Mercedes EQV Review

Performance

This isn’t a conventional EV, so there’s no supercar rivalling 0-62mph times, indeed the 12.1 seconds it takes is pretty slovenly these days. It doesn’t feel it on the road, though, that helped by the immediacy of the response, and the decent torque on offer from the electric motor. It’ll not excite, then, but nor is it meant to. 

There’s a proviso - use Eco to maximise range and the EQV will peg the performance back to levels that are uncomfortably slow in traffic, so it’s best left on Comfort - it will still get near to the quoted range. It's best to ignore the Sport setting though, which adds pace but chews through the battery quicker. 

Drive 

The battery might be low in the floor and there’s 204hp on tap, but forget about fun - from a performance point of view at least. The EQV is satisfying though as it runs so quietly, even at speed. There’s some pleasure to be had eking out the best from its powertrain, with the paddleshifters on the steering wheel allowing you to pick your preferred choice of brake regeneration. With no recuperation it will glide on the motorway, or set it to max and it's possible to use just one pedal in stop-start traffic. 

It all becomes easy and natural to use with a bit of familiarity, too. It soaks up bumps well, particularly on the air suspension of the Sport Premium Plus model, and while it’ll go around corners adeptly, don’t push it too hard, because it quickly reveals its substantial bulk with squeaks of protest from the tyres. It's enjoyable in a peculiarly van and EV way, which might sound odd, but it’s really rather good.