Mercedes-Benz EQB review

It helps to not have any expectations, put it that way. As a stocky, two-tonne box with torque to rival an old pre-turbo Ferrari, it never feels anything less than its weight – or height – though its traction and grip are hard to fault.

The base FWD 250+ packs 188bhp and 284lb ft for 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds, but it feels faster than that. The AWD 300 is good for 225bhp and a fraction more torque for the same sprint in eight seconds flat. The 350 is also AWD and tops out the line-up at 288bhp and 384lb ft: 0-62mph in 6.2s is plenty fast enough.

If anything, the uncanny silent speed is a little unnerving in the EQB. Put your foot down in any of those and it won’t be long before you’ll be backing off again, so strong are the runaway train vibes when all that mass really starts shifting. It also lacks overall composure, never settling below dual carriageway speeds.

But then this is a seven-seat SUV, so such matters are arguably pretty trifling anyway. What matters most is that it makes everything easy. It operates like any other automatic car save for its brake regen. But that too has an ‘auto’ mode.

How does it all work?

Pull the left (traditionally the downshift) paddle and you end up with a very aggressive loss of speed as your foot eases off the throttle. But it won’t fully halt itself at junctions, so you’ll never treat the EQB as a one-pedal car.

Pull the rightmost paddle and you get next to no regen at all, which allows a fully natural driving experience, but will cost you a few miles of range. Let the car do its thing in auto and you’ll have gentler regen on flowing country roads and a more assertive approach in traffic and urban areas. Word of warning though: the regen automatically kicks in if the speed limits change or if the car ahead slows down, but does so inconsistently. You’ll either turn it off, or learn to put up with it.

Fully laden you’ll probably stick with Comfort or even the speed-limited Eco setting. Sport mode firms up the steering, stiffens the suspension and quickens acceleration, and we found it gave the car some of the composure it was lacking in the other two modes.

So it’s comfortable?

You know what, it is. Misgivings about the dynamics aside, the ride is good if you spec the 18- or 19-inch wheels with tall eco tyres, but it thumps around more than is probably ideal on the big bronze 20in wheels. Honestly, it’s no worse than rivals in a similar spec. And we highly doubt anyone is buying the EQB for its off-road ability.

Does the range hold up?

No less so than in any other electric car. The 250+ promises 321 miles from a full charge but of course that’s a lofty lab claim: count on closer to 220 miles on a mild day (roughly 3.1mi/kWh - not great, not awful), and more in the summer. Whereas the all-wheel drive versions will do well to return 200 miles real world, whatever the weather.