Mercedes-Benz GLB 250 4MATIC Facelift Review: The Hot Hatch For The Family Man

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The GLB 250 is really in a class of one right now for being a hot hatch that could haul arse while also hauling 7 people.

Despite having the letter B right there in Benz, Mercedes-Benz however seemingly doesn’t have much luck with any of its B-badged models. Its B-Class compact MPV has, after all, always been the awkward sibling next to the infinitely more appealing A- and C-Class, with its GLB also not exactly the Benz that many are clamouring to have on their driveways too…

Having recently lived with the newly-facelifted GLB for a few days however, this writer has come to the surprising conclusion that the GLB is actually a rather brilliant Benz! In fact, with this GLB250 trim tested here in particular, Automacha could actually now tell affluent boy (and girl) racers with their AMG A45s that it’s totally fine even if a little baby racer is suddenly on the way, as this 7-seat compact SUV could (surprisingly) be considered a hot hatch for the family man (or woman).

And diving right into that rather bold claim of it being a family-friendly hot hatch here, such a statement could be made because — in spite of it not being the AMG-fied GLB35 — the GLB250’s 2.0-litre turbo-four nevertheless has more than enough power to satisfy the lust for speed of any petrolhead.

Thanks largely to its 48V mild-hybrid system (new to this facelift), this 7-seat compact crossover takes off down the road with surprising gusto, resulting in this writer truly believing that the GLB250 might actually be a tad faster than its 7.0-second 0-100 km/h claim. What’s more is that for those who are keen to go a bit faster, let’s just say that the 224 horses churned out by its turbo-four is more than capable of taking the reins to effortlessly pull this bread van till its speedo reads deep into the 3 digits, with Mercedes-Benz themselves claiming for it to be able of achieving an almost ludicrous V-max of 236 km/h!

Side note: Just as an aside while discussing its engine here too, the turbo-four in this GLB250 is a surprisingly rumbly thing, even on the quiet exhaust setting. One’s neighbours will definitely hear it starting up in the morning, but this might be a worthwhile trade-off, to a petrolhead especially, as this 7-seat compact SUV has a beautifully butch baritone burble when it is given some stick.

Also, the GLB250 here does not just pull like a hot hatch, but actually drives like one as well. Its steering is decently weighty while in Sport mode, but even in the Comfort setting it felt passably confidence-inspiring to give it some through the bends.

This ability to give the GLB some hoof is of course further helped along by its standard 4MATIC all-wheel drive system keeping it stuck to the tarmac like glue, not to mention too its high up (and upright) driving position that affords its driver fantastic sight lines for miles ahead. Its steering is also direct enough that this 7-seat SUV somehow feels as darty and as punchy as a hot hatch when behind the wheel, while its thick-rimmed steering wheel itself is a joy to grip as well.

A few other notes worth sharing on how this GLB250 drives is for its 8-speed wet-DCT to be a rather slick-shifting unit. Its standard brakes are also more than enough to steadily and speedily bring this near 1.8-tonne compact SUV to a halt, which in turn further boosts any driver’s confidence to open the taps on its turbo-four that little bit more.

The eagerness of its 48V mild-hybrid system to cut the engine and coast whenever and wherever possible meanwhile helped to yield a fuel consumption average of 11.4 l/100 km (8.8 km/l) during this writer’s time with it, which is really not bad considering that its available power was really too seductive to not consistently tap into it. Also, while loud upon startup and when properly poked, the engine noise ain’t all that apparent when the GLB250 is on the cruise… but what is unfortunately heard instead though is the consistent drone from the stock tyres.

Thankfully, its stock sound system is more than decent to drown out the worst of the road roar. Even if it ain’t the Burmester units found on the higher-end Benzes, this unbranded setup still nevertheless packs a heavy bass and reasonable levels of top-end fidelity.

And while on the topic of NVH, the GLB250 handily still retains the expected Mercedes quality of a refined ride too. This Germanic SUV does have the typical(ly Germanic) stiff suspension setup, but it still manages to smother bumps like a Benz should and provides adequate insulation to one’s arse while traversing through the worst bits of tarmac around KL.

Now having prattled on at some length about how nice this Benz is like behind the wheel, let’s transition to a few more family-centric practical points and discuss genuine people-moving practicality with the GLB. And the main thing to note here to that end is that its third row seats are actually capable of seating humans with fully-grown legs, but don’t expect anyone close to six feet to be comfortable all the way back there for long…

As its comparatively compact exterior dimensions should already suggest, the GLB is not the biggest three-row SUV around. Thanks to a movable middle row of seats though, it does allow for all five potential rear occupants to potentially have the same marginal (but still somewhat manageable) amount of room for their legs.

Its narrow body does also unfortunately see that shoulder room is at a bit of a premium for when there are three abreast in the middle row too. But if there’s only two to seat in the rear and with the middle row pushed all the way back, the GLB does make for quite a capacious four-seater family vehicle.

Moving swiftly on to how the rest of the cabin looks and feels on the other hand, there is unfortunately a bit of a mixed bag to unpack…

Starting with the positive first, the GLB does feel like a solid and sturdy vehicle (as a Mercedes-Benz should), with doors shutting with a proper dull thud and all the switchgear feeling like they’re well screwed together. A cursory look and touch within also sees that the cabin feels plush enough too, with a nice mixture of suede and “leather” lining most of the oft-interacted interior elements.

Things however do start to go downhill when looking further down in the GLB’s cabin, as the trim pieces that line its lower half are predominantly made from a hard and scratchy plastic that feels more at home in a cheapo Mitsubishi than a premium Mercedes.

What’s more is that aside from cheapening out on interior plastics, Mercedes-Benz has skimped on a few features that a premium vehicle ought to have as well. And just forget for a moment about the more extravagant luxuries like a panoramic sunroof or ventilated seats (which incidentally nearly all Chinese cars throw in as standard these days by the way) that is not available in the GLB, because it beggars belief that this family SUV still doesn’t come with a 360° camera as standard. Or even worse, locking adaptive cruise control behind a subscription!

While on a roll ranting about its tech too here, the Mercedes-Benz haptic feedback buttons on its steering wheel still makes for volume control to be unnecessarily vague, with the change track button only also made available when on the media sub-menu of the driver’s display. Its dual screen displays, while long, are nevertheless quite slim also, which somehow makes everything on them feel somewhat smaller than on any other car.

Though in spite of its comparatively small size, the MBUX infotainment system is decently responsive and intuitive enough to operate, with it coming with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay too. It is perhaps worth praising Mercedes-Benz for also at least still retaining physical toggle switches and knobs on the GLB’s centre console for controlling the climate and audio volume.

The GLB does in any case have a few neat features of its own as well, like extendable thigh support on its decently comfy (if Germanically firm) seats and keyless lock/unlock on all its doors. While not coming with a 360° camera too, it strangely instead has an auto park feature.

Finally finishing this review on the rather subjective point of how this GLB looks, this writer at least still thinks this particular Benz is not exactly the German automaker’s finest work. While the slightly redesigned front is an improvement over its pre-facelift iteration, and the AMG Line Exterior add-ons add some sportiness to the proceedings, there is no denying though that this compact SUV still has an air of bread van to the way it looks.

In summarising the GLB250 and getting back to the original point made about how this is a rather brilliant Benz however, the fact that this somewhat small SUV could both haul 7 within while putting a real smile on a driving enthusiast’s face should already more than merit that praise. Just know though that it is only this 250 variant of GLB in particular that truly warrants this commendation, as the more sensible GLB200 won’t be setting anyone’s pants on fire (though it may be the more reasonable one to run in the long term), and hotter AMG-fied 35-badged GLB only seats 5…

Odds & Ends

The ambient light ring around the GLB’s air con vent goes red or blue when changing temperature, and the colour change is split halfway down the car because of its dual zone climate control.

The GLB continues to have the usual Mercedes problem of its air-con recirculation cutting out consistently after a short while.
The rear window of the GLB has some rather visible heating lines.

This might just be a quirk of this particular GLB, but its windows seem to wind down and up slower than expected.
The off-road displays are a neat touch in the GLB, though it is not like any owner will be taking this road-biased SUV anywhere near the real outdoors anyway.

The GLB250 has a feature in its central infotainment display that shows in real time the torque and power output as lines that dip and peak upon throttle application.

The GLB has a handy little feature where the lady living in the infotainment reminds you if you exited the car but left your phone in the wireless charging pad.
The GLB250 comes fully imported from Mexico.