Sadly not available in the UK or would have probably been my car of choice.
Lucid ticks all the boxes. Just need to scale mass manufacture more.
Poll The BIG DEBATE (Part 1) - BMW i7 vs Mercedes EQS
- Thread starter martinbo
- Start date
Sadly not available in the UK or would have probably been my car of choice.
Lucid ticks all the boxes. Just need to scale mass manufacture more.
Also worth noting the price of a Fully spec-ed & tech-ed out BMW is mouthwatering. The EQS business classes, especially the 350 model comes in at around £105K RRP. It has nearly everything apart from rear seat entertainment, a debatable air freshener and the augmented reality headset display (debatable again in terms of usefulness).
The baseline BMW lacks a LOT of functionality you'd want which make it so appealing.
In reality a fully spec-ed out BMW I7 is probably closer in price to the EQS SUV fully specced or dare I even say a Maybach.
The baseline BMW lacks a LOT of functionality you'd want which make it so appealing.
In reality a fully spec-ed out BMW I7 is probably closer in price to the EQS SUV fully specced or dare I even say a Maybach.
I've spent even more time to comparing the two and for me to draws some conclusions.
Price - there is a difference. The I7 fully specced costs a lot more and ventures into Maybach territory. The price of an I7 gets scarily closed to a bentayga used within the last 12-24 months. I know it's not fair to compare but the I7 fully specced isn't really int he same realm as these other cars.
Ignoring price; I found myself missing functionality of the EQS based off of implementation.
The EQS lacks features the BMW has.
For example, self closing doors or powered open doors needs to come to the EQS platform at some point.
However in terms of rear entertainment, the BMW's implementation looks great on a YouTube video but is AWFUL in person. In-action, it closes up the car to make it feel like a taxi, you can't see out of the rear window and you can't see your passengers. Two people are sharing an awkward aspect ratio display. It's just a nasty experience.
In my opinion, two separate tablets like what Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes do is a far more elegant, practical solution. Two people can watch two separate TV shows, you can share the same content etc. Ideally - I think 2x iPads with 2x separated pairs of bluetooth headphones with 2x nReal glasses which can be connected via USB-C to 2x Nintendo switches & 2x steam decks and 2x Apple Vision Pros make far more sense. That will destroy any rear entertainment package and provide a LOT more entertainment.
Price for that is around £500+£500+£300+£300+£50+£50+£3k+£3k which is around the same price as most rear entertainment systems. The integration is awesome but the level of entertainment and practicality is lacking. Or go cheap and get 2x Oculus Quest 3s for the kids and 1x Vision Pro for adults.
The Mercedes's rear entertainment still isn't great. It's an outdated tablet in need of a bezel shrink. I also prefer the Rolls Royce integration of tablets. They look almost hidden until in usage. In the Mercedes, having a tablet permanently mounted in front of your rear passenger vision makes the very large rear cabin feel smaller than it is.
The BMW also has rear massage and reclining seats with an awesome recline option and more rear space. this is something the EQS needs to copy. It's awesome and the EQS boot is gigantic. It doesn't need that much space.
Looks are subjective but I've only had compliments with my 2024/2025 EQS with the emblem/badge back on with a more metal looking grille. The BMW to me looks far to cheap and strange what it is. It looks like a very cheap rolls royce IMO.
__
Future cars:
In reality, Mercedes to meet parity with BMW just need to add features (such as self closing doors and massage seats for rear passengers).
BMW are BMW. They have cutting edge tech but their implementation is not elegant. For example ambient lighitng in the I7 is light years away from the look and feel of an S class or EQS at night despite the fact the BMW has equal if not better technology behind its ambient lighting. It just feels like I designed it lol... a single man
.
I personally with Porsche would put a bit more effort into their cars. Add in some massage seats, self closing doors, open up usage of the plethora of screens they offer so you can watch films on them, ambient lighting behind the comfort door handles and nice cushions for the headrests and they become a very very viable car in the luxury segment whilst having sports car level performance.
Price - there is a difference. The I7 fully specced costs a lot more and ventures into Maybach territory. The price of an I7 gets scarily closed to a bentayga used within the last 12-24 months. I know it's not fair to compare but the I7 fully specced isn't really int he same realm as these other cars.
Ignoring price; I found myself missing functionality of the EQS based off of implementation.
The EQS lacks features the BMW has.
For example, self closing doors or powered open doors needs to come to the EQS platform at some point.
However in terms of rear entertainment, the BMW's implementation looks great on a YouTube video but is AWFUL in person. In-action, it closes up the car to make it feel like a taxi, you can't see out of the rear window and you can't see your passengers. Two people are sharing an awkward aspect ratio display. It's just a nasty experience.
In my opinion, two separate tablets like what Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes do is a far more elegant, practical solution. Two people can watch two separate TV shows, you can share the same content etc. Ideally - I think 2x iPads with 2x separated pairs of bluetooth headphones with 2x nReal glasses which can be connected via USB-C to 2x Nintendo switches & 2x steam decks and 2x Apple Vision Pros make far more sense. That will destroy any rear entertainment package and provide a LOT more entertainment.
Price for that is around £500+£500+£300+£300+£50+£50+£3k+£3k which is around the same price as most rear entertainment systems. The integration is awesome but the level of entertainment and practicality is lacking. Or go cheap and get 2x Oculus Quest 3s for the kids and 1x Vision Pro for adults.
The Mercedes's rear entertainment still isn't great. It's an outdated tablet in need of a bezel shrink. I also prefer the Rolls Royce integration of tablets. They look almost hidden until in usage. In the Mercedes, having a tablet permanently mounted in front of your rear passenger vision makes the very large rear cabin feel smaller than it is.
The BMW also has rear massage and reclining seats with an awesome recline option and more rear space. this is something the EQS needs to copy. It's awesome and the EQS boot is gigantic. It doesn't need that much space.
Looks are subjective but I've only had compliments with my 2024/2025 EQS with the emblem/badge back on with a more metal looking grille. The BMW to me looks far to cheap and strange what it is. It looks like a very cheap rolls royce IMO.
__
Future cars:
In reality, Mercedes to meet parity with BMW just need to add features (such as self closing doors and massage seats for rear passengers).
BMW are BMW. They have cutting edge tech but their implementation is not elegant. For example ambient lighitng in the I7 is light years away from the look and feel of an S class or EQS at night despite the fact the BMW has equal if not better technology behind its ambient lighting. It just feels like I designed it lol... a single man
.I personally with Porsche would put a bit more effort into their cars. Add in some massage seats, self closing doors, open up usage of the plethora of screens they offer so you can watch films on them, ambient lighting behind the comfort door handles and nice cushions for the headrests and they become a very very viable car in the luxury segment whilst having sports car level performance.
EnI
Piston Pioneer
BMW are BMW. They have cutting edge tech but their implementation is not elegant. For example ambient lighitng in the I7 is light years away from the look and feel of an S class or EQS at night despite the fact the BMW has equal if not better technology behind its ambient lighting. It just feels like I designed it lol... a single man
This!
That has been BMW's Achilles' heel for quite some time now. Great tech ideas & designs but poorly executed. Most of their engineering excellence is applied into BMW powertrains & drivetrains but not so much into other parts (ok recently into some techy gadgetry as well). It's not about not having the know-how & expertise ... It's about allocation of resources, especially financial ones. BMW are just not willing to invest more money in better implementation since that eats into time & money too much. They stick to their core interest: excellent drive- and powertrains & hence very good driving dynamics and ... pure driving pleasure & joy etc etc. Design engineering @ BMW must be so frustrating due to so much limitations.
Similar threads
- Poll
