Mercedes-Benz EQA SUV (2023 - ) Electric review

It shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to find a Mercedes costs more than its rivals but the EQA is slap in the middle of a very competitive field of fresher and more capable electric crossovers. So, you really have to ask yourself how much value you place in that three-pointed star. True, equipment levels have improved with this update and even the entry-level model has the kit you want. But others offer more for less. Beyond that it’s the usual story for electric cars, with the scope to offset high purchase or finance costs if you have facility to charge at home, can avoid public charging (easier thanks to the improved range) and, especially, if you can buy it as a company car to save on Benefit In Kind. Good news? Where previously there was no facility to pre-set charging schedules at home to align with cheaper off-peak electricity rates Mercedes has now added this feature via the car’s phone app.

Like most in the industry Mercedes offers an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the battery, which should help reassure whether you’re buying new or down the line as a used car. A shame, then, that the rest of the car is only covered by a conventional three-year guarantee when many others in the market are offering five or even more. Pair this with historically less than favourable results in reliability tables for the brand and it looks a missed opportunity to deliver on Mercedes’ traditional reputation for quality.

Credit to Mercedes here for including all the safety kit and driver assistance systems you’d need as standard, including the all-important blind-spot warnings so many others sneak in as an option or reserve for higher trim levels. Indeed, the only thing you don’t get on all EQAs is ‘comfort’ keyless entry and a 360-degree parking camera, though given all have a regular reversing one we can live with that. You can add to the range of functionality of all the systems with an optional Driving Assistance Package but we wouldn’t feel the need. On our previous test we did suffer some false alarms with the automatic emergency braking but that didn’t occur on this drive, though it was only a short route. If we have one safety moan about the EQA it’s that the fat windscreen pillars create significant blind spots at junctions – something highlighted by driving it back to back with the related EQB, which has a more upright stance and clearer view of the road ahead.

Where the GLB goes all out for practicality the GLA is the smaller, sleeker and perhaps more youthful of Mercedes’ two small electric cars. You pay a price for that in terms of practicality, with a smaller boot and less room in the back but for empty-nesters or those just wanting a more hatchback-style car it’ll do just fine. Bar some disappointingly scratchy plastics on the door pillars the general sense of quality is very high as well, which indirectly contributes to your sense of well-being and reassurance you’re in a premium product. We were less taken with the tyre noise on rougher surfaces – this is more obvious because of the lack of engine noise – and the firmer rider compared with the EQB. This will partly have been down to the bigger wheels of the higher trim level we drove, but even though this comes with clever suspension that adjusts according to your selected driver mode it still thumps into the bumps hard enough to have you gritting your teeth around speed bumps and potholes.

Compared with the giant, tablet-like screens in some rivals the twin-display layout Mercedes arguably pioneered (and has since been much copied) is less domineering of the interior, which we’ll call a good thing. The system powering it was already one of the slickest in the business and for this updated EQA it’s been improved further, including an improved voice control system if you’re not embarrassed about talking to your car. The stylish appearance with the three chrome vents and standard, 64-shade ambient lighting are all typical feelgood premium touches, with things getting progressively fancier as you go up the range with new additions like backlit star motifs in the dash trim inspired by the more expensive EQ models. Models with the fancy Burmester stereo system now get choice of four sound experiences that rise in intensity as you accelerate as a substitute for the sound of the combustion engine, which is fun if not quite as slick as BMW’s similar system on its electric models. These are all nice-to-haves but even the standard model has all that you really need. Well, other than wireless phone charging. For some reason while you can connect your phone to CarPlay or Android Auto without a cable you’ll still need one to charge on all but the top trim levels.

There is, of course, a lot more to how a car drives than numbers on a specification but there’s no escaping the 190 horsepower of the EQB 250+ we drove is a little modest compared with many rivals. There are now more powerful twin-motor all-wheel drive versions as well, but even these are a little off the pace and you lose battery capacity and range for the privilege of going a bit quicker from 0-62mph. As it stands the EQA 250+ drives the front wheels only, which you know about because it scrabbles a bit for traction if you pull smartly out of a junction, that initial burst of acceleration tailing off quite quickly. Claimed maximum range is now a smidge over 300 miles, which is a step in the right direction and we liked the menu screen telling you how much energy various systems like climate control are using, and how much further you’ll go if you turn them off. There’s also a big difference in the driving modes, the Eco option dulling the response to the accelerator to help you drive more efficiently. When it comes to charging the EQA does take longer to top up its battery on fast public chargers than some more up to date rivals like the Hyundai Ioniq 5.