I don’t know about you, but it’s really hard to tell the Mercedes-Benz EQE apart from the bigger EQS. Honestly, I had a problem telling every previous-generation Mercedes sedan apart, so it’s not a new phenomena, just one that’s greater than ever. There’s one easy way to tell EQE and EQS apart, however: the trunk. The EQS has a vast space with a huge underfloor cavity and a hatchback lid that chomps down on it all like a hungry alligator. The EQE has a trunk.
Officially, it has a 15-cubic-foot trunk, which would be 2 cubes bigger than the current Mercedes E-Class and about what you’d expect from a midsize family sedan. Let’s see if that shakes out in terms of actual stuff.
Despite the melted soap exterior, the trunk is surprisingly squared off. Note how the opening juts out and down rather than just sloping down. This should mean good things for packing bags.
Honestly not sure what that ridge in the back is defended by plastic, but there must be a decent reason why it isn’t carpeted like the rest of the trunk panels.
There’s a small indentation to the left of the truck with a little net, but as you can see, nothing on the right. Not a ton of width here. Golf clubs might be iffy … but then this isn’t the Golf Club Test.
There is some underfloor storage, but nowhere close to what you get in the EQS. That thing is deep enough to hide at least one suitcase and, as I discovered, bottles of wine upright. That means it could hold a lot of wine. How much? Well, this isn’t a Wine Test, either. It’s also about the EQE, so let’s get back to it.
Its underfloor area is deep enough for its charge cord and the tire repair doodads. Leave the charge cord at home and you could probably hide away a few wine bottles on their sides. There, happy now?
Let’s get to the bags. As with every luggage test, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife’s fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D).
Most midsize sedan trunks are wide enough for my four biggest bags to line up against each other. They cannot in the EQE, but then its 15 cubic-feet would be on the low side if you’re talking Honda Accords, Toyota Camrys, etc. This is a midsize luxury sedan and the bar is lower, but I’ll get to comparisons momentarily.
There, everything fit. Ish. That squared off trunk opening let my small blue roller fit right at the end and one of the medium black bags jut forward since there wasn’t quite enough height at the trunk’s forwardmost position for it to stack cleanly above the other medium-black roller.
So why the “ish?”
Fancy bag be squished. Had it been full, this is a no go. Then again, had I chosen a less silly and rigid duffel bag to use four years ago when I started doing these things, it probably would’ve been fine. Oh well.
OK, now some comparisions.
This is actually better than the BMW i4 (press here for its luggage test), which is probably the EQE’s closest competitor. It may have a hatchback, but it doesn’t have as much functional volume. It also doesn’t have as much volume on paper.
The Polestar 2 has just a bit more functional space than the i4, but it couldn’t fit all the bags either.
That’s all I have in regard to electric luxury sedans in this general price range (sorry, no Tesla), and my selection of midsize non-electric luxury sedans is worse. It blows the trunk off the Cadillac CT5 in case you’re wondering.
It should be better than most in that segment, so in the end, the EQE has a pretty good trunk for its segment(s). And should you need more …
I don’t recall ever seeing this before. On the trunk lid are two buttons that control the left and right split-folding back seats. They sadly don’t bring the seats back up again, but it’s unique. I dig it.
