MGWVU

I own a 2010 gl450 and I'm thinking about trading for a 350. I'm currently spending about $100 per week in gas, my thought is that I'll spend less in fuel.
Do any 350 owners have input on the pros and cons of a 350?
Thanks in advance,
MG

KYBRIGGS82

I have a 2012 GL350 and love the vehicle. I went from a Cadillac Escalade to the GL350 and discovered even though the power of the V8 was quicker off the line I surly don't miss the 12 MPG. I average between 24 MPG to 28 MPG in town or traveling to South Lake Tahoe. It's perfect for all driving conditions without a fall in power and in the mountains at 75MPH I stay ahead of the crowd easily. At 9500 miles on my vehicle, I haven't had to fill up the AdBlue tank as of yet but AdBlue is $14.25 for a 2 1/2 container so no big deal. Great car !!

43221B

You should really drive a diesel at the dealership to see if you can live with the acceleration. I sort of have a love hate relationship with mine.

Love:

-Engine sound at idle- what a 5500 lb vehicle should sound like.
-Cruising- the engine runs in its peak torque range at cruising speeds giving it lots of power to tackle hills/mountains. Very seldom will the transmission ever shift down.
-Passing at freeway speeds- I've heard a lot of reviewers complain that the diesel doesn't have a lot of passing power on the freeway. Personally, I don't get this, if you are planning to pass, you gently press progressively harder on the accelerator and as the compression builds, the torque pushes you back in your seat. It has a ton of passing power. Perhaps the reviewers are flooring the accelerator causing the engine to shift down putting the engine speed above its peak torque range. The engine does not produce power the same way a gas engine does.
-Range- if you top off the tank, which you can do in a diesel, you get a freeway range of around 700 miles. You have no idea how nice this is, especially traveling with children, until you experience it. Stopping for potty breaks takes half as much time when you don't have to mess with the pumps.

Hate:

-Accelerating from a dead stop- It stinks. I can't get over this, I do not like it and have not gotten used to it in 3.5 years of ownership. I am able to deal with it because 99% of the time the GL is just cruising and typically you don't need to accelerate that quickly anyway. Again, when you do, it just stinks.

Where I live, premium is about $0.25 a gallon cheaper than diesel. Despite diesel being more expensive, I have figured that I still save about $20-$25 every time I fill up. If the economics ever changed, I would get the gas engine in a heartbeat. Right now though, driving the gas GL to me would feel like leaving all the lights on in my house 24 hours a day. You don't turn the lights off in the bathroom when you leave it because it will break the bank if you don't, you turn them off because you know you are wasting money and resources if you don't. It is sort of the same thing for me with driving the diesel.

MGWVU

Wow, I appreciate both replies. I've heard some complaints about accelerating..but I'm not a very aggressive driver and don't take chances pulling out in front of people, so I should probably be OK in that department.
I'm more interested in less visits to the pump and saving a little $ as well.
Now, I just need to find a 2011-12 at a reasonable price.
Thanks for your input!

vntgspd

There has been lots of discussion on gas vs. diesel on much of it comes down to your individual needs and use of the vehicle.

In my case, I would need to drive the vehicle for 36K miles before realizing any savings due to the premium and tax paid for a diesel GL. The diesel seems to hold value better than the gas so you would get some of that back. In my case it means that I could see a payback in 25K miles.

Just do all the math before you buy.

KYBRIGGS82

Where do you live ?

BlownV8

Yeah, me neither but, with the diesel, you don't have the option when you need to get out in a hurry. I could not stand the lack of acceleration in the diesel I don't think I could ever get over how slow it is off the line. I use the acceleration of the gas engine on a daily basis. It's a safety issue to me and the lack of ability to quickly pull into traffic is a deal breaker.

MGWVU

South Carolina


Regarding accelerating, has the lack of improved with later models? If its that bad, you would think some tweaking would have been done over the years.
I do appreciate the input and plan to test drive one when I can.
Thanks

MGWVU

Thanks for the input. Just curious, did you own a 350?

43221B

The horsepower and torque go up substantially for the 2013 model year. You shouldn't expect any difference between year 2007-12. I think they changed the model designation to 350 in 2010 and said on the window sticker that the torque was raised to 400 from 398. It is the same engine though and the engine specs in the manual on my 2009 shows the same amount of torque as the 2010.

cc4sc

I bought a used 2010 GL350 back in XMAS 2012 and have been loving since! I will concur what most have said about lack of acceleration from a dead stop is correct. However, I also do concur that passing (especially on an uphill climb) has been fantastic! In short, 0-40 sucks, but 40-80 is great! Loving the fuel efficiency; nearly a 600 mile range on mostly local driving and well over 600 miles on mostly freeways. According to my estimation, I pay about $5 more per tank vs Premium gas, but get about 100 extra miles of driving. Definitely worth it to me. This doesn’t even include the convenience factor….Haven’t had to do the AdBlue yet, but I’m hoping that isn’t much of an issue.

No offense to any of GL450 owners, but if I were to buy a GL again, it would either be a 350, for above mentioned reasons or 550 for the performance and power. At the end of the day though, this is not a sports car. It is a 7-seater and the reason you’re considering this is probably because of the space and the number of seats. If money was no object, I can see getting a 550 is worthwhile; otherwise, I would go with the 350 again…and again….

JimBarnhart

I've owned both now, a 2007 GL450 and a 2013 GL350. Recognize that the X166 GL350 has more hp/torque than the X164 GL350, so comparing to a 2012 GL350 might be a different experience.

The diesel doesn't do as good off the start, but I feel it does great for a large SUV. I also have a Dodge RAM 2500 Cummins diesel. I don't feel like I have to be careful pulling out in traffic or anything like that with the MB. I do have to be more careful with the Dodge than the MB.

If you want your SUV to display performance attributes of a performance car, then the 350 isn't for you. But I'd suggest neither is the 450 - you should get a 550.

The best answer is drive them and see what you like. If you are the type that likes to punch the gas at the stop sign, try that 550.

Fourdiesel

I don't believe there is ANY premium charged by Mercedes for the diesel. They are the only car I have heard of that is selling in the US that does NOT charge extra for the diesel. In fact, for all the model years I have checked the 320/350 CDI is $1-$2K less than the gas version producing the same torque and only a little more peak hp. New vehicles only. Same power - less money, better efficiency.
Less money also means lower sales taxes.
Since diesels are also less prevalent, the tighter supply generally means greater resale value down the road which means, in turn, a lower depreciation rate.
Thus the payback is immediate and you don't have to wait 25k miles.

vntgspd

Agreed. But I don't think the OP was shopping new. That's the case with me as we'll where the higher resale you mentioned for the diesel comes into play.

alx

Any gl except the cdi is a depreciation black hole.

The price of the used diesels is high, but those are big trucks that wear well and don't show mileage when properly taken care of. And when thr time comes to sell you don't lose that much compared to the gasoline trucks.

What I am trying to say is that the used ones cost close to what the new ones do because they are really not much different than their new counterparts.

Find one that has the options you want, make sure it has some warranty and don't pay much attention to mileage as it is largely irrelevant. The 3 liter cdi motor is fully broken in and reaches maximum compression at 100k miles. They are designed to run for over 500k miles without any issues.