Mercedes EQS review: interior, dashboard & infotainment

The EQS is not only Mercedes' electric flagship, but also a zero-emissions alternative to the brand’s own S-Class: the long-standing benchmark for all luxury executive limousines. Thankfully, the EQS rises to the occasion, featuring some of the finest materials money can buy, covering every surface you see and touch, and even some you don’t. The cabin is solidly built, and while there's a familiarity to the switchgear, even minute details like those have been upgraded to some degree from what's in the S-Class.

Mercedes EQS dashboard

It’s not standard on all models, but the EQS we drove came with the huge Hyperscreen infotainment system. It comprises three individual screens with a combined width of 1.41 metres and totally dominates the cabin of the car. Unlike some other flagship electric cars, the EQS does feature a fair few buttons on the centre console and steering wheel, as well as controls for the driver and passenger seats on their respective doors. 

If you don’t want to go for the near-£8,000 Hyperscreen layout (which is understandable in our opinion), then the EQS comes as standard with a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display and a 12.8-inch central touchscreen.

Equipment, options & accessories

The rear-drive EQS 450+ has five trims to choose from: AMG Line, AMG Line Premium, AMG Line Premium Plus, Luxury and Exclusive Luxury. Prices start from over £100,000, but that's hardly a surprise given the amount of technology on board, the size of the battery and the level of engineering that has gone into Mercedes' electric flagship. 

The EQS 450+ AMG Line comes with 20-inch alloy wheels, 4.5-degree rear-axle steering, a panoramic sunroof, full leather upholstery, heated seats front and rear, a 12.3-inch driver’s display and a 12.8-inch central touchscreen. The Hyperscreen isn’t available in this particular trim, but you do get the two screens, Mercedes’ Driving Assistance Package of safety systems and an augmented-reality navigation system.

Upgrading to AMG Line Premium adds 21-inch alloy wheels, acoustic privacy glass, a 360-degree camera and Burmester surround-sound system, bumping up the price tag by £7,000. The AMG Line Premium and above are all available with the Hyperscreen, which adds a further £7,995 to the bottom line. The next trim up is AMG Line Premium Plus, which includes a head-up display, remote parking and the gesture-controlled MBUX interior assistant. This adds £14,000 to the initial price tag.

If you don’t want the sporty attributes of the AMG Line versions, Mercedes also offers the EQS in two ‘Luxury’ trim levels. The EQS 450+ Luxury features the same equipment as the AMG Line Premium, but adds Microcloud Artico upholstery combined with ship-deck wood, comfort seats with comfort headrests and a heated steering wheel, plus 22-inch alloy wheels. The Luxury trim costs the same as the AMG Line Premium trim – £7,000 more than the starting price.

Above this, commanding a price tag north of £160,000, is the full-on Mercedes-AMG EQS 53. As well as a big chunk more power, it also gets sportier styling, unique wheels and red brake callipers. There’s a Touring package, which despite what its name suggests, actually reduces the car’s range – largely thanks to a set of huge 22-inch wheels.

Infotainment, apps & sat nav

While we found the Hyperscreen in our test car somewhat overwhelming at first, once you get used to it, the three-screen setup is intuitive. It allows you to operate everything from media and phone connectivity, to seating configurations and driver-assistance systems. The home button always brings you back to the main map interface, while an easy-to-access favourites bar brings up your most-used features.

You may be worried about how distracting 1.41 metres of pixels could be on the road. Thankfully, versions of the EQS fitted with the three-screen system also feature a camera that monitors your attentiveness – the car will display a warning if it thinks you’re not focused enough on the road or need to take a break.

In all honesty, though, we’d save the money (nearly £8,000 on EQS 450+ models) and stick with the standard setup. You still get a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.8-inch central screen, with much of the same functionality as the Hyperscreen display. It’s arguably easier to navigate too, and much less distracting at night.