stickygreen

After all the delays by MBUSA, our new GL has arrived...'09 with every factory option except lighted door sills & RSE. Whole family showed up as we surprised my mom for her 60th birthday...


Likes:
-interior fit & finish
-headlights...low beams are great, high beams turn night into day!
-comfort
-fuel economy (got 25mpg highway, 23mpg combined in 150-mile drive home from dealer
-new COMAND is great! especially the voice control, which is FAR more accurate than any other system I have tried
-ADS - it is a MUST have option with the runflat tires
-none of that diesel stink like our '05 cdi
-pretty much everything else about it, except what it listed below

Dislikes:
-7 speed trans, though smooth, is NOT well suited to a diesel engine. The gears are too short and run through the power band too fast. IMO this engine would be much more responsive if paired to a 5-speed auto
-non linear brake pedal with mushy feel
-steering doesn't firm up enough under load
-runflat tires a bit loud over road impacts


Pics to follow shortly...

oknish

Congrats, Raj. Lucky Mom I am sure she will let you drive it too.

MomsBenz

Yay! Can't wait to see pics! What did your mom say? She had to be pretty surprised!

stickygreen

Thanks. She deserves it. The GL is in my garage until she takes it home on Thursday, so I've been doing my best to break it in


She had no idea. Her reaction is pretty accurately portrayed in the 2nd pic...






And a pic as she sits now, in my empty garage...



Will try get some better pics later...perhaps a nice shot of all 3 MB's together

stickygreen

one more...

MomsBenz

Awww, that is so neat! She is so cute! She looks so little sitting in the front seat. I bet she can't wait to take it home!!

oknish

Mom now be stylin' at Mandir, huh, Raj

Great looking ride and nice pics. You sure have a winner in pic #2.

Newbie_2_MB

Great pictures & what a wonderful thing for you to do for your mom. You are a good son!

Brocktoon

Nice stuff! Don't worry the seven speed becomes less confused the more it learns your driving style. Other than the common rough downshift in certain cirumstances, it is much better now than when it was new.

fq1

Congrats to your mom and to you! You can see it in her expression as to how proud she is of you.

DMW2

Nice pics, love the expression on moms face!!

Enjoy the new car!

JimBarnhart

Congratulations! It looks like the unveil was quite an event to be remembered.

Nice truck, nice present, nice job!

stickygreen

Thanks guys...I guess it really was worth the wait. I just hope this GL is as good to us as our other two MB's have been. We tend to hang on to our cars for a while.

Haha...damn right!

The 7-spd has actually be functioning flawlessly, with no rought downshifts or seeming confusion. I just don't think the 7-spd gear ratios are well suited to the diesel engine's torque band...

scottybdiving

Actually, a diesel engine loves lots of gears. Although they have tons of torque, their power band is over a much smaller range than a gas engine. GL 320 398 ft/lb 1600 - 2400 RPM, GL 450 339 ft/lb 2700 - 5000 RPM. The 7 speed is better suited for the diesel than the gas engines.

Congrats on your purchase. I bet every Mom wishes they had a son like you. You make the rest of us look bad.

tucker3434

That's awesome you could do that for your mom. She is very lucky. I hope she enjoys it.

Stumblefoot

Not only can Amy never meet Jen, now my Mother can never meet StickyGreen. I'm afraid Wal-Mart gift cards just wouldn't cut it any longer.

BETO

WHAT!!
If it wasn't for the seven speed tranny you wouldn't get such wonderful MPG. Keep it below 2,000 rpm and you'll notice the difference.
Have you ever noticed how many shifts an 18-wheeler goes thru in the first 100 yards?
I have towed my race car several times over the mountains already, and I love the up and down shifting capabilities of the GL320. So far is the best MB suv I've owned.

DaCeptak0n

Glad to see Mummy-jis driving white GLs!!! Congrats, Raj is it? Pratik here...

oknish

Wow......so many bhai log are here now

stickygreen

In a world of Desi's driving Lexus ES300's, it's nice to see so many of you driving German cars...

Mileage is great (23-25mpg so far-should only get better), but I don't think that has much to do with the 7spd. The ratio of top gear (when combined with final drive) yields near-identical RPMs at highway speed to the 5spd. Big-rig trucks are geared that way so that they are able to get moving with a load w/o burning up the clutch. I'm sure the 7spd is superior to the 5spd while towing, but I found that upon brisk acceleration, the closely-spaced ratios do not drop the revs enough on an upshift to take advantage of the power band, especially around town and on freeway onramps.

Bear in mind that I still think the GL320 is an excellent vehicle and I'm just nit-picking at this point.

Nevada Jack

Congratz... what a nice thing to do for your mom! Pictures are priceless...

May she enjoy the new GL in good health...

atwal

Congrats. Can you get GL320 in California? "Enjoy in good health" as NJ stated.

Newbie_2_MB

You'll have to send Amy off on a hike in Yosemite in June as we're planning on attending the 2nd annual GL meet LOL!