The all-new Mercedes-AMG GLB 35 brought the fire and fury required for this award.
Sometimes, performance needs to meet practicality somewhere in the middle. With a performance crossover, what our judges looked for was a vehicle that could do A-Z, just like an SUV, but could also hold its own against sportier cars out there.
It was an all-new nameplate that caught our attention for this segment. The Mercedes-AMG GLB 35. The new AMG 35 series is a great compromise between everyday driveability and all-out performance. And the new GLB platform manages to squeeze out a lot of space from that relatively small footprint. Its boxy shape will remind other road goers of the legendary G-Wagon while costing a fraction of the price.
The Mercedes-AMG GLB 35 is powered by an M260 2.0-litre that puts out 302 horsepower and 400Nm of torque. It is paired to an 8-speed AMG Speedshift dual-clutch transmission, just like the A45 S gets. Power is sent to all four wheels via a 4MATIC system.
Mercedes-Benz GLB 35 4-MATIC Specifications
Engine: Inline 4, turbocharged
Capacity: 1991cc
Gearbox: AMG DCT 8G Dual Clutch
Max power: 306bhp @ 5800-6100rpm
Max torque: 400Nm @3000-4000Nm
Top Speed: 250km/h
0-100 km/h: 5.2 seconds
Selling Price: RM363,136.
About the VOTY Awards 2021
The Vehicle of the Year (VOTY) Awards is sponsored by Allianz Malaysia Berhad and is judged by Daniel Sherman Fernandez, Ross Hadi, Amirul Mukminin and Subhash Nair from Drive Safe and Fast (dsf.my) and GohedGostan.com.
The selection process is simple and clean. All cars launched in Malaysia within 13 months of our cutoff date are eligible for entry. We contact all car brands officially operating in Malaysia and ask them for test cars for each of our judges. There’s no participation fee, no tables to buy, no package deals — nothing. Any judge who drives an eligible car gets to vote for it. A simple majority is all it takes for a vehicle to win in a given category.
The categories are kept as consistent as possible from year to year with some modifications when a certain category is not adequately represented or is over-represented in that particular year. You can view the categories over the years by looking through our “VOTY” tab on the dsf.my page.
Our title sponsor Allianz recognizes the integrity of our team and all players involved in deciding on winners and leaves all decisions to us regarding the winners. We hope our readers appreciate the efforts of all parties involved and provide us with feedback on how we can further improve on this.
