The first AMG luxury EV sports car arrives in Singapore, and it’s a real silent warrior

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SINGAPORE

What, another electric Mercedes? 2022, and the tail end of 2021, will likely be looked back on as the years Singapore crawled gingerly out of the Covid-19 hole, and when Mercedes-Benz started tossing electric cars of all sizes to the world.

From the Mercedes-EQ EQA, Mercedes-EQ EQC, Mercedes-EQ EQB, and now the EQS, it’s conceivable that we will soon have an electric Mercedes-EQ car in any shape that you want.

The car seen here is the Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 4Matic+. Another very clunky name to get through, but this time the car itself is deadly serious. It’s the proper high-performance AMG version of the standard EQS 450+ luxury EV, itself a powerfully quiet statement on the state of luxury EVs.

Once again, we’ll reiterate that The EQS 53 isn’t an electric car with some ‘looks like I can go faster’ parts from the AMG body kit department bolted on. It’s in fact very low key in its execution, and the two visual indicators of this being a luxury EV with dynamics turned up to maximum are the bootlid spoiler on the tail and the fake slats on the nose. Even the metal body panels are identical to that of the base model EQS 450+.

Under the skin is where all the power is hidden. The car has a pair of electric motors, one at the front axle and one at the rear. Together they deliver a combined output of 658 horsepower, and a maximum torque of 950Nm. That’s more power than what you can find in a Ferrari Roma.

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All right so the EQS 53 weighs in at a portly 2,655kg, but Singapore-specification versions also get the AMG Dynamic Plus pack fitted as standard too , which gives the car a short boost of power, up to a peak of 761 horsepower and 1,020Nm in race start mode. It’s fast, all right.

Interior and Design

The other big talking point about the AMG EQS 53 is the crazy hyperscreen dashboard. It’s a huge sheet of gorilla glass that features three seamless display panels set into it. There’s the usual instrument cluster, a centre screen, and here’s the big deal, a separate screen for the front seat passenger.

It normally shows a screensaver image and activates only when a passenger is seated, so that the driver doesn’t get distracted or tempted to reach halfway across the world to play with the additional screen when he’s driving alone.

That’s in theory anyway. We found that if you have a clueless passenger that is too overwhelmed by the extreme tech in the car, things can get a little crazy. That’s also because the car has the clever voice activated assistant, which triggers by default whenever you or your front seat passenger says, “Hey Mercedes.”

So if your buddy is blown away by the coolness of your new car and starts saying, “Wow, this Mercedes…” or anything with “Mercedes” in it, the car thinks it’s being addressed and tries to decipher whatever is being said next.  And of course your buddy will have no clue that the car is trying to follow verbal instructions right now, so he keeps talking.

And now the car may misunderstand and think you want the news headlines read out. Or the weather report. Or turn up the music. Or turn down the air conditioning. Or call your lawyer via your connected smartphone, which it proceeds to promptly dial and put on speaker phone.

With great power comes great responsibility. So just tell your passengers to never say “Mercedes” inside this Mercedes, or at least customise the trigger word to something else that no one will likely say out loud in passing. 

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When it’s all sorted, you’ll find that the passenger screen displays much of the same information as the main screen. The good thing is that the driver can still see important information like navigation data while the passenger goes through radio stations or playlists on the secondary screen. Perhaps your passenger would like to customise the zany rows of colour-changing LED mood lights in the car too.

The front seats also feature massage functions, with modes chosen from the menus as well.

Legroom is expansive, as is in the base EQS 450+. We did however find the rear seats are set slightly differently from the 450+, with a steeper base and more upright backrest likely to accommodate more electronics under the floor. It’s still properly posh and comfortable, but instead of exuding a chauffeur-driven vibe like the EQS 405+, the AMG EQS 53 feels all about the driver, but also with room for the family.

As mentioned earlier, the car’s exterior design is very understated  in that there are no big spoilers and flared fenders. The big wheels with bespoke tyres designed specifically for this car’s mighty power output and weight are pretty unique, but it also means that tyre replacements will not come cheap. 

To Page 2: The driving experience and how it compares to the competition

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