Mercedes GL350
Super-sized SUV seeks to see off subtler rival. Will it succeed?
It's clearly aimed at an American audience, but the new GL does enough things right to warrant its inclusion in Mercedes’ UK line-up. Its design and detailing won’t appeal to all tastes, but the car offers great practicality and a host of clever details and features. However, all this comes at a price that makes the Discovery look like a bargain.
If you’re wondering why Mercedes would go to the effort of creating an SUV of such vast proportions for the narrow confines of the UK, the simple answer is that it hasn’t. While the GL plays its small part in keeping the Mercedes UK balance sheet in the black, it’s designed primarily for the American market, where size and running costs are far less of an issue.
However, that’s not to say that the car is a complete fish out of water on British roads. Although Mercedes’ sales ambitions are best described as modest (fewer than 150 GLs were sold last year), the new GL is a much more attractive proposition than its predecessor.
Super-sized SUVs can rarely be described as beautiful, and the new GL does nothing to change that. While all the traditional Mercedes elements are there, such as the chunky two- bar grille and saucer-sized three-pointed star, it also features a host of less welcome styling extras in the form of fake chrome trim panels, polka dot aluminium running boards and privacy glass. It’s a fussy car to look at, and while US buyers will lap up the more garish elements, it’s not a subtle piece of design.
Thankfully, the interior shows considerably more restraint and better reflects Mercedes’ premium image. Although our test car’s combination of black leather, black rooflining and black privacy glass gives a dungeon-like feel, the GL has been intelligently designed and can seat seven people in comfort.
Up front, the driving position is lofty and comfortable, with familiar Mercedes switchgear and a column-shift gear selector creating a driving environment that existing owners will be able to adapt to immediately. Even so, there is an awful lot of technology to master on the dashboard and centre console, with no fewer than 64 buttons on show. Yet despite this onslaught of switches, some features are still hidden away in Mercedes’ on-screen COMAND system. Take the excellent £1,150 seat massage function, for example. To switch this on, you’ll need to go into the settings menu – which is a real pain if you want to use it mid-journey.
Work your way further back and you soon appreciate what a fine job Mercedes has done with the cabin layout. The third row features proper seats with enough legroom on offer to accommodate a couple of six-footers. What’s more, access is good thanks to huge doors, clever positioning of the second row and an easy-to-use seat-folding mechanism. Our car came fitted with the £410 optional Easy-Entry system that adds electric assistance to the outer second row.
Boot capacity ranges from 295 litres with the third row in position to 2,300 with the second and third rows folded – an increase of 60 litres over the previous model. The new GL line-up consists of only two models: the GL350 BlueTEC tested here and a range-topping GL63 AMG. The GL350 uses a familiar 258bhp V6 engine that drives through a seven-speed auto gearbox. Despite having 2,455kg to haul around, it’s a perfectly capable drivetrain that never feels too stressed, even with a full complement of passengers. Mercedes has reworked the engine to make it more efficient, with claims of reduced CO2 emissions and improved economy.
During our week with the GL we averaged 33.1mpg, which is impressive for a car that weighs two-and-a-half tonnes. CO2 output is now 209g/km compared to 242g/km for the previous model, saving £195 a year in road tax. Dynamically, the GL is surprisingly agile. The air-suspension delivers a cushioned ride, although the 21-inch wheels stop it from being as cosseting as it could be.
Our car came fitted with an optional Active Curve System (£3,240) that uses active anti-roll bars to quell excessive body roll. Although the sheer bulk of the GL will prevent most from being able to take full advantage of the system, it does a solid job of keeping the car on an even keel through corners. That said, well over £3,000 is an awful lot to pay for something that arguably should be fitted as standard.
In terms of value, the GL is on the back foot right from the start. While it offers more cabin space than the Land Rover, you pay handsomely for it. Even without options, the basic car costs £1,710 more than the range-topping Discovery HSE Luxury. Load it up to the level of our test model, and that figure rises to an eye-watering £85,235.
