Page 38 - Car South Africa (February 2020)

drive

that’s where the station wagon 1 850 litres (1 680 in the seven-
part of the GLB’s mission state- seater) of utility space on offer.
ment comes into play. Like its underpinnings, the GLB’s
That compact, cuboid shell cabin architecture and fixtures
plays host to a surprisingly lean heavily on the A- and B-Class,
spacious interior with plenty with the same turbine-styled
of shoulderroom all-round. The eyeball air vents and the sizea-
sensation of space is furthered by ble MBUX infotainment system
a generous glasshouse and a Car- screen housing the majority of
men Miranda-pleasing 1 069 mm the ancillary controls. The seating
of front-seat headroom. Unlike position is commanding for a car
01
most of its rivals, the GLB’s cabin of its stature and the facia is sporty
arrangement has a useful amount and looks upmarket, but like its
of modularity. In both the stand- donors, there is the odd bit of thin, 02 03
ard five- and optional seven-seat- cheap-feeling plastic here and
er layouts, the seats can be folded there, and one of the more sportily
to form a flat load floor, while sprung GLB35 units we also drove
the second-row bench features had already developed a noticea-
140 mm of slide adjustment ble bit of trim buzz at motorway
that frees up an S-Class-rivalling speeds. That aside, the GLB’s cabin
967 mm of kneeroom. The does an impressive job of isolating
seven-seat arrangement doesn’t its occupants from road noise with multilink setup.The results on the 01 GLB’s handling is well balanced. 02
& 03 Cuboid elements in both the head-
come with a corresponding in- just a slight bit of wind flutter at variable surfaces of our launch
and taillamps. 04 Although it sits on a
crease in wheelbase length, so the the A-pillars at motorway speeds. route through Andalusia were stretched A-Class platform, the GLB’s two-
third row is pretty much the pre- The GLB’s take on the MFA impressive.The GLB rode fluidly box frame hides a practical interior.
serve of kids and pets, even with modular platform retains a over corrugated roads and resisted
the second bench slid up to its MacPherson strut front suspen- the firmness often affecting SUV/ it’s in no way disconcerting.The
buffers. That said, the GLB’s high sion but it dispenses with the crossovers of this ilk.This forgiving steering is lightly geared with just
roofline and bluff sides translate opinion-splitting torsion beam suspension array translates to enough feel to move it out of the
into an impressively commodious rear module found in lower-rung a noticeable degree of body roll numb/uncommunicative bracket
load bay, with a claimed 570 to A-Class models in favour of a when pressed into corners but but it won’t engage the driver in

04

36 CAR FEBRUARY 2020 CARmag.co.za