Good day gents (and ladies)... I have been lurking on the boards for sometime but never got around actually registering and interacting with all you fine people..

My story with the GL started with a friend purchasing a new (back then) 2012 CLS 63 AMG, it was one of the first vehicles to arrive at our dealer. I wasn't a big fan of Mercedes then since I recalled the nightmares my dad faced with his last Merc (a w140 s-class).. Ever since practically the entire household switched to Toyota and Lexus.. I am a big fan of the manufacturer and own a few collectables from them.. Anyhow, going back to what got me into the GL; my friend had a major issue with the tensioner pulley on his cls.. When starting especially cold starts, the belts would flutter up and down to the point where they damaged the inside of the hood and the carbon fiber engine cover, in addition to that, not one assyst system was working in the car (this was all happening with less than 200 miles on the clock).. Since it was a new vehicle then, the dealership did not know what the issues were and my friend is clueless when it comes to cars.. He gave me the cls to figure out the issues he's facing, which I did working with MB Germany and an enthusiastic executive in the service department.. The car took around 2 months going back and forth to the dealership until the issues were rectified.. Turned out Merc had released a TSB which replaced the tensioner pulley and the water pump on the newly released AMG v8 biturbo, the assyst issue was due to a loose connection on a small control unit packed in the passenger side of the rear bumper. During the period the cls was in service, Mercedes provided a courtesy GL550 which ended up staying with me because my friend was traveling and did not need it. Initially, I thought it was big and useless at being either an SUV or a luxury vehicle.. During that period I took my daily driver in for service and decided to give the gl a thorough try... Boy did I change my initial inceptions on the car.. It grew on me so much.. It's something about it that felt so special and got me attached, I drove it through a mix of city, highway and offroad.. The GL excelled in everything I put it through.. I did not personally like the way the X164 looked in and out and felt the interior build quality could be improved but ever since I returned the car, I secretly admired it and kept it in the back of my head..... Then the x166 debuted and I was sold!

I wasn't in the position to buy a car when it came out but promised myself to look into it when ready since I needed an SUV as a daily driver. I also considered a Lexus GX460 (my dad drives an LX so I'm not gonna get the same truck), and a Porsche Cayenne turbo.. Both other options were. Very nice but I disliked the way the cayenne looked and felt the GX left me wanting more, I even thought about getting a new 200 series land cruiser but I wanted something different for a change.. I decided to bite the bullet and pick up a GL.. You only live once and life's too short to make sacrifices...

While negotiating a new 2014 pearl on brown 550, a manager at Merc offered me a CPO'd 2013 with 4k miles on the clock for $20k less than it's price new.. I initially overlooked it because I really wanted the brown interior but when I saw it, the interior color combo did not look bad (beige/black), the vehicle was only registered 5 months ago and the price was perfect.. When it comes to sell 2-3 years down the road, I doubt there will be a $20k difference in value between the two so I bought it

I just picked the car up yesterday and am loving it very much but I still have my doubts/worries; firstly, I am not married nor do I have children to tag along, my parents do ride with me quite frequently and I'm sure they'd enjoy the GL but I'm worried I'd feel it's a little too much down the road... I don't have any troubles driving large vehicles I've driven full size trucks for quite some time so I'm used to handling/maneuvering large trucks but it's a point worth considering.. Secondly, before purchasing the car, mercedes sent me a demo that stayed with me for 5 days, when I received the demo, it had around 300 miles on the clock, I returned it with around 800 miles.. In the 500 miles in my possession, the sunroof quit opening, the passenger seat quit moving and the vehicle developed a number of minor creaks and rattles not acceptable with a car of this caliber IMO.. I read a lot on here but couldn't find many with these issues which is why I hoped it was a one off case and pursued the purchase..

With my short observation on the GL I purchased, I came to learn that the massage function on the drivers seat is inoperable (the entire lumbar function does not seem to be working), the front two headlights fog up slightly from the top of the case (pics attached), and the car seems to have the dreaded creaks I noticed in the demo especially when turning and driving over imperfections on the road, it feels like a structural rigidity issue being a heavy unibody.. I find this pretty disappointing on a new flagship Benz but I may just be too used to Lexus quality perfection.. Having said that, I'm still excited and am hoping that I'm just being too picky for now, I'm confident the truck will grow on me as I accumulate miles on the clock

Anyhow, that's me and my story, I'll leave you'all with the pics and my apologies for the super long post, I guess that's what happens when you lurk for so long haha.. The black GL is the demo I had, did pretty well in the sand dunes only the damn traction control kept kicking in, I need to find a way of completely disabling the system.. Looking forward to being active on the boards and interacting with fellow GL-ers.. Thank you for reading Mo

 

Nice write up, I see your from Qatar so you get a slightly more powerful v8 than we do in North America. I get the creaks when going into the side walk to enter my driveway, structural rigidity is slightly better than the last generation but not at the level I would expect.

 

+1 same here

i agree not as bad as the X164. i'm wondering if some of those creaks are from the seals around the doors? the creaks aren't always the same place and volume

my X164 also had some serious passenger seat creaking, which i have not heard (yet) in the X166. but i also have the multi contour seats which are beefier so maybe that is the part of the reason

 

congrats on the 550 btw - beautiful in white!

 

Thanks for the replies and kind words guys... For some reason I never thought structural rigidity would be an issue with the GL, funnily enough this is the first unibody SUV I drive.. I'm one of those people who didn't believe in unibody SUVs until I came across the GL haha..

The demo X166 Had both front seat creaks.. Mine seems okay up until now... Fingers crossed

I didn't know middle eastern gls are more power I believe mine is 429 horses