It’s an open secret that I see my service center’s courtesy vehicles as my press fleet. Each repair is a chance for me to check off a chore and have a new driving experience. That is why I was very excited to do a transmission fluid change on my AMG GT S (nevermind the cost). What new Mercedes would I get to try? And then sorely disappointed when I drove away in a 2022 GLB 250, an SUV I’ve already sampled and reviewed.
Boo.
But it’s not the fault of the little GLB! At our last acquaintance, I was impressed at how the compact GLB was brimming with verve and practicality. It seemed designed for families from European cities, and so it also worked beautifully in the claustrophobic confines of the Berkeley hills.
Ugh. But what more can I tell you about a car I’ve already thoroughly reviewed? Well, it turns out that this GLB is a seven seater. ($850 buys two stowable seats in the trunk.) Is there any point in owning one of the smallest three-row SUVs on the market? A weekend of family errands should quickly suss that out!
As I raise the rear seats to inspect them more closely, I see that some of the thoughtful touches that I loved in the five-person GLB were actually carefully calculated engineering choices that made the third row possible. The five seater’s lowerable trunk floor was actually taking advantage of the void for the fold-away third row. And the second row’s slide and recline features are there to make the third row accessible and adequately spacious. It’s funny how these five-seater niceties are seven-seater essentials!
Time for clown-car tricks: Can this 6-foot-tall man shimmy into the GLB’s back? Well, I look like the world’s worst contortionist as I slide belly-first across the folded second row and then flop over into a jump seat.
It’s immediately obvious that adults like me are not meant for this space. (I later find a sticker indicating a 66.5-inch height limit.) My head is slammed against the roof, my knees are near my chest, and my toes can barely slide under the seat ahead. There is only misery for me in the third row. (It’s in stark contrast to the comfort of the second row!)
After a short struggle, I extract myself from the third row; it’s a better place for elementary school kids like my daughter. She will be able to limberly climb into her booster and buckle up. My two-year-old still needs help with her belts, so I put her car seat in the second row. (I do not wish to throw out my back!)
My first errand of the weekend is a dash to the grocery store to collect some missing dinner ingredients. It’s a light shop, and a good thing, too, because the trunk is laughably small with the third row up. The seat backs recline all the way to the open door frame, and the remaining packable floor is about 6-inches deep. Several grocery bags or backpacks could stow here, but not much else. (Families of seven will need a gargantuan roof box if they want to carry luggage!)
As I scoot around town, I am reminded of the GLB’s excellent city manners. Its upright windscreen and elevated seating position make for easy spotting of pedestrians and road hazards. The short hood drops out of sight at the front bumper, so there’s no guesswork in tight parking lots. And the drivetrain—a 221hp 2.0L four-cylinder turbo engine married to an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission—eagerly pushes the GLB through traffic. Yes, the tall and narrow GLB is ready for urban duty!
Though, I have a few improvements to suggest. First, the shift logic for the dual-clutch transmission needs polishing as it occasionally lugs the engine and hunts for gears when climbing hills. Second, please soften the suspension to quell the jitters over broken pavement; the GLB rides like it’s on over inflated tires, when in my case, the opposite was true. Other than that, this is a great city car!
Sunday presents a challenge: My family of four has Costco and Whole Foods shopping to complete.
Thankfully, our Costco loot easily fits in the trunk, after I fold the unoccupied third row seat flat. But the six bags from Whole Foods must go on a second row seat, because I’m too lazy to move my daughter’s booster. Regardless, I’m impressed that each of the rear seats is individually foldable, allowing almost any Tetris shape to be packed. Furthermore, simply stowing one third-row seat opens enough trunk space for most day trips.
Come Monday, I run my daughter to school before breaking off for a fun drive. The area around the elementary school is chaotic as parents hunt for street parking and dash their children into classrooms. Thanks to the GLB’s tight dimensions, good turning radius, and crisp reversing camera, I stick my parallel parking on the first attempt and I’m out of the school in a jiffy.
And the fun drive? On the hilltop twisties above Berkeley, the GLB is capable but not compelling. The engine pulls strongly from 2k to 5k rpm, but then gasps and groans as the 6.2k redline approaches. The chassis is better: The body rolls mildly before taking a set and carving neutrally through the corners. Sadly, although my GLB has 4Matic AWD, there’s little sense of rear drive as I power past the apexes and onto the straights. So while I can hustle through the mountains, the GLB doesn’t encourage and reward me like a Tesla Model Y or BMW X1.
The GLB has multiple drive modes, but peppy Comfort mode seems fit for most circumstances. Sport mode—which curiously warns against use with roof loads—is more aggressive with the gears and revs, to the point that I would use it in town. Even in the mountains, Sport mode isn’t compelling because the GLB is a begrudging dance partner.
The last driving mode I sample is Off Road. It has hill-descent control that can hold the GLB to 4 mph without me using the brakes. This could be useful when navigating snowy or muddy inclines.
At last, I get the call that my AMG GT S is ready. The GLB’s final test is a 10 mile highway cruise to the dealership.
Obviously, this is no sweat for any new car, but the GLB marks short of perfection. At 75 mph, the engine noise fades away and the hefty triple-sealed doors dampen the outside sounds, but the wind rustling around the mirrors and the tires’s whir intrude into the cabin. And the suspension—which was a bit stiff at slow speeds—feels slightly underdamped over handling high-speed rises.
(The big-brother GLC is much quieter and more comfortable, at the cost of seating capacity and trunk space.)
In my final miles with the SUV, I consider how much of an outlier the GLB is in Mercedes’ American lineup. While other Benzes are luxury first, the GLB prioritizes practicality, with all of the features a young family like mine wants. But the perfect gloss and polish most buyers expect from Mercedes is missing, as hard plastics and exposed hardware are easy to find. (The ISOFIX anchors and seat-folding pull straps are always an eyesore, and scratchy plastics start at the glovebox and continue to the floor.) Even the trimmed back interior design, with its minimized dashboard and center console, run counter to the broad center console of the larger Mercedes. Yes, the GLB feels like a Euro city Benz that somehow escaped to our shores.
Regardless, as a father living in a century-old American city, the GLB is highly appealing to me. It’s a little do-it-all that fits on the tight roads of my neighborhood. I’d even pay for the third-row, too. I have no plans to make a family of seven, but participating in carpools or doing day trips with relatives is in my repertoire. It’s worth the $850, even though it sacrifices a few cubic feet of storage.
Mike's Steering Column 