It is time for my annual installment of the Halter family summer vacation rental car review. We always get a big SUV to haul around our family of four, with four large bags an a multitude of backpacks and miscellaneous carryons to tote around. After being presented with the keys for yet another Nissan Armada (really, how do I keep getting these things), I happily paid the $33/day upgrade to a 2019 Mercedes Benz GLS 450 when offered.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, big SUVs aren’t really my thing, so I entered into this upgrade not really knowing what to expect. For starters, I had no idea that Mercedes Benz made a full-size SUV, and has for well over a decade (like I said, not my thing). After all, BMW is just now offering their first full-size SUV, the X7. So even though I was paying for an “upgrade,” I was expecting something slightly smaller than the Armada I was passing up. As it turns out, the vehicle I was envisioning was actually the GLE-class, MB’s slightly smaller three-row SUV with which the GLS shares a common platform. In actuality, the GLS and the Armada share the exact same 121.1” wheelbase and are within a few inches in all the other major dimensions.
I attribute part of my confusion to the fact that Mercedes has been fiddling with their vehicle nomenclature over the past several years. Until recently, the GLS was just the GL, while the GLE was formerly (and probably better known) as the M-Class. What is now the GLC used to be called the GLK.
I’ve rented enough vehicles over the years to know that rental fleets are typically comprised of vehicles that are one or more of the following:
- Base models with few to no options.
- Vehicle equipped with unusual or unpopular option combinations.
- Vehicles at the end of their production run.
With an all-new model scheduled to come out in 2020, my rental GLS meets one of those characteristics already. As we shall see, it meets at least one more.
Yes, those are 19″ wheels.
While the 2019 GLS 450 starts out at $70,150, my rental was equipped with the $3,830 Premium Package, which includes a bunch of stuff that really should be standard in this class, like a power passenger seat, blind spot monitoring system, keyless locking and unlocking, lane departure warning, and a navigation system with Apple Car Play. So technically my GLS wasn’t a true “base” model, but I’m guessing very few are actually sold without the Premium Package.
The only other option my rental had was the $3,700 “Active Curve” package that includes a suspension that can adjust between “Comfort” and “Sport” settings. Like most such systems I’ve experienced over the years, the difference between the various settings is too slight to really justify the added price and complexity, and in any case why someone would want a “Sport” setting in a 5,300 lb. SUV is quite beyond me.
What was more notable was all the options this vehicle didn’t have, most of which you can get on a Ford Escape Titanium at a fraction of the price: Parking sensors ($1,290, which really should be standard on a vehicle this size), LED headlights ($1,390, yes you can still spend $75,000 on a vehicle and get halogen lights), Panoramic sunroof ($1090, a single non-panoramic roof is standard), premium audio ($850 for Harmon/Kardon, $5,800 for Bang & Olufsen), adaptive cruise control (part of $2,250 Driver Assistance Package), heated steering wheel ($250), ventilated front seats ($570), and tri-zone climate control ($1,450). Even leather is optional ($1,690, although MB-Tex keeps getting better).
My black example also came in one of the just two no-cost color choices (the other being white). So I would say my GLS qualifies as almost a base model, and certainly oddly equipped.
Cool puddle light
Like I mentioned earlier, I knew nothing about the GLS, so I assumed that being a full-sized SUV that it must have a V8 engine (especially with the 450 right in the name). The engine sounds could certainly pass for a V8 – I give Mercedes engineers a lot of credit for tuning the intake and exhaust sounds for just the right amount of low-end rumble. And while the GLS moved well enough, it didn’t seem to have the effortless power delivery I recalled from last year’s Armada, and I soon began to suspect something was up. Sure enough, after some quick investigation, it seems that two cylinders had indeed gone missing. The engine turned out to be a 3.0L twin-turbo V6. If you want a V8, you will need to step up to the $95,000 GLS 550.
Still, the 3.0T (packing 362 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque) will likely be sufficient for most buyers. I know I could certainly live with it. The nine-speed transmission collaborated well with the engine: It was completely transparent in operation, going about its business with minimal fuss. Unlike similar nine-speed units from other manufacturers, it was never in the wrong gear, and smooth shifts were the order of the day. The only party foul committed by the transmission was from Mercedes goofy column shift lever, where you move it up for Reverse, and push on the end for Park. On several occasions I had the vehicle start to roll away from me as I was getting out, only to find out that by flipping the lever up I had put it in Reverse instead of Park. Mercedes needs to steal a page from Ford and have the vehicle automatically go into Park as soon as you turn the engine off.
The 3.0T/9-speed powertrain paid dividends in one other way. My observed fuel economy for the week was 17.8 MPG, astonishingly good for a vehicle this size, and one that was frequently fully loaded and stuck in LA’s notorious traffic. This was also far better than the 10-12 MPG I logged in the Armada last summer. Part of the credit is also likely due to the engine start-stop system, which kills the engine when the car is not moving. It is not the smoothest start-stop system I have experienced, but it is easily defeated should you desire (although it defaults to “on” every time you start your car).
I can’t believe Mercedes is still using this same key after over two decades.
My other nits are small: The ignition key is the same as the one from my 2006 SLK, and is designed to be inserted into a slot, even though push-button start is standard (actually this key fob is older than that, and dates to the DaimlerChrysler era). This also means there is no remote start (not even as an option), as there is no available button on the ancient fob.
The lack of running boards ($800 extra) made entry and exit difficult, as well as guaranteeing that you will get your pant legs dirty in the process. The default wheels are a bit homely looking, and despite being 19” in diameter, look a little small. Lastly, the outside rear view mirrors are too small for a vehicle this large.
All in all, this was a competent, comfortable, and undemanding family hauler, which is just what I wanted for this trip. But this also means that the GLS has nothing particularly unique or exceptional to justify its existence. Unless you have to have the three-pointed star on the grille, I would be hard pressed recommending the GLS 450 to anyone in the market for a full-sized SUV. While the $70K base price doesn’t seem all that outrageous for a large luxury SUV, by the time you add all the really-should-be-standard options, you’re looking closer to $85K for an otherwise unremarkable large SUV. A Yukon, Expedition, or even my friend the Armada can be equipped just as well (if not better than) the GLS, is just as innocuous, and far less money.
I really, really wish carmakers would quit foisting different-not-better transmission selectors on us. That said, this what you describe does seem to answer the “This, folks, is how lawyers make their money” question at the end of the ninth paragraph in JP Cavanaugh’s pushbutton piece.
The lawyers will make their money in more ways than that, I’m afraid. I had a similar issue when I first rented a BMW using the old ReachNow app, where the baffling push-button Park nearly got me in big trouble, and all I could think about was poor Anton Yelchin being crushed to death because of his gimmicky Jeep shifter. There will be more like him until regulators get after this issue or the lawsuits become too much to ignore.
…and then there’s the dumb Chinpokomon pushbutton engine start/stop, which is confusing in an emergency and deadly in garages, too. Stupid crap like this really peeves me, because it’s totally unnecessary. Want to let the owner keep the keys in their pocket? Fine, put in a permanent twist knob with all the usual ignition switch positions, that only works when the key’s detected in proximity. All the benefit, none of the drawback. But no, it has to be a pushbutton because…um…
…um…
…look, it just does okeh?!!
The problem is not that people don’t know how to push a button, they successfully started the car with the button. In many of the cases it is because the engine isn’t running at the time they leave the car, and the keys are already in their pocket or purse. Making it a knob you twist isn’t going to change that.
As stupid as the Daimler-Chrysler remote is that is the only way your twist idea would be capable of preventing this, because you use your device to turn it, which for many people is connected to their house and other keys and they have been conditioned to make sure they have those when they leave the car.
A twist knob would be an easier and more intuitive way to stop the engine in an emergency than trying to rememeber to push and hold the start button for however many seconds. But yeah, it probably wouldn’t do much about leaving the engine running in the garage because keys are already in pocket. The Chrysler device you describe, I have no experience with—perhaps it’s new? The latest Chrysler product I’ve driven was a thoroughly lousy 200 as a rental in ’16. I have had other rentcars (I want to say Nissan) configured as you describe: there’s no metal key, but there is a fob-thing that gets inserted into a receptacle and operated just like a key. That seems like probably the best way to do it.
The Chrysler one I have experience with is the same one pictured, though they have had a Dodge (rental 2018 Caravan) or Jeep (friend’s new Wranger) Logo.
As far as shutting down a PTS vehicle, I know on ours there is no holding necessary in normal operation, just a quick tap. On the car with push button shifter it will even put it in park for you. If you are in a runaway situation I think most people’s reaction would be to push and hold that button with all of their might, if that was the first thing they thought to do. Personally my instincts would be to shift to N so that the power steering and brakes were still functional and bet on the P/N rev limiter to do its job and keep the engine together.
Now as far as shutting it down while the vehicle is in motion you may have to hold it, I don’t know because I’ve never tried that. With the Lincoln putting it in park when stopped I’d be a little more concerned about doing that, though I’m betting their is logic that keeps it from engaging the parking pawl if you do that at speed, not that I intend to try.
Of course that is just one MFG and the fact that there are different implementations is part of the problem. Way to much of the driving public has spent way more of their time driving using an old fashioned key and pulling a lever through PRNDL.
The real problem is the fact that there is zero coordination in driving programs and education in the US and very few people actually use the parking brake. A properly applied parking brake will easily hold a running vehicle that is in gear at idle speed and would have saved that actor’s life and eliminated any of the above scenarios of “vehicle kept moving when I opened the door” etc. Anything else is a band-aid that masks this problem, every vehicle has a parking brake. Use it. The life you save may be your own.
Disagree about your first point; rigourous research has pretty clearly demonstrated that even rigourous driver education doesn’t do anywhere near so much good as we’d like to believe in terms of reducing the likelihood of a driver being involved in whatever kind of mishap. The real problem here is lack of standardisation, aggravated by the many decades during which the controls in question were highly standardised, with very little variation across pretty much all years, makes, and models of vehicle.
I agree with you on parking brakes; I will never understand the thought process behind “Pfft, naw; the car’s in Park so there’s no need to use the parking brake” types of attitudes. Now: what are we to do about parking brakes that auto-release when the car is placed in gear? Another automatic buttwiper feature that solved a nonexistent nuisance at the cost of severe danger.
To be fair, Mercedes-Benz began using that monostatic column shifter way back in 2006, on the then-new M-Class. And BMW actually pioneered it, on the 2002 7 Series and 2003 Phantom. Still, it’s not exactly intuitive.
And I believe there’s legislation being proposed that will force automakers to program their cars to go into park if you open the door and the car is in gear (as in, not in neutral or park).
I own one automatic a Previa with a column shifter. The other 2 are manual a eurovan Westfalia and a Nissan Altima. In my opinion if it’s an auto it should have an old school column shifter and if it is standard a stick on the floor. I thought this got sorted in the sixties with that book Ralph Nader put out. As far as keys go they all have keys like your house that cost a whopping $5 on a bad day at the hardware store. Now get off my lawn 😉
The biggest problem with shifters like the one in the subject vehicle is that they are neither intuitive nor do they operate in a way that most drivers have been conditioned, yet on many levels it looks and acts like what they have been conditioned to.
So yeah something like this Mercedes has is absolutely stupid, as there is no gain in functionality or aesthetics and looks way too much like what people have been conditioned to use.
At least with the dials it isn’t really like what you’ve become accustomed to. However those can be just as stupid as this Mercedes set up in that on some to select park you push the dial instead of turning it.
You want an intuitive shifter see many fork lifts, not being constrained by regulations most have figured it out, moving the lever forward to go forward and pulling it back to go backwards is intuitive and thus safe. Many don’t even bother with letters for the directions, a simple arrow indicating which way the vehicle will travel.
After 47 years of driving I still always use the parking brake. I think it saved me a few times when we first got our Prius … if the ICE engine shut off after parking, before I powered down, it was easy to forget it was still in Drive. Though at least the Prius went into Park automatically when you did power down.
Makes sense. A lot of cars with either monostatic gear selectors or electronic parking brakes give you the option to automatically apply the parking brake when you turn the car off. My X5 did, and so does my best friend’s current-generation RX 450h.
Option…?! I’m trying—hard—but I cannot figure out what line of thinking would end with “Yeah, let’s make that optional” sounding like a good idea.
An interesting review, mostly because this is the closest I expect to ever get to one of these. The more I read these days the more I see M-B as being where Cadillac was in, say, 1973. They still have the name and lots of folks will still pay for it, but in terms of what you are really getting, is is really any better than stuff from “lesser” manufacturers that cost a third to a half less? Or at least “enough better” to make the extra money worth it.
No.
No wonder the star on the hood gets bigger and bigger, as one would be very hard pressed to identify it otherwise.
The star is definitely the reason for a majority of their sales, and as further proof I offer my anecdotal experience.
Now that the “illuminated” star in the front grill is a factory option from Mercedes, I’ve been doing some informal polling while walking my dog at night. There is definitely an inverse correlation between the price of a new Mercedes, and the likelihood of being optioned with one.
90% of CLA, C-class sedans & GLCs have illuminated stars.
Maybe 10-20% of GLE/GLSs have them.
And I’ve seen one only S-Class convertible, and zero E-classes of any sort equipped.
It seems that the people who could be buying luxurious Asian or American competitors, but choose to spend the same or more just to get a vinyl interior, 4 cylinder Mercedes are the most desperate to be projecting the Mercedes brand.
Not that it matters…but everybody knows that the old-money set goes for the stately E-Class wagon (in either standard or AMG guise), as a mode of all-terrain conveyance. And if they need a big three-row vehicle that sits high, it won’t be a Mercedes-Benz. It’ll be something less ostentatious. Like a Subaru Ascent.
The lighted star, though? That’s just tacky. And I do see a fair number of them around OKC. The biggest culprits seem to be the GLE-Class Coupe and the CLA-Class…which is hardly surprising.
Great review! We looked at these in 2011 or so, before we bought the 2011 LR4 I wrote up. We had the same conclusion at that time, i.e., that once you added in the equipment you thought you wanted/should be standard, you were in nose bleed territory.
MB seems to be bad in that general regard. My sister in law just bought a 2016 C300 used, which is not a stripper. But it does not have rear parking sensors, for example. She (a non car person) remarked that while she decided it was a great buy as a gently used, off lease car, she couldn’t image who would buy one new when it is missing items that are standard on so many cheaper cars.
I get you and Jim Klein mixed up sometimes. It’s Jim that had the X164-era GL-Class, right?
Yes, that was Jim! I really liked the GL in 2011, and preferred it to the LR4 in some ways. But, the LR4 was substantially cheaper with the same or more equipment.
It’s sort of painful to read a review of a $75,000 Mercedes and come away with absolutely no aspirations to experience one for myself. In terms of appearance, interior, driving dynamics, etc., it seems that this car is flatly ordinary — expensive ordinary at that. It seems like it ought to carry a Nissan badge instead of a Mercedes, and cost $30,000 less.
At first I was wondering whether it was a rebodied Nissan, like the Mercedes pickup is a Nissan under the skin. After reading the article I can see it’s not. But what a mixed bag of excellence (engine/trans) and mediocrity. The equipment level is unbelievable, and not in a good way. No parking sensors – but tacky tri-star puddle lights? I’d be embarrassed to drive it at night. Best left to the virtue-signalling brigade.
I don’t think it’s virtue they’re signalling. I don’t think they think it’s virtue they’re signalling, either.
And now they are lighting said star. And 70K is unreasonable for a machine that might command a quarter of that the minute the warranty expires. Just my two cents…
Very good review. I, too, am appalled at what Mercedes-Benz *doesn’t* make standard on its pricier products. I shouldn’t have to stick a key in a slot to start up my $75,000 car in 2019. The X7 isn’t all that appealing, either. Honestly, I think the sweet spot for a large SUV is a 2019 Ford Expedition Max Platinum. I drove one and it even handles quite well for a BOF product (unlike the GM products, which have durable but compromised solid rear axles). An Expedition (or any of the GM stuff) will probably also last longer and thus command a higher resale versus its initial price than any of the big German luxury utes.
As far as the key, Mercedes-Benz has used that design for years. There’s a new one on the 2018-and-later S-Class, but I’m not sure if it’s on the other new models, like the 2020 GLE-Class and 2020 GLS-Class.
Speaking of which…Mercedes-Benz just announced the 2020 GLS-Class you mentioned. Both the standard inline-6 (GLS 450) and optional V8 (GLS 580) are now mild-hybrid systems. They feature an electric motor/generator and a 48-volt electrical system that handles all of the accessories (A/C, etc) so that they are decoupled from the engine. They also have something called EQ Boost, which can use the electric motor to temporarily provide an extra 21 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. That should provide a nice kick when you need passing power, or whatever.
And in regard to the big Mercedes-Benz crossover lineup as a whole, there’s now a new GLB-Class, which (you guessed it) is right in between the GLA-Class and GLC-Class. It’s a boxy shape on a transverse-engine platform that gives you the option of seven seats and plenty of utility in a compact package. That makes it sort of a competitor to the Land Rover Discovery Sport.
Why does this bother you so? I’m not being snarky here; I’d genuinely like to know why this seems like such a hassle (or whatever the objection is). Scroll up, there’s discussion subthread of engine start/stop and transmission selector configurations.
IMO, the question here isn’t whether a key or fob that has to be twisted is a hassle, but whether that feature is what someone expects to get in a modern, supposedly high-end vehicle—I know that I would be puzzled in the same way by this ancient Dodge key attached to my $80k Mercedes. Modern cars come with a fob that does not need to be inserted and a start button. That is pretty standard and expected.
All of my vehicles, which range from between 54 and 13 years old have regular keys that you have to insert and twist. Obviously not a big deal, but I also get annoyed by having sharp keys in my pocket and having to dig them out of pockets when i get in and forget to to do it before I get in.
It is funny how we things go full-circle, though. Remember when the Start button was down on the floor to the left of the brake pedal? Not really all that different from a dash button…
But it is completely different in the ways that matter. Step on the starter all day long, but the car wasn’t going to start if the ignition key—metal with notches—wasn’t inserted and turned in the ignition switch.
I’ll bet your rental had been filled with regular unleaded instead of the required Premium, thus blunting performance, the last one of these I drove with the V6TT had no trouble moving out at all.
That being said I’m kind of over these as well. I did (for the most part) like my old 2011 GL with the proper V8 and it seemed to have most of the “missing” items that this one didn’t have. There are a fair number of these around here, the one like yours is the “lease special” and the cognoscenti with money to burn get the 550 or a loaded up 450 with bigger wheels. Or the AMG one.
Still, it amazes me that BMW of all people didn’t get around to doing a full size 3row until just this year. MB made a lot of money over the last 12 years selling these (and all were built in the USA).
Yeah I bet a lot of rental cars get filled with regular, even if they are premium recommended. I doubt the rental car companies that do have their own pump have a single tank with regular, while someone who is returning a car and buying their own gas isn’t going to spend the extra money for premium.
Yet another reason I’d never buy an ex-rental luxury car, or an ex-rental in general. At least a new buyer or lessee has a vested interest in taking care of the car.
Then don’t buy a lease return either – my wife’s best friend is incredulous that we use Super when required (as opposed to recommended) – she’s a serial leaser currently with a Volvo XC90 and BMW and Audi prior to that and has never used Super and doesn’t plan to. She couldn’t care less about the “ability” or power of her vehicles/engines beyond whatever the badge conveys. She’s a wonderful person otherwise though but probably more like the general population in regard to her cars.
Depending on the car and the price spread at local stations using premium could save her money. Most cars that list it as recommended to get better MPG on Premium. I know when my MIL had her PT cruiser Turbo she would loose about 10% in MPG on regular, so as long at Premium was less than 10% more than regular you come out ahead with Premium.
I think we spoke about people and math skills in a different thread a few days ago… 🙂
Well if I could get my MIL to see that Premium was actually cheaper overall, I think that many could be taught.
Well if it is “recommended” there isn’t going to be any long term adverse effect on the vehicle. It will just get lower MPG and have less power. One that lists it as required on the other could end up damaged.
In regard to the older GL I owned it was required not recommended. I don’t think it would have been “damaged” by using regular but a twin turbo or a turbo AND supercharged vehicle such as an XC90 may be a different story. So far she hasn’t seen any ill effects in her cars but then again she trades them in every few years so…
In any case in CA Super is only 91 octane so it’s a crappier brew to begin with and part of the reason I gave up on turbo cars when I lived there. Mix a turbo, 91 as the highest (or lower) octane,and hot weather at sea level and you’ll quickly see the engine retard the timing and have you wondering what exactly you paid for.
Thankfully you can at least find 92 in my area again, for years 91 was what everyone had around here. I’ve heard of magical lands where 93 is available.
I don’t believe using regular even in a “Premium Required” vehicle will or can actually damage it. The only damage I can imagine would be from pre-detonation, and that’s just not going to happen with a modern engine.
Even with those 19″ wheels, its proportioning appears somewhat SsangYongesque, while the grille bar detailing looks like a crib from the ’47 Studebaker.
The CC Effect strikes again- went to a wedding this morning on the Mag Mike and happened to get one of these via Uber. Very unimpressed. The amount of cheap-looking “brushed metal” plastic inside reminded me of an early 2000s Nissan.
Eugh. Well-written review, but I can’t help but hate this car. It’s so vulgar, a celebration of conspicuous consumption. It’s a massive middle finger to anyone who might be affected by climate change. Do you really need this big a car for a family of 4? We used to get 5 of us and a lot of stuff in a Peugeot 405 estate. I believe it weighed over 400 tonnes less than this, which looks about the same size as the Exxon Valdez to my eyes.
Lefty European rant over 😉
I’ve noticed a fair number of these sitting low when parked, generally only at one end or the other. I’m guessing they have air springs, which seem to me to be a maintenance headache. How expensive is it to fix those, anyway?