[EQA-S.oz]

My EQA250 has travelled a little over 5,000 km, about 2,000 of which have been in my hands.

Whilst the topics covered in this Forum have understandably focused mainly on supply issues and the performance of the EQA as an EV, my mission has been to try to configure the car to ride like a 'proper' non-sporting Merc: to deliver a quiet, comfortable ride. Most of my driving is at low speeds (i.e. less than 80 kph) in an urban environment where the bitumen-paved roads are invariably scarred with cross-road narrow trench repairs, manhole covers and the like, which create sharp bumps. I would like the car's tyres, suspension and body structure to provide a supple ride whereby the impact harshness from these imperfections is absorbed by those components to the maximum extent possible - and for there to be as little related noise inside the car as possible. My EQA doesn't quite achieve that.

I suspect the weight of the EQA dictates the need for firm suspension bushing and tyres, which run counter to my objective. I haven't driven the latest GLA to assess whether its lower weight delivers a better ride, but my wife's 2016 B250, which is shod with run-flat tyres is, surprisingly, markedly superior to my EQA in terms of impact harshness-related comfort.

Optimising ride comfort: in urban driving I make quite frequent use of DYNAMIC SELECT, often selecting my Individual configuration of Sport suspension and default 'Comfort' for all other variables. I find that while this firms the ride a little compared with the Comfort suspension setting, it seems quieter inside the car when traversing the typical road imperfections which bother me, whilst the firmer ride is not unacceptable. With the default Comfort suspension setting, my annoying road irregularities don't seem to be much less apparent than with the Sport setting and there seems to be more vehicle-generated noise within the cabin. Perhaps the 'slacker' suspension setting (in Comfort) allows the suspension components to move more, generating noise? I'm not sure.

One further variable which might improve comfort is a different tyre. My EQA250 has the standard fitment (for Australia) 235/50R19 tyres, in my case, the Bridgestone T005 MO. Tyre Review - at 2022 Tyre Reviews 17 Inch UHP Summer Tyre Test - Tyre Reviews and Tests - gives them a high ranking for comfort and a low ranking for (external) pass-by quietness. Assuming Tyre Review's result with the VW Golf GTI is indicative of the relative comfort of the Bridgestone T005, it seems that my car is fitted with about the most comfortable tyre available - apart from, possibly, the Michelin Primacy 4+ (see discussion at the end of the test report). Eighteen inch rims and tyres might further improve matters, but they're not an option in Australia and such a change - assuming it didn't void my warranty - would be quite expensive, especially if the improvement were negligible.

I hope others interested in this topic might pitch in with their views.

 

[BakerSam]

I've been going for over a year in our EQA with 16,000km. I agree with your sport suspension setting being much less noisy and comfort levels as good, if not better, because of the reduced sway. We just changed to Primacy 4+'s on the front, and it was a definite improvement from the Continential Eco Comfort 6's that came in stock; I can't imagine you being disappointed with them.

 

[EQA-S.oz]

Thanks, for your comments, BakerSam.

I'm especially interested in your opinion of the Primacy 4+. I assume the fronts required replacement (after about 16,000km?). Had they been rotated? I suspect, in any event, the EQA is fairly hard on tyres, even if you drive reasonably conservatively.

In general I'm really enjoying the EQA, although I'm yet to master the inbuilt sat-nav. I've turned off the voice-activation system, because my wife finds it annoying and as far as sat-nav is concerned, the Merc assistant either has had difficulty understanding my Aussie accent, or has no more clue about the route to my destination than I have. Gregorys to the rescue!

 

[dBC]

as far as sat-nav is concerned, the Merc assistant either has had difficulty understanding my Aussie accent, or has no more clue about the route to my destination than I have.

That may be down to these cars not having internet connectivity in Aus. Mine understands me for any local stuff like controlling the car or selecting music tracks, but for free-form stuff (like destination addresses or dictating SMS messages) it's useless. I think it needs assistance from the cloud to do free-form speech recognition. Happily, Android Auto comes to the rescue for both.

 

[EQA-S.oz]

Thanks for your explanation, dBC. My issues are even more basic - such as when I enter an address in a suburb of Adelaide, the sat/nav shows the street number and name, but instead of showing the suburb it displays "Adelaide". If my desired destination is within a town near Adelaide, it displays the correct address, including the town name.

At the risk of diverting this thread from the subject I initiated - which I don't want to do - are there any suggestions why my sat/nav displays every suburb of Adelaide as Adelaide, rather than the suburb name?

 

[TOUcharging]

A very interesting and worthwhile topic, EQA-S.oz.

Here’s my situation…..

The car has been on the road for 6 months and done 9,000kms. It’s on 20 inch wheels with Conti EcoContact6 235/45R20 tyres. When specifying the car, I would have been happier with 19 inch wheels from a comfort perspective, but was overruled and ended up with 20 inch wheels for their appearance (plus some other AMG accoutrements). Mostly urban driving, with some high speed regional driving too.

Like you, I’ve gone for Comfort in all settings except suspension, which is permanently set to Sport. But I’m “set and forget” so I don’t play with DYNAMIC SELECT to make any further adjustments. The reason I’m permanently on the Sport suspension setting is passenger feedback. They found the car was too floaty and bouncy when in Comfort suspension mode, leading to an uneasy or queasy feeling when negotiating speed bumps and the like. I didn’t experience this uneasiness, probably because as the driver, I was more attentive to the road surface and could predict the car’s reaction.

On all suspension settings I initially found the ride a little jarring when crossing road undulations such as speed bumps or sunken road reinstatements. However this seems to have improved with time. I put this improvement down to three possible reasons.

1 – The car’s suspension “bedding in” and becoming a little softer with age. This may be due to the 9,000kms travelled and the resulting general wear & tear on the suspension.

2 – The car’s tyre pressures slowly declining over time. The car started off with 42psi when new and I haven’t put any air in the tyres since - lazy me! They’re now at 38/39psi instead of 42psi. It’s a trade-off. Lower pressure may lead to a better ride at the expense of increased tyre wear, increased energy consumption and increased susceptibility to pot-hole damage. The car’s tyre placard suggests 40psi for normal load and 47psi for maximum load.

3 – Familiarity with the car and its ride.

Your mention of vehicle generated noise interests me too; suspension setting vs suspension components moving and generating noise. It’s something I also experience, but have not experimented with it to see what difference the suspension setting makes.

The car has minor suspension knocks/rattles when encountering road undulations at slow speed. The sound is so minor that it can easily be masked by having the audio system turned on, or by road noise at speeds above 30kmh. I’ll ask that it be looked into at the first service, but it’s not enough of a concern to warrant a special maintenance visit. In the meantime, I should try out the Comfort setting again to see if it makes any difference to these minor knocks and rattles from the suspension.

And on your problem with SatNav showing Adelaide instead of the destination’s suburb name, I have the same problem in Melbourne. It’s as if Melbourne is one gigantic suburb.

 

[EQA-S.oz]

Very interesting commentary, TOUcharging - and by and large, similar to BakerSam's and my experiences.

You say that your suspension is "permanently set to Sport" - and that you "set and forget". The only way I can select the Sport setting for the suspension is to configure DYNAMIC SELECT with that setting and leave everything else in the default (Comfort) setting, thereby creating my Individual setting. If I use the car regularly, a touchscreen prompt alerts me - on start-up - to press the prompt to continue that setting, but I'm not aware of any way to make it the default. Perhaps there is a way to do so?

I will take note of any change to the suspension harshness as my car ages. There's some logic to that.

Thank you, too, for your brief comment about your SatNav also not recognising suburbs. I wonder whether it's something MB could correct via software updating.

 

[TOUcharging]

It can be done via the "Vehicle" tab and stored in your profile.
Vehicle >> Dynamic Select >> Individual Configuration >> Suspension.
My suspension is permanently set on "Sport".

Other drivers of the car have their profiles based upon my original profile, and they haven't adjusted anything related to suspension. So the car's suspension is is always set on "Sport".

 

[EQA-S.oz]

Thanks, TOUcharging. I've configured my Individual DYNAMIC SELECT setting with suspension on Sport and everything else set to Comfort. I wasn't aware that this could be integrated in a personal Profile, so I'll investigate that further.

 

[227bha]

It can be done via the "Vehicle" tab and stored in your profile.
Vehicle >> Dynamic Select >> Individual Configuration >> Suspension.
My suspension is permanently set on "Sport".

Other drivers of the car have their profiles based upon my original profile, and they haven't adjusted anything related to suspension. So the car's suspension is is always set on "Sport".

View attachment 1634

As I said on the other thread - mine doesn’t have an option for suspension?
Just has ESP - is that it?

 

[TOUcharging]

As I said on the other thread - mine doesn’t have an option for suspension?
Just has ESP - is that it?

My options seem different to yours.
I don't know why.
These are the screens as I drill down.
Suspension is always on "Sport".

 

[TOUcharging]

Ride comfort may have improved due to my slowly decreasing tyre pressure, or so I thought. I increased the tyre pressure from 38/39psi to 45psi, mainly because I was concerned about the increased incidence of local pot-holes after recent heavy rains, but also to test out the ride comfort theory.

A few short drives showed no noticeable change in ride comfort at this higher tyre pressure.

 

[EQA-S.oz]

TOUcharging, I find that 38/39psi slightly reduces the ride harshness compared with say 42psi, but my impression is that it's only marginal. In other words, I'm not surprised that you find there's "no noticeable change".

227bha, ESP is stability control. You should be able to adjust the suspension setting on your EQA to either Comfort (default) or Sport, via DYNAMIC SELECT, which is accessible either within Vehicle>Vehicle section of MBUX, or a specific switch located near the touchpad on the centre console. This video shows DYNAMIC SELECT as fitted to an EQC, but it's generally similar to the EQA

As TOUcharging has explained, the sequence for adjusting the suspension (via DYNAMIC SELECT) is to either select Comfort (which includes the 'comfort' suspension setting), or Sport, which sets the suspension to 'sport' - or to configure your desired suspension setting (comfort or sport) in Individual, where other variables may be selected according to your personal preference.

 

[227bha]

TOUcharging, I find that 38/39psi slightly reduces the ride harshness compared with say 42psi, but my impression is that it's only marginal. In other words, I'm not surprised that you find there's "no noticeable change".

227bha, ESP is stability control. You should be able to adjust the suspension setting on your EQA to either Comfort (default) or Sport, via DYNAMIC SELECT, which is accessible either within Vehicle>Vehicle section of MBUX, or a specific switch located near the touchpad on the centre console. This video shows DYNAMIC SELECT as fitted to an EQC, but it's generally similar to the EQA

As TOUcharging has explained, the sequence for adjusting the suspension (via DYNAMIC SELECT) is to either select Comfort (which includes the 'comfort' suspension setting), or Sport, which sets the suspension to 'sport' - or to configure your desired suspension setting (comfort or sport) in Individual, where other variables may be selected according to your personal preference.

Thanks but as per my previous post I haven’t an option for suspension? If I go into dynamic select, individual I just have this choice of Drive, Steering and ESP???

 

[EQA-S.oz]

I now understand, 227bha; it appears that you car doesn't have adaptive damping. I assumed that all EQAs were so equipped, but on page 215 of my Owner's Manual it says: "Suspension with adaptive damping adjustment continuously adjusts...". From your report and - by inference - the quote from the Owner's Manual, I now understand that not all EQAs have adaptive damping. I'm sorry to hear that your car is one of those without.

Having said that, in my experience, sometimes manufacturers find a sweetspot with non-adaptive damping which isn't available with adaptive damping; it's either too soft or too firm, whereas the passive damping is set somewhere in between and represents a very acceptable compromise.

 

[dBC]

It's an option on the EQA, but I believe all Aussie EQAs have it. It's not available at all on the EQC.

Hallmark Mercedes feature: The EQA is comfortable and agile to drive | marsMediaSite

 

[227bha]

I now understand, 227bha; it appears that you car doesn't have adaptive damping. I assumed that all EQAs were so equipped, but on page 215 of my Owner's Manual it says: "Suspension with adaptive damping adjustment continuously adjusts...". From your report and - by inference - the quote from the Owner's Manual, I now understand that not all EQAs have adaptive damping. I'm sorry to hear that your car is one of those without.

Having said that, in my experience, sometimes manufacturers find a sweetspot with non-adaptive damping which isn't available with adaptive damping; it's either too soft or too firm, whereas the passive damping is set somewhere in between and represents a very acceptable compromise.

Ok thanks that explains it. Strange you have it as standard and not so in the UK especially as mines a 350

 

[EQA-S.oz]

Thanks for that information and the link, dBC.

227bha, (somewhat tongue in cheek) I guess MB Australia - or whoever configures our cars - recognises that many of our urban and rural road surfaces leave a lot to be desired, so it's logical to include adaptive damping. More likely, I understand that Australian MB customers tend to prefer highly specced cars.

Given the generally poor quality of our roads, one example of the high spec which continues to amaze - and annoy - me is Aussies' apparent preference for low profile tyres. When discussing this with our local MB dealer recently, he conceded that one of their regular (rural) E Class customers refuses to buy the latest model because MB Australia doesn't offer a sufficiently high profile tyre option.