I've driven both the 450+ and 580 model both extensively in the past two months, I agree with some of their points but not all of them.
The brakes definitely could use some work in my opinion, the strong regen mode especially is something to get use to. I mainly kept it in the lowest regen mode and found it easier to modulate with less issue but it is less efficient (although apparently real world range is close to 400 miles so probably not too big of an issue).
The looks are definitely a low, sadly the car was dictated by a wind tunnel rather than a design studio. I've gotten use to it after seeing it in the wild a few times, but it'll never be impressive like when I look at a W223 S-Class.
The steering and rear-wheel steering are a non-issue. Zero people, and I mean absolutely zero people are pushing this 207 inch long vehicle. The rear wheel steering is also perhaps its greatest aspect besides the motor, as it allows something this large to take turns and feel smaller like a C or E-Class. And as for taking this on an on ramp, there is zero issue there, Maryland is filled with cloverleaf highway ramps and both models felt easy to drive there, there wasn't any issue of steering adjustment in my opinion, its simply just a surprisingly small steering ratio for a car this large.
I'm also not sure what they were hearing with wind noise, this is probably the quietest EV I've driven yet (of Model S Plaid, Model 3, Taycan, Mach-E).
I'd still get an ICE S-Class as for now as EV's in general just aren't there yet for me. I just have yet to find an EV that ticks all my boxes. For this and the iX the styling is a let down, the Plaid has the stupid yoke and all Tesla's have poor build quality, a Taycan and E-Tron GT are fast and good looking (E-Tron is less impressive in person though), but lack the engagement and sound of their gas competitors while costing more, the Mach-E is almost there but typical Ford quality has intervened, Polestar is nice but they're pretending they're a startup company so I can't go to my local Volvo dealer to even see one, Lucid is an actual startup so not sure I want to deal with a new company (and also an entire state away from me), Rivian is still only delivering to employees, and also a startup, Toyota is still denying the existence of EV's and putting out poor efforts (bz4x), the iD4 is an ergonomic nightmare (the window switch situation still irks me to this day), maybe the Hyundai Ioniq5 and Kia EV6 will be the one's to get?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Germanauto
The Hyperscreen stuff looks chintzy and gimmicky. The S-class on the other hand has a proper large slab of wood flowing across the dash.
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You can get the S-Class style interior on the 450+ which features a large space and different options of wood or a really cool ambient light trim as only the 580 and 53 feature the Hyperscreen standard (and for the moment unavailable on 450+ due to the chip shortage). I will say though after seeing the Hyperscreen in person it does look very impressive, definitely more wow-factor or for those who are techies.
