We drive the 2027 Mercedes-Benz GLC 400 4Matic EV for the first time and compare it to the BMW iX3—covering performance, range, tech, and driving impressions.
We’ve now driven the electric successors to these two best-selling German SUVs—and the differences are sharper than expected.We have a regular Clash of the Teutons on our hands here. The category? Fully software-defined, zonally architected, high-performing, all-wheel-drive,ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW They both benefit from brand-new physical and electric/electronic architectures—BMW Neue Klasse and Mercedes MB.
EA—with each company developing its own electronics from scratch, entirely in-house. And each model also boasts a pillar-to-pillar screen, agentic AI avatars, 800-volt fast-charging electrical systems, and big improvements in sustainability. Having now driven both electric SUVs on Mediterranean coastal and mountain roads, we’ve decided to take a swing at suggesting which one of the two would best deserve your $60–$70-plus grand.Both models are launching with dual-motor AWD configurations. Entry-level rear-drive , lower-output AWD , and range-topping variants are set to follow. The GLC 400’s combined output is 483 hp and 590 lb-ft, giving it a 20-hp/114-lb-ft advantage over the BMW. Each model biases power and torque to the rear wheels. Mercedes fits permanent-magnet machines at both axles, the front disconnecting when it’s not needed. BMW fits an asynchronous AC induction motor at the front and a brushed, self-excited synchronous motor at the rear—two designs that favor efficiency.Max output is split 215 hp/221 lb-ft front and 402 hp/369 lb-ft rear at Mercedes, 165 hp/188 lb-ft front and 322 hp/321 lb-ft rear at BMW. Predicted weight-to-power ratios favor BMW—10.9 lb/hp, versus Mercedes’ 11.3, but muddying the drag-race predictions is the fact that the GLC employs a two-speed drive at the rear, with a zoomy 11.0:1 ratio in first. By contrast, the BMW iX3 50 xDrive runs taller 8.8:1 gearing in front and 9.6:1 in the rear. And if you’re up for towing with an EV, the GLC’s 5,291-pound capacity tops the iX3’s by 891 pounds.The GLC 400 4Matic models we sampled all rode on Airmatic springs assisted by amplitude-dependent adaptive dampers with passive anti-roll bars front and rear. Suspension is multilink front and rear, with the 400 4Matic getting up to 4.5 degrees of rear steering. BMW goes fully mechanical, with steel coils and anti-roll bars controlling its trademark front strut, rear multilink setups, and no rear steer.2027 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class Battery Pack. The Battery Management System conductors come together in the box appended to the rear of the pack.BMW has made a lot of noise about replacing myriad supplier ECU mini-brains with a much more centralized zonal architecture run by four supercomputers. Mercedes-Benz’s MB.EA also employs four supercomputers, dedicated to the same disciplines: body and comfort, infotainment, driving and charging, and advanced driver assist functions. BMW stressed that ditching small, distributed ECUs drastically reduced “latency”—the time it takes for, say, a sensor signal to be sent, interpreted, and the resulting action executed—which BMW contends drivers can feel in the form of enhanced responsiveness. The Mercedes setup sounds a bit less streamlined in that it still employs some 40 or so ECUs along with the big brains. These new mini-brains were all developed by Mercedes, and each is upgradable over the air, but Mercedes made no claims of latency reduction or improved responsiveness. Leaning into conventional proportions makes the Mercedes larger in all dimensions: it’s 2.4 inches longer on a 2.9-inch-longer wheelbase, 0.7 inch taller, and 0.3 inch wider. It’s also expected to weigh about 400 pounds more. Unfortunately, it appears BMW makes better use of its space, offering more cargo room—30.4 cubic feet with the seats up, 65.0 with them down—versus the GLC’s 20.1 and 61.4. At least the GLC’s long hood gives it more than double the frunk space .Both will launch with NMC lithium-ion batteries that operate at 800 volts with onboard converters to accept 400-volt charging at legacy Tesla chargers. Each supports bidirectional charging to power a home. BMW’s cylindrical cell-to-pack-to-body setup offers 100.8 kWh of usable energy good for a claimed 400 miles of range. Mercedes’ 94.0-kWh pack uses prismatic cells in four modules , and it’s expected to go 360 to 380 miles on a charge. Both are expected to offer native NACS plug ports, with the BMW charging at up to 400 kW—adding 230 miles of range in 10 minutes, while the Mercedes is rated for 330 kW , adding a claimed 180 miles in 10 minutes.Regenerative braking is controlled with steering-wheel paddles. Default D mode replicates the deceleration a gas engine provides. D+ removes that to allow pure coasting. D– gets you one-pedal heavy deceleration to a stop, recovering up to 300 kW and handling 90-plus percent of all braking needs. D-Auto blends all the above to suit the situation. There might be no retardation on an open road; it will slow the car as you approach a roundabout or slower-moving traffic, and it will stop the car as traffic comes to a halt. Mercifully, the brake pedal does not move on its own as in earlier Mercedes EQ cars. Both brands claim their onboard travel planners will make journeys efficient and painless, with Mercedes noting its computer breaks any journey into tiny segments, computing energy draw in each, taking weather, grade, load, etc., into account. And MB.Charge Public can even reserve chargers 15 minutes in advance—but only at Mercedes-Benz–owned charging hubs .2027 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class 39.1-inch Hyperscreen. Wave motif one of 11 optional ambiances at launch .Mercedes wins the first-impressions contest, with its giant 39.1-inch single Hyperscreen . The choices of wood, two leather grades, and the industry’s first Vegan Society “certified vegan” interior are offered in a variety of colors. Screen resolution is crisp, and there are 11 different “ambiances” the screen can display, each coordinated with ambient lighting.And while both cars offer AI avatars you can speak with, Mercedes attempts to personalize its MBUX Virtual Assistant, with a choice of three avatar designs and a greater propensity to engage in conversation. Functionally, it’s powered by Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Open AI, Microsoft Bing, etc., consulting whichever platform is best suited to the task at hand. It will tell jokes, make up stories, etc. Overhead is an optional eight-layer panoramic Sky Control sunroof embedded with 162 stars that light up in colors coordinated with the ambient lighting. It can switch from transparent to milky opaque at the touch of a button, thanks to Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal tech. In short, the GLC 400 looks and feels every inch a Mercedes-Benz. Our drive in early-production models of the Mercedes GLC started on Portugal’s Algarve coastline and headed up into glorious mountain roads that were as smooth as they were traffic-free. On the freeway section, ride quality struck us as impressively cushioned, but the hands-on adaptive cruise control struggled a bit with its lane centering task and occasionally denied automated lane changes into wide-open lanes without communicating any reason for the denial and continued slowing while changing lanes to pass a slower vehicle. Hopefully the final system tuning will make this system less cautious and sharper. MB.Drive Assist Pro Point-to-Point driving with cooperative steering launches on the CLA later in 2026, so it should end up on the GLC soon after.From the passenger seat, we played “Angry Birds” and loaded some YouTube videos, but there’s no technology to prevent the driver from seeing the screen, so any time the driver steals a glance, the action pauses and the screen goes blank.We started out on the twisty roads in Sport mode, feeling what few bumps the road offered a bit more firmly. Cornering, braking, and accelerating prompted minimal roll, dive, or pitch, and our 265/45R20 Pirelli P Zeros hung on in near silence at impressive g loading. Power delivery felt EV urgent at launch, with little or no letup. Keep the accelerator pinned, and you clearly feel the rear drive unit’s 1–2 upshift occur just above 70 mph . Brake pedal feel was remarkably natural while driving hard enough to engage the friction brakes. Similarly, the steering felt natural enough to point the car intuitively in both its Comfort and Sport modes, though neither delivers actual road feel. Halfway down the mountain we switched to Individual mode, which we set for Sport acceleration and steering feel, with comfort suspension and ESP . Immediately we could sense the hood rising and falling, and sense additional lean in corners. At least two passengers among the automotive journalist contingent on our wave reported some degree of motion sickness in Comfort suspension mode. Perhaps some late calibration tweaks will eliminate this. Comparing curated press drives separated by four months is risky, but this scribe’s backside recalls the BMW feeling lighter, lither, and more agile, if perhaps no quicker. The Mercedes probably rides a bit cushier, while the BMW handled more sharply. The iX3 offered hands-free cruise control with cooperative features like looking at a mirror to OK a lane change, making it seem more advanced than the GLC’s hands-on system. And while the Hyperscreen delivers the wow factor, BMW’s infotainment screen offers more content to monitor , and the projected virtual Panoramic iDrive screen doesn’t require eyes to refocus as much from the road.Nothing is final yet, as U.S. deliveries for both are set to start this summer and fall, but all indications are that the GLC 400 4Matic’s added power and chassis sophistication will price it at least $10K above the BMW iX3 50 xDrive. Depending on your priorities, that could make BMW’s impressive tech stack, larger battery pack, and faster charging seem like a helluva bargain. Either way, watch this space for intense coverage of this heated rivalry.Get the newest car reviews, hottest auto news, and expert analysis of the latest trends delivered straight to your inbox!I started critiquing cars at age 5 by bumming rides home from church in other parishioners’ new cars. At 16 I started running parts for an Oldsmobile dealership and got hooked on the car biz. Engineering seemed the best way to make a living in it, so with two mechanical engineering degrees I joined Chrysler to work on the Neon, LH cars, and 2nd-gen minivans. Then a friend mentioned an opening for a technical editor at another car magazine, and I did the car-biz equivalent of running off to join the circus. I loved that job too until the phone rang again with what turned out to be an even better opportunity with Motor Trend. It’s nearly impossible to imagine an even better job, but I still answer the phone…
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