It has its pluses and minuses. I have an EQE and had a Tesla before that. Software updates with fancy features are great to brag about with your neighbors but you won't hear them complaining about the forced updates that drastically changed the UI or took away features.

About a year after I got my car (back in 2018) they rolled out an update that changed the UI, taking away some commonly accessed functions and moving them behind menus. I skipped the update for about 2 months before it just got too annoying. A few years after that, they finally addressed some of the issues. But during the same time they also removed radar cruise functionality and forced Autopilot to use only cameras instead of radar hardware that my car came with.

Mercedes has a lot of work to do to get updates to Tesla's level. They still require trips to the dealership to handle many software updates. But I really don't want to have Tesla's forced updates either.

 

Vijay-

I have both a 2022 EQS 580 SUV and a 2020 Tesla S. I could go on here for hours comparing the two, but I have to agree that Tesla's frequent updates are reassuring in theory, but typically, I experience no difference in the car's performance or in the driver's experience when there is an update. So, at Tesla, IMO, what they're doing much of the time serves their internal purposes - fixing things, bragging rights, marketing, legal, those kinds of things. I can't remember an update that perceptibly improved the car.

Meanwhile, my EQS had some problems early on, was in the shop for several days, with no solutions other than the usual software reloads, etc. I was upset and waiting for the next problem to occur when I would be within my rights to file a lemon law complaint. Since then, the car has been getting consistently better. Very few random error messages, nothing of great inconvenience let alone requiring a shop visit. I don't know if this is due to updates I am not aware of, or the car "learing", which it does in some ways, or what, exactly.

But at this point, I truly look forward to driving the EQS, thoroughly enjoy it, and really tend to not want to drive the Tesla at all. For more than one reason. The quiet, the steering assist (flawed but still better than Tesla's), the build, performance (I don't race anymore... left that on the track years ago), utility, comfort are significantly better imo than Tesla.

Strangely, my partner was away for 7 weeks. I have to say she does not like the car, principally because it had so many issues early on, and because it seems to have an issue frequently when she is a passenger in it, and when that happens and she is in the car, she complains about the car. The car had no issues, none, the entire time she was away. Driving to the airport to pick her up, I was honestly thinking of telling her how brilliant the car had been the past month or so. So, I picked her up at the airport and things went wrong the instant she got in the car - the heads-up display disappeared, navigation screen changed, a layer I'd never seen before popped up on the center display, an indicator of a car seat or something in the passenger seat where she was sitting, few things like that, strange glitches, as if the car was aware of who was riding in it.

Drove home without the heads-up, which, once you get used to it, feels really wierd to be without. Thought I'd leave it overnight and check in the morning. This morning, all is corrected and good, as if the car repaired or reset itself over night. This is the second time I've had that experience with it.

So that's what I can say about that. In general, I think the car is brilliant - superior to the Tesla.

 

How funny is that 🤣

Great info in general though.

 

I should have added two things. I that I think the underlying reasons my partner hates the car really are 1) the voice commands system is sometimes hysterically inept and ridiculous and useless, and 2) because of its complexity and the learning curve to master its systems, settings, etc.

I cannot argue with these criticisms, though I am more tolerant than she is. But I still fumble around at times trying to remember where various settings and switches are located in the system navigation, and there have been many occasions when I needed to do something with a setting that I could not accomplish while driving because it required too much attention. She has a point. Mercedes really has failed to make the car technologically sophisticated and still welcoming and intuitive to use - which with consumer goods, is the holy grail for application of technology. This, Tesla does better than Mercedes.

Maybe a little AI would go a long way towards pulling it all together?

 

Ah that's a shame isn't it. The older S classes were a bit of a masterpiece in intuitive design I always thought. I jumped in our newish W221 and it took 10 minutes if that, to know how to do every setting in the car.

I can't say I'm a fan of the Tesla interface at all although my only experience is Model 3. But sounds like the MB one is worse somehow.

 

Although the voice control on the Tesla is decent I thought.

 

I agree that the Tesla voice control is a bit better, but not enough to be a factor, for me, if I were deciding between them. Now, when I say the interface is too complicated, I should add that voice commands will get you around this in many cases "turn on steering wheel heat", for example, works fine, while I am not sure I would be able to navigate to find the switch for that. But "turn on heads up display" does not seem to work, and often, navigation commands are simply not understood. Have I mentioned that every now and then she interjects something in the middle of a conversation that does not involve her? Its generally funnier than it is annoying, but it is, sometimes, annoying.

It is also slightly annoying to be told that I've been driving too long and should be taking a break, or that I need a massage. OTOH, perhaps I do drive too long without a break, and god knows I could always use a massage.

That said, I am somewhat forgiving, because I am reminded, every drive, that I am driving an astonishing technological beast of enormous road and off-road capability. It is also an idiosyncratic and unfiltered overstatement of MB's capabilities, as if someone in the position to do so, could not say "no". The light patterns on the wall when the headlights are turned off, the Mercedes logo on the ground, and the in-cabin accent lighting are a few examples of this. As complication increases so does probability of issues and glitches, and as complication seemed to grow unfettered in this car, what you get should be no surprise.

But you also get amazing maneuverability through rear-wheel steering, best-in-class luxury and comfort, very useful (imo) intelligent regeneration feature, and the most comfortable headrest pillows ever in the history of the earth, included with an automobile. Ultimately, and in conclusion, I'd have to say, relative to voice commands and the car overall, the EQS is a brilliant though idiosyncratic machine, most fully appreciated with an accessible, if occasional, sense of humor.

 

Well My 2023 EQE 500 has been in the shop X6 for multiple software issues/updates to include an Error Code - Power Steering Fault, relating to NO power steering (it was gone - towed to dealer) they say the module was attached was incorrectly, or not mounted properly in production.
🌏As the world turns - they (MB) stays its awaiting a new PTCU???💰

 

I feel that Mercedes-Benz has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to reaching Tesla's level of technology, especially in battery technology (including battery cooling) and OTA updates. Since I purchased my EQS 580 in January 2023, there haven't been any OTA updates introducing new features or functionality, except for the ChatGPT integration.

The salesperson assured me that features like auto lane change (not assisted lane change), summon, remote parking, and auto door open/close would be added via firmware upgrades. I am still waiting for them. I paid $157,000 for this vehicle, and it’s been nothing but problems.

I do love the interior and exterior design and the smoothness of the drive, but the Mercedes-Benz voice assistant is a joke. I have it disabled because it's annoying and feels like technology from 20 years ago. The hyperscreen is useless as well; I can't watch Netflix, Hulu, or YouTube without using the sluggish browser. It's very slow. I can't even log in to my Gmail account to access my YouTube Premium features.

In the past year, my vehicle has applied emergency braking 18 times. Three of these incidents occurred while driving forward, and the remaining false braking events happened when reversing out of parking stalls and driveways. The car sat at the dealership for over two months while Mercedes-Benz engineers attempted to troubleshoot the issue, but they couldn't find anything wrong.

I can't believe that a car with so many electronics (sensors, cameras) doesn't have event logs available to the engineers so they can identify what really triggered the emergency braking. When I finally got my vehicle back after they calibrated the rear sensors and installed a bracket (which I'm not sure is even relevant to the sensors), I paid $200 to activate the dashcam to capture any future auto-braking events. But none of the USB ports worked. Dashcam is useless if you can't use the USB thumb drive.

The dealer troubleshot the issue and found fluid in the USB module. They claimed that external factors caused the fluid to enter the USB module and want to charge me $1,685 to replace it. How do they know the fluid caused the USB module to fail? What's the expected annualized failure rate (AFR) of these modules? They took pictures of the fluid, but these were taken after the car had been at the dealership for six days. If I spilled a drink in the center compartment or cupholder, how could the fluid have made its way to the USB module located beneath the center console? Shouldn't the fluid have dried up after six days? In one of the photos, the fluid looks so fresh. What conditions could keep it that fresh for six days? This car is only driven by me and my wife other than MB dealer when the car is at the shop. We are 100% confident we never had drink spill accident.

Can they reproduce the issue by spilling a drink in the exterior cupholder to see if it reaches the USB module? Is it fair to say that it's a design flaw to have sensitive electronics susceptible to fluid damage located right beneath the cupholder? Is that what we expect from a luxury vehicle? Isn't manufacturer's warranty supposed to cover for unexpected failures due to design flaw? I am stating design flaw only if it's conclusive that the USB module failed due to fluid. USB module is electronics which could fail for any reasons.

I'm neither pleased with this vehicle nor the customer service from Mercedes-Benz.

 

I concur. I have similar computer issues.
Read over your purchase paperwork Lemon Law for the state you purchased in.
Call MB and start a case with them, too.

 

Wow. So bad.