I drove a $51,000 Mercedes GLB250 to find out if this compact SUV is a worthy addition to the carmaker's lineup — here's the verdict
Business Insider
Matthew DeBord/Insider
I drove a $51,405 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLB250 4Matic SUV, a compact-crossover offering for the German brand.
Initially, I didn't like the vehicle all that much.
But when I had to execute an aggressive driving maneuver, the GLB showed why it's a Mercedes-Benz.
In the past three years or so, I haven't found anything to dislike about the numerous Mercedes-Benz vehicles I've tested. The new 2020 GLB compact crossover SUV, however, initially challenged my enthusiasm.
The challenge didn't last long — I ended up liking the ute, in GLB250 trim with Mercedes 4Matic all-wheel-drive system, quite a lot.
My test vehicle started at $38,600, but more than $10,000 in options raised the sticker to $51,405. Some of the extras were appealing, some you could take a pass on. It would not be impossible to get a well-equipped GLB250 for something in the mid-$40,000s.
Read on to find why I altered my initial impressions of this modest-of-scale but mighty-of-temperament Merc:
Behold! The 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLB250, in a "Polar White" paint job.
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The styling didn't excite me. I want my Mercs to look like Mercs. The GLB reminded me of a Volkswagen Tiguan. The 19-inch wheels, a $700 extra, struck me as being a little undersized.
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Of all the Mercedes I've driven lately, the GLB has the least Benz-y presence. For some buyers, that could be a plus.
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Unsurprisingly, the GLB250's front end is its best angle. The Mercedes tri-star badge fits nicely into the perforated horizontal grille bars. The LED headlights are spectacularly effective at night.
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The rear is, I'm sorry to say, completely boring.
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And by completely boring, I mean REALLY REALLY COMPLETELY BORING.
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The GLB has a respectable 20 cubic feet of cargo space under the unexciting hatch, however.
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The GLB is a "B" class SUV, sitting between the GLA and GLC in the Mercedes lineup.
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"4Matic" is Benz-speak for all-wheel-drive. I drove on one rather wet day, the system performed quite capably.
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The interior was "Black MB-Tex," and it was an odd mashup of minimalism and the sort of premium appointments I've come to expect from Mercedes. The front seats were heated.
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The rear seats were roomier than I expected.
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No problems with my not-tall frame.
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And space to stretch out.
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The dual-pane, panoramic sunroof is a $1,500 option.
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It's pretty awesome!
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I had some hangups with the interior, which in total failed to deliver the high-luxe vibe I'm used to from Mercedes.
Matthew DeBord/Insider
Under the hood we had a 221-horsepower, 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine, offering 250 pound-feet of torque that was readily accessible with the Merc's eight-speed, dual-clutch automatic transmission.
Matthew DeBord/Insider
Fuel economy is decent at 23 mpg city/31 highway/31 combined. The 0-60 mph time is in the 6 to 7-second ballpark.
The GLB enjoys a 10.25 instrument cluster continuously joined to a 10.25-inch infotainment screen, plus some too-subdued-for-my taste "Black Linden" wood trim.
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The instrument cluster half of the set-up can be customized using the small thumb pads on the heated, multifunction steering wheel.
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Mercedes infotainment system is solid enough. The touchscreen is responsive and renders visuals with crisp resolution ...
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... And it handled everything you'd expect quite capably, from GPS navigation to Bluetooth pairing to USB-port device connectivity. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto ae also available, but my test vehicle lacked wireless charging.
Matthew DeBord/Insider
The system can also be operated using this buttons-and-trackpad configuration. This is also where you can toggle among the GLB's driver modes: Comfort, Sport, Eco, and Individual (the last allows from some blending of modes).
Matthew DeBord/Insider
So what's the verdict?
Matthew DeBord/Insider
I was all set to declare that the GLB was the first Mercedes in a while that didn't do it for me. And then I had to execute a sharp maneuver on the highway — sharper than usual — and in seconds, the GLB quit being a sort of boring crossover and became a proper Mercedes-Benz.
Composed. Sure-footed. Confidence-inspiring. After I zigged and zagged, I wanted to pat the GLB on the dashboard, praise its capabilities, and apologize for underestimating the vehicle.
That doesn't mean I still didn't have a few issues with the GLB. The interior, while nice, wasn't as premium as I would have liked. It straddled that line between exceptional mid-market and not-quite luxe, although it was cool to watch the ambient lighting run through its change protocol when the sun went down.
The exterior styling also left me with the blahs — the SUV might have looked better in a color other than Polar White — and aspects of the climate-control and infotainment system were challenging to figure out.
The Driver Assist Package, at $2,250 as an extra, made up for my qualms. The system is as effective as any advanced-cruise-control-plus-steering-assist I've tested in the past few years.
In the end, the GLB250 was at its best when it was being driven rather hard, which surprised me. When I was simply tooling around in it on suburban-family duty, I thought it was not that much more impressive than any of a number of less expensive compact crossovers.
The thing is that the GLB is still a Mercedes. It doesn't embrace that identity as much as it could, but it does when it matters.
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