After 48 hours of owning the GL, I am fully impressed as it has exceeded all of my expectations eventhough I thought that I had done all of the research that could ever be done on the vehicle. Let's stop the talk about initial quality for a minute. The fit and finish of the macademia leather is excellent. The quality of the materials are excellent for a vehicle in this price range. The ergonomics are great and not overwhelming, like Mercs can be sometimes. What stands out the most to me is the ride that comes from the unibody construction. If you close your eyes you would think you are riding in a S550, without question. I don't know how this could be possible, but it is. The 4-matic is so seamless you completely forget about it. I truly love the multcontour seats. They make you feel like you could ride for 2 days straight and never get tired. The 4.5 L V8 is more than adequate for a SUV this size. It has plently of get up and go.

I love the simple touch for the keyless go, no more tugging on the handle like wiht the CLS 55. This is my first Benz with distronic. I never could justify the $3100 price tag. All I can say is AWESOME. Particularly when it applies the brakes for you when a Toyota Tacoma cuts you off. No more touching the brakes to knock the cruise off. Its a bit pricey, but it you can afford it, its worth it.

Finally, I do not yet understand all of the raising and lowering that it does on its own at different times, when you are heading up or down a hill. Its pretty neat though. All and all I love this vehicle and it was well worth the wait.

All I need now is some 20"s, chrome door handle inserts, and those PE running boards that I keep getting the run around about.

Truly, the GL450 is more Mercedes to love!!!

 

I agree on all of your initial impressions. Quality of interior materials are excellent. I remember pushing with my fingers those Escalades trims and they just move like soft plastics. MB quality is far superior.

Keyless go I think uses some sort of motion detector inside the handle. I know what you mean by tugging handles with CLS.

Multi Contours seats are the best seats I ever had out of all my cars in the past. It just feels good in the back no matter how long is the drive.

I also felt and heard the suspension releasing air with a woooossss sound whenever Im uphill or downhill or in some uneven grounds. Airmatic just keeping the car level.

You will surely love those moving xenon headlights. Super bright at night.

I dont have Distronic though. Wife use to have a Lexus with laser cruise control but they don't apply 100% braking. Can distronic apply 100% braking?

Im still trying to figure out what kind of connections so I can play another DVD or ipod using the input for audio video at the rear entertainment. I tried RCA composite plugs but they don't fell right. It can't be push inside the hole.

I removed my roof crossbars as it create lot of wind noise.

 

My dads R230 has Keyless Go, I just have to wrap my hand around the handle for it to unlock so I don't think it's a motion detector thing.

W221 salesman told me the car will apply upto 80% braking if I remember right. But that was a while back.

 

Thanks, EFant, for the nice report.

I guess that I will also have to consider Distronic-Plus on my new-order vehicles....

I have not thought that I would want it -- but then I used to not be a fan of Parktronic too.....

Enjoy your new truck!

 

Thanks Hcden about mentioning the crossbars. I noticed just a touch more wind noise than I would like, and couldn't figure where it was coming from. It sounded like the 2nd row doors, which didn't make sense. It wasn't bad, and I generally don't hear it at all because of the stereo. Probably won't remove the bars, but it is good to know where it is coming from.

As for the braking % for distronic, I'm not sure what it is. It is not 100% though. It has an alarm system that will flash and sound it you need to assist with the pedal in helping avoid an accident. I haven't had that experiece yet, but that is what the manual says. But it is weird to be on the interstate and never have to touch the pedal to knock the cruise off cuz somebody is in front of you. Even getting off on an exit ramp to transition to another interstate; disctronic set at 70, everybody slows to 40, no biggie, you slow too. When you hit the new interestate the vehicle goes back to 70, with out ever touching the brakes or the accelerator. Is it an absolute have to have? NO! But is a $70k+ MB SUV a have to have?

 

You are right, the interior quality is incredible and i will go on record to say it is better than a RR supercharged. I have a PE as you have seen from my past posts and wish I had multicontour seats as I had them on my G500.....having said that, the seats with Nappa are quite soft and very supportive and better than the standard seats in a S550 (that i drove last week).

The rear seat entertainment system can be played via the car's stereo by hitting the "AUX" button on the "audio" menu. I had top gun on yesterday and the surround experience is incredible. you can actually hear the jets fly from the rear to the front of the car and the voice is concentrated to the center speaker. The slight tilt feature in the screen makes it convinient to adjust to any configuration of the front seats.

I have never had distronic in any of my cars. I thought the G500 could benefit from this due to the heavy pedal effort and thought the GL would need it as well. Surprisingly the pedal effort is minimal in this car so, for someone like me who does not like using cruise, I dont think i miss not having it. I would never want this feature on any AMG as it would simply defeat the purpose of the car.

 

On second thought, most people are removing the crossbars. I believe I'll remove them tonight.