 Gotta go, gotta see things. See new places and brand new things. Gotta go places and do things. Maybe to forget it. What is up, you guys? I'm back to another one. If you're new to the channel, I am Gold Pony out doing new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube then today. We're in the brand new 2023 Mercedes Benz GLB250. Courtesy of Mercedes Benz of Hagerstown in Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information on inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so today we are in this one because it actually has a starting price coming in at under $40,000, which is kind of pretty non-impressive for a Mercedes Benz to start out with. But of course you also have the iconic Mercedes Benz styling as well. So ultimately in this video we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering feel, ride quality, sound system exhaust, clip all that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so when it comes to the pricing of this thing, there's essentially two different configurations. So you got the MSRP coming in at $39,800, but there is a four-matic GLB250, meaning the all-wheel drive version coming in at $41,800. But regardless of which configuration that you go with, the power plant on the GLB250 is going to be the same. Powering the Beast is a two-liter turbocharged inline-force owner, putting out 221 horsepower at 5,500 RPM, 258 pound-feet of torque coming in at 1,800 RPM. Power sent to the front wheels or all-wheels through an eight-speed dual clutch with paddle shifters, which you guys know we will be testing out here in a little bit. Zero to 60 time for either configurations going to come in at 6.9 seconds, with MPG numbers coming in at 24 in the city, 32 on the highway for the front-wheel drive, 22 city 30 then on the highway for the all-wheel drive taking premium unleaded fuel. And so before we do any kind of fun acceleration or paddle shifter test here in the GLB, wanted to mention to you guys the drive modes, labeled dynamic, it stands for dynamic select, that essentially it's going to give you different drive modes like eco, comfort, sport and off-road, adjusting things like the shift points, the throttle response, the steering sensitivity, the eco start-stop system, basically disabling that for the sport driving mode. And if you were to put it in that off-road mode, you actually get a 50-50 torque split for better off-road handling and grip of course. So that is pretty cool as well. So now having got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the paddle shifters at acceleration here to the test at the same time. Let's see how quickly the paddle shifters are going to react for us here and let's see how quickly we can get our new GLB 250 here up to speed. All right, you guys, we are in sport driving mode and manual first gear. Go, baby. Quick paddle shifters. Always shifted, come on. All right, so the cool thing is it does tell you when to shift, but if you don't shift, it's going to shift. So I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I kind of wanted a full manual shift mode there because I put it in the sport driving mode. It's saying I'm in a manual shifting mode here, but it's still going to shift for you if you wait a little bit too long. Having said that, this thing is pretty darn quick and there wasn't any turbo lag whatsoever because this is a turbo charge engine, of course. And a lot of times you aren't going to get turbo lag, especially with the turbo charge four cylinder, but that was not the case in the GLB 250. So I love that. So plenty of an acceleration, not going to have any issues emerging onto the highway. Paddle shifters are incredibly quick, although I don't really like that they shift for you. So I'll just put it that way. But anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So as expected, we'll find four wheel disc brakes coming standard, but Tim would also mention there, there are a couple AMG line packages and they will add perforated front discs with painted calipers as well to kind of stand out. So a little bit of braking with the perforated front discs. So I like that. As far as braking feel goes, it's excellent Mercedes Benz. Always does an amazing job with their braking feel. It definitely leans on the firmer side of things. It's not a soft braking feel whatsoever. So it does instantly bring you to a stop. So I am a huge fan of that. Then touching on suspension and handling, up front, you're going to get the independent four-link front suspension, in the back, independent five-arm multi-link rear suspension. And I did what I also mentioned, there is an adaptive damping suspension that goes for $850. And by the way, fun fact for you here, for the 2022 GLB 250, that option went for $990. So got a $140 decrease in price there. And actually, I always like to recommend that one. And here's why. Essentially, it monitors each shock absorber individually, not only adjusting to the road imperfections, giving you a smoother ride, but it is going to also tighten up that suspension during heavy cornering, giving you better handling. So it's going to give you the best of both worlds. So if you want to smooth the ride, if you want better handling, it's only an extra $850. And like I said, it is a noticeable difference when you drive both of them, really for any manufacturer. So I always like to recommend that one. That's one personally that I would go with, being a person that really tends to favor the driving dynamics of the vehicle. So do want to mention that, but overall as far as ride quality goes, these roads are plenty fine. And that was one of the first things I muttered to myself. This is a very smooth ride here in the GLB 250. So no issues there. As far as steering feel goes, it's fine. Even in comfort driving mode, it kind of tends to lean a little bit on the heavier side of things. But honestly, I would say it's just right. It's certainly not super heavy, but it's just right for what the GLB is. As far as cabin noise goes, I'm going 31 miles per hour right now. Not a whole lot of wind noise coming into the cabin. There was a little bit of road noise at higher speeds, but that's to be expected in an SUV like this. But honestly, cabin noise certainly isn't that bad. It's touching on visibility. The second row headrest kind of impede visibility a little bit, but other than that, because of the shape of the GLB, you certainly shouldn't have any issues in rear visibility there. So I personally didn't have any issues. But one other thing when it comes to forward visibility is rain sensing windshield wipers. Actually do come standard on the GLB 250. So whenever this thing detects any kind of mist or rainfall, it's going to automatically turn on those windshield wipers for you. So it's just one less thing you got to worry about there as well. But that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, you guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Mercedes-Benz GLB 250. All right, so here she is, you guys. The new 2023 Mercedes-Benz GLB 250 finished in night black. In case you were curious of the exterior color name on our particular vehicle here, but didn't want to first start with where this one is actually made because you guys know all the Mercedes-Benz as a German company. That doesn't necessarily mean that it is built there, but in the case of the GLB 250, the VIN number does start with the letter W, indicating that this one is built and assembled in Germany. So that's pretty cool. But anyways, let's go ahead and start up front on the GLB here. Silver twin slot design to the front grille. That is going to be the standard configuration at least. However, if you were to go with one of those AMG line packages, you will get a diamond block front grille, which is traditionally what Mercedes-Benz has had for quite a while now. Illuminati Star, that is an available option that goes for $350 if you were interested in that. I've passed Mercedes that have had that at night before and it looks dang cool, so I'm a fan. But anyways, to the sides, LED headlights with LED daytime running lights do come standard. Also get the automatic feature, meaning headlights will turn on automatically for you when it starts to get dark out at night. Don't want to mention that there is an exterior lighting package that goes for $900 and that is going to give you automatic high beams, meaning if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams and when that vehicle is gone, it's going to automatically bounce it back up to high beams then. And active bending headlights as well, meaning if you're going around a bend at night, these headlights are going to swivel depending upon the direction of your steering angle, better help with illuminating what is around that bend so you're less likely to hit a deer or a cyclist or something like that. So that is pretty cool. I do love the LED fog lights down below as well. You do get some chrome accenting found on that front lip to go along with it all. So again, it looks just like last year, but it still looks dang good, especially in this night black exterior that we have here. But anyways, that pretty much rounds out the front end. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the side. All right, so now since we are around to the side of the GLB aluminum roof rails, do you come standard chrome windows arounds? Also coming standard as well for your privacy glass. Also coming standard, take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors. They are actually also heated with LED integrated turd signals. So I do like all of that. I like the chrome accenting found on the door handles and take a look down at the side skirts there. This is matte black side skirts. You can't tell as much with the black exterior that we have today, but they are matte black side skirts with the chrome accenting found on them as well to tie along with all the other chrome accents. Of course, take a look at the wheel setup. It will differ slightly depending upon which configuration that you go with. The standard setup though, it's gonna be 18 inch double five spoke alloys, but if you were to go with one of the AMG line packages that will add to that 19 inch AMG specific alloys. And then there are actually plenty of 19 and 20 inch wheel designs available to really make this one your own. If you wanted to go that route, it is configurable on Mercedes-Benz's website, of course, but that pretty much rounds out the side profile here. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, so now since we are around to the back of the GLB, first thing I wanna mention, I mentioned this last year, I believe as well, there's actually no shark fin antenna or any antenna of any kind up top, which gives it a much sleeker look, in my personal opinion, but don't wanna mention that rear spoiler with an integrated brake light, of course, does come standard. Rear window wiper back there as well. You guys can see the formatic badging on the right hand side back there, if your GLB is equipped, of course. LED tail lights though do come standard on this one, added illumination at night, gotta love that. I like the little chrome accent piece. Just when you open up the trunk there, that is pretty cool as well. There's more chrome accenting found on the bottom portion of that rear bumper, but perhaps my favorite part in the back, you get integrated dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips. I love that they're integrated into the rear bumper. So many SUVs don't do that, but anyways, having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next, as always here is that exhaust clip. All right, so now since we are around to the back of the GLB, when it comes to opening that rear tailgate, it is a power tailgate that does come standard on the GLB, so 100% love that. By the way, since this is opened up now, I did wanna mention, seating for seven is available actually on the GLB. Now it doesn't come standard, but is it available as an option for an additional $850 if you wanted to go that route. But again, since we're opened up here, cargo capacity comes in at 22 cubic feet behind that second row. With that second row folded down, that does bump up to 62 cubic feet even. If you were comparing this to the BMW X3, X3 comes in at 62.7 cubic feet, so it's essentially the exact same in terms of cargo space between those two. But cargo lighting can be found back there. There is some netted storage in the corners. There's also grocery bag hooks. There is a 12-volt power outlet back there. There's some elastic straps if you wanted to throw something behind there so it doesn't slide around in the cargo area. There is a cargo cover, and this is the best part, you guys. If you lift up underneath of that cargo floor, there is in-floor storage, but not just a little bit. Like you typically see in SUVs, there is a ton of in-floor storage beneath that cargo floor, so you could fit an ice scraper, a tire inflator kit, all kinds of things underneath of that cargo floor, so that was pretty darn impressive. So then making our way up to the rear legroom, if you were to go with that third row, that comes in at 29.1 inches, so essentially the same as my old Ford Mustang GT. Second row rear legroom comes in at 38.1 inches, so that's definitely respectable for reference. I'm in even six feet tall. This is how much space I had in the second row there. There is a rear center armrest with cup holders that does come standard, rear ventilation, also coming standard. There are dual phone charging ports, and then to my surprise, a 115-volt power outlet back there as well, so you could charge up your drill or a hair straightener or whatever the case. That's something that you typically don't find even on luxury SUVs, so I was a big fan of that. Then making our way up to the front seats, 12-way power adjustable front seats with four-way power lumbar does come standard. That's nice. Heated front seats go for $500. Heated and ventilated front seats go for $950. But the cool thing is you do get memory settings for up to three different drivers. That's nice, but you also get memory settings for up to three different passengers as well. You typically don't find that other than luxury SUVs, especially Mercedes-Benz likes to do that. Now I absolutely love that. So anyways, as far as seat comfort goes, it was plenty adjustable and therefore plenty comfortable for me in my short test drive here today, so big fan of that. Then take a look at the steering wheel. It's tilt and telescoping. It is leather-wrapped. That's nice. And if you wanted a heated steering wheel, that goes for $250. And the 10 to two grips are definitely bolstered on the thicker side, which I was also a fan of. Then make our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. All of your buttons are located on one side of the key. Lock is on top. Unlock button, of course, and the button at the top of the power rear tailgate there. But it is all keyless entry with a push button starts. All I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press that engine start button located just to the left of the air vents there. And so once started up, seven-inch digital gauge cluster is the standard setup. However, there is a 10 and a quarter-inch digital gauge cluster that is available. That's what you guys are looking at right now. And quite honestly, Mercedes-Benz does an absolutely wonderful job with their digital gauges. You have a digital speedometer, of course, trip A, trip B, what the outside temperature. And then if you hit the home button on the left-hand side of the steering wheel and you scroll all the way over to designs and display, you will have four different loadouts that completely change the look of the digital gauges, including classic, sport-progressive and understated. And that's my favorite part about the gauges because most other manufacturers will not give you the ability to change between four different completely different loadouts. BMW doesn't do it, Hyundai and Kiai know don't do it. There are some, but in my personal opinion, Mercedes-Benz does gauges the best because of that particularly. So I was a big fan. Anyways, then making our way to overall interior quality. There is a panorama roof that we have today that goes for $1,500. 64 colors of ambient lighting that we also have today goes for $310. Universal garage door opener. We also have that with a frameless rear view mirror, by the way, so I like that. That one goes for $280. Wireless phone charger, that goes for $200. If you wanted that, there is some wood trim available that's found on the doors, as well as just above the passenger side glove box. That looks very nice. But one of the coolest things about the interior here, and I think I said this last year, I don't remember, but the interior lighting here, it kind of fades in and out ever so slowly. So that's kind of a luxury feature, usually just turn it on and turn it off. But with Mercedes, it fades in and it fades out. So I was a big fan of that. Just below all the climate control buttons here, you do have a little bit of rubberized storage. There's a 12-volt power outlet there, phone charging port, dual cup holders. There's your touchpad controller for the infotainment screen. I'll get to that in a second. But then the center armrest, there is a decent amount of storage and there's another phone charging port in there actually, as well. But overall, when it comes to interior quality, Mercedes Benz absolutely crushes it. I like the contrast stitching found on the doors here. Ambient lighting is better than any other brand, particularly I love the ambient lighting found around the air vents, kind of within the air vents, these fighter style air vents. So that is freaking cool as well. I like the wood trim and everything is finished in a very high quality. So big fan of that. But now, like I said, let's go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen. So the way this works is if you go with the seven-inch digital gauge cluster, you're gonna get a seven-inch infotainment screen. You go with the 10 and a quarter inch digital gauge cluster like we have. You're gonna get a 10 and a quarter inch infotainment screen. So that's what you're looking at again. And it is touchscreen like I said, but there is a touchpad controller and buttons found just behind the cup holders there. That's another way you can control it. Or you can also control it by simply saying, hey Mercedes. How can I help? Turn the radio on. Please say the name of the radio station. BPM. Mercedes is freaking smart. Let me tell you guys, but Bluetooth and audio streaming does come standard Android Auto, Apple CarPlay as well. You can adjust your climate control settings on the infotainment screen. Factory navigation system, if you wanted to go that route, comes with a multimedia package. It goes for $1,300 and it gives you more than just the factory navigation system obviously. And be it lighting settings you can control up there as well along with your radio information. And so eight speakers is the sound system that comes standard on the GLB, but there is an optional 12 speaker Bermester sound system that goes for $850. That includes 590 Watts, any nine channel digital amplifier then as well. And that is not the one that we have today. We do have the eight speakers. So what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio. Let's turn it back up I should say since Mercedes already turned it on for us. And let's just talk the clarity of this one. Actually not that bad. Really plenty of bass. More bass than I expected just a standard factory sound system to have. Clarity was actually plenty fine as well. Honestly, eight speakers isn't bad. If it were six speakers or less in this thing I probably wouldn't have liked it but eight speakers is actually decent for the GLB. I will say that obviously the Bermester is going to be better. But anyways, last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put the GLB in reverse you will find a review camera coming standard across the board very high definition as well by the way. But if you were to go with the parking assistance package for $1090 that we have today you're also going to get that surround view monitor found on the left hand side giving you that bird's eye view of what is completely all around you which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so to start front side side curtain airbags do come standard driver and passenger thorax side airbags as well. There is a driver's knee airbag as well so the thorax airbags typically don't come standard in other manufacturers. So I wanted to mention that in the back you're going to have latch AKA lower anchors to tethers to children for the rear car seats for child door locks, tear pressure monitoring system but then there is also a driver assistance package that goes for $1,700. That one is going to give you all the advanced safety including active steering assist, evasive steering assist, active brake assist with cross traffic function, emergency stop assist, speed limit assist, lane keep assist, blind spot assist, lane change assist, adaptive cruise control and route based speed adaptation as well. So overall when it comes to my final thoughts here of the GLB 250 good starting price point I love that this thing starts at under $40,000. You typically can't say that with Mercedes so I do like that but having said that there are so many freaking options available with the Mercedes so that can definitely get quite pricey pretty darn quickly. Great interior quality I will say that really it's second to none. I love the wood trim. The ambient lighting is second to none. It's freaking amazing. Then back to room for improvement again. I think all of that advanced safety that I just rambled off that should be standard as it typically is on non-luxury brands like Honda and Toyota and Hyundai and brands like that. They give you all that advanced safety that comes standard but you have to pay extra for it with Mercedes Benz for whatever reason. So do what I mentioned that but anyways let me know what you guys think of the GLB 250 in the comment section below and that is about it for this one you guys. Thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen if you want to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube. Be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in a new car reviews that is what we do here on the channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay go. Land new things, gotta go places.