Mercedes-Benz GLB vs Nissan ARIYA

The Mercedes-Benz GLB costs £9,100 more than the Nissan ARIYA. For that premium it adds 129 miles more WLTP range, 190 kW faster peak rapid charging and 74 litres more boot space. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Mercedes-Benz GLB comes out ahead overall.

The Nissan ARIYA is £9,100 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 Nissan ARIYA comes out roughly £9,140 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 209 miles for the Nissan ARIYA - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Mercedes-Benz GLB goes roughly 60 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 20 minutes in the Mercedes-Benz GLB and 30 in the Nissan ARIYA, so the Mercedes-Benz GLB loses less time at each stop. That makes the Mercedes-Benz GLB the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 11 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 550 mm of total clearance for the Nissan ARIYA and about 539 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz GLB. The Mercedes-Benz GLB also turns in a 0.3 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 GLB and 84% for the Nissan ARIYA. 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.