The best of two worlds.
Plug-in hybrid cars are, a priori, the best way to carry out the transition between combustion models and electric cars. Your system can take the best of both worlds to perform well in a wide variety of situations. One of the best examples is this diesel that exceeds 100 km of electric autonomy.
And it is that although most PHEVs rely on a gasoline engine as the central element of their system, opting for a diesel engine has the added frugality of these.
There are several brands that have opted for this configuration over time (Volvo or Audi, in their day), but all of them have abandoned the formula (expensive developments, more expensive cars, etc.), all except one: Mercedes.
Among the different models offered by the German firm with this type of propulsion system, the one that stands out the most in this regard is the Mercedes GLC.
Within its range, it has a version that is an authentic rare bird but, at least with the data in hand, it is an interesting model and one to take into account if you are looking for a car that can operate without emissions in the city and that also has a great autonomy outside of it: the Mercedes GLC 300 of 4MATIC.
It uses a configuration of two engines, with the main one being a four-cylinder 2.0 diesel block that develops 197 CV and adding the support of an electric drive that adds another 136 CV to the equation. Thus, they develop a joint power of 333 CV and a maximum torque of 750 Nm, in addition to giving four-wheel drive.
Its main strong point is that it mounts a much larger battery than usual in the case of PHEVs, with a capacity of 31.2 kWh. This makes the plug-in hybrid present a huge range of action in zero emission mode: 127 kilometers.
Thanks to this, it also presents some remarkable efficiency figures (it must be taken into account that the homologation cycle only takes into account the first 100 kilometers): it registers a consumption of only 0.4 l/100 km, as well as emissions of CO2 of 10 g/km.
Of course, it must be emphasized that in this case, more than in other PHEVs, due to the size of its battery and the weight that this entails, it is essential to recharge it regularly, because otherwise the fuel cost will be very high.
Mercedes also offers a diesel plug-in hybrid version in the Mercedes GLC Coupé, but since this body hasn’t yet received the same update as its sister, it still has the previous generation powertrain.
This makes it much less attractive because it uses a much smaller battery that gives it an electric range of only 45 kilometers, a much shorter distance, but at least enough to give it the ZERO label from the DGT.
Of course, this combination of factors, the technology it has and the fact that it is a Mercedes-Benz model, means that the SUV is not exactly a cheap model: its starting price is 77,725 euros, which makes it the more expensive variant of the model.