MERC’S GLB TICKS BOX FOR HEADROOM

At almost every car launch, car companies drag out the new motor’s designer to explain why he put this curve there, that crease here and generally tell us why the car looks the way it does.

Usually we’ve made up our minds about the car’s styling anyway, for good or bad.

Sometimes the presentation can go on for half an hour and it can be difficult to keep awake during a 10-minute lecture on the shape of the wheel arch.

The designer who gave us a talk on this new Mercedes-benz GLB had his work cut out to keep my attention. The explanation went on for some time but I’d already worked out the new Mercedes SUV’S styling features for myself: it is essentially a rectangle with rounded off corners. A bit like Postman Pat’s van but a lot posher.

Mercedes showed a concept version of the GLB at the Shanghai motor show earlier this year. That car featured a selection of Tonkalike body kit parts and details that made the car look a lot more purposeful than it does now in production form. The GLB isn’t an ugly car, just extremely bland.

Mercedes will point out that one of the chief selling points of the GLB is that it comes standard with seven seats. In fact there is

Mercedes-benz GLB 220d 4Matic five door SUV

Price: £42,950

Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel, 190bhp

0-62mph: 7.6sec

Fuel: 44-48.7mpg. Co2: 135g/km

only one model that comes with only with five seats fitted and that’s the GLB 220d 4Matic AMG Line Premium, which is one of the more expensive variants.

Mercedes will have done its research into this, but I’m not so sure seven seats are that useful – and especially in this car. Put the third row of seats up and you lose most of the useful luggage space, and you will only be able to fit quite small children onto the seats themselves.

I’ll wager that most GLB owners will rarely use the full seven seats.

Vauxhall has launched a front-wheel drive version of its Grandland X plug-in hybrid – available to order now and costing from £32,390. It has a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine that produces 180bhp, plus a 110bhp electric motor powered by a 13.2kwh lithium-ion battery giving a range of up to 34 miles. Fuel consumption is up to 192mpg with emissions of 35g/km. Three driving modes are available. These include ‘Electric’ which locks you into Ev-only driving for cities. Hybrid mode allows the car to choose the best mix of petrol and EV power, and Sport gives battery flattening performance.