EQB and Model Y test drives

Today was my wife’s 2nd day driving the EQB to work. Just so happens she noticed a couple of times where all of a sudden it would not accelerate on the freeway. It happened twice on her way to work! She noted it was sprinkling, and realized instead of activating the wiper she was shifting to N! Yikes!!!

 

Mercedes has been using that layout for decades.
When Tesla was first making the Model S they used some parts from Mercedes. Tesla kept that layout even after they stopped using Mercedes parts.

It does take some getting used to. Muscle memory takes some time to retrain.

 

Well. We test drove a Model Y. 7 passenger. Salespeople covered in Tattoos and facial piercings' abound. Ahh to be young again..Customer Service was hit or miss. My sales girl was a solid C. Others I could overhear were A plus. We got a time slot to test drive a Gray 7 passenger. Had a 3 min instruction on how to drive the car and were told to, "Have Fun" . My wife drove it. She tought it was quick and responsive a bit louder than we expected but not bad. Big learning curve on Controls but they are just different. The speed and other car info are not out of driver eyeline as much as I thought they would be. Similar to a Gen 4 Prius. The 3rd row of seats I got in and with the back closed my head was sideways and touching he glass. I could not ride there for a block let alone a trip. I'm 5-11. If you are 5'-6" or under it could work in a pinch. For children it would be OK. Overall it was just Meh.. This is what a 61K car feels like? My wife didn't feel that it had enough bells and whistles. Storage space was fine but it really is a 5 seat car with a $4K set of seats you might use twice a year. Not sure if that is worth it. Then We went to Mercedes. They had EQB both out as loaners for service vehicle's. They did have an EQE SUV which I'm told was bigger than the EQB. My wife likes the look and the feel of it 76K with upgrades to 84K yet still only 5 seats. Rear cargo was larger Range was 253miles. I looked under then hood and there is no frunk but a huge Hepa filter and black plastic cover that didn't remove easily. I could barely see the coolant tank hiding underneath like in Jzchen pictures so I couldn't check the system out. Interior of the car has typical Mercedes mood lighting and nice leather all over. buttons and knobs like normal My wife liked it way better. We are waiting to test drive another one later on. Overall I agree the MY felt different and modern but unimpressive. The EQE SUV felt nice but is much more and is competing with the Model X. We would charge at home 95 percent of the time only needing to rely on systems when we take a trip. Tesla's infrastructure is great and soon I think all EV's can charge on their system. Rethinking using an ICE car for road trips anyway since Colorado winters are hard on paint, windshields, interiors, etc. So If that is the case we can just load up the old Gen 2 with rear tray and roof rack....or if we need lots of space. Take the old Range Rover. So back to the drawing board....and waiting the test drive an EQB.

 

We had a first day Model Y reservation for a LR RWD 7 seater which they decided to never make. Towards the end of 2021 they wanted current pricing on an AWD if we were to choose that, including Full Self Driving, which up to this day isn’t completely working. Since they wouldn’t even budge/compromise on the FSD she let them refund her deposit.

The Y has/had one pedal driving as the only option last time we tried one, (well it had a slow speed creep option which alleviated the issue some,) which was a long time ago. For the EQB my son found an “AUTO” mode which basically makes it drive like a normal ICE allowing coasting, and automatic “braking” as one gets close to a vehicle/object in front.

I regret not waiting for our VinFast VF9 reservation, but not much we can do now. I wonder what kind of penalty is in store for an early lease cancellation/buyout….

 

Look at the Kia 6/7 seater when it is available. Not much more than pictures on their web site. Might be something.

But what EV will fit 4 pro size golf bags and 4 people for 30 minutes in comfort?

 

Yes the 7 seat issue is the kicker here. That limits our options a Lot. I guess we need to decide if we really need it. If we are only needing a 5 passenger then that opens up a lot of choice. Heck we could buy 2 M3's for 82K instead of 1 EQE or MX. I guess I need to look at the inside space and trunk of a Model 3...first.

 

The Pacifica Hybrid Pinnacle was my first choice. Just too big and interest rates made it too much on top of that…

 

Still sorting out whether this is accurate or not, but predicted fully charged range is 499 mi!

 

Something went wrong, I think with one of the phone app updates. I went to charge it the next morning and when it reached 80% charge the in dash estimate showed 251 mi. I can’t imagine an extra 20% charge would double the mileage. (I only charge to 80% per battery care instructions)…

 

I’m afraid I didn’t answer your question. Typical of Mercedes Benz the battery gauge is in the lower left of the instrument cluster, which consists of a curved bar graph and mi remaining. It does not show a clear percentage of battery charge remaining. As such I base my estimate range left from prior experience and it is based on mi, not battery percent. We went to our first long trip 80 mi to Ventura. Of the 190 mi shown when we left home we arrived there with 80 mi shown as remaining. So for me I estimated I needed to get the range back to 110 mi to get home as I used up 110 mi of range to get 80 mi.

Extrapolating from 251 mi at 80% I calculate 62 mi range at 20%, which seems much more reasonable.

About how much range can you get with 20%? (I’m afraid I forgot which model you have)?

 

I’m not ever going to risk driving down to 0 mi range, so if 62 mi is 20% that 50 sounds practically the same! Getting home that night was a serious lesson in range anxiety as my lead footed son blasted down the freeway at 80+ MPH (could get a ticket if police saw). We needed to stop to charge up and made it home with some 17 mi left, (after I took over).

The EV6 is a 5 seater no? With so many 5 seaters to choose from I told my wife if we limit to 7 seaters we’d have an easier time deciding. Then we happened upon the Mercedes EV dealership of the year, (or what we were told they strive to be the #1 EV seller in the US). We couldn’t refuse…

 

After driving the EQB,EQS and deciding we needed a 7 passenger... we bought a GL550 land yacht gasser. My wife only drives 16 miles a day most day and the bells and whistles are needed. For 41K we can spend what we saved on gas and I can actually fit in the 3rd row seats.

 

Interestingly the EQB and EQS (SUV) can be optioned with 7 seats. We got the EQB with 7 seats and our son took advantage taking friends with him around at his summer research program…

 

Another option is to rent when you need the extra capacity. Took the grands to the beach. 5 of us and stuff and more stuff. Chairs, beach umbrella, rafts, boogie boards,bags, suitecases .... Cost was so much less for a week's rental that the extra cost of purchasing for the max capacity and carrying around all that weight throughout the year. So how many times did we need that capacity? Exactly once.

Savings 95%.

 

Same for towing something. If I need to tow, I just rent a vehicle capable of towing. I'm not working construction trades so a pickup truck is useless to me 99% of the time, which I would assume it's the same for many pickup truck owners.