Mercedes-Benz GL 350 - Road Test Review

The summers are relentless this year. The sun is raining embers. Birds are getting roasted mid flight. But wait, clouds are approaching at the horizon, a hope. The weather might turn nasty. However our photographer is excited, “this will turn out to be a fun shoot”. We pick up the new Mercedes Benz GL-class and drive to the outskirts of New Delhi, and lo, it has started raining. The winds have gone strong and powerful and is ripping off branches from the trees. Visibility has deteriorated. The big Mercedes just smiles and urges us to go on.

Are you the sort of chap who wonders if you can move your apartment on four wheels? Mercedes-Benz has an answer for you, the apartment sized GL-class. The GL defines the word big in every tangible aspect. Big engine, big seats, big boot, just plain big everything that is. For 2013 Mercedes-Benz has reworked on the GL in its second generation avatar. Reworked as in bigger again, the new GL is longer, wider and a wee bit taller than its predecessor.

EXTERIOR

The previous generation GL looked like an enormous bulky truck, or rather like an actual apartment with flat walls. But this second generation is much trimmer and fitter. The body has been sculpted and has more angles now. It looks more like a car now than a bus. The quality is flawless both inside and out. The GL has all the goodies from adaptive automatic headlights to rain sensing wipers to 21” AMG alloys and the list goes on.

INTERIOR

The interior of the GL-class bathes you in luxury and comfort. The ‘launch edition’ that we drove had Designo leather upholstery, the finest hide that Mercedes-Benz has to offer. The front seats are heated and cooled and are fully adjustable at the touch of a few buttons. Every button is in easy reach of the driver and the built quality exudes utmost class. The Thermotronic 3-zone climate control is very dynamic and caters to all three rows of passengers.

For the third row of seats, Mercedes has incorporated something called Easy-Entry system. Essentially what it means is that the backrests and seats of the second row can be divided separately in a ratio of 40:60 and folded down easily by using a handle to unlatch from both sides. Another highlight is the temperature controlled cup holders which can be heated to 55°C or cooled to 8°C as per the requirement. Mercedes has upgraded the COMAND system which takes care of audio and navigation. You can possibly connect anything to the big Merc and sink in high quality sound experience. The display console is 7 inch and also features a Music Register with 10GB hard disk space.

POWER AND PERFORMANCE

Despite the hefty size and weight of the GL-class, the engine does an excellent job of carrying the big Mercs bulk around. There is noticeable turbo lag, but once spooled up the GL touches 100kmph from a standstill in 7.9seconds, impressive from a vehicle close to 2.2 ton in weight. But it is not just tarmac performance. The GL is a very capable off roader as well. Because of the rains our off road track was wet and slushy now. The 4Matic all wheel drive system with 50:50 power distribution sorts everything out for you.

We were faced with a slippery wet 70° incline which looked a bit too ambitious, but we had to have a go anyway. The GL just kept climbing straight and true, isolating us completely from the effort required climbing such a slope. On the way back down the slope we got to use the Downhill Speed Regulation (DSR) system.  DSR allows the vehicle to maintain a driver pre-set speed between 8 to 15kmph driving down steep slopes by controlling the engine, transmission and braking system. Because of the bad weather we got to test another innovative offering by Mercedes is the Crosswind Assist, which stabilizes the GL against strong gusts of winds.

The GL is a charming vehicle. Looking at it you might wonder it is huge and bulky for our roads. But the amazing part is how easy it is to manage it size. It will drive seven people in premium luxury and comfort, isolating them from the chaos and heat and cold and anything else that mother earth throws at it, on the road, or off it.