EQA 250 quick review

[Simon]

Courtesy car lottery today whilst mine is in for a service and MOT. Last year I got given a C Class coupe. This year it's an EQA 250.

Likes: Touchscreen, interior layout, decent space inside, you don't really notice it's the electric version from within apart from an 'EQ' splash when you turn it on and the range stuff on the screen. I threw the child seat in the back and took the family for a quick spin this morning easily. As a second car for short to medium journeys, this is all you need. I also really like Mercedes way of keeping the steering wheel paddles and using them to adjust the regen braking. It's so intuitive and much better than diving into a menu option to change it. All electric cars should do this! Needless to say it's quiet, but I've no frame of reference as this is the first electric car I've driven. Wind and road noise at 60mph were very good though.

Dislikes: FWD, so a bit squirally under hard acceleration. However, figures say 8.9 to 60 but arse dyno feels faster than that. And it's not just the 'good from standstill' electric trait that I'm talking about, but going 40-60 to overtake someone dawdling this morning was good too. Price. I think this one started at £47k. Looking online they now start at £52k, which is insane for a small premium electric car. Also like all the A class derivatives I've driven, it feels like they've cheaped out on the plastic stalks, which certainly don't feel like they come from a Merc, but rather a Renault or similar. Also infotainment is a whole lot better than what Merc were doing 5 years ago, but still feels a little complicated and fussy to me. Plus despite the physical aircon buttons (yay!) the L/R sync control is hidden in the infotainment screen menus.

Finally it needs somewhere better to stash the charging cable. It was just laying on the boot floor, but if you've loads of stuff in the boot you'd have to dig them out. Maybe it should be in a compartment under the bonnet?

It had 215 ish miles at pickup (charged overnight apparently). It's a 21 plate and a quick look online shows that somehow the 22 model cars now have more range for the same battery. Not sure how.

Overall good for a second car, if you got a good deal on the price.

[JonMad]

As a second car for short to medium journeys, this is all you need.
...
Price. I think this one started at £47k. Looking online they now start at £52k

I continue to struggle with this concept.

Overall good for a second car, if you got a good deal on the price.

As you say, if there's a deal that you're happy with...

Perhaps I've just got out of the habit of spending hundreds a month on a lease or depreciation on something.

[dinny_g]

Overall good for a second car, if you got a good deal on the price.

There are no more “deals” on price for Merc’s anymore.

Prices for new cars set by MB and will be same no matter where you buy it.

https://www.auto-retail.co.uk/agenda/me ... -for-2023/

[Simon]

Overall good for a second car, if you got a good deal on the price.

There are no more “deals” on price for Merc’s anymore.

Prices for new cars set by MB and will be same no matter where you buy it.

https://www.auto-retail.co.uk/agenda/me ... -for-2023/

Ah yes, I remember getting an email about this.

So, no more haggling? And dealers now just take a bigger margin? Or have prices been adjusted down a bit to recognise the wiggle room they had before?

[mik]

Overall good for a second car, if you got a good deal on the price.

There are no more “deals” on price for Merc’s anymore.

Prices for new cars set by MB and will be same no matter where you buy it.

https://www.auto-retail.co.uk/agenda/me ... -for-2023/

Ah yes, I remember getting an email about this.

So, no more haggling? And dealers now just take a bigger margin? Or have prices been adjusted down a bit to recognise the wiggle room they had before?

Interesting. Just checked CarWow and their “average saving” on most Merc models is less than £100.

[dinny_g]

"Agents" as they are known now, get a fee for their involvement in the deal but nothing more. The can be involved in the sale (for on-site sales) or just arrange the logistics for the handover on a pure Online sale. The car is bought from MB UK, rather than the Retailer on the old model

There are a few others who work that way - I think Lotus are one of them and possibly Renault for any Electric vehicles.

[Simon]

So basically the RRP has gone up loads and you can't even haggle a good deal any more.

Christ, what a ripoff.

[Jobbo]

They'd haggle if they weren't selling. Probably better to post my views on new car pricing in the other thread.

My stepfather bought an A250e saloon last year and it was lovely and quiet when he reversed off my drive. I can see why he likes it; the interior is good and he is over 80 now I assume the EQA is quite related under the skin. The current A-class is a much nicer thing than the previous model.

[MikeHunt]

How long has the no haggling been a thing, we got a fantastic deal on our EQV only 12 months ago?

I agree with Job regarding the new A-class and I'd include the CLA too, they seem superior to the equivalent BMWs and Audis.

[dinny_g]

How long has the no haggling been a thing, we got a fantastic deal on our EQV only 12 months ago?

Jan 3rd of this year...

So basically the RRP has gone up loads

I'm guessing the price will be set to be competitive with equivalent BM's and Audi's

[mik]

How long has the no haggling been a thing, we got a fantastic deal on our EQV only 12 months ago?

Jan 3rd of this year...

In one way this is good for the consumer - the price is the price and nobody therefore pays "over the odds".

In reality I suspect they will ramp up the pressure on all the other bits where they make money : gap insurance, wheel insurance, paint protection, paint protection insurance, paint protection insurance protection, enhanced door handle warranty, carpet mat pile micro scotchgard seratin superoxygenation whizzling etc etc.

[integrale_evo]

If I was in the market for a new car I’d much rather just walk in and pay the price without having to do all the stupid back and forward dance to try and get a decent deal. It’s no surprise so many people hate buying cars.

[IanF]

I read an article where Merc were saying they wanted to go upmarket with the associated increased prices but reduced sales. I think increasing the unit price that you actually sell cars at was fine with people paying on the drip in the days of low interest rates, but now that price and interest have gone up it has greatly increased the monthly cost and their sales will probably suffer more than they anticipated.

Of course, you can’t then reduce the price later on as they’ll end up will 2-4 year old cars coming to market valued a lot less than the gfv, which is a cost merc financial services would have to cover, so they’ve probably lost market share and revenue through (unrealistic) aspirations.

Jaguar are talking about doing something similar (to compete with Bentley), but thankfully they aren’t as far down that road and have time to reassess.

[IanF]

If I was in the market for a new car I’d much rather just walk in and pay the price without having to do all the stupid back and forward dance to try and get a decent deal. It’s no surprise so many people hate buying cars.

I think Tesla were the first to do this.. one benefit of limited supply

[Simon]

It's fine to have 'one price' when that price is reasonable. To say you're doing away with haggling whilst simultaneously not lowering your list prices a bit and at the time or rampant car price inflation is taking the piss.


A bit like mercs 'subscription' acceleration upgrade on the EQE. I hope it bites them in the arse.

[Mito Man]

It's fine to have 'one price' when that price is reasonable. To say you're doing away with haggling whilst simultaneously not lowering your list prices a bit and at the time or rampant car price inflation is taking the piss.


A bit like mercs 'subscription' acceleration upgrade on the EQE. I hope it bites them in the arse.

This. Also if you want to currently buy a car without haggling then you already have that option, you just get shafted a little more than the punter who does want to haggle

It’s a bit of an odd decision - Tesla do it because they have no franchise dealers so it makes sense to have 1 price across the board. You just have Elon going nuts and raising/lowering the prices on a weekly basis. Even if you go to a Tesla showroom to buy a car a chap just brings up their laptop/iPad and fills the regular online deposit form in with you.
Perhaps Mercedes are looking to migrate to that model because if you have cars which have minimal options and no more servicing and most people are happy to buy online why bother giving a cut to a franchise?

BMW Park Lane were always a bit cheeky as they would say to my dad “we will beat whatever price you get from other dealers because we are the only BMW owned dealer”
So they would bin all the franchise dealers off if they could, however the resources needed for it are vast, unless people are happy buying online.

[DeskJockey]

It had 215 ish miles at pickup (charged overnight apparently). It's a 21 plate and a quick look online shows that somehow the 22 model cars now have more range for the same battery. Not sure how.

Assuming no mechanical (electrical?) changes, it could be they've reduced the amount of "reserved" capacity in the battery pack to allow more to be accessible. Renault did the same with the facelifted Zoe IIRC.

[Simon]

Last word on the car now it's gone back.

A quick look online shows its kerb weight (with driver) of 2045kg. The C300e is only 35kg heavier (albeit in saloon). That does an electric only range of 68 miles. Let's be conservative and say it's more likely 60 miles.

Often the argument against hybrids is that you're paying to carry extra weight around all the time. However, there you get a bigger, better car with an electric range that'll suit 95% of typical use on full electric mode only, for a similar weight and just a couple of £thousand more. Plus it comes with a 50l fuel tank that'll do an extra 400+ miles on petrol alone, so near 500 miles total range with both battery and petrol combined.

It's not much of a choice is it?

[Jobbo]

Is the C300e a lot more money?

[Simon]

Is the C300e a lot more money?

The EQA starts at £52k, in fact I see that the C300e starts at £48,700 OTR for an AMG line. Premium, Premium Plus and Estate models cost more. In fact for the £52k of the EQA you could get a C300e Estate AMG Line Premium for £100 less.