Seven chairs with front-drive, five with ‘four’

FAMILY requirement for a compact five to seven-seater electric car that sidesteps styling like a sports utility has been answered – at a price.

 Buying into that formula also means sitting behind the Mercedes’ tri-star, so it’s a premium experience for the school run.

 The car in question is the EQB, to all intents a battery-dedicated version of the piston-engined GLB compact sports utility, essentially a ballooned A-Class that has fast risen up the popularity scale in New Zealand.

 Coming in single motor, front drive 250 and all-wheel-drive (dual motor) 350 guises, both with a 66kWh battery, the EQB is of course also closely related to the now established entirely electric EQA hatch; an electric A-Class.

 All are similar in size and kerbside footprint, but the pricing delivers minimal crossover.

 With EQB, the cheapest of the choices leaves just $100 change from a $100,000 spend while the most expensive, if taken in a limited-time Edition One pack, raises the bar to just under $114,000.

 Buy a GLB – that is, same car but with petrol running through its veins – and there are three choices. The GLB 200, with a 1.3-litre engine, at $79,800, the 2.0-litre GLB 250 4Matic all-wheel-drive, at $94,100, and the extrovert AMG-tweaked GLB 35, also a 2.0-litre, and a $106,300 ask.

 While EQB starts at $99,900, that’s as a five-seater. Slotting in an extra third row – which has to occur in the factory - adds $2900. The all-wheel-drive edition, also a five-seater, is $109,900.

 Comparison between EQB 250 in five chair format and an EQA 250 is interesting, as the latter has sat at $86k.

 The Edition One package avails across both EQBs. Adding AMG-inspired body elements, and also adds EQ-specific interior elements such as backlit trim and blue top-stitching on the seats and doors, it costs $9100 on the 250 and $3900 for the 350, because the latter already packs some AMG-provisioned trim enhancements.

 The EQB 250 packs 140kW of power and 385Nm of torque and is capable of achieving driving range of 371 km according to the WLTP test standard. An EQA 250, by comparison, has the same output but can achieve 419kms’ range on the same standard. The EQB 350 packs 215kW and 520Nm. Driving range is 360km according to WLTP. It’s the quickest model, with 0-100kmh in 6.2 seconds.

 EQB measures 4684mm long, 1834mm wide and 1667mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2829mm – so, only marginal differences compared against GLB.

 Maximum boot capacity of 1620 litres is 60 litres down on the GLB.

 The second row of seats have adjustable-inclination backrests and the ability to slide forwards or backwards by up to 140mm. Mercedes says the third row of seats in the EQB can be used by people up to 1.6 metres tall, while they will also accommodate child seats.

 On the outside, the EQB has the typical EQ black-panel front grille with a large central star logo, while there are full-width light strips front and rear of the vehicle, as well as aero-optimised alloy wheel designs and a blue tinge to the LED headlights. The car has a drag coefficient of 0.28.

 The Widescreen Cockpit interface with the Mercedes-Benz User Experience is augmented with 'Navigation with Electric Intelligence', which can calculate the fastest route to the chosen destination, including any necessary charging stops if the journey is longer than the car can travel on its battery level.