Mercedes-Benz GLB vs MINI Countryman

The Mercedes-Benz GLB costs £13,095 more than the MINI Countryman. For that premium it adds 70 miles more WLTP range, 190 kW faster peak rapid charging and 80 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Mercedes-Benz GLB comes out ahead overall.

The MINI Countryman is £13,095 cheaper to buy. The MINI Countryman is cheaper to charge, roughly £144 a year versus £176 for the Mercedes-Benz GLB, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the MINI Countryman comes out roughly £13,255 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 268 miles for the Mercedes-Benz GLB and 258 miles for the MINI Countryman - effectively matched, and both well below their WLTP figures because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 20 minutes in the Mercedes-Benz GLB and 29 in the MINI Countryman, so the Mercedes-Benz GLB loses less time at each stop.

The two are within 18 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 557 mm of total clearance for the MINI Countryman and about 539 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz GLB.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Mercedes-Benz GLB and 84% for the MINI Countryman. 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.