Does a small seven-seater SUV stretch credibility? The GLB makes positive points about how to sidestep substance to achieve spaciousness.

Base price:  $92,900 (as tested: $99,560)
Powertrain and performance:  2.0-litre four-cylinder direct injection turbocharged petrol engine. 120kW/5500rpm, 350Nm/1800-4000rpm. All-wheel drive. Fuel consumption 7.7L/100km (claim), 9.2L/100km (road test).
Vital statistics: Length 4634mm, height 1658mm, width 1834mm, wheelbase 2829mm. Boot volume 565 litres. Wheels: 19-inch alloys with 235/50 tyres.
We like: Clever interior design, smart styling, tech-packed.

We don’t like: Column stalk shifter, solely configured for US-C, having to take sunroof to achieve best headlights.

 IRREFUTABLE scientific fact: We’re taller than our ancestors.

The further back you go, the greater the differentiation, though some experts say in even just the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialised nations has increased approximately 10 centimetres.

Assuredly, then, were a troupe of Tudor troubadours to ever time-travel to today’s world, they’d likely consider the newest addition to Mercedes’ seven-seater sports utility family to be incredibly spacious, regardless that this latest opportunity is in fact the most compact yet. 

Modern families? Well, even the most worldly would have to surely concur that, if considered purely on the merits of its seating plan, this is a car that is less tailored for the ‘everyday’ than it is for the ‘occasional.’

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not arguing this is a package driven by outright delusion. Quite the contrary. The label on this packaging doesn’t deceive. You’re quite probably looking at perhaps one of the most cleverly conceived products of this year. 

Even with handsome Benz styling suggesting it as a big hatch, GLB is at heart a box full of chairs and the cleverness of the design and engineering of the interior is such that you truly wonder how a car so tight in its exterior dimension can be anything like as commodious. Brand testimony about GLB being specifically designed to be a seven-seater is not a truth stretch.

And yet, at same token, it’s built upon the platform also used by the A-Class, which is Benz’s smallest passenger model. So, even though the underpinnings have been stretched, and as useful as the full-blown format clearly is …. well, yes, the further back you’re assigned to sit, the tighter it becomes. If hardly for emergency use only, the third row pews are also obviously the most anti-adult.

So as much as a ton of very smart thinking (and using Volkswagen’s Tiguan Allspace for benchmarking) delivers decent head and legroom, excellent outward visibility and good stowage solutions, it’s all to a point.  Running full occupancy, the luggage space remaining is miniscule and stowing the back pair (neatly, into the boot) and it becomes much more convenient.

Which means? Well, just this. You’re looking at a car designed for the realities of modern life. The one that can, if asked, carry the kids’ mates to soccer on Saturday morning as a last-minute favour because Rick’s best friend forgot to ask his dad about using their GLE. 

And also the car that, later in the day when it’s in town on the shopping beat, is so much more convenient to slip through the traffic stream and slot into the last remaining decent park outside the supermarket because it’s just so much more sensibly sized than like-styled but far more substantial sister SUV.

Insofar as Mercedes’ sales plan goes, then, the GLB is quite a crucial car. It basically creates a new sub-category - there are virtually no direct rivals, certainly not from the prestige brands – and yet it also meets a known demand.

Small SUVs are hot. Given how its priced, specified and presented – in a 1.4 front-drive GLB200, the next step four-wheel-drive GLB250 on test here and an AMG edition, also all-paw, yet to land - Benz NZ conjects a significant customer call, core interest coming from families for whom this might well be their first new Mercedes. I cannot see how they can be wrong about that.

 Thought of this being a ‘budget’ step into Benz SUV-dom needs taken with a certain degree of open-mindedness, all the same. There are plenty of brands of less premium nature than can provision significantly larger, more powerful vehicles for the money asked for this 2.0-litre edition, even before adding in the embellishments that featured on the tester.

Options of Galaxy Blue paint, an AMG sports package, plus driving assistance and vision packs – the first provisioning active cruise control, lane change assist, a more intelligent stop-start and ability to relay localised speed limits, the other delivering fully auto headlights in LED, a sunroof and the full parking assist (so, a 360 degree camera in addition to front and rear sensors) – pushed the car’s $92,900 retail to just $440 short of $100k. 

Fortunately, there’s more than the sticker to remind you’re playing in premium territory. The car’s affluent look is abetted by a very upmarket feel. Impression gained from last year’s international launch about wanting to take care, before letting the kids in, to pre-check for sticky little fingers was all the cemented on this drive. 

The flashiness extends beyond the fully digital dash with its MBUX interface (and over-eager ‘Hi Mercedes’ prompt). That a lot of the interior carries familiarity for those more used to the B- and A-Class is no slur.

This is a five-star model. Touch surfaces use high-quality materials, buttons and knobs have a satisfying tactility and reassuring clicks and it’s beautifully trimmed, with cushy seats.

This being the first Benz to come to us from a plant in Mexico does not impact on the sense of it being constructed to any lower standards than you’d expect from a German plant. The test car being blighted by a minor electronic annoyance that threw up occasional erroneous fault messages was no fault of the Aguascalientes assembly workers, but rather a duff chip in the transmission management computer. If it happens to you, rest assured a quick reboot will remedy all.

Starting off and concluding the test period with decent open road driving was a good plan. As much as the GLB delivers fantastic competence in urban use, it’s going to reassuring to know it’s not shy about taking on the open road.

Out in the 100kmh zone it straight away evidences quite a different feel to the rest of the compact car range, all the same. Whereas the other models on this platform tend to sacrifice outright comfort to elevate a sense of agility and sportiness, the GLB focus is more toward solidity and comfort.

Obviously, the car’s feel is dependent on which of the drive modes you select. Keeping in those better-suited to passengers – in other words, staying out of ‘Sport’ -  delivers enough suspension pliability to soak up most ruts and bumps. Of course, this means allowing some concession for body lean in the corners, and the steering isn't the most precise, yet quite potentially the average GLB buyer won't notice or care. They’ll be more pleased about how planted and grown up it feels; the car has a wide stance and is on meaty rubber, but the 4Matic four-wheel-drive is also a good accomplice, regardless that is far from fulltime (to assist fuel saving).

What’s also quite appealing is that is doesn’t propose to be so wholly serious that it cannot evidence some sense of character. For sure, you’re not going to feel as compelled to dump the dog and kids and head off for a winding road in this version as you will with the AMG. But there’s no doubting that there’s a degree of talent, not least in the performance-tinged mode, that is worth tasting. The main difference in this comes with a sharper throttle response and elevated exhaust bark, but anyone wondering how much fun can be extracted by something so family-prioritised will surely raise a smile that the AMG 35 will turn into a full-out grin. On evidence of well it went on Spanish roads, that car is set to establish as something of a school run rebel.

The difference in performance between the AMG-ised edition and the 250 here is quite noticeable. A claimed 0-100kmh time of 6.9 seconds shows the 2.0-litre here isn’t lacking in spirit, but ultimately its talent is more aligned with delivering good economy and decent low to mid-range torque than to chase performance medals. With this in mind, you might pause to wonder if it always has enough snuff to keep itself together in family bus mode? I was unsuccessful in recruiting a full house of passengers for this test, instead having to settle for four adults aboard. Even that load was enough to take a little of the edge out of the engine’s oomph, though it did not seem to affect the powertrain’s refinement nor the fuel burn. Even when pushing up hills under load, it is a relatively inaudible and smooth unit. An average of 9.4 litres per 100km for the week was also fair, giving the driving it entertained.

The often-heard comment about SUVs being appealing simply on grounds that they offer good visibility has some relevance even in this scaled-down package. The upright design and highly adjustable driver's seat make it easy to see out of the GLB in almost all directions, and any blind spots are well covered by the sensors and the camera set.

The other appeal of this car is how it looks. As said, it’s clearly drawn a lot from the GLE (and even the GLS) but doesn’t look awkward from taking that approach. It also snuggles up quite nicely against the also-new Mercedes GLA, and though the GLB is taller, has a longer rear overhang and a much longer wheelbase it doesn’t appear at all awkwardly proportioned.

Coming back to where this story started, it’s understandable why Mercedes Benz here has only chosen the seven-seater edition for local distribution and ignored versions that come with five chairs.

Sure, I know from firsthand experience that the latter will deliver an even larger boot and so likely stand as an even more affordable alternate to, say, the GLC - which already looks very exposed by the GLB regardless.

But fact is, even though it is too tight to be considered as fully comfortable everyday proposition for full house operability, the seven-seater is a good choice on grounds of flexibility. The middle row slides fore and aft so you can apportion legroom between the passengers as needs be, while the seatbacks of the middle row adjust for tilt, too, and they can be folded down completely flat, just as the back pair can.

Beyond that, there’s plenty of industry evidence to suggest that even when used sparingly, this format is a smart buy in the sense that it'll be easier to sell on later.

What’s also interesting about GLB is where it will take Mercedes next. The brand has already expressed some interesting family expansion ideas. It’s now clear, also, that the wholly-electric EQB releasing internationally next year has drawn significant inspiration.

So, more intrigues to come from a car that already pulls surprises from the box.