delivers high energy content, lower internal resistance and higher charge and discharge currents. And it’s 9.0kg lighter.

All models above it feature the 105kWh ‘Performance Battery Plus’, a roughly $12K option on the base car.

Maximum AC charging capacity is 11kW and you’re staring down the barrel of nine hours for a 0-100 per cent fill of the smaller battery and 11 hours for the performance battery pack.

Official energy consumption on a combined urban, extra-urban cycle varies from 17.1kWh/100km for the single motor Taycan to 17.8kWh for dual-motor variants.

On the launch drive program, covering mainly rural B-roads on Tasmania’s east coast, we cycled through all models on offer and recorded a best figure of 21.5kWh/100km for the single-motor Taycan up to 22.0kWh for the Turbo S. Not bad.

Claimed range is 566km for the entry-grade Taycan, up to 626km for dual-motor models.

Interestingly, on 4WD models the - front electric motor can electronically decouple more frequently to improve efficiency.

There's a huge 107.8kWh on board here, but the EQS450's driving range is a less impressive 483km. Maybe something to do with the 2918kg weight of this big SUV.

Don't get me wrong, 483km is plenty to cover almost anyone's weekly commute (and then some), but early promises had pointed to a range of more like 600km.

When it comes time to plug in, you'll find the EQS450 is set up for 200kW DC fast charging, which should see you go from 10 to 80 percent charged in just 31 minutes.

Home charging is, of course, a slower proposition. A three-phase 11kW supply should take 10 hours, while a 7.0kW wallbox will be slower again, and more like 15 hours.

Full disclosure. My preference when it comes to Porsche propulsion is pistons in cylinders; ideally six of them, horizontally opposed. 

But if the Taycan is on your shortlist you’re ready to move past internal combustion and there is no doubt this car is properly quick. 

The entry-level RWD model accelerates from 0-100km/h in 4.8sec (0.6 faster than the outgoing model) with the Taycan Turbo S at 2.4sec which is hypercar fast.

Porsche admits to having played around with some dual-clutch transmission-type mimicry along the lines of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. But the boffins in Zuffenhausen left that to one side due to concerns over compromise to the car’s point-to-point ability. Porsche seemingly can’t entertain anything that makes a car slower.

It did, however, install a push-to-pass function on dual-motor versions which gives you a 10-second burst of extra performance which is fun.

Suspension is by forged alloy double-wishbone front and rear with some extra links at the back.

Adaptive air suspension is standard across the range, and ‘Active Ride’ is fitted to the upper variants which takes things one step further.

And it does ride very nicely. The launch drive covered second-class, coarse-chip B-road type surfaces and the Taycan smooths the road out beautifully.

Standard wheel diameter is 19-inch for the entry-grade, 20s for the 4S and Turbo, then 21s on the Turbo S. The cars on the launch program all featured 21-inch rims shod with Goodyear Eagle F1 or Michelin Pilot Sport 4 rubber and even on those big wheels the car still rides well.

In terms of the steering… hey, it’s a Porsche. It’s fantastic. Accurate and direct without being too jerky or snappy. It does exactly what you want the car to do. The connection with the front tyres feels like it’s almost direct.

This car may be lighter than its predecessor but all models are over 2.0 tonnes so you’d expect it to be heavy and slow. It’s not. Point and accelerate through corners with supreme confidence. It’s beautifully balanced. What you’d expect from a Porsche performance car.

Physical braking is by big ventilated discs all around with six-piston aluminium monobloc fixed-calipers at the front and four-piston units at the rear. Suffice it to say they wash off speed effectively. 

Believe it or not the Turbo S’s front brake calipers contain no less than 10 pistons, clamping ceramic composite rotors. We gave all Taycan variants a solid workout on the Baskerville Raceway just north of Hobart and stopping power felt as strong and effective at the end of the session as it did at the start.

There’s also improved recuperation capacity for the regenerative braking system, up 30 per cent from 290 to 400kW.

In terms of miscellaneous observations, beware the 11.7m turning circle. What might appear to be a three-point turn situation often turns into a five-pointer.

And entry to cars fitted with Active Ride is made easier (when activated). As soon as a door is opened, the body raises by 55mm. May seem OTT but it makes life with the Taycan that bit better.

The drive experience is, well, unremarkable. But I don’t want that to sound negative, because that's not how it's intended.

The EQS450 SUV does exactly what you expect a circa-three-tonne, premium electric SUV to do, and it does it all well.

It's powerful enough without being exhilarating, comfortable enough, and laden with enough tech to satisfy almost anyone.

It's just that it also doesn't exactly ignite the senses. But the question must be asked, what seven-seat family-focused SUV does? Few, if any.

So, surely the real test is if electrification has improved the formula here, and I'd argue that it definitely has.

For one, the EQS450 is properly whisper-quiet in the cabin, with Benz employing multiple sound-deadening techniques at once to lock out road noise. And with no pesky engine to interfere, the cabin is about as serene as they come.

The power delivery is predictably smooth and easy, too. There is no headline-stealing acceleration figure here, but the power is potent and plentiful, and more than enough for any real-world situation you might encounter.

The ride, too, is commendable. Aided by Mercedes' air suspension, it glides over all but the most broken road surfaces. And it is fitted with rear-axle steering, which really does cut down a turning circle that would otherwise surely resemble that of a cruise ship.

It feels heavy at times, though, and even the most high-tech suspension can't eliminate body roll entirely through tighter corners (physics and all that).

But unless you're really pushing – and why would you be – the cabin is calm, comfortable and cosseting.

So, exciting? Not really. But comfortable and calming, which are probably the traits its owners will value much higher.

The EQS450 SUV is yet to be ANCAP crash tested, but you can expect an extensive suite of active safety equipment, including AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection and junction assist, adaptive cruise control, active lane keep assist, lane change assist and steering assist, traffic sign recognition and eight airbags.

Porsche covers the Taycan with a three-year, unlimited km warranty which is off the pace for the premium segment where five years, unlimited km is the norm. The high-voltage drive battery is covered by an eight-year, 160,000km warranty. The paint is covered for three years and a 12-year (unlimited km) anti-corrosion warranty is included.

Porsche Roadside Assist provides 24/7/365 coverage for the life of the warranty, and after the warranty runs out is renewed for 12 months every time the vehicle is serviced at an authorised Porsche dealer.

Thanks to fewer moving parts, servicing intervals for the Taycan are relatively lengthy at two years or 30,000km, whichever comes first. 

With Porsche, final costs are determined at the dealer level (in line with variable service labour rates by state/territory).

The Mercedes EQS450 is covered by Mercedes-Benz's five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with servicing required every 12 months or 25,000km.

You can prepay your service costs, coming in at $2350 for three years, $3695 for four years or $4280 for five years.

The battery its covered for eight years or 160,000km.