Mercedes-Benz GLB vs Polestar 2

The Polestar 2 is £890 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £160 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Polestar 2 comes out roughly £970 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 231 miles for the Polestar 2 - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Mercedes-Benz GLB goes roughly 37 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 20-26 minutes.

The two are within 2 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 541 mm of total clearance for the Polestar 2 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 90% for the Polestar 2. That gives the Polestar 2 a modest edge in retained real-world range. The Polestar 2's LFP-type pack tolerates daily 100% charging, while the Mercedes-Benz GLB's NMC-type pack lasts longest kept to about 80% for everyday use.