The Mercedes-Benz EQB350 is an electric SUV without the shouty style. But, is that ‘conventional’ approach backed up by a good EV experience?
2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350
The Mercedes-Benz onslaught of electric vehicles continues unabated. Since 2019, the German manufacturer has launched six new electric models in Australia, the latest the E-Class sedan-sized EQE.
But, late last year, the fifth member of the EQ family landed locally, and it’s arguably the one with the most appeal for most buyers.
The 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB is based on its petrol-driven GLB sibling, sharing Mercedes’s seemingly ubiquitous MFA (Modular Front Architecture) platform that underpins much of the German brand’s small car line-up. It’s been modified, of course, to accommodate batteries and the EQB’s dual-electric motor architecture. But, to casual observers, the EQB looks pretty much like its petrol-driven sibling.
The visual cues to the EQB’s electrified powertrain amount to the now obligatory blanked-out grille, a redefined rear bumper that does away with slots for the exhaust tips, and a full-width tail-light assembly that runs the width of the tailgate.
Australia receives just two variants of the Mercedes-Benz EQB: the front-wheel drive, single-motor EQB250, and the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive EQB350.
A 66.5kWh battery is standard across the range, capable of AC home charging at up to 11kW, or up to 100kW while DC fast charging at a public station.
The single-motor, front-wheel-drive EQB250 is good for 140kW and 385Nm, with a claimed driving range of up to 371km on Europe’s WLTP test cycle. It’s available as either a five-seater, or for an extra $2900, a third row can be fitted increasing seating capacity to seven.
Stepping up to the all-wheel-drive 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 4Matic brings a boost in outputs, a combined 215kW and 520Nm, and a reasonably spritely 0–100km/h time of 6.2 seconds, according to Mercedes-Benz. It also brings slightly reduced driving range, quoted at 360km on the WLTP testing regime. It’s the car we have on test here.
How much does the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 cost in Australia?
The Mercedes-Benz EQB350 stops the ticker at $106,700 before on-road costs. While that six-figure price tag is a lot of money, the EQB350 certainly stacks up when compared to most of its natural rivals.
The similarly sized BMW iX3 starts at $114,900 plus on-road costs, while the Genesis GV60 gets underway at $103,700 before on-road costs, while the larger Genesis Electrified GV70 ask for $127,800 before on-roads.
More affordable competitors include the smaller Volvo XC40 Recharge (from $72,990), Tesla Model Y (from $72,300) and Hyundai Ioniq 5 (from $69,900). All prices are before on-road costs are added.
And if you like the badge cachet the three-pointed star brings but can’t stump up the $100K-plus asking price, the Mercedes-Benz EQB250 lists at $87,800 plus on-road costs.
As befitting a Mercedes of any persuasion, the standard equipment list of the EQB350 is long and luxurious.
Highlights include 20-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, rain-sensing wipers, hands-free electric tailgate, power adjustable front seats, a 10.25-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless smartphone charging, dual-zone climate control, DAB+ digital radio, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, panoramic glass roof, microfibre seat inserts with contrast red stitching, AMG exterior styling elements, a flat-bottomed steering wheel wrapped in nappa leather, as well as some funky illuminated door sills.
There’s also a comprehensive suite of safety technologies that we’ll cover in more detail later.
Of course, it’s almost obligatory for a high-end European car to be fitted with some optional extras. Our Mercedes-Benz EQB350 is no different.
Aside from the $1490 Iridium Silver metallic paint, the options fitted to this EQB350 are all found inside.
The seats are finished in AMG leather, black of course, priced at $1700. Open-pore linden wood trim, also black, adds $300, while a premium Burmester sound system adds $1400.
And adding ‘Climate’ seats that brings heating and cooling will see $1200 on the bottom line.
All up, our test car with options ran to $114,090 before on-road costs.
| Key details | 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 4Matic |
| Price | $106,700 plus on-road costs |
| Colour of test car | Iridium Silver |
| Options | Metallic paint – $1490 AMG leather in black – $1700 Vehicle Protection Plus – $1300 Open-pore linden wood trim – $300 Burmester audio system – $1400 Climatised front seats – $1200 |
| Price as tested | $114,090 plus on-road costs |
| Rivals | BMW iX3 | Genesis GV60 | Tesla Model Y |
How much space does the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 have inside?
The cabin of the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 is a pretty familiar place for anyone who’s spent time in Mercs recently. The landscape is dominated by the twin 10.25-inch screens – one for infotainment and one for the digital instrument cluster – that are integrated into a single wide screen taking up half of the available dash real estate. It certainly has ‘wow’ factor.
Other familiar touches include Mercedes’s signature ‘turbine’ air vents, and a chunky flat-bottomed, multi-function steering wheel, in this case resplendent in nappa leather.
The seats are comfortable and electrically adjustable, providing decent support in all key areas.
Storage up front amounts to a central storage bin, a pair of cupholders, and another cubby with a sliding lid in the centre console. The generous door pockets can accommodate bottles.
It certainly feels luxurious inside the cabin, with ambient lighting, that open-pore woodgrain trim, and matched by premium materials and a general feeling of solidity throughout. The panoramic glass roof adds a light and airy feel to the ambience.
The second row is generously proportioned with plenty of space in all key areas. The seatbacks recline a smidge for added relaxed comfort, although it’s worth pointing out that the middle position feels a bit firm in the back thanks to the presence of a fold-down armrest.
There are map pockets in the front seatbacks, while that armrest reveals two cupholders. Like the front, the rear-seat door pockets can swallow bottles.
Second-row passengers are treated to separate air vents, although miss out on climate controls. And like it does in the front, the panoramic roof ensures a breezy ambience in the second row.
Those second-row seats can be folded away – near flat – in 40:20:40 fashion to liberate 1710L of cargo-carrying capacity. With the second row in use by people, there’s still a decent 495L at play. Those hoping for some kind of spare tyre and wheel, even a temporary space-saver, will be disappointed, as the EQB350 is equipped only with a tyre inflation kit.
| 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 4Matic | |
| Seats | Five |
| Boot volume | 495L seats up 1710L seats folded |
| Length | 4684mm |
| Width | 1834mm |
| Height | 1667mm |
| Wheelbase | 2829mm |
Does the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 have Apple CarPlay?
Central to the Mercedes-Benz EQB infotainment experience are the cojoined 10.25-inch twin screens that flow across the dash in widescreen fashion. It certainly looks sleek, beckoning with its shiny interface that looks to attract fingerprints faster than a child’s iPad.
But, Mercedes has done a decent job of offering several ways to interact with the screen. Yes, you can put your grubby fingers on the screen, but perhaps the most intuitive way, certainly from the driver’s seat, is via the touchpads located on each side of the steering wheel – left for infotainment, right for driver display. It’s a little fiddly to use at first, but you soon become accustomed to its delicate and sensitive inputs, getting quickly up to speed and changing items on the fly.
A centrally located touchpad with shortcut buttons in the centre console adds another dimensions, while using ‘Hey Mercedes’ voice commands is an exercise in frustration, the system glitchy and unresponsive at times while overly eager to intervene at others.
Speak to your partner about the Mercedes you both own (W210 E320 for those who are interested) and Merc’s answer to Siri leaps to life offering her assistance. And yet when you ask her directly for some help? Crickets. Needs some work.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, although you’ll need cables to access. There’s no wireless smartphone mirroring, only wireless charging. A pair of USB-C points are your friend here.
CarPlay is quick to pair and, as you’d expect, easy to use. The same can’t be said for Merc’s MBUX operating system, which offers a sometimes bewildering array of menus and sub-menus that house everything from digital radio and satellite navigation, to ambient lighting, vehicle data, charging options and a host of personalisation. If you buy an EQB, allow plenty of time to familiarise yourself with the system.
The digital driver display can be designed to suit your needs and tastes and offers a wealth of information and driving data. It’s a decent execution of the technology.
Climate controls, mercifully, are not buried inside a screen requiring multiple inputs, Mercedes sticking with dials and switches to adjust settings, although those looking for the toggles to activate seat heating or cooling might struggle initially to find them.
In most vehicles, those functions are usually located somewhere near the climate controls. Makes sense, right? Not in the EQB where the upper door cards play host. Not really a gripe. Once you know, you know.
Is the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 a safe car?
Australia’s safety body, ANCAP, awarded the petrol-powered Mercedes-Benz GLB – this sister car to the electric EQB – a five-star safety rating back in 2019.
Further testing at the launch of the EQB saw ANCAP carry over that five-star score to the electric EQB. With a catch.
Only the front-wheel-drive EQB250 was awarded the top safety rating, the EQB350 missing out on ANCAP’s assessment, remaining ‘unrated’ by the safety body.
However, Euro NCAP, the sister organisation to ANCAP, awarded the entire EQB range a five-star rating based on its testing of the Mercedes-Benz GLB.
Euro NCAP’s assessment, upon which our local ANCAP assessment is based, saw the EQB range receive a 95 per cent score for adult occupant protection and 91 per cent for child occupant. Vulnerable road user protection was rated at 78 per cent, while safety assist was rated at 76 per cent.
| 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 4Matic | |
| ANCAP rating | Unrated |
What safety technology does the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 have?
The Mercedes-Benz EQB range comes fitted with a suite of safety technologies as standard.
Adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring, speed limit assist and autonomous emergency braking are all included. There’s also rear cross-traffic alert, parking assist, and an excellent 360-degree camera.
The adaptive cruise control works extremely well, as it should, Mercedes having pioneered the technology decades ago. The system maintains the desired speed and set distance from the vehicle in front with accuracy.
An audible noise at speeds below 20km/h alerts pedestrians to the presence of the otherwise near-silent-running EQB. Once over that threshold, though, we did notice the quietude of the electric Merc, particularly in noisy urban enclaves, catch out some inattentive pedestrians. Drive with caution in these surroundings is our tip.
A full complement of nine airbags covers both rows of occupants, while those with little ones will be pleased to note ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard rear seats, along with three top-tether anchor points.
How much does the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 cost to maintain?
Mercedes-Benz covers the EQB350 with its standard five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty.
Service intervals are listed at every 12 months or 25,000km, whichever comes first. Mercedes-Benz offers three-, four- and five-year service plans that ask for $1625, $2225 and $2650 respectively.
Comprehensive insurance for the EQB350 runs to $3380.66 annually based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.
| At a glance | 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 4Matic |
| Warranty | Five years, unlimited km |
| Service intervals | 12 months or 25,000km |
| Servicing costs | $1625 (3 years) $2650 (5 years) |
Is the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 energy-efficient?
The EQB350 is fitted with a 66.5kWh usable battery array that provides, according to Mercedes-Benz, 360km of driving range on the WLTP testing regime.
That’s down on some of its key rivals that offer better range, also as per the WLTP cycle. The BMW iX3 comes in at 460km, the Genesis GV60 at 470km, and the Tesla Model Y brings 514km to the range table.
Mercedes provides two charging cables with the EQB – one for home use on a regular wall socket and Type 2 suitable for either 11kW of AC charging and up to 100kW on a DC fast-charger. Again, that maximum charge rate of 100kW is down on some of its key rivals, with 150kW the norm at this end of the electric vehicle market.
Mercedes-Benz claims the EQB350 will consume around 18.1kWh/100km. We came very close to matching that number, using an indicated 18.8kWh/100km over a week of driving in a variety of conditions. That’s a decent return on energy investment.
Recharging the EQB’s 66.5kWh battery will take, according to Mercedes, around 32 minutes on a DC fast-charger at a maximum rate of 100kW, while an 11kW AC three-phase set-up is good for an overnight top-up, Merc estimating around 6h 25min.
The manufacturer doesn’t supply charging times for a regular household plugs (2.4kW), but other sources estimate around 34 hours for a full charge.
A home-installed wallbox, typically feeding electrons at 7kW, sees that time tumble down to overnight, estimated at around 10h 45min.
Energy Consumption – brought to you by bp
| Energy Efficiency | Energy Stats |
| Energy cons. (claimed) | 18.1kWh/100km |
| Energy cons. (on test) | 18.8kWh/100km |
| Battery size | 66.5kWh |
| Driving range claim (WLTP) | 360km |
| Charge time (11kW) | 6h 25min |
| Charge time (100kW max rate) | 32min (claimed 10–80%) |
What is the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 like to drive?
This is no stupidly fast accelerating electric vehicle. Instead, Mercedes-Benz has taken a more usable approach to the EQB and its performance.
With the twin electric motors firing on all electrons, Mercedes says the EQB350 can complete the sprint from 0–100km/h in 6.2 seconds. Yes, that’s fast, but it’s not the neck-snapping brutality of some electric cars available today. This is no bad thing, the EQB350 feeling very much like a regular SUV, albeit a much quieter one.
Two electric motors, one at each axle, provide the motivation and the assurance and stability of all-wheel drive. Out front, an asynchronous motor lies largely idle, while at the rear axle, a synchronous motor does the bulk of the hard work.
Combined, the two motors are good for 215kW and 520Nm when working together. But the reality is, under regular driving conditions, such as at city speeds around town, it’s only the rear motor providing the momentum, the motor at the front wheels called into action only under harder acceleration or at higher speeds.
Three drive modes alter the characteristics of the EQB350, although not markedly. In Eco and Comfort mode, the EQB goes about the business of driving in a relaxed, quiet and, dare we say it, comfortable manner.
There’s no ridiculous surge of speed under throttle, instead, the EQB drives and feels just like a regular car powered by an internal combustion engine. Dialling up Sport mode does dial in some zip into the throttle, and you can start to feel some of that more urgent acceleration under harder throttle applications. But it remains within the realms of acceptability.
There’s a lot of battery weight that could, in theory, have a detrimental impact on the ride and handling of the EQB. But the German brand’s engineers have a done commendable job of calibrating the standard-fit adaptive dampers to help iron out most of the lumps and bumps that liberally sprinkle our streets. It’s a pleasant surprise.
For those who do want to explore some of the EQB’s dynamic abilities, such as they are, there’s the surety of four-wheel drive when the conditions are right, while the dampers in their firmest setting provide a nicely balanced and planted chassis. Yes, the EQB can start to feel its 2136kg tare mass, but it remains a pleasingly agile and secure experience on the road.
The steering provides some nice feedback from the road, and remains well-weighted when toggling through the drive modes. There’s a hint of torque steer when you mash the accelerator from standstill looking for a lightning fast getaway, but that’s the exception, not the rule.
For some added electrons, the EQB350 is equipped with a potent energy recuperation system that harnesses electrons either from coasting or braking. There are three individual settings, each subtly more aggressive. The highest setting allows for single-pedal driving, if that’s your bent.
It’s effective, too, with one long 100km drive through the suburbs of Sydney returning an indicated 21.1km of range to the battery array. That’s decent by any measure.
| Key details | 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 4Matic |
| Engine | Dual electric motors (asynchronous front, synchronous rear) |
| Power | 215kW |
| Torque | 530Nm |
| Drive type | All-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Single-speed transmission |
| Power to weight ratio | 98.9kW/t |
| Weight (tare) | 2163kg |
| Spare tyre type | Tyre repair kit |
| Tow rating | N/A |
| Turning circle | 11.7m |
Should I buy a Mercedes-Benz EQB350?
If I could use only one word to describe the Mercedes-Benz EQB350, then that word would be ‘conventional’. This is a good thing.
While plenty of headline-grabbing electric vehicles wow early adopters with nascent technology, g-force-inducing acceleration, and futuristic styling, Mercedes-Benz has taken an altogether more conventional approach with the EQB range.
It looks like a regular Mercedes SUV, both inside and out, while its performance doesn’t aim for record-breaking numbers.
Of course, it could have better range, and the 100kW maximum charge rate should arguably be higher.
But overall, the Mercedes-Benz EQB350 offers a familiar experience, plush inside without the EV silliness, a driving experience that’s on a par with the broader Mercedes line-up, and a price that’s just about palatable for buyers who regularly look to Merc for their motoring needs.
The post 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB350 review appeared first on Drive.
