What the hell does AMG stand for when the electric age arrives?
This question lingered in my head the entire week I spent behind the wheel 2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV.
The best I can say based on my time with the midsize electric crossover is more power, less range, AMG badging, some sportier-looking parts, and a much higher price.
That’s a far cry from the overall performance increase of the AMGs I grew up with, and it makes me wonder how AMG keeps its shine alive in the electron-powered age.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
The Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV has lots of power
Although the AMG EQE SUV has more power than its standard siblings, this is mostly only translated on paper. This brings with it bragging rights, but in practice it doesn’t provide much of an advantage.
The engineers in Affalterbach upgraded the two electric motors to produce 617 hp and 701 lb-ft of torque versus the 288-536 hp of the smaller EQE SUVs. They use the same 90.6 kWh battery. The performance increase is due to improvements to the motors’ windings, laminations, currents and inverters, all of which enable higher motor speeds.
For an additional $4,000, buyers can opt for my test car’s AMG Dynamic Plus package, which further increases output to 677 hp and 738 lb-ft. The additional power is only available in Race Start mode, meaning you will almost never or rarely experience it on public roads. In comfort mode, only 80% of the power is delivered, which corresponds to 493 hp, and the sport model increases the power to 90%, i.e. 555 hp. To achieve the full 617 hp, the system must be placed in Sport+ mode.
The AMG EQE SUV manages a 0-60 mph sprint in 3.4 seconds, also in Race mode, and reaches a top speed of 149 mph with the Dynamic Plus package. Compared to the offerings from Tesla, Lucid and Rivian, this is all a bit disappointing. Despite the numbers, this isn’t a stunning acceleration. Brisk and uneventful is the best way to describe stepping on the accelerator at a traffic light. It’s fast, but it feels Mustang Dark Horse quickly, not Corvette Z06 fast. Forget anything with the word plaid in its name.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
The brakes on the Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV feel unnatural
While the AMG EQE SUV upgrades to 6-piston calipers with 16.3-inch rotors at the front and single-piston calipers at the rear with 14.9-inch rotors, my test car went even further. For $5,450, 17.3-inch carbon-ceramic brake rotors were replaced up front, which are probably overkill for daily driving.
As with other EQ models, the regenerative braking system is a two-stage design that feels somewhere between frustrating and alarming. When regenerative braking activates, the system physically moves the brake pedal toward the floor, which is scary and unsettling since it’s not my foot moving the pedal. Then, at an unpredictable moment, the system activates friction braking. It’s not fluid and feels unnatural here and in all electric EQ models EQS hatchback. Mercedes should copy that Lucid Airs Brake homework here. An AMG with unpredictable brakes just hurts my heart.
Mercedes knows it has a problem with its electric vehicle’s brakes. Mercedes spokesman Andrew Brudnicki told Motor Authority that the 2024 EQ models will receive a revised braking system that has been retuned for better feel. However, it is unclear when the improved system will be available for models with the AMG badge.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
The Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV curves around suburban corners
While EQE 500 SUV offers a smooth ride, the AMG model ensures stability. The four-corner air suspension and adaptive dampers have been retuned for a firmer but not disruptive ride. Impacts on broken roads are softened and never cause the suspension to shake.
The 5,930-pound electric AMG showed less body roll than expected thanks to standard active anti-roll bars, but it doesn’t feel as responsive as the AMG gas SUVs. The sticky Michelin Pilot Sport EV MO1 tires on the AMG-spec 21-inch front and 22-inch rear wheels scraped the asphalt, but the sticky rubber almost felt gummy bear-looking on such a heavy electric crossover SUV out of place.
The rear wheel steering with a rotation angle of up to 9.0 degrees shrinks the EQE SUV at low speeds below 60 km/h. The 35.8-foot turning radius is nice, but from pulling in and out of a driveway to simply turning in the neighborhood, I had to recalibrate my expectations of the SUV’s turning speed. All week I was caught off guard while driving around the neighborhood, but at both higher highway speeds (when the rear wheels steered only slightly with the front wheels) and at slower parking speeds (when rear wheel steering made sharp turns easier), the system felt more natural.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
The Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV only has a few visual improvements
While most AMGs are fairly easy to spot, choosing the AMG EQE SUV requires a keen eye and some knowledge. The most obvious change is to the grille, which has vertical chrome strips embedded in its plastic, which look odd because they add corrugation to an otherwise flat piece of plastic. The wheels in Y-spoke design are also exclusive to AMG. The era of the tell-tale square exhaust tailpipes is over.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
Inside, the love-it-or-hate-it Digital hyperscreen dashboard combines a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster with a 17.7-inch infotainment touchscreen and a 12.3-inch passenger touchscreen under a single 56-inch glass panel. It is overwhelming to the senses. The glossy carbon fiber trim feels out of place in an interior that prioritizes technology over sportiness. The AMG sports seats are disappointingly flat and look pedestrian. The AMG-specific steering wheel features a double-spoke design and touch-sensitive controls that can be frustrating to use precisely, particularly the volume control.
2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV
The Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV only manages half the distance
The AMG formula seems more difficult to translate Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV because the fire and fury of the V-8 is gone. The power, dynamism and even sportiness of the interior seem to have been brought to only half the extent they should have been, from the sports seats that really aren’t that sporty to the performance figures that aren’t as convincing as the cushioned ones feeling behind the wheel. The risk of injury is with an EPA-rated range of just 235 miles.
Priced at $110,450, the 2024 Mercedes-Benz AMG EQE SUV adds performance to a competent and confident electric luxury crossover SUV without topping it off with traditional AMG performance. My tester cost $130,850 and proved expensive and disappointing.
How embarrassed will an owner be if a Rivian R1T pickup or R1S SUV Want to pick up this AMG model for less money and more range and all-round capability at the traffic lights? Mercedes will have to do better in the electric age because it blurs what these three letters stand for.
