Mercedes-Benz EQA vs Vauxhall Astra

The Mercedes-Benz EQA costs £13,500 more than the Vauxhall Astra. For that premium it adds a 1.2s quicker 0-62mph time. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Astra comes out ahead overall.

The Vauxhall Astra is £13,500 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Vauxhall Astra comes out roughly £13,540 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 219 miles for the Mercedes-Benz EQA and 191 miles for the Vauxhall Astra - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Mercedes-Benz EQA goes roughly 28 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 26-30 minutes.

The two are within 26 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 566 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz EQA and about 540 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Astra. The Vauxhall Astra also turns in a 0.9 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Mercedes-Benz EQA and 84% for the Vauxhall Astra. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.