Published:
27 May 2022The Mercedes EQB offering in the UK includes seven seats, across the usual three rows, as standard in all trim levels. Delve into the detail of the product description, however, and you will find an admission that, just as in most smaller MPVs and SUVs, the rearmost chairs are for smaller passengers only.
Mercedes itself puts the height limit for row three at 1.65m (just under 5ft 6in), which seems an accurate appraisal of the available space. Third-row head room, as we measured it, is a broadly class-competitive 840mm (Mercedes GLB 840mm, Skoda Kodiaq 820mm, Volkswagen Touran 880mm).
Access to the third row is reasonable enough for children and younger teenagers, with second-row seats that tilt forwards to admit passengers behind them, and can also slide by up to 140mm so that a little leg room from the middle row can be traded rearwards. Isofix child seat anchorages appear on four out of the five rearmost seats, something that is quite rare even among larger seven-seaters. Meanwhile, in two-seat mode, the car’s five back chairs fold flat, granting an easy loading surface that extends to 1.8m in length up to the front seatbacks (Kodiaq 1.9m).
The view from the driver’s seat is reassuringly good, with a high-rising glasshouse providing good visibility in all directions. Mercedes’ standard-fit seats offer supportive cushions with extendable sections for the longer of leg, and the EQB’s manually adjustable steering column is easy to position to your liking.
