TOPGEAR’S LONG-TERM CARS. TESTED & VERIFIED

Mercedes-Benz EQE

HELLO

£68,810 OTR/£87,040 as tested/£xxx pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

To discover what role the EQ range actually fulfils for Mercedes

DRIVER

Ollie Marriage

WHAT IS THIS CAR FOR? THAT’S THE QUESTION I NEED TO ANSWER here. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to take me a few months to work it out. But I’ll make an early prediction. Once the EQE’s likely eight year model cycle is over, it’ll disappear. So will the EQS, the EQE SUV and all the rest of them.

Here’s why: we’re in a transition period. Every carmaker is watching each other to see what works in the electric era and what doesn’t. They’re either electrifying their regular cars or creating these virtual sub-brands. So VW has its ID range, Audi has e-tron and Merc has EQ. Eventually it’ll ditch EQE and revert to E-Class. Because that’s what buyers understand.

Anyway, let me stop the chin scratching and tell you what we have here. It’s an executive saloon with seating for five and a boot out back. It’s the kind of car you’ll see in corporate car parks across the land. It comes in several varieties, including a twin motor EQE 53 with well over 600bhp. This is the entry level EQE 300. It has a single motor on the rear axle, developing 241bhp and 405lb ft, fed from an 89kWh battery pack. It’s the model that makes most sense to me because there’s absolutely nothing sporting about the EQE. It’s a cruiser, a wafter, a car that claims a range of up to 380 miles. This one’s a Premium Plus, wearing fat 21s instead of 19s, which means more friction so the range drops over 40 miles.

First impressions? It comes across as well engineered but with a sense of theatre created by the whirring doorhandles and pulsing lights. But it’s a bit hectic compared to the Range Rover, which was ultra calming to drive. At least it’s easier to navigate the central screen than I expected. And I like the built-in Google linked satnav. Helpful at tracking down charging stations.

But I’m finding it a hard car to get hold of, if you see what I mean. It’s like trying to grab wet soap. Apt, given the physical resemblance.

Range Rover Sport

HELLO

£102,540 OTR/£117,385 as tested/£1,474 pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

The Range Rover casts a big shadow. Can the Sport step out of it?

DRIVERS

Ben Pulman

IT’S TOO NICE FOR THESE URCHINS. THAT’S MY PREVAILING THOUGHT as I show our two delightful children – with a combined age very much still in single figures – around this near-£120k Range Rover Sport.

Not only is it too nice for them, but it’s also too nice for where we live. Where we live isn’t bad, mind, but we reside in the countryside, where there is mud and where there are floods, and a red Range Rover Sport, on black 23-inch wheels, sporting a white leather interior, very much looks like it does not belong. The SUVs round here are in darker, more subtle colours, on smaller wheels with thicker sidewalls, and do things with tow bars. Whereas this new interloper screams DFL, aka the derogatory Down From London.

This RR Sport is oh so close to original launch spec though, which tells you all you need to know about how JLR wants to position this SUV among its Range Rover/Defender/Discovery ilk. The rest are displayed on JLR’s website in muted tones, whereas the Sport is there in shouty Firenze Red.

As well as that visual separation, the Sport has a very clear place in the Range Rover lineup. The clue is in the name, and it’s the only one overtly honed for performance. Question is, does sitting on the same hulking MLA-Flex platform as the Range Rover proper (for all the benefits it brings, from refinement and the latest chassis tech to the imminent option of BEV) handicap it? We’ll find that out in the coming months, but first, that price...

It starts at £83,630, near enough £30k above the Velar but £20k below the Range Rover. This D350 diesel has arrived in full Autobiography trim, which starts from £102,540. Add in nearly £15k of extras and suddenly you’re at £117,385, once taxes and other annoyances have been paid.

At that price, you can pretty much have any JLR SUV, your pick of Porsche’s Cayenne range, and a whole lot more besides. The next few months will see if this Range Rover Sport is worth it.