luxury SUVs are a bit of a rage. If you are in the market to buy yourself a premium luxury SUV I am pretty sure names like the GL followed by a C, the third of the X, the 5th of the Q or even the 60th power of XC must have come across your table. But say you are not a guy or a gal who goes mainstream. You’re the kind of person who skips the blockbuster movie for an indie gem or picks the boutique café over the big coffee chain—because you like things with a little more personality and a story to tell. And so we have two cars here. Both aren’t mainstream. Both have different personalities. But here we have convened the two to offer you a niche choice if you are looking to buy a luxury SUV with a budget of around Rs 70 lakh.
First and foremost, it is clearly Mercedes. It may not be a ground-up EV which means it doesn’t bring all the perks of an EV based on a skater. But like the GLB on which it is based, this too was available with a three-row seven-seater option. However, a more recent entry-level model with a longer range and a single motor setup has been added as part of the model year update. The bigger variant, on the other hand, not only receives the sportier AMG treatment, but it now loses its third row and comes as a five-seater offering only. This EQB 350, which can be seen in the photos, has about 288 bhp and 520 nm of torque, and it has a claimed range of 440 km at WLTP, which indicates that it is quite doable in actual conditions. For a mature adult, the third row isn’t very big. But when it came out the EQB was the only three-row EV on sale. The BYD eMax 7, a more affordable MPV, and the more expensive EQS, which is an electric vehicle with three rows of seating, are now available. Now with the update, the EQB is also available with a five-seater option in the more expensive trim. This means the not-so-practical cabin can be traded off for a large boot space – which will surely be useable, especially for family outings.
The EQB might be failing to pull the heartstrings of the buyers. But it can be your one-car garage. It’s built well and drives well. It’s decently practical with all the required features and has a practical range as well. It’s a good buy for all the urban commutes of a modern urban family.
Since it’s not a born EV, the benefits that are associated with an EV are missed. As a result, there is insufficient space inside the cabin. Secondly, this cabin layout is a generation old. All current-gen Mercedes models have received one of the two new cabin layouts – one seen in the C-Class, the other one in the E-Class. This one is not only old, but the deletion of the good old trackpad is an unnecessary miss. The infotainment is small too for a modern-day luxury car, doesn’t seem like it belongs to the same family that offers the “hyperscreen”.
