Mercedes-Benz GL-Class X166 (2013-2015)

What a disappointment – While the car itself is OK, despite major turbo lag, the service issue are just endless. In just under 18 months we've been in for two recalls and the HVAC system is a disaster and will spew mould and mildew spores all over you within the first year of operation. Mercedes Benz will not fix it under warranty, instead you'll need to pay $700-$1000 every year to deal with their design fault. There is even a class action law suit in the US about this very issue. For a $125K motor vehicle from a supposedly prestige band, the customer service of Mercedes Benz in Australia is appalling and the dealership at Mercedes Benz Toowong are even worse. STAY AWAY! Do NOT buy this vehicle!

Unsafe feeling while driving – I took delivery of a brand new GL 350 late January 2016. Since then I have had nothing but problems with the car and it had spent more than 15 plus trips to the dealer. During this time the car has been kept for days at a time. With the work they have done to the car the entire front end has been almost replaced. The vehicle floats all over the road and is a chore to drive.

I will never purchase another Mercedes Benz again due to the feeling this vehicle had left.

Still to this day I have Left feed back on surveys with a promise of a call back but nothing

Very unhappy purchaser.

The best by a long way – I have owned six diesel four wheel drive vehicles over my lifetime. I have probably test driven well over one hundred such vehicles. For this purchase, I cross shopped all the majors in the prestige range and five in the not so prestige level. My criteria was particularly focussed on comfort and driving experience that would translate to meeting the needs of both my light framed wife and my 190cm tall self. Our trade in was a Volvo XC60 R design that had good lift for around 170kw in a smaller vehicle. The Volvo was however just a little small in the luggage area for long road trippers like us. With the brief of driving comfort and ease of operation there was too the need for a large flat cargo space. I did not consider seven and eight seat models for comparison and testing.

Why the Mercedes? The vehicles I considered all had roughly the same range in kilowatts and torque. The Mercedes has a nine speed transmission which appeared to be more flexible than some. One niggle was the combination of a slight turbo lag and a hunt for the lowest cog when moving off from an almost dead stop. Both the bride and I have learned to accommodate this in our driving but it is certainly a negative.

The adaptive air suspension is a real winner, moving from the magic carpet setting for poodling about town to the firmer, lower sports mode for the highway stuff.

Parking is easier than the relatively smaller Volvo because of active park assist and a full display virtual drone view for the tight spots. Active lane assist and autonomous hands free are great as is fully adaptive cruise control with braking to standstill mode. Steering is light and pleasantly variable but not without road feel. Braking is the stuff of aircraft. Ventilated fronts and solid rears are huge and stop the heavy beast with speed and precision. The 21" liquorice clad AMG wheels eliminate any tyre wall roll.

Driving is a pleasure, the Merc has a truly solid feel and with rake and push adjust on the steering wheel and variable electric seats, almost any sized pilot will get comfy. Seats are heated too which is a great feature if you have bad backitis. I still haven't discovered all the features available on the infotainment system but one large gripe must be the satnav system. It is painful to use unless you train it for voice recognition, a process that requires the patience of a saint. It would be way better if the dealer just asked new owners to narrate a passage prior to purchase and then use a workshop based program to tailor the vehicle to your requirements.

There are USB outlets but they are down in the centre console and hard to access. A bit of a brain fail that I trust will be remedied soon. The sunvisors do not have extensions which is sad. I have had to after market tint the side windows.

In spite of these niggles, the Merc stood out for meeting our requirements better than all the contenders. I think that most drivers never feel the need to drive their vehicles on the limit and as such have no need for the vehicles to match the performance and handling of formula rally cars. It is for this reason the Merc is often under rated by the motoring paparazzi.

In summary, the Mercedes GLE 350d is a big hunk of metal with fourwheel drive capability that will transport you in supreme comfort. It has heaps of grunt in all situations, it never feels like it will let go.

If you can afford just ine luxury in life, at least try one when next you are shopping for an S.U.V.