In 38 years of car-writing, this may be the only vehicle about which I could truly use the word “waft”—as in, “The EQS 580 4Matic wafts down the road with impressive serenity.” This is what 536 horsepower and 633 pound-feet of torque can do, when delivered to the tarmac in utter silence and with nary an uncouth bump from rough pavement.

The silently beating heart of this SUV is a pair of fore and aft electric motors—one driving each axle—feeding from a massive 107.8 kilowatt-hour battery pack in the floor, which in ideal conditions should deliver some 350 miles of range. The over-the-road serenity is aided & abetted by an adaptive and driver-adjustable air suspension as well as the sort of supremely comfortable and elegant cabin that one finds at the top of the Mercedes-Benz line.

This is also the only SUV I can think of with rear-wheel steering. At parking-lot speeds, the back wheels turn up to 10 degrees in the opposite direction of the front wheels, which reduces the vehicle’s turning circle; and at highway speeds the rear wheels turn up to 10 degrees in the same direction as the front wheels, to help move the vehicle sideways—into, say, the adjacent lane.

The steering is somewhat numb, but it’s precise and the EQS SUV is nimbler than we expect a bulky, three-ton machine to be; it even has an Off-Road mode that raises the body, for extra clearance, and adjusts the power delivery for crawling over rocks and dirt. This sounds about as appealing as bouldering in a tuxedo, but it’s nice to know the capability exists.

The interior is outright swanky, featuring acres of pillowy leather, satiny wood grain, matte-finish aluminum and steel, and plastic that isn’t plasticky. As in the AMG-EQS sedan missile we drove just before Christmas, the entire dashboard, from door to door, is a sheet of glass that incorporates three computer screens. Sit down, push the start button, and the entire array lights up like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

But I’m not as intimidated now, nor have I had to call Mercedes-Benz USA for help even once. This is partly because the sedan showed me how to do it, and partly because I now know that on-board assistance is there when I want it. Just say “Hey Mercedes,” and an Alexa-like voice says, more or less, “How may I help you?” I haven’t yet asked her how to experience the cabin fragrance atomizer; the discreet strips of mood lighting are enough for me.

But I did experience Mercedes-Benz’s Energizing Coach, a feature that debuted on the S-Class in 2019. It’s an onboard app that monitors the driver’s pulse by syncing with a smartwatch. I wear a dumb watch, but nonetheless, at one point the EQS decided I needed energizing. The radio muted and I was treated to about 10 minutes of slightly creepy New Age music, seat vibration and cooling, and a surf-like cascade of colors across the big center screen. Not sure I felt re-energized afterward, but I was surely bemused.

Onboard nanny aside, driving the EQS SUV is a major-league giggle because, along with being eerily quiet and decadently comfortable, it is also ferociously quick. An expensive internal-combustion-engine sports car could keep up with the EQS, but not without making a godawful racket. To many motorheads, me included the wail of a high-revving V-12 or the snarl of a high-output V-8 is manly music. But it’s music of a time that’s receding into history.

This almighty surge of silent electric thrust feels like the future. To live in the EQS SUV’s version of this future requires writing a check for, in this case, $135,590. Still, I have to say it: Considering all the technology herein, and the systems, features and comforts, the price is a flat-out bargain.

Next week: Mazda CX-30