Mercedes-Benz GLE-class Reviews – Mercedes-Benz GLE-class Price, Photos, and Specs – Car and Driver
Mercedes-Benz GLE-class
Car and Driver
Tested: two thousand sixteen Mercedes-Benz GLE400 4MATIC
2016 Mercedes-Benz GLE400 4MATIC
- Jun 2016
- By JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN
- Photography By STEVE SILER
Mercedes has euthanized the M-class. Sort of. At least the name is dead. Last year, the third-generation M-class, a.k.a. the ML, was redecorated and rechristened the GLE. The M-class name was worth shedding. Mercedes-Benz’s M-class SUV always seemed like a sop to the U.S. market. Almost two decades ago, it arrived as an amorphous blob on 16-inch wheels that was developed reluctantly and marketed half-sincerely with an appearance in the very first Jurassic Park sequel. It was Mercedes playing at an American game it hadn’t fully embraced—not fairly a truck but not a station wagon, either. It was one of the very first crossovers as we know them now, but back then it seemed like a disingenuous attempt to horn in on the hot-selling Ford Explorer’s activity. You know, the Explorer that was featured in the original Jurassic Park.
More Mercedes than Before
This year, the GLE400 4MATIC gets Mercedes’ 329-hp Three.0-liter twin-turbo V-6. The fresh engine helps the GLE drive, feel, and look more like a real, honest-to-Stuttgart Mercedes than any M-class ever did. That’s true even tho’ it’s assembled, as the ML always has been, at a plant near Vance, Alabama. “More like,” however, isn’t the same as “is.” This refreshed Mercedes still doesn’t seem to have its entire heart in this market segment.
The renaming wasn’t particular to this model but part of a larger scheme to establish a rough harmony inbetween Benz’s traditional sedan and SUV lines. Basically, the SUVs are now branded as GL, with the third letter indicating each model’s position in the size hierarchy. So the GLE is bracketed inbetween the smaller GLA and GLC (previously the GLK) and the larger GLS (formerly the GL). And, no surprise, the GLE400’s twin-turbo V-6 also is suggested in the E-class sedan and seems destined to spread across the M-B range as a fuel-stingier alternative to V-8s. In the GLE range, as in the sedan, this V-6 supplants a 402-hp turbocharged V-8 model, which used to be called the ML550.
Naturally, this V-6 hits all the expected technical highlights: It’s direct injected, has variable valve timing, and is tuned to keep engine speeds low for better fuel economy (the EPA city rating rises four mpg over that of the former V-8, while the highway number increases by three mpg). Compared with the naturally aspirated Trio.5-liter V-6 used in the GLE350, it has a shorter crank stroke and smaller cylinder bores. And it runs a Ten.Five:1 compression ratio, relatively high for a turbocharged engine.
That 329-hp rating is somewhat deceptive, because what the engine supplies best is a sweet-natured well of torque. There’s good response right off the line as the turbos kick in early, but only a moment after that event the engine produces its three hundred fifty four lb-ft of peak torque at one thousand six hundred rpm and maintains that output all the way up to four thousand rpm.
Throw in the certain talents of Mercedes’ seven-speed automatic transmission and the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system, and the result is a nonchalant driving practice. There’s always torque available, and that torque always finds a drive wheel to use it. Make a passing maneuver on a two-lane back road, and the sensation is that of an effortless vehicular shoulder shrug—like the one Michael Jordan performed after burying six three-pointers in Game one of the one thousand nine hundred ninety two NBA Finals.
Satisfactory—but Not Exemplary—Dynamics
Keeping in mind that—German roots and Alabama connections notwithstanding—this isn’t a Wernher von Braun–spec rocket ship (that mission is reserved for the AMG models), the GLE400 is quick and satisfyingly nimble. The waltz to sixty mph takes Five.Five seconds, while the quarter-mile goes by in 14.1 seconds at ninety nine mph. That’s exactly the same zero-to-60-mph time achieved by the two thousand seventeen Audi Q7 Trio.0T, which is powered by a 333-hp Trio.0-liter supercharged V-6. And the Mercedes is 0.1 2nd quicker in the quarter-mile, with an identical 99-mph trap speed. The former V-8–powered ML550 was a bit quicker than the current V-6–powered GLE400—getting to sixty mph 0.6 2nd quicker and completing the quarter-mile run 0.7 2nd earlier—but this fresh V-6 performs competitively. Buyers in this segment looking for more serious spectacle are better served by the BMW X5 or the Mercedes-AMG GLE63.
What the all-new Audi has over the refreshed Mercedes is more avant-garde styling and a more responsive chassis. There’s a bit too much M-class fuddy and/or duddy surviving in the GLE’s updated design, while the Q7 looks crisp and athletic. On the skidpad, the GLE400 managed only a dreary 0.72-g orbit where the Audi stuck to the tune of 0.85 g. Both vehicles were on all-season tires (19-inch Dunlops on this car, 20-inch Goodyears on the Audi), but our test driver noted that the rubber on the Mercedes seemed particularly low on grip. Compounding the issue, the stability-control system intervenes aggressively as soon as these tires embark to slip. Throw in the Audi’s better steering feel and superior braking, and it’s clear that the GLE400 isn’t the driver’s choice in this class.
The Inwards Story
It may not be the people hauler’s preference, either; the slightly larger Q7 has three rows of seats to accommodate seven people, whereas the GLE permits five in two rows. Still, there are arguments working in the Benz’s favor. Without a third row to deal with, there’s thirty eight cubic feet of cargo capacity in a spacious interior that is exceedingly comfy, handsomely trimmed with wood, and ideally stitched together. That includes Mercedes’ three-spoke steering wheel, which is just the right form and nicely padded, has well-placed thumb guides, and is covered in textured leather that, Braille-style, informs the driver of wheel position. The spectacular Swedish minimalism of the Volvo XC90 has reset the bar for cabin décor in this luxury class, but traditionalists will find reassurance in this Mercedes.
The GLE400’s rail is soft, but bod motions are well managed, and it’s spookily quiet inwards. There’s good feedback from the steering, but the electronically assisted rack-and-pinion system often feels overboosted.
The GLE400 always feels substantial and well thought out. Of course, like every vehicle in this class, it can be optioned up to include virtually every technology from automatic lane keeping and adaptive cruise control to a $2910 “active curve” system that varies the roll stiffness of the front and rear stabilizer bars in conjunction with the adaptive damping system. The GLE400 4MATIC starts at $65,525, including a $925 destination charge. Injudiciously checking too many of the option boxes—such as the ridiculously overpriced $5800 Bang & Olufsen premium audio system—will knock the total price up beyond $85,000. The tested vehicle carried a $75,765 bottom line.
Of course, buyers could save a few bucks by choosing the less expensive GLE350, which starts at $52,025 with rear-wheel drive. If that isn’t fairly the right machine, there’s also a GLE300d 4MATIC powered by a 201-hp turbo-diesel four-cylinder or the fresh GLE550e 4MATIC plug-in hybrid that combines the GLE400’s turbo V-6 with a battery-driven electrical motor for an aura of environmental virtue and a combined four hundred thirty six horsepower. And at the top of the range is the wacky powerful 577-hp Mercedes-AMG GLE63S 4MATIC with a Five.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 under its spandex hood.
Or there’s the funky GLE450 AMG coupe, which shares its essential engineering with the upright GLE SUV but has a stylish (to some eyes) sloping roof to eliminate much of that pesky utility and cargo capacity. It practically announces the owner’s disdain for logic, aesthetics, and usefulness—so naturally it got the starring role among the fleet of Mercedes products in last year’s Jurassic World flick.
There’s a grace to the GLE400 that was missing from its sometimes dumpy-looking ML ancestors. And there’s a unity to the design that seems in line with what buyers expect from a Mercedes. But there’s still some stopgap feel here, as if this may be the warmup act for a truly superb fourth-generation mid-size SUV from Mercedes-Benz.
Highs and Lows
Highs:
Better detailed and proportioned than before, abundant torque, eerily quiet.
Fuddy-duddy elements of the M-class haunt it, squishy-squashy treating thresholds it.
