Mercedes-Benz GLB 220d 2020 UK first drive

With the launch of its new GLB compact SUV, Mercedes-Benz has trained its guns directly on Land Rover and its formidable Discovery Sport. For a long while now, the baby Disco’s seven-seat layout and unrivalled off-road ability has allowed Land Rover to enjoy a monopoly of sorts in the premium family SUV market. The GLB, it seems, is here to make the SUV from Gaydon sweat a little.

Beneath the GLB’s boxy, baby GLS exterior lies Mercedes’ MFA2 platform - essentially the same architecture that underpins the A-Class hatch and, unsurprisingly, the B-Class compact MPV. Here, however, it’s been stretched out to accommodate the GLB’s third row of seating, so that it’s now a little over 4.6m in length. That makes it longer than a Discovery Sport, don’t you know. 

There’s a range of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines to choose from presently; although  a plug-in hybrid, a couple of hotter AMG models, and a fully electric version are all in the pipeline. Here, we’re sampling the range-topping GLB 220d diesel variant, which packs 189bhp and 295lb ft of torque - all of which is deployed to the road via an eight-speed auto ‘box and Mercedes’ 4Matic front-biased four-wheel-drive system. Suspension is by way of MacPherson struts and multiple links, with adaptive dampers available but not optioned on our £43,280 AMG Line Premium test car.

Let’s start with the engine, which is pretty good really. It easily out-punches the D180 unit that you’d get in the equivalent Discovery Sport, though that probably has more to do with the fact that the GLB undercuts the heavyweight Land Rover by the best part of 220kg. I’d say it’s slightly more refined under load too, if not quite as refined as the diesel four-pots you’d find in an Audi Q3 or BMW X1. The eight-speed automatic transmission also feels more decisive than the nine-speed ‘box available in the Land Rover - provided you leave it to its own devices.

It handles well for what is quite a tall, slab-sided box on wheels, and while there is a degree of lean through faster corners, you wouldn’t expect otherwise would you? Either way, it’s no deal breaker. Grip is good, and you don’t find yourself second-guessing your steering inputs either. 

That said, the Discovery Sport is the sweeter steering device of the two. Where the comparatively light-weight feel of the GLB’s gearing seems to be trying to mask its inflated weight and size, there’s an honesty about the Land Rover’s more relaxed, purposeful steering that really appeals. It makes no apologies for what it is, but steers accurately and with plenty of conviction nonetheless.