2022 Mercedes-Benz EQB electrical SUV reminds us boxy is good

How refreshingly regular. That is good. Superb. 

That sums my first notes when driving the Mercedes-Benz EQB this previous week, out from a Black Forest resort with a imply umlaut, jetlagged, into the sort of muggy, scorching day—learn 99 levels—that places one’s tolerance for warm air on excessive alert. 

Right here, I wasn’t navigating round ridiculous door handles and releases, frameless doorways, wheel slats, digicam “mirrors,” or kammback designs—or contending with gesture controls, restricted head room, faux sci-fi motor sounds, directional lighting cues, or fingerprint sensors. 

OK, perhaps there’s a 64-color ambient lighting system, however in daylight I may look previous that.

Over a collection of freeway and country-road driving loops with the EQB 300 and EQB 350, making no effort to drive effectively, I then noticed an indicated effectivity throughout them of almost 3.0 miles per kwh. 

That’s not wildly nice, however it’s good for boxy—particularly in a automobile that has seating for as much as seven. With the EQB’s 70.5-kwh liquid-cooled battery pack, that assures a real-world vary of greater than 200 miles, even in enthusiastic driving with the air con cranked. I anticipate considerably greater than this within the EQB’s EPA vary scores, which haven’t but been launched. 

Smoothing out the ICE field

There are a number of ranges of irony right here. Certainly one of them, in fact, is that the GLB is a brand new iteration of a mannequin that beforehand was outfitted for electric by Tesla. One other is that this flash of brilliance in normality is actually a gasoline SUV—the GLB—reskinned on the entrance and rear, flattened on the ground of its physique construction to erase the ICE remnants, and with plenty of consideration paid to clean underbody aerodynamics. 

All of it pays off. The EQB achieves a 0.28 coefficient of drag (versus the gasoline model’s 0.30)—with none of the painfully geeky items I listed off above. 

I imply it. House owners are simply beginning to uncover that their hatchback “coupe” crossovers perhaps aren’t all that for area and utility, and that the tapered rooflines can nix a number of the causes they wished a crossover within the first place, like the simple time getting out and in. At about 184 inches lengthy, this one’s about the identical footprint because the Tesla Mannequin Y, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID.4, or Kia EV6, however it feels larger inside in ways in which really matter—or a minimum of matter to taller folks.

Feels larger on the within

The EQB’s roofline doesn’t have any such lengthy taper on the rear. You may match a bit of furnishings within the again with out shattering the tailgate glass. There’s a great deal of head room within the entrance and rear seats, first rate leg room and assist, too. I can sit behind my 6-foot-6 self with a number of inches above my head, although Mercedes did elevate the H-point a fraction of an inch within the shift to electrical—and in all equity they didn’t have any variations with the panoramic sunroof upscale U.S. Pinnacle variations will get. 

The closest EV to this I can consider is the Kia Soul EV—a automotive Kia perplexingly determined to discontinue for the U.S. in its even-better current type. However the EQB is a dimension bigger and extra within the candy spot for People. Regardless of the fairly utilitarian form and the elective seven seats (good for as much as 4 baby seats, Mercedes says), it’s additionally luxurious past simply bearing the three-pointed star on the entrance. 

What makes it extra luxurious than most alternate options comes right down to a complete lot of issues. Past the wonderful seats, high-quality finishes, and strong really feel to every part, the EQB is simply very quiet inside. Mercedes-Benz added extra insulation to tamp out highway noise, a particular isolating mount for the entrance motor, and rubber bushings to quell harshness via the rear subframe. 

Rear wheels first—sure, although it’s a front-drive platform

There are two flavors of the EQB, and it basically comes right down to energy. The EQB 300 4Matic makes a mixed 225 hp and 288 lb-ft of torque, whereas the EQB 350 4Matic steps it as much as 288 hp and 384 lb-ft of torque. These are mixed figures, however the EQB in both guise splits its supply between a permanent-magnet motor in again and a lesser asynchronous motor in entrance, permitting the entrance motor to spin drag-free to chop energy use in a variety of conditions. The 2 variations use the identical {hardware}, and whereas variations between the 2 variations primarily comes right down to software program, take into account that the EQB isn’t absolutely aboard the over-the-air updates categorical. 

Mercedes has given preliminary 0-60 mph acceleration figures of 8.0 seconds for the EQB 300 and 6.2 seconds for the EQB 350. The distinction did really feel about that pronounced, however it’s not further energy you’re going to be utilizing for rather more than freeway passes. The extra punch of the 350 doesn’t make it any extra assured in corners as a result of it didn’t really feel as if the suspension retains physique movement any extra underneath wraps—one of many causes I believe the 300 might be the best way to go right here. 

The EQB merely isn’t tuned for hairpin turns or fast esses, and that’s completely wonderful. It weighs about 4,800 lb, or roughly 1,000 lb greater than a gasoline GLB. With struts in entrance, a four-link setup in again, its heart of mass down low, and a steering rack that’s about as well-weighted as they arrive, the EQB isn’t averse to backroads; it simply makes clear with good predictable physique lean that it isn’t designed round them. 

Asterisk to that: European variations of the EQB have the choice of adaptive dampers. That’s not an possibility we’ll see within the U.S., so we’ll replace on how these variations examine as quickly as we will.

For Mercedes, a simple interface

Though the EQB’s interface is way less complicated—and to me, much less migraine-inducing—than that of the flagship EQS with the Hyperscreen, the EQB’s driving modes very carefully parallel these used within the EQS. Meaning Particular person, Sport, Consolation, and Eco modes, all dialing in numerous settings for the steering, accelerator conduct and, if geared up, dampers. The EQS blends the friction pads in with regenerative braking whenever you step on the brake pedal and close to a cease, and it has a way more reassuring pedal really feel than the EQS. 

Simply as within the EQS, the default is a weak recuperation (D), when you can click on the left steering-wheel paddle to entry D- (stronger recuperation) or the precise to recover from to D+ (basically coasting). D- isn’t fairly one-pedal driving, however it should deliver the automobile very steadily to a cease and maintain it. 

My favourite setting was D Auto, although—another click on to the precise. It takes benefit of the EQB’s entrance sensors, including to regen, for example, to maintain the space behind a automotive in entrance, or tapping into speed-sign data to deliver you again right down to authorized speeds sooner should you’ve lifted off the accelerator anyway. Looks as if it will minimize fatigue on an extended journey.

Mercedes emphasizes that it wasn’t going for peak fast-charging charges with the EQB, so it needs to be respectable on highway journeys on extensively out there 150-kw CCS cost connectors. It could actually cost at as much as 100 kw, however as was emphasised, it may preserve a excessive portion of that for many of its cost curve—though Mercedes says that any preconditioning of the battery stays linked to the navigation system, with no handbook override. If the system will get you prepared, it permits a ten%-80% cost in 31 minutes, or perhaps about 80 miles (to adapt and approximate a Euro-WLTP spec to EPA) in quarter-hour. Stage 2 charging is as fast as you may make it with an 11-kw onboard charger, though Mercedes says that on a 32-amp wallbox you must depend on 11.3 hours from 10% to 100%.

As for vary, EPA scores nonetheless aren’t out, however with first deliveries of this mannequin due in mid-August, any day now. It’s possible that each one variations of the EQB will considerably exceed 200 miles, however we’re undecided by how a lot. And since variations between the 2 variations are primarily software-based, we anticipate to see very minor variations between the 2, run in the identical cycle and on the identical masses. All variations get a warmth pump, which ought to assist make real-world numbers nearer to the scores. 

B makes extra sense than C

The EQB, frankly, drives lots just like the EQC, the mannequin that Mercedes on the final minute determined to not provide within the U.S. That’s an excellent factor—most likely, each of these issues, now that we all know the EQE SUV is within the pipeline—let’s simply hope the EQB delivers just a little extra vary than the EQC would have. 

At a beginning value of $55,750 for the EQB 300—$48,250 should you store by the potential of the $7,500 EV tax credit score, or almost $19,000 lower than a Mannequin Y Lengthy Vary at the moment, should you’re OK with much less vary—the EQB is trying like a greater deal now that I’ve pushed it. And I’d say, the less complicated the higher is the best way this mannequin is sensible. The EQB 350 begins simply $3,550 increased, however dynamically, it’s blissful as a luxurious automobile, and the 300’s energy suits the mission. 

There’s no Hyperscreen right here. All variations of the EQB include a setup incorporating twin 10.3-inch screens—with the precise one close to the center of the sprint and a touchscreen. The most recent MBUX system is extra advanced than we’d like, however with a number of ranges of redundancy to get what you want accomplished—together with pure language instructions that typically work—you’ll discover a most well-liked approach. It contains wi-fi system charging and wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 

The EQB does go away room for fairly a couple of choices, together with a $2,000 Expertise Bundle (head-up show, augmented navigation, traffic-sign help), an $3,250 AMG Evening look package deal (Nappa leather-based with crimson topstitching, sport seats, sport pedals, AMG 18-inch wheels, and extra), and a $1,300 Driver Help Bundle that brings adaptive cruise management plus active-safety upgrades. Entrance multicontour seats (therapeutic massage and cooling) and a winter package deal (heated windshield and heated washer system) are additionally on deck. The Pinnacle model itself provides Burmester {surround} sound, a panoramic roof, and a surround-view digicam system and provides $2,550 to the value of the EQB 300. 

Typically a change in function, fairly than an entire reinvention, ends in a greater product. I’ll have mentioned flippantly at one time that the GLB was born to be this way—electrical, that’s—however when it’s this good, the kammbacks can wait.

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Mercedes-Benz supplied transportation and lodging in order that we may deliver you this check drive evaluate.