Mercedes-Benz Eqa350 vs Ford Tourneo Custom

What's the difference?

Have you ever wished for an electric version of a high-riding hatchback, something like a Subaru XV, but with batteries and a bit more prestige?

Clearly, many luxury car buyers have, as the conceptually similar EQA 250 has proven since launching in Australia at the tail end of 2020. Mercedes-Benz can’t import enough of them.

Now, there’s a 350 4Matic version, with two electric motors, not one, all-wheel instead of just front-wheel drive, and appreciably stronger performance.

But in the two years since the EQA’s debut, the EV landscape has transformed, with Korea and China leading in innovation, disrupting the long-established order of things.

In other words, can the new 350 4Matic cut it? Read on.

This idea hasn’t always worked out too well. Take a parcel-van (in this case the Ford Transit Custom) strip out the rubber matting and cargo barrier and bolt six or seven seats into what was the load area. Sure, the original vehicle to use this concept, the Volkswagen Kombi way back in the 1950s, got away with it, possibly because there wasn’t anything better around.

Ford has plenty of history with this notion, too. The first Transit of 1965 was also available as a mini-bus, but worked okay because the Transit itself was such a car-like departure from the commercial-vehicle norm.

Things didn’t go so well for Ford in the early 1980s, however, when the Econovan-badged parcel van it shared with Mazda (the E2200) was fitted with eight seats, given some fuzzy velour trim and dubbed the Spectron. And it was dreadful. In fact, so bad, that it made the contemporaneous Mitsubishi Nimbus and the even more forgettable Nissan Prairie seem like vastly superior alternatives to the job of moving people. Only because they were.

Early versions of the Spectron retained the Econovan’s crude suspension, wheezy (and fragile) little engines and even the tiny dual rear wheels that entirely deprived the vehicle of any traction. In fact, dreadful doesn’t even cover it.

So you can see why Ford might be a bit antsy about me referring to the new Tourneo (a badge that has been around in Europe for decades) as a Transit Custom with extra seats and windows. Yet that kind of sums it up (up to a point, anyway). Luckily, the Transit Custom itself is a pretty sorted thing these days, so maybe Ford has nothing to worry about. Maybe…