We drive a gilded lily: The 2024 Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV

Just a few months in the past, we examined out Mercedes-Benz’s EQE SUV, the German automaker’s latest midsize electrical car. It was a strong performer—not precisely thrilling however comfy and geared up with one of many trade’s finest infotainment programs. Now it has been given the AMG remedy, labored over by Mercedes’ in-house tuning division. There are some delicate styling tweaks, suspension upgrades, and new AMG-specific electrical motors that enhance energy to 677 hp (505 kW). However has the makeover from Affalterbach managed to infuse extra pleasure into the EQE SUV recipe?

You’ll be able to let you know’re trying on the Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV and never the common Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV in a few alternative ways. The black panel on the entrance is new, with chromed vertical strakes that recall to mind the radiator grilles on air-breathing AMGs. The entrance bumper is sportier, and gloss black accents are used instead of chrome, in addition to on the aerodynamic bits like the assorted air vents and diffusers.

There’s an AMG badge on the hood instead of the same old three-pointed star, and the spotlight of the AMG remedy, to me not less than, was the black 21-inch AMG alloy wheels, which come wrapped in EV-specific Michelin Pilot Sport tires. However total, the tweaks are delicate and unlikely to be seen by an off-the-cuff observer.

Should you disassembled an AMG EQE SUV, on the entrance and rear axles, you’ll discover barely completely different completely excited electrical motors to those that propel the common EQE SUV, with new windings and laminations. Modified inverters and the next present translate to the next motor pace, and there is additionally elevated cooling—together with a liquid-cooled rotor shaft—to permit for repeated laborious acceleration with out working into thermal issues. There’s additionally a typical warmth pump.

Energy and torque peak at 677 hp and 738 lb-ft (1,000 Nm), though solely within the “race begin” mode—successfully launch management—with the enhance perform lively. With out the enhance, energy is capped at 617 hp (460 kW) in race begin and sport+; sport mode provides you 555 hp (414 kW), consolation limits this to 493 hp (368 kW), and must you want the slippery-surface setting, the AMG EQE SUV restricts you to simply 308 hp (230 kW)—50 % energy.

The battery consists of 360 lithium-ion pouch cells, with an AMG-specific wiring harness and energy-management software program. It has a usable capability of 90.6 kWh, and it will probably DC fast-charge at as much as 170 kW. Charging instances and an EPA vary will not be accessible till nearer to the automotive’s arrival within the US in Q3 2023, nonetheless. Driving on a mixture of again roads after which the freeway from San Diego to Santa Monica, I averaged about 2.5 miles/kWh (24.9 kWh/100 km).

But extra work has been carried out on the suspension. The AMG EQE SUV has new adaptive dampers, wheel carriers, suspension hyperlinks, and electromechanical roll bars that may be decoupled for consolation or stiffened to enhance dealing with, relying on one’s temper. As you may anticipate, the suspension is firmer in sport and sport+, which additionally lowers the journey by 0.6 inches (15 mm). (This additionally occurs in Consolation in case you exceed 75 mph/121 kmh.) Mercedes has additionally chosen to suit rear-wheel steering as customary for US-spec AMG EQE SUVs; this could steer at as much as 9 levels, turning with the route of the entrance wheels above 37 mph (60 km/h) for larger stability, and in the other way to the fronts beneath that threshold to extend agility.

On roads and highways in California, the AMG EQE SUV’s journey felt noticeably stiffer than the conventional EQE SUV, significantly over growth gaps. There was a good quantity of street noise, too, though in sport and sport+ modes the powertrain makes growly noises that remind you you are driving one thing with quite a lot of oomph. And it does have loads of oomph in these modes—simply sufficient to pin you as a passenger to the again of your seat ought to the motive force give it full throttle. In a racing begin with the enhance, you possibly can anticipate to hit 60 mph in about 3.4 seconds.