This is the 2023 Mercedes GLS and it’s the SUV version of the world’s benchmark or luxury mobility
BAD:
1 – Interior materials quality
This one may be a bit harsh because it’s not like the materials are BAD at all, but this is a Mercedes and there was a time when that used to mean you were getting the nicest and richest cabin South of a Bentley or Rolls Royce
And now the leathers don’t quite feel as rich
Some aluminums are plastic
And there’s more cheaper plastics lower in the car
Of course you can always upgrade your interior trimmings, but just something I’ve noticed
2 – 3rd row access
This is a weird one and it’s unique to the driver side, the passenger side doesn’t do this
But on the driver side the only way to move the 2nd row seat out of the way is to use the red fabric handle to drop the saet and then use the door mounted controls – which takes a while
It also doesn’t really allow you to leave a car seat buckled in if you want to access the third row from this side
The passenger side does remedy this with a simple toggle you can press and the seat will conveniently hinge out of the way for you WHILE you leave a car seat in it
3 – 3rd row doesn’t get sunroof like you get in the X7
It’s pretty much as simple as that, but in the X7 you can get a dedicated little pane of glass for your third row passengers
Which is quite nice because the third row isn’t huge in that X7
The third row is bigger here and maybe that’s why you don’t get a little mini sunroof back here
4 – Starting MSRP
This is specifically about the starting MSRP of this GLS versus the competitors
The thing about luxury cars is that you don’t really buy TRIMS you add packages and features on ala carte
And there’s a million different ways to do that and we won’t go into all that, but base for base
The GLS is more expensive than the BMW X7 and the Audi Q7, it’s main rivals
The nice thing is that it’s still cheaper than a base range rover…by like $20,000
But there are A LOT of good things to talk about with this GLS so let’s cover that
GOOD:
1 – Engines
We’ll start under the hood as we so often do and there’s several ways you can get into a GLS and they’re all pretty great powertrains
The V8 hasn’t been standard for a number of years now, but the base option is more powerful and more efficient anyway
6 cylinder
3.0 i6 w/ 48V
360 hp
370 lbft
21 mpg combined
You CAN get a 4.0TT V8 in the GLS 580
480 hp
515 lbft
And then of course there’s the AMG GLS63 on top of that, but that’s another video
2 – Ride & Drive
Then we’ll talk about the actual ride in the GLS
This isn’t the AMG one it’s not pretending to be sporty or anything other than a big comfy 3 row family SUV
And it does a great job at that – everything is just easy
You get 4MATIC AWD standard
You have a nice solid chassis
Your steering isn’t to weighty
And your suspension is really sophisticated to give you the best ride possible
You’re got dual wishbones in front and multilink rear AND adaptive dampers with air springs
The air suspension is controlled with the 48V hybrid system
The system can control and soften each spring individually to give you the most supple ride
You can get e-ACtive Body Control on this thing which will use the cameras to read the road in front of you and it will pre-adjust the suspension to minimize what you feel in the cabin
That got a little technical, but in lehman’s terms – It’s amazing technology and actually works to give you an incredible feeling ride
3 – Tech
And as you’d expect from a Benz, the technology here is top-class
You get Mercedes MBUX infotainment system which we’ve covered in other videos and gives you almost TOO MUCH ability to customise things
You have 2 massive screens for your cluster and infotainment
And you can control the screen 3 different ways
Of course you’ve got ACP
You’ve got great 360 cameras
AND you’ve got Augmented reality navigation which will use the front camera to show you a feed of the street and it will super-impose a graphic showing you exactly where to turn
On your steering wheel you have your autopilot or distronic controls and MB has a great system
And to tie a bow on it you’ve got Burmester speakers which look as good as they sound
4 – Design
This piece is specifically about the design of the interior and the use of space
We talked about the materials and while they’re not jaw dropping they’re still nice
But the way they layed ot the dash design and the center console is handsome and tasteful while still maximizing space and functionality
You still have a deep center console with sturdy grab handles on each side
You’ve got door bins that will hold big water bottles
And you’ve got chargers everywhere
And with all that at no point does it look cheap or cluttered or anything other than nice…of and the ambient lighting is pretty awesome too – not quite as good as the S-Class but pretty top tier
5 – 2nd Row
Now we talk about the 2nd row and we already discussed the weird way the seats fold out of the way
However, if you’re just sitting in the 2nd row you have a great place to spend time
It’s spacious for legroom and headroom
You get a nice pano roof
You get all electric controls which are on the doors of course
You can get powered sun shades back here
You can get dual zone climate back here
AND the ambient light in your footwell reflects whatever change you made to the climate
I’m a sucker for this feature every time
You get a bunch of charging options back here
This is NOT a bad place to sit even over 6 feet
6 – 3rd Row
Again we discussed how you get back here, but once your back here it’s not bad
It’s not the biggest 3rd row in the game, but it’s big enough for me to be comfy over 6 foot
Your seats recline back here
You get climate vents
And you get 4 USBc chargers
My only gripe is the lack of sunroof back here like you could get in the X7
7 – Luxury features
And then, as this is a Mercedes there are a plethora of luxury features you can spec:
Heated and cooled seats
Massage seats
Heated steering wheel
Heat and cooled cupholders
Power 2nd row window shades
2nd row heating
Pano roof
The big screen and advanced tech
You can put pretty much whatever you want on this car
8 – Cargo features
This one is simple but it’s cool
Your trunk seems like a normal trunk – it’s big enough, it’s got the hidden compartment under the floor
But it’s also a control center for your 2nd and 3rd row
You can electronically lower AND raise the 2nd AND third row from the trunk
Not many cars let you do this
AND since this has air suspension there’s a button for you to control the rear squat to make it easier to load things in the trunk
Pretty cool!
Conclusion
And that’s the best and the rest of the Mercedes-Benz GLS450. I liked this thing quite a bit – it just does everything really well and that’s what I’m looking for from a luxury family 3-row. So thanks to Mercedes-Benz of Milwaukee for letting me have a go!