Mercedes-Benz GLB-Class vs Renault Koleos

What's the difference?

The new GLB is a worthy successor to the original. It has retained everything that made it such a unique proposition but improves where it counts - interior space and comfort, in-car and safety tech, standard features, powertrain, ride quality and, importantly, value-for-money.

The EV is the pick of the powertrains and while I didn’t get to drive it, the GLB250+ is the best value.

Servicing is expensive and the standard glass roof is a bugbear but if you can cope with those things, the boxy GLB is a terrific smallish family SUV.

To be fair to Renault, when the second-generation Koleos launched in 2016, it was a competitive offering. The problem is, a bunch of medium SUV rivals have been replaced in that time and some of them - Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and Hyundai Tucson, to name a few - are high-quality offerings with an engaging drive and the latest tech and in-car features.

Unfortunately, that leaves the Koleos towards the rear of the medium SUV pack.

It offers solid value-for-money, handles reasonably well and is still one the best-looking SUVs on the road. But beyond that, the Koleos can’t keep pace with those top-notch rivals.

The original first-generation GLB was a standout when it comes to exterior design. It was boxy, upright and unlike anything else in the premium SUV segment. If you wanted a conventional Mercedes SUV you could opt for the smaller, bubble-shaped GLA or the larger, more sophisticated GLC.

But the GLB occupied its own space. Thankfully Benz has largely stuck with the script for the second-gen GLB, but they’ve modernised it.

Built on the new Mercedes Modular Architecture (MMA), the GLB is a full 98mm longer, has a 50mm longer wheelbase, is 27mm wider and 14mm shorter. And it does look noticeably lower to the ground compared to the old model.

While the square silhouette remains, Benz’s latest design direction is seen everywhere. The front end is more rounded now and has a large gaping low-set grille with an LED light bar running the width of the bonnet. It’s an acquired taste but I prefer the previous GLB face.

The rear is a much better angle for the GLB. Looking at it directly from the rear, it has pronounced shoulders that give it a lovely muscular look, and the curved tail-lights are a highlight.

Benz is leaning into its brand in a bid to stand out in an increasingly competitive global market. It’s doing this by using the iconic three-pointed star as a motif in the head and tail-light cluster, as well as the grille which is illuminated for some grades. I’m not sold on that element as it feels a bit over the top, but at least you won’t get confused about what brand of car it is.

Another design element I’m not sold on is the pop-out door handles. With car companies finding better solutions for handles, this seems out of touch.

Inside, everything feels upright. The integrated glass dash panel spans the width of the cabin, while brushed aluminium panels also feature. The signature Benz seat adjuster switches on the doors and the gorgeous air vent design have been upgraded successfully.

The three-spoke leather steering wheel in the GLB350 is a highlight - it’s the perfect width and well executed.

Overall the design is modern, tech focussed and very Benz.

An area that Renault has excelled at in the past decade has been exterior design. Under the stewardship of design chief Laurens van den Acker, Renault has transformed from somewhat quirky to modern and sleek.

The Koleos is getting on in years, having arrived in 2016, but it’s still a handsome SUV. A 2020 facelift sharpened its looks further and we reckon it’s one of the best-looking models in the medium-SUV segment.

Piano black inserts around the gear shifter are a nice touch, but the fake carbon-fibre inserts look and feel cheap. It’s all a bit generic.

But the appealing contrast yellow stitching on the seats, gear shifter housing, doors, centre armrest and more breaks up the grey with a little pop of colour.

The extra length and width means more cabin space which is more apparent in the rear. But there is ample space up front, especially headroom.

The centre console sits up a little too high for my liking but it means you have under console storage with two USB-C ports, and a rubber mat so your phone doesn’t slide around.

It’s got a really deep central bin, while door cavities will only hold smaller bottles. You also get a wireless charger and two cupholders.

There is only a handful of buttons - hazard lights, volume, voice command and drive mode selection - under the central air vents. All other functions are found in the multimedia screen.

Benz has been a standout in the past decade with its MBUX multimedia system and the latest version is responsive, relatively easy to navigate (once you’ve located the key controls), and the graphics look super sharp and cool. The digital instrument cluster is similarly excellent.

Hopping into the second row, the seat base is set higher than the front seats for stadium seating. The seats have some bolstering but quite a lot of lumbar support.

There’s ample space in the second row, thanks to 68mm more space from the back of the seat to the front seat and an extra 34mm of headroom compared to the old car. I have ample knee, head and legroom behind my 183cm (six-foot) tall driving position, although my head is about the same height as the top of the window frame which impedes a little.

Amenities include smallish map pockets, two USB-C ports and knee-level air vents, which is always good to see. There’s a deep but skinny bottle holder on either side and a fold-down centre armrest that sits up a bit too high but it’s wide and has two shallow cupholders and a neat little phone holder.

Each of the 40/20/40 split seats folds via a pull strap at the seat base and the good news is you can adjust the second row backrest a little. The base is also on rails so it can slide fore and aft.

That is how you lower the seats to get into the third row, which is strictly for children. Benz has made it slightly easier for littlies to get back there but it is not a space for taller humans. In fact, Benz recommends up to 171cm tall at most.

One gripe is that there is no sunshade or blind for the massive standard panoramic fixed glass roof. Benz says it is tinted and has a film to reduce UV light and heat, but I’d say a few hours driving in Australian summer will challenge that. Benz isn’t the only brand doing this, but at least you can buy an accessory blind for your Polestar or Tesla. The fact is, not everyone wants a glass roof, especially in Australia, so this feature should be an option.

The boot can swallow 145 litres with all three rows up, increasing to 480L with the third row stowed and 1605L will all seats lowered. This is all decent for a smallish seven seater but if boot space is a priority then maybe have a look at a GLC.

There’s a floor mat and cargo blind but sadly no spare wheel of any kind, just a tyre repair kit, which isn’t great.

It might lack the up-to-date styling of those rivals, but the Koleos is practical and spacious inside and great for family duties.

As with the outgoing fourth-generation Nissan X-Trail, the Koleos is one of the larger offerings in the medium SUV segment, and it’s evident when sitting in the front or rear seating row.

Rearward visibility could be better, with a small rear screen and thick C- and D-pillars impeding vision and creating a blind spot.

The front seats are well supported and comfortable and while the driver’s side is power adjustable, the front passenger seat is manually adjustable.

It has a deep central storage bin with a hidden shelf for coins and more. The Koleos features a sizeable glovebox and good bottle storage in the doors, with room for other items.

There’s a weird fixed cup holder in the centre console. It’s not adjustable and there’s room for two very narrow cups and two larger, but not wide, cups. It’s strange. Interior designers could have used that space better.

The CVT's position indicators are located to the left of the shifter and are thus obscured, so you have to rely on the instrument cluster display to confirm what gear you want. 

The steering wheel looks and feels good, but the controls aren’t super logical. There are old school switches in the console to activate the cruise control and speed limiter, but then to adjust and reset the speed you have to hit buttons on the wheel that are not clearly marked. 

The audio controls are housed on a panel-like stalk to the right side of the steering column, which isn’t ideal. These make more sense if they’re housed on the wheel itself. 

Along with a number of cars we have sampled recently, the Koleos has split analogue and digital controls for the air conditioning. Just integrate it in the screen or have traditional controls - not both!

It has a part-digital instrument cluster which is fine, but there’s no head-up display.

Renault’s 'R-Link' multimedia set-up in the Koleos is old, with dated graphics and a small screen, but the menu layout is clear and logical. 

The Koleos lacks wireless phone charging and it makes do with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The quality of the Bluetooth and CarPlay phone audio is poor and sounds tinny. 

The proximity key that locks and unlocks the vehicle remotely when you walk towards or away from it works every single time. Many of these systems from other brands are patchy at best but the Renault system is faultless. 

The rear seats recline and fold manually 60/40. They’re also surprisingly comfortable. There’s enough bucketing to sink in a bit, and the seats are set high up so kids can easily see out windows.

Space is ample in the second row, with loads of head, leg, toe and knee room, even behind my six-foot (183cm) driving position.

The rear pew has ISOFIX points on the outboard seats, lower air vents, a 12-volt outlet, map pockets, a centre folding armrest with two cupholders, but no USB ports. You have to make do with the two ports at the front.

Open the power tailgate and you’ll find a decent 458-litre boot with all seats in place (maximum 1690L), which is off the pace of its cousin, the Nissan X-Trail (565L), as well as the Toyota RAV4 (580L) and Hyundai Tucson (539L).

A 17-inch steel spare wheel is housed under the boot floor which might explain the lower boot capacity, and there are handy tie-down hooks, a couple of smaller storage nooks and a solid cargo blind. 

A European badge doesn’t always mean you pay more than say, Korean or Japanese offerings, and Renault is an example of that.

The Koleos line-up, for now, starts from $33,590, before on-road costs, for the two-wheel drive Life and tops out at $46,390 for the Intens all-wheel drive.

But after July 1, 2022, prices will increase across the Renault line-up, with the Koleos set to range from $35,000 to $47,500.

There’s only one petrol engine option since the diesel was dropped in 2019 and each variant is paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) driving either the front or all four wheels.

That pre-July pricing is competitive against its rivals, undercutting the opening price of automatic versions of the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, Subaru Forester, Toyota RAV4, and more.

Our test car, the Koleos Black Edition, is priced at $40,090 (rising to $40,500 from July 1) and is based on the specification of the mid-range Zen front-wheel drive (FWD). It is limited to 400 units in Australia.

Renault is one of a number of car makers to offer a black-themed model in recent times, alongside Kia, Mitsubishi, Toyota, SsangYong, and others.

The Black Edition adds dark flourishes like 19-inch dark-grey alloy wheels, gloss black roof rails and door mirrors, sidesteps, French flags on the B-pillar (even though it’s built in South Korea) and a choice of three exterior metallic paint colours including black (of course), grey or white. 

It also gets a hands-free powered tailgate, black synthetic leather upholstery with yellow stitching, matt carbon-look inserts, an 8.7-inch multimedia portrait touchscreen and ‘Limited’ badging on the chrome door sills.

That’s on top of features that are standard on the Zen, like a proximity key, push-button start, dusk-sensing headlights, rain-sensing wipers, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, auto-folding exterior mirrors, an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, a reclining rear seat, dual-zone air-conditioning, and heated and cooled front cupholder.

The multimedia system houses sat nav and comes with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth, digital radio and an eight-speaker audio system.

There’s more details on the safety front below, and many rivals come with more modern in-car tech but there’s no question the Koleos offers very good value-for-money. 

Both mild-hybrid versions of the GLB are powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with 48-volt mild-hybrid tech that includes a 1.3kWh lithium ion battery.

The front-wheel-drive GLB200 delivers 120 kilowatts of power and 250 Newton metres of torque for an 8.7-second 0-100km/h dash time.

The all-wheel drive GLB220 4Matic gets a power and torque boost to 140kW/300Nm for a 7.5-second 0-100km/h time. Both petrol grades use an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

For the EVs, the rear-drive GLB250+ delivers 200kW/335Nm and hits 100km/h from zero in 7.4 seconds.

The GLB350 4Matic ups that to 260kW/515Nm and a 100km/h dash time of 5.5 seconds.

The Koleos shares its powertrain with the X-Trail. That means it uses a Euro 5-rated 2.5-litre four-cylinder, naturally aspirated petrol engine delivering 126kW of power at 6000rpm and 226Nm of torque at 4400rpm.  

It is paired with a CVT and drives with the front, or all four wheels, depending on the grade. 

The Koleos has a braked towing capacity of 2000kg.

The GLB EVs uses a nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery with 85kW of usable energy.

Driving range and energy efficiency for the GLB250+ is a decent 570km and 15.5 kilowatt hours per 100km. The two-motor AWD GLB350 range drops slightly to 554km and uses 17.7kWh/100km

The EVs have four regenerative braking modes. After a long morning drive in the GLB350 I recorded 15.5kWh, which is solid.

The new GLB uses an 800-volt architecture supporting DC fast charging up to 320kW. Under the right conditions at a high-powered DC charging station, you can technically add up to 260km of range in 10 minutes, according to Mercedes.

AC charging capacity is available up to 22kW and there are four regenerative braking modes, as well.

When it comes to fuel economy in the mild hybrids, the GLB200 consumes 6.1 litres per 100km and the GLB220 sips 6.5L. This powertrain has the ability to use electric power to coast when cruising at highway speeds.

According to Renault, the combined fuel consumption figure for the FWD Koleos is 8.1 litres per 100 kilometres. The AWD Koleos sips 8.3L.

After a week of mixed urban, freeway and semi-rural driving, we recorded 11.3L/100km.

Koleos uses 91 RON petrol, has a 60-litre fuel tank and emits 188g/km of CO2 emissions.

I have driven the previous GLB250, which was a fun, punchy SUV. There’s no sporty second-gen variant yet, but if you’re after performance, check out the EV rather than the mild-hybrid.

I only drove the mild-hybrid briefly at the launch event so I’ll focus most of my impressions on the EV. The GLB220 4Matic is quick enough off the line, but there is some lag. Brakes are strong and the cabin is well insulted.

But for me, the EV is the clear pick.

Of the EVs I only drove the GLB350 4Matic as Benz didn’t have a 250+ available.

It’s very quick from a standing start, but not whiplash quick and that is perfectly appropriate for a family-friendly SUV. It delivers the power in a linear manner but when you put the foot down it is very responsive.

I couldn’t detect a massive difference between Comfort and Sport mode to be honest, but you get enough punch in Comfort.

The GLB is tall and top heavy so there is body roll but that’s fine for this sort of vehicle. You’ll notice the weight of this car if you push it into a tight bend at speed - it’s quite heavy and I felt a bit of lateral movement, but the traction control systems help keep the car in check. The grippy tyres help here, too.

Benz has worked hard to improve ride quality with the new-gen model and it shows. The drive route from Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs to the Mornington Peninsula was littered with potholes, some that looked like they could cause serious damage. The GLB soaked up even some of the sharper holes like a pro. The ride at urban speeds is calm and measured.

The sound deadening measures have clearly helped as well as it is a much quieter cabin than its predecessor. All of this adds to the feeling that this GLB is a more refined, premium SUV than the old model.

I found the steering a little light and twitchy at the start of the drive but by the end of the day I noticed some heft to the feel, and it’s still direct.

The brakes in the EV are a little slower to respond than the mild-hybrid, which takes some time to get used to.

But overall, the drive experience is largely very positive.

The drive experience is a mixed bag with some highlights and lowlights.

The ageing 2.5-litre engine is responsive enough from a standing start - it has a 0-100km/h time of 9.5 seconds - but it lacks any real punch and becomes breathless the second you encounter a hill.

It is noisy and revs hard when pushed, with the CVT drone not making for a particularly pleasant aural experience. You’ll hear a fair bit of road and tyre noise in the cabin, too.

The steering is dull and feels quite artificial, but the brakes feel strong.

Unless you’re on a perfectly smooth road surface, the ride is a little busy and the damper tune fails to adequately soften corrugations, potholes and speed bumps. 

It is, however, a more capable handler than expected. The chassis is well sorted, and aside from feeling top heavy with body roll when cornering, it has decent grip and displayed impressive roadholding characteristics, even on a sweeping bend with a loose shoulder surface.

There was a little understeer detected turning into a particularly tight bend.

It can’t match the dynamism of the Kia Sportage or Mazda CX-5, but it does engage the driver to some extent.

The Koleos was awarded a five-star ANCAP crash safety rating back in 2017.

It comes as standard with six airbags, auto emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, cruise control, a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, and a tyre pressure monitor. 

It lacks some of the more modern active driver aids that are offered as standard in rivals, like an active lane-keeping system that helps ensure the vehicle doesn’t cross line markings. The Koleos makes do with an audible warning that, oddly, sounds like a whoopie cushion when activated.

The cruise control is not adaptive, instead it’s the old school version that doesn’t detect vehicles ahead and lower its speed accordingly. 

Having more up-to-date safety gear would improve the Koleos’ appeal.

The GLB comes with Mercedes’ five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which is now the standard in the premium segment. The EV’s battery warranty lasts eight years or 160,000km, which is also pretty standard.

Services are required every year or 25,000km which is a decent interval.

Benz offers pre-paid service packages running for three, four or five years. The mild-hybrid is $3430 for three years, $4680 for four and $6300 for five years.

The EV is more affordable to service, costing $2525 for three, $3765 for four and $4440 for five years.

This is quite pricey compared to rivals. BMW’s iX3 is offered with a six-year pre-paid plan and it’s $2420. The Polestar 4 is free to service for the first five years.

The Koleos is covered by Renault’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is stadatd in the meainstream market, now. 

It is available with a five-year capped-price servicing plan, with each service costing $429, except year four which will set you back $999.

The servicing schedule is every 12 months or 30,000km, whichever occurs first.