Timothy

On the other forum, there are dealers out-cutting each other on price - basically selling at invoice price. If you're buying, be cautious - looks like some dealers are panicing to dump inventory on this brand new model.

EFant

which forum?

hcden

What inventory? Most major dealers that I know only have 2-3 GL's in their lot at this time. I'll be interested too to see that forum.

JLP

Maybe on the east coast, but it seems very early for any major discounts. Although anycorporate owned dealership ( Autonation-Sonic) which own 100 plus dealers can discount anything they want at anytime. I would really like to know what forum as well???

jayj

i'm guessing its this:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/gl-c...50-1600-a.html

sounds like 2 overzealous salesman trying to sell a couple extra cars that are poorly optioned. notice the premier edition is at msrp.

rp1

I'm in the Washington, DC metro area. Today I went by MB of Tysons Corner (formerly known as HBL) and saw 14 GL's on the lot with my own eyes.

American Service Center in Arlington has 28 listed on AutoTrader.com

Herb Gordon MB has 15 on AutoTrader.com

Even the small dealers in the sticks have several on hand.

The premier was last night at the large dealers in the area - maybe they think this is an affluent area and will sell a lot this weekend. We'll see.

They wife wants one so bad she can taste it - I'm trying to convince her that it is worth waiting a few weeks - if this is a repeat of the R-class debacle then it will be worth the wait...

JLP

I think that the GL will be much more of a success than the R-class........we will see soon enough!

Germancar1

I do too, just because you see a lot on the lot doesn't mean they aren't selling. It could mean that they've sold a lot and got a lot more in or anything. How long they've been sitting there is the question.

M

JLP

Sorry but there are a total of 12-14 GLs currently in the washington d.c area and half are pre-sold.

northbenz

GM just cancelled production of the original Hummer (H1?). Lincoln Navigators are being given away at huge discounts. No one is ordering a Suburban anymore. Premium gas at $3.00 plus is bad news for all large SUV's. Fortunately for Mercedes they have a diesel variant of the GL in the pipeline and the sooner they start marketing it in the U.S. the better.

It also looks like Mercedes didn't learn from the R Class debut that it is a mistake to only offer partially optioned vehicles at the inception. Failure to have the entertainment systems available on the first models is a big mistake. The first buyers of a new model want all the bells and whistles and they are going to give a pass to under equipped units which just adds to the impression that the vehicles are not selling. With the R there were a lot of buyers who gave a pass on the 350 knowing the 500 would be out later. I suspect with the GL there are a lot of buyers waiting for the diesel.

rcf8000

I've seen several GLs at a local dealer. None of them had the multicontour seats, which means that they all had manual lumbar adjustment. One of them had an MSRP of $72,000. Manual lumbar in a $72,000 vehicle? Please! This should be standard equipment in all GLs.

EFant

I agree fully!

hcden

Right on. Much worst, I've seen many base GL with nothing (packages) on it from the factory. Dealer added an aftermarket single flip 8" screen with DVD and 22 inch bling bling crome wheels. MSRP is $54900, but on another window sticker shows the total of dvd and wheels is $15,000. Total price=$70,000. Thats for a base GL with manual lumbar and manual tilt steering. I bet most buyers will opt to see and NAV and dual screen or running boards if MB intend to sell this for buyers with big families with no intention of showing off their 22 in wheels.

I usually don't order my cars from the factory. I get whats on the dealer's lot or pick up from other dealers. But my GL have to be ordered from the facory as when my dealer check all the GLs in So. Cal., most of them are poorly optioned. I badly need the multicontour seats and none of the GLs have that, except for the demo car that I drove. What MB are thinking???

rp1

How do you figure this?

Germancar1

It is amazing all the conclusions that have been drawn so quickly about how the GL is selling before it has been on sale a full month yet!

Gas prices are up for sure, but we're talking about luxury SUV buyers here. To mention the H1 is just plain rediciulous as that thing wasn't a regular vehicle to begin with and it has never sold well past the first few years it was offered to "civilians". The Navigator is being pouded by the new Escalade...which brings me to my next point about large SUVs that ARE selling. The new GM models are so there goes that gloom and doom gas price theory. Now how do we know that GL buyers are waiting for the diesel when the GL hasn't been on sale a full month yet? Talk about internet hype!

One person mentions that the GL prices are dropping and there it goes. Hype, misinformation and confusion.

M

PaulX608

I was at HBL test driving a GL last Saturday, the 6th. At that time they had 4. 3 on the lot, and the Premier Edition in the showroom. Can't imagine where they'd put 10 more on that lot. Did you take a photo?

JLP

Its called NETSTAR.

rp1

I was there the 6th as well - mid afternoon - you aren't the guy who was letting his baby chew on the steering wheel of the Premier Edition, are you?

I work near there - went back Wednesday (the day after the primier party) and they had 6 in the showroom, 3 more parked just outside the showroom and 5 more being offloaded from a car carrier.

At that time they had a couple in each of the tans, silvers and grays, one in red and one in blue and 2 in black and I think I saw a white.

The ones I saw were pretty sparse on options except for their Premier Edition. I was sort of decked out.

PaulX608

Nope, not me. I had my 6'3" 265lb 15 yr old son with me as well as my wife and our 6 year old. We went up there pretty early maybe 1100 or 1130. I'd love to see the one in white, my wife loves white cars. We drove a silver one that was lightly optioned with a sticker around $65k. We liked it, but with the options we'd like it'd be right around $72, and I'm not ready to pay that for a car right now. I'll be watching the used market in about 3 years, then I'll be ready for one at $30k-$35k or so .

mkaresh

It looks like they were afraid the price would be too high, and thus made few with many options.

I'm still trying to figure out if the base GL has any leather at all on the seats. The salesman said so, people on this site say so, but nowhere on the mbusa site does it say so. Just says MB-Tex. MB-Tex has gotten so good, I suspect many people just think they have a GL with leather.

At least they can hose it out after all the off-roading.

Germancar1

That is MB tex on the base GL models. Not even leather inserts, just MB tex. Hella good vynil IMO.

The Premier Edition's optional Nappa should the optional leather.

M

Calcio

15 and he is 6'3" 265! Gee it was almost lunch time, maybe it was him chewing on that steering wheel!

Calcio

Herb Gordon's web site shows 15 available, all with stock numbers and VINs. They might not all be sitting on the lot available for sale however.

mkaresh

Thanks for being the first person to (hopefully) confirm this. Everyone else seems to think there are leather inserts, likely because that's the way it is with every other Mercedes. Then again, the GL is the only Mercedes where you can get Airmatic without the fancy shocks.

Germancar1

Well I was just going by all the window stickers on the GLs I recently looked at. I haven't seen any mention of leather inserts anywhere, dealer info, window stickers, or in any brochures. All I've seen is MB Tex which itself does a good job of imitating leather to most people. There was even an article recently on Autoweek or another auto website about why a 50K SUV doesn't have leather.

M