What Should You Buy: The Mercedes-Benz EQS or the BMW i4?

When BMW announced that they would the the first company to have a complete lineup of electric or PHEV by 2025, we were optimistic. When we first saw the prototypes for the BMW iX and BMW i4, we got excited. But when we saw the 2022 BMW iX and 2022 BMW i4 in person, we were overwhelmed that our electric dream was now a reality. As we sold out of the first round or pre-orders, led Southern California in pre-orders for the iX and i4, we began to get a sense that this was going to be an industry changer for much of the luxury market. In the span of only a few years, we went from very few offerings for luxury electric vehicles, to a robust offering within BMW and more from our competitors.

Have you seen the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS?

The EQS is Mercedes-Benz’ first core electric vehicle offering, starting at a little over $100,000. You may take a look at the price and wonder: What’s the difference between that and the 2022 BMW i4? To start, the EQS starts at roughly double the price of the BMW i4, while offering a slower acceleration speed, less horsepower, and a longer AC charging time.

“Starting at $102,310, the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS has the highest base price among luxury hybrid and electric cars. That’s for the base trim of the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive EQS 450; two higher trims with that powertrain setup increase in cost by a few thousand dollars. The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive EQS 580 retails for $119,100, and it, too, has two trims above its base model that are a couple of thousand dollars more expensive. You can add several thousand dollars in options to any EQS model.” – US News

We’re excited to see electric motors set the pace for 2022 and beyond, and while the Mercedes-EQ EQS is a great first offering and comparable in price to the Tesla Model S, we cannot find a reason why someone would choose this over a better luxury car for less than half the price… for the base model.

How does the Mercedes-Benz EQS compare to the BMW i4M?

For fun, we designed our own custom BMW i4M and added all the features you could ever ask for. We added the M Sport with Shadowline, dropped in a custom paint job with Frozen Portico Blue metallic, upgraded the wheels to 20″ M Bi-Color Gunmetal Grey, went straight fire with the black leather seats with blue contrast stitching, and went there with carbon fiber trim. We added the Driving Assistance Professional Package, Parking Assistance Package, and the Premium Package, plus the head-up display, front ventilated seats, icon adaptive LEDM headlights with Laserlight, wireless device charging because duh, and slightly improved the sound system with a Harman Kardon surround sound system. We even added the BMW Wallbox so we could charge on our own at home.

There’s a pretty clear conclusion: BMW i4 all the way.

Even with their AMG Line interior appointments and rear-cabin MBUX tablets, the 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS doesn’t hold a candle to the 2022 BMW i4 or 2022 i4M. It’s not even close, and we really wish it was. The luxury market needs more affordable vehicles that work for the majority of the market, not an electric sedan that costs twice as much as its equal counterpart. To be honest, it’s just so silly.