Okay, before you ready your pitchforks and prepare to burn me at the stake, give me a moment to explain my posting of a Mercedes-Benz review. Electric cars are incredibly important for the future of the industry. BMW has its fair share of electrified vehicles in the works, with one of its first ones to come to market being the BMW iX3. That makes the iX3 one of Bavaria’s most important machines. What is one of the iX3’s main competitors? The Mercedes-Benz EQC.
We’re also not fanboys. We’re car enthusiasts who can appreciate great cars from any brand, even rivals of BMW. So it’s fascinating to see what Mercedes has been working on in this segment. Which is why, when Jay Leno drives the Mercedes-Benz EQC, it certainly piques our interest and, if you’re a car enthusiast, it should pique yours as well.
In this new video from Jay Leno’s Garage, Mercedes-Benz Powertrain Testing Engineer, Bastian Schult brings the EQC by for the famous comedian/car-nut to test.
So what is the Mercedes-Benz EQC? In a nutshell, it’s an all-electric crossover based on the GLC-Class chassis, except its wheelbase is longer and it features dual electric motors. Those dual electric motors will produce about 400 hp and its battery is capable of just over 200 miles, according to Schult.
On the outside, it looks like a completely normal Mercedes-Benz SUV. In fact, it just looks like a GLC-Class with a new grille. Which makes a bit of sense because it’s built on the same production line as the GLC. On the inside, it’s also pretty standard Mercedes-Benz styling. Which isn’t a bad thing, as it’s a nice interior, but it’s just not a radical looking EV on the inside.
But, more importantly, what’s it like to drive? Jay Leno takes it for a test drive with Schult riding shotgun and it seems to be a fairly unremarkable experience. That may sound insulting but it’s not. Along with the Audi e-tron, the Mercedes-Benz EQC seems to be aimed at offering a relatively normal driving experience for customers that aren’t sure about the whole EV scene. It’s a way to get traditional buyers more on board with going all-electric.
So the EQC seems to drive like a normal Mercedes-Benz SUV, just with a lot more low-end torque and with a lot less wind/road/engine noise. So it’s incredibly quiet, comfortable and relaxed. It also has great tech and a lovely cabin. So when the Mercedes-Benz EQC finally does go on sale, a lot of them should find homes quickly, as it offers basically the same driving experience that Mercedes customers are used to with the added advantage of being all-electric.
We expect the BMW iX3 to be quite similar, in terms of driving experience. It’s likely going to look, feel and drive like a typical BMW X3 but only without a gasoline engine. It does seem like the Mercedes-Benz EQC is better than we expected it to be, though, so the BMW iX3 is going to have its work cut out.
