Mercedes-Benz EQC 2019 review

While most car companies talk a big game about the design potential that arrives with electric cars, and what's possible when you don't need to worry about conventional engines and their accompanying mechanicals getting in the way, Mercedes has taken a slightly different approach here.

Which is why the EQC looks a lot like a Mercedes SUV and not a spaceship. There are some differences, of course. Like the cool lighting strips that run the width of the front grille and boot, illuminating the car's features at night, and the new-look slotted grille (the slats now closer together given there's less to cool), as well as a more-sloped roofline. But if you're familiar with the look of the GLC, you're unlikely to fall out of your chair when an EQC drives past.

But that's no bad thing; the EQC cuts a fine and fashionable figure on the road, with the standard 20-inch alloys filling the wheel arches and the front-end standing proud in any rear-view mirror it should appear in.

It's the interior, though, that proved the standout for us. The car's designers have embraced new textures and fabrics - including a silky-feeling vegan dash wrapping that's actually made of plastics, a silver fin-like design element that bookends the dash and rose-gold colouring on the air vents that's meant to ape the copper components of an e-motor - that makes the cabin a genuinely lovely space to spend time.

Cool lighting strips run the width of the front grille and boot, illuminating the car's features at night.

What's the biggest compliment you can pay an electric vehicle? That it's faster and far more efficient than a petrol-powered equivalent? That it can sneak around in near-silence, with no rumble from the (non-existent) exhaust or roar from the engine? Or that you can bask in the eco glow of emission-free motoring?

I actually think it's something far more simple than that. For mine, the biggest compliment you can pay an EV - and especially an SUV-shaped one - is that there is no obvious compromise required to switch from internal combustion to battery electric.

Having now spent a couple of days tootling around in the EQC, I'm pretty confident it qualifies on all of the above.

Of course, that probably wouldn't be surprising in any other country but Australia. Because while battery-electric cars make up a tiny proportion of our total market, in other parts of the world it is the complete opposite.

Plant your foot and this EV Mercedes genuinely lunges forward, actually feeling faster than the official claim as it near-silently stalks towards 180km/h.

In fact, in April, some 58 per cent of cars sold in Norway were EVs, which is a genuinely staggering number. So where better to put this EQC through its pre-local-launch paces than in Oslo?

The very first thing you notice when you slip into the cabin of the EQC is... nothing. But I don't mean that in a bad way, just that there's nothing in there that immediately shouts electric vehicle.

It feels instantly familiar to anyone who has sat in a Mercedes SUV, up to and including the flappy-paddles mounted behind the steering wheel. But while in the GLC, they would help you take control of the gearbox, in the EQC they cycle through the recuperation settings, which can be set to anywhere from pretty severe to barely noticeable, or largely left to their own devices in an automatic mode.

To get maximum regen, though, you've got to be willing to put with a bit of a yo-yo effect while driving, with the heaviest setting essentially pulling the car to a stop without you having to touch the brake. You're better off, then, leaving it in its auto mode, which does largely does the thinking for you.

But the most obvious EV perk on show here is the instant torque on offer. Plant your foot and this EV Mercedes genuinely lunges forward, actually feeling faster than the official claim as it near-silently stalks towards 180km/h.

Where better to put this EQC through its pre-local-launch paces than in Oslo?

Now, there is a lot of weight to move around - the batteries alone weigh around 650kg, pushing the kerb weight to around 2500kg - and that's never good news for really right cornering. And while we've only spent limited time behind the wheel to date, I do get the feeling the EQC feels at its best cruising around more sweeping bends, where the power on offer carries you out of corners with ease, rather than tackling truly tight and twisty stuff.

Mercedes has taken an EV-unique approach to the suspension in the EQC, too, fitting coil springs at the front axle, and air suspension at the rear, and the result is a car that positively glides over imperfections - not that there were many on the near-perfect roads of Norway - the EQC feeling soft and supple in a way that suits the nature of this plush SUV.

Much work has been done to minimise road and electric motor noise, too, with additional sound deadening in the wheel arches, and covers places over the rear motor. And while you can't eliminate ambient noise completely, it is a seriously quiet cabin, especially at low speeds.

Mercedes-Benz is unlikely to budge on its three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty when the EQC arrives, but the car's batteries are covered for eight years by their own warranty.

Servicing pricing will be confirmed closer to local launch.

It might be the first EV SUV from Benz, but importantly, it doesn't feel like a first attempt.