Mercedes-Benz GL-Class 2013: Launch Review

The German powerhouse has two passenger models that are even bigger (three, if you stick seats in the Viano), including the just-updated GL-Class SUV.

Built in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and sharing its underpinnings with the new M-Class, the GL has been modified to be slightly lighter, more economical and more comfortable.

That last point is the  lynchpin, because with most of its global buyers being wealthy and based in the USA and Middle East, they won’t care a jot about its fuel consumption dropping by about two litres/100km.

Instead, Benz is selling this as a machine boasting all the comfort of an S-Class with the offroad ability of an ML-Class.

One of the biggest developments with the updated GL is also one of the easiest to overlook, namely the introduction of adaptive damping for its air suspension.

Previously, the setup ran to pre-planned programs, which could render the ride quite ‘chattery’ on small bumps. The move to adaptive damping has largely fixed the problem.

There’s more fruit on offer from the GL tree than you’ll find in the average orchard. You can stack yours full of everything up to and including Benz’s “Designo” level, which allows personal specification of leather colour, stitching, style and so on.

There are three rows of seats for a total of seven as standard. There’s no delete option, so owners who don’t like them will need to leave them folded, which is easily achieved since they fold electrically. The bad news is that the switches are located on the right-hand, or traffic side, of the luggage area.

The middle row of three seats folds manually but easily via a handle, although for the inveterate options ticker or the inherently lazy, there’s also an electric option.

All seven seats have backrest adjustment, with fore-and-aft adjustment in the front and middle rows, and surprisingly adult-ish space in the often-compromised third row.

On the inside, everything is high-quality with lashings of leather and wood and an optional 1200W 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system for dedicated audiophiles.

The GL does, however, shows some signs of the handbrake Daimler applied to spending during the first financial crisis. There’s a lot of carryover switchgear on display, including the air-conditioning unit and sound system, which hamper efforts to bring a slick new look to the cabin.

The dash layout is standard Benz fare, with large speedo and tacho flanked by smaller but easily legible ancillaries. On the flipside, a new slimline indicator stalk feels a little too much like Benz’s old cruise control stalk, and it’s easy to mistake the two.

But, while the ML is a comfortable mid-size SUV, the GL is a US-style supersized machine, clocking a whopping 2.4-tonnes on the weighbridge.
Benz has countered the beast’s girth to some extent by pulling 90kg out of the lightest model (thanks largely to alloy front quarter panels and bonnet) and by fitting more economical petrol and diesel engines.

By far the biggest selling model – even in the US, surprisingly – will be the GL350 BlueTEC with its turbocharged V6 diesel.

The engine is already well known in Australia thanks to its appearance in everything from the E-Class to the ML-Class. The 3.0-litre, single-turbo V6 punches out 190kW at 3600rpm and 620Nm from 1600rpm to 2400rpm.

While that torque figure is undoubtedly impressive, so is the GL 350 BlueTEC’s 2455kg weight. Granted, this European Commission figure includes a 75kg driver, 7kg of luggage and 90 percent of the 100-litre fuel capacity, but however you slice it that’s a fair load for six cylinders to move.

It’s fortunate, then, that there’s also the option of a direct-injected, twin-turbocharged petrol V8, in the form of the GL 500 4Matic BlueEFFICIENCY. In the US this vehicle will be marketed as the GL 550. It's not known as yet which way Mercedes-Benz Australia will swing. The force-fed bent eight cranks out 320kW at 5250rpm and 700Nm from a diesel-like 1800 to 3500rpm.

Both engines have strong efficiency claims. Where the previous GL 350 CDI used 9.2 litres/100km, the GL 350 BlueTEC drops that to 7.4 litres/100km on the EU combined cycle, a significant 20 percent reduction. Benz says the engine is already ahead of forthcoming EU6 emissions standards.

The bigger, stronger, 4.7-litre petrol V8 in the GL 500 also delivers a reduction in consumption over the current 5.5-litre V8. Benz claims 11.3L/100km and 262g/km of CO2, an 18 percent improvement over the outgoing V8’s 13.5L/100km.  

All new GLs boast a seven-speed auto and an all-wheel drive system with Downhill Speed Regulation and a range of other traction aids for different conditions. In fact, the range of driver assistance systems is off the charts, including Benz’s existing drowsy driver system, skid control, ABS, Pre-Safe,

Collision Prevention Assist, and a new cross-wind assistance setup that brakes individual wheels to cancel the effects of unsettling gusts. There’s also a feature called Steer Control to help in the event of oversteer.

Despite the surfeit of electronic aids, the double-wishbone front, multi-link rear suspension does an excellent job of avoiding the sort of situations that might call for their deployment.

The standard air-suspension has been upgraded to include sophisticated adaptive shock absorbers that are capable of recognising passengers in individual seats and adjusting the suspension accordingly.

Standard fitment tyres are 265/60R18s sourced from a variety of manufacturers, while the V8 runs 275/55R19s, with an optional 20-inch wheel available.

For anyone considering getting a bit fair dinkum, the GL also offers an optional Off Road Package with six driving modes for different conditions, beefed-up underbody protection, low-range transfer case, centre-diff lock and more ground clearance.

The off-road enhanced GL boasts 306mm of ground clearance and 600mm of wading depth versus the standard car’s 276 and 500mm, respectively. Towing capacity is 750kg, or 3500kg with a braked trailer.

As it stands you need a decent sized garage to accommodate its 5.12m length, 1.85m height (1.95m for the off-road pack) and 1.94m width. Actually, if you want to keep your side mirrors extended you’d better make that 2.14m wide. Then you might want to add a bit more, just in case you want to get out.

Pleasingly, the GL’s generous exterior proportions also translate into a roomy interior, with some clever arrangements for its seven seats.

There’s 1540mm of shoulder room up front, 1529mm in the middle and 1282 in the rear. Head room is similarly generous, with 1046mm between the seat base and the roof up front, 1015mm in the middle and 988 in the rear. The third row of seats suffers only a little for knee space, which is chopped to 458mm from the middle row’s 727mm.

Luggage capacity is a generous 600-litres, expanding to an enormous 2300-litres with seats folded.

There doesn’t appear to be anything immediately on the horizon from these likely suspects, either. BMW has reportedly decided the X5 is all it needs for now, while Audi remains interested in a mega SUV for the US market, but not right now.

Range Rover is said to be cooking up a bigger, seven-seat version of its prestige flag bearer, but that won’t be until after the all-new, lighter Rangie makes its global debut at the Paris show in September.  

That leaves the GL eyeballing more traditional seven-seat off-roaders, such as the Toyota 200 Series, Lexus LX570, and Nissan Patrol. While they all have more off-road prowess than the Benz, none have the badge cred or, for that matter, quite as much space.

It’s not working.

Well, that’s being a bit facetious, but it is so stubbornly slow from a standing start that it feels like old-school Benzes that take off in second gear to prevent jerking.

The data says there is a muscular 620Nm available from 1600rpm, but it feels like there is nothing happening until closer to 2400rpm.  

It’s smooth, yes, but the lack of punch from a standing start isn’t really acceptable in this day and age.

Benz claims a 0-100km/h figure for the GL350 of 7.9 seconds. But by our estimation that’s only possible if you trick it into punching off the line by building up the revs with one foot while holding the car on the brake with the other. That might be moderately effective, but it’s also a bit rudimentary for a vehicle with this pedigree and at this price point.

Suffice to say it’s so tardy off the mark that you need to recalculate your thrusts across intersections until you can see a big, big hole.  You sit there watching distant machinery loom large while your foot is planted to the floor, waiting, with increasing desperation for the engine to muster the ability to shift the GL’s 2.4-tonnes.

Having initially denied there was a problem, Benz subsequently conceded the tardy response was a combination of shifting a lot of mass and trying to keep urban fuel consumption low.

The disappointing thing about this is that the GL350 is a nice thing once it’s up and moving. It’s smooth and strong and even has a sweet engine note when the turbodiesel begins to spin. It’s decently flexible in the mid range, at speeds beyond about 30km/h, but it never feels brisk.

Fortunately, the petrol V8 powered GL 500 is far stronger, with more punch pretty much everywhere, albeit with a far greater thirst.

The V8 has a lovely aural depth at idle and launches from a standing start in the way you expect a modern turbodiesel to. There’s instant punch from the twin turbos and it builds steam far more urgently than the diesel, making a lie of the slightly later arrival of its peak torque.

The V8 leaps with enthusiasm any time you go near the throttle, and with 0-100km/h acceleration of 5.4 seconds it’s capable of frightening some of Australia’s domestically-produced V8s.

Of course, you won’t frighten them for long, because repeated full-throttle bursts will necessitate frequent stops at the bowser. We couldn’t get near Benz’s claimed 11.3L/100km figure and struggled to pull the trip computer below 15s.

Both engines are extremely quiet, but while we imagine the diesel to be the popular choice, it’s lacklustre off-the-line acceleration means we can’t recommend it.

Fortunately, there’s more to the GL equation and for once, the advertising mantra and reality align: as an SUV, the GL makes a mighty fine limousine.

Its ride is silken -- better and more cossetting than the current S-Class -- refusing to be disturbed by broken edges, corrugations or undulations. The absence of road and wind noise at a steady 100km/h is equally impressive.

We ran with the electrical systems off for most of our time in order to get a better idea of the baseline handling, without the heavy-handed intervention of the GL’s electronic driver aids.  Whether on gravel or wet tarmac, it was never anything but well behaved and nicely controllable.

The same applies off-road, where the GL is equipped with all manner of electronics to prevent misbehavior, but is fundamentally pretty well behaved anyway. Even when provoked, its ultra-long wheelbase means it slides in such a gentle and predictable fashion that it’s unlikely to catch out an unwitting driver.

The steering is of the electro-mechanical variety, but it’s sufficiently communicative and the brakes are strong.

Ergonomically, there’s little to complain about and the only interior let down is the quantity of carry over knobs, dials and buttons. It’s clearly new from the outside, not-so-clearly new from the inside.

The middle row of seats is every bit as comfortable as the front row, though the centre seat lets the side down a bit. The good news is that the third row is decently roomy and a genuine option for kids and adults.

That makes it a real family alternative for the Benz lover and a reasonable if pricey multi-seat conveyance for anyone else. Just don’t buy the diesel until they make it move a bit better.

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