I was at a different MB dealer tonight, and noticed that they had a few 2008's (no GL550's, though). Interestingly, the 2008 EPA estimate for the GL450 is 13/18.

I'll trade 1 mpg for 47 hp and 52 lb-ft, thank you.

Also, they had a Pewter/Macadamia GL that made me very happy that I selected that combo.

Raj
On order: 2008 GL550, Pewter/Macadamia, RSE, tow package.

 

I'm not sure what they're smoking at the EPA. I haven't seen less than 18mpg on any tank refill yet. I normally get 19-20mpg in the GL450 with mixed driving. The same is true for my SL, the EPA numbers aren't close. My last highway trip in the SL, I got 25mpg while averaging 80mph. Surprisingly the EPA says it will only get 13/21mpg with their new realistic tests. I can just imagine if I puttered along at 65mph.

 

Wow, that's great mileage. Do you consider yourself a conservative driver (I'm not)?

If the GL550 is within 1 mpg of your results (as the comparative EPA numbers would suggest), I'll be very happy.

 

In everyday driving, I would say I mostly drive conservatively with short bursts of enthusiasm - particularly in the red light national championship series. The GL wins a suprising number of heats, and the SL wins even more, but I don't think either car will make it to the finals.

 

How does your GL do in the Crazy Left Racing? Not sure if it's an LA thing only but mine does surprisingly well in the stop and go while the wheel is turned left all the way.

 

Crazy Left Racing? Do you mean when you have two left turn lanes at a light and the first car through gets to change lanes in the middle of the turn? If yes, we have that in Maryland now, and I remember it well in Texas where they did it bigger - Ford F250 diesels and such.

 

My GL 450's mpg seems very dependent on driving speed and style. At a steady 65 mph the computer indicates 20+mpg. At 85 mph the mpg drops to 17 mpg. My wife is a conservative driver and routinely averages 17+ mpg in mixed driving. I get closer to 14 mpg.

 

TWO LEFT TURN LANES???? Wow, I thought those were a myth since here in LA we are lucky if we get one.

And, Crazy Left Racing in LA goes something like this.

1. You have to make a left at the light but there is no dedicated left signal.
2. So you creep out in the middle of the intersection as far as you can and 2 or 3 cars behind you, who also have to make a left do the same.
3. When light turns orange you start gunning your engine and start guessing which car, of the oncoming traffic, will be the first to stop. If you guess wrong then your insurance goes up, if you live that is.
4. If you guess right, then you turn the wheel all the way to left and gun it.
5. But you have to correctly guess which car behind you will take which lane when they finish their left or else you end getting cursed for blocking the intersection and your insurance goes up.
6. Lastly, and often, you have cars from the other side participate also and so you have to make sure you miss them also. Else you end getting cursed for blocking the intersection and your insurance goes up.

It is really fun. Come to LA sometimes and we will take you racing.

 

Sounds like real fun. Unfortunately, I have seen people that won't move into the intersection, but instead sit there hoping there won't be any traffic the next time the light cycles.

When I'm in LA on business, I'm usually in rental POS and travelling on the freeway out of town, often very slowly.

 

Angelenos are not afraid of moving at the lights, no matter what color the light is. Heck, some of us specialize in "moving" the lights (pole and all), if they don't listen to our demands.

Let me know when you are in LA next and we will take you racing. In a GL. So you can hate the rental POS even more

 

At 20 MPH I get around 12-13 MPG
At about 45 MPH around 18 MPG
At 60-65 MPH I get around 20 MPH. After that it starts to dropp off again.

A 300 Mile trip averaging 70 MPH showed 17.9 MPG, not sure how it was 70 MPH when I was constantly keep it around 85 and sometimes even 90-95 just to scare some camry driver who may have been thinking that he owns a race car

 

Sounds like a plan.

 

I not going to name names or incriminate the guilty, but same story just replacing 90-95 with 110-115 and the Camry with an S2000. Well the S2000 is pretty close to a race car, but I don't think he had the stomach for those speeds when the road started bending. The GL feels very stable at high speeds. I think it would be a good 120-125mph cruiser on the Autobahn.

 

GL 320:

57-59 mph 27 mpg
61-67 mph 25.5-26mph and so on