Mercedes-Benz EQA
HELLO
£44,450 OTR/£54,085 as tested/£894pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
In the face of bespoke electric cars, can an electric GLA stand up?
DRIVER
Tom Ford
FULL DISCLOSURE, I’M A BIT OF AN ELECTROHEAD. I LIKE ELECTRIC cars and have particularly strong views on their deployment mainly involving going electric for all boring commuting or job ish journeys and keeping petrol for V s with too many turbos for high days and holidays That’s the context to my argument that I’m not therefore overly fond of car manufacturers stuffing electric motors into current models blanking off the grilles and calling them done Thing is the Mercedes EQA is quite obviously a GLA with added EV And I’m running it Awkward
Full specs can be seen on the right but we’ve got the one with everything on it including the Driving Assistance Package and Denim Blue paint a option making this a EQA Now that’s very strong money for an EQA even though it’s loaded to the gills when there are a lot of very electrified options at that kind of money You’re talking Tesla Polestar BMW i any number of electric SUVs
Now it has to be said that the EQA also isn’t the slinkiest of electric cars Yes it’s got the futuristic blank front end but you’re never really convinced that this was supposed to be electric from the outset Space inside is good but not exceptional there’s no frunk and I can’t help thinking that it sits a little awkwardly and that the rear wheel is in the wrong place in the rear wheelarch And yet I’ve done miles already and shock horror I quite like it The charging speed might have a modest peak but it hits kW for ages making stops shorter It’s comfortable quiet a decent size for most of my needs and has plenty of toys The only real bugbear is the efficiency I’ve been getting a mpkWh average which isn’t great and a real world range in summer of miles Hmm Let’s see if it stands up in the next couple of months or the honeymoon period goes sour