reed

Did anyone see the comparison in this month's Car and Driver? GL v. Q7 v. Escalade v. Infiniti QX v. 07 Navigator. The GL did very well and received actual praise, which is becoming rare in today's world of blah automotive reporting.

An interesting thing is they talked about decreased radar detector efficacy in the GL when the three zone climate option is selected due to the window film. Does anyone have any thoughts or insight about this. I guess if 3 zone is necessary, a remote radar (K40) would be necessary.

LETO

I have issues with my EZ pass working on the GL. Anyone else

Wolfgang

Here's some info.




PS. Q: Some McDonalds let you pay with EZ-Pass or Fastrak according to rumors? Anyone actually try it?

EFant

I just mount my passport in the lower quadrant as illustrated above. And it works fine. You can see the squares when you get up close to the window.

mkaresh

C&D compared the Navigator, Escalade, QX56, Q7, and GL450 in the October 2006 issue. Finish in that order. Points: 164, 181, 186, 203, 225. I don't always agree with their test results. But I agree with their points in this article. Essentially, the revised Navigator has an awful instrument panel and mediocre performance (just 300 horsepower), the Cadillac is tight inside, the Audi is also tight, but is more fun to drive than the others, and the Mercedes is very roomy and nicely finished inside, with a driving experience not far from that of a car.

The only thing I'm not so sure about is the placing of the Infiniti. When I drove the Armada a couple years ago the ride, handling, and interior quality were awful.

For those who need a large SUV with a usable third row, I must agree that the GL450 is easily the best choice right now. Competitors that are more fun to drive (Q7, perhaps XC90 V8) have much tighter interiors.

They might have one error. Is the stitched material on the instrument panel leather or MB Tex? I figured the latter, since leather isn't even standard on the seats. C&D says it's leather, though.

My own review, which compares the GL and R:
http://www.epinions.com/content_229849534084

ORK1

Just my 2 cents..
Well, i've seen my first GL a couple of days ago at Moscow Motorshow, it was a russian premiere, they had a great looking black GL500 with chrome pack. I must say that this car is simply gorgeous, it's beyond my all expectations. I must admit, that i went to the show to see new CL, but ended up checking GL mostly My wife loved it too.
I think that GL is best looking SUV out there.

Q7 looks ugly. I don't even know, how could Audi build a SUV with proportions of minivan.

hcden

I don't why Automobile magazine always bash the GL450. They said " ...LR3 has much better steering;...........the Q7 has better interior...theres too much derivative from ML and R-class."

The most recent October edition said: "If your impression of the GL its kind of big and kind of bland...you're pretty much right"......" GL has nowhere near the personality of many other full size SUV".

Which full size SUV has more personality?

lrrp

Personally i find the reg versions not that exciting especially white ones. PE has the looks.

hgelly

Looks like chrome trim below windows, hard to tell for sure . Ours did not come that way.

lrrp

YEAH THATS CHROME TRIM. In the brochures it shows the GL's with the chrome. I don't like it, looks chinsy.

2thfixr

I like the chrome trim. I bought my PE over the phone and had only seen a photo of the PE online. I was disappointed to see that my PE did not have the chrome trim under the windows. The interesting thing in the photos above is that the car looks exactly like a PE with the addition of chrome under the windows but it lacks the chrome roof rack. Go figure? Is there a "not too much chrome" rule being enforced by Mercedes?