Mercedes-Benz GLB review

The range opens at Sport, at a pretty reasonable £46,100. It has all the essentials really. Part-cloth seats are no hardship; there's a glass roof and roof rails, and Apple CarPlay, but use the integrated navigation for long trips because it has a better charge planner.

A £2k premium above that steps you up to Sport Executive, adding hands-free access, a phone charge pad, ambient lighting and fake leather seats.

Then £3k more, £50,985, gets the first of the AMG line versions. That's also the first that allows the 350 4Matic powertrain, which is about a £4,100 add-on. That trim line is mostly that: trim, and you can opt for some upholstery colour schemes that vary from tasteful to 1990s Frankfurt Nite Klub.

Then come AMG Line Premium and AMG Line Premium Plus. These have 20-inch wheels and adaptive dampers, the passenger screen, two-zone climate, memory seats and the passenger screen. The latter adds a fabulous Burmester hi-fi and HUD, among others.

So you end up at £60,835 for the GLB 350 4Matic AMG Line Premium Plus.

At publication time lease prices haven't been settled, but because Mercedes has access to cheap corporate finance and residuals are strong, it can usually offer cheap-ish lease and PCP deals relative to the retail price.

Now, digital extras. As we mentioned earlier, lots of sensors are fitted as standard but disabled. Pay more and you can have them, permanently for a flat fee or temporarily for a subscription.

One more thing about charging. The disadvantage of Mercedes 800V system is it can't take power at all from chargers that run at 400 volts, which is anything under about 130kW. That is, unless you spec the GLB with an optional converter for £800. Although why you'd spend that money for the privilege of 90-minute DC charging when there are now plenty of more powerful chargers is a mystery to us. Your reviewer, who drives mostly electric in the UK, hasn't used a 400V charger for literally years.