Kia EV5 vs Mercedes-Benz GLB

The Mercedes-Benz GLB costs £6,755 more than the Kia EV5. For that premium it adds 50 miles more WLTP range, 193 kW faster peak rapid charging and 40 kW more power. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Mercedes-Benz GLB comes out ahead overall.

The Kia EV5 is £6,755 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £176 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Kia EV5 comes out roughly £6,715 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 235 miles for the Kia EV5 and 268 miles for the Mercedes-Benz GLB - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Mercedes-Benz GLB goes roughly 33 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 31 minutes in the Kia EV5 and 20 in the Mercedes-Benz GLB, 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 14 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 539 mm of total clearance for the Mercedes-Benz GLB and about 525 mm of total clearance for the Kia EV5. The Kia EV5 also turns in a 0.4 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 89% battery health for the Kia EV5 and 84% for the Mercedes-Benz GLB. That gives the Kia EV5 a modest edge in retained real-world range. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation.