Mercedes EQB Electric Family Gets Makeover: How Does it Drive with Front Wheel Drive?

In Stuttgart, they have been sparring with renovation recently, they recently renewed their entire offer in the compact class. So he did not avoid the Mercedes EQB, which is one of the most practical electric family cars on the market.

In the Mercedes hierarchy, the EQB has a rather unique position. Formally, it is a higher class than the EQA, but in reality, the “A” has been paying for a car that pays more attention to standards Mercedes capability. While the EQB played the role of a sensible worker, which includes seats dug up from children.

This has changed a bit now, at least in terms of external influences. On the front face, but also in the door panels or on the instrument panel, we find hundreds of small three-pointed stars everywhere in the style of the new Mercedes electric design language, which was shown the the beginning of the concept of CLA. And if nothing else, the whole thing looks unusual.

Newly, there is also more sophisticated ambient lighting and also a more refined play with colors on the interior, which are things that the customer expects from a leading brand. The new MBUX multimedia with faster reactions, a sharper image from the cameras and a central ten-inch display will also please you.

But then there are changes that may not be suitable for everyone. For example, some people get used to the new steering wheel with touch pads instead of physical buttons, which inevitably raises doubts about the benefits of such a solution. The touchpad has also disappeared from the main tunnel as one of the options for controlling infotainment. The car owner just pulled him from the offer.

Perhaps it is related to the ever-growing voice assistant, which does not even need an operation with the famous formula “Hey, Mercedes!”. It is always at hand and offers many more topics to interact with thanks to artificial intelligence. He can also constantly improve himself, but at the same time he wants the same thing from the driver.

An impatient urgency can sometimes be read in the tone of her voice when she is asked a question she does not know the answer to. And she’s not shy about getting personal: “We need to work more on our relationship,” she said when asked to dial a phone number stored in a list.

Although the helper’s comments can sometimes be a reminder of a failed marriage, the most recent feeling can be set by looking within. It can accommodate three rows of seats with a total of seven passengers. Despite the fact that it is a car only 4684 millimeters long.

However, the test sample was not equipped with an additional third row, which, however, has the advantage of being able to hitch a trailer behind the car. The EQB 250+ tows 750 kg unhindered and 1400 kg braked, but this only applies to the five-seater version. You can’t order a seven seater tow truck.

The maximum use of the interior space is emphasized by a trunk of a regular shape with a low loading edge and a single plane with a folding backrest. In addition, the rear seats could be a textbook example of extreme variability: The bench is divided into two parts that can be moved separately, but the backrests are three-part, as well as the ability to set. This is so that it is possible to load something longer, such as skis, after folding down the narrow part in the middle.

The all-wheel-drive Mercedes EQB 300 went through a three-month editorial test last year, so we were curious to see how different our impressions of the basic front-wheel drive would be. But, honestly, we didn’t reveal anything important. The front-wheel drive EQB is also fluid, has a good ride and a comfortable chassis, but not fast. Perhaps the difference is only in consumption: and last year we drove for a long time with the 300 version for twenty kWh, the weekly test with the basic 250+ ended with a result of 19 kWh per 100 kilometers.

The plus sign in the name of the car looks unusual, in fact it just means that it has a slightly larger battery compared to the previous version. In particular, it is 4 kWh, which is only slightly shown in the range. In practice, you can drive a car for about 370 kilometers on one charge, about a hundred more in the city. Maybe it will be much better in the summer, after all, the car manufacturer claims up to 645 kilometers.

Charging with a maximum power of 100 kW is not one of the fastest on paper, but according to our experience, the specified power keeps the car up to half of the charging cycle, which is a good result. Cost speed is therefore not a subject for critical discussion with EQB.

This time, however, the price will not matter. From the basic 1.44 million, Mercedes will remove 150,000 crowns in the form of “electricity price” from the interested parties, if they order before the end of June. In addition, they throw in a free six-year service and an annual credit of up to 25,000 crowns.

Another 200,000 is a subsidy that entrepreneurs can apply for. When all the discounts are added, the EQB is even cheaper than the combustion version of the GLB. The price starts at 1.05 million crowns.