Hi all,

In the market for a 7 seater SUV. Here are the ones that I am considering

1. GL450 (CPO)
2. MDX (New)
3. XC90 ( new, probably lease)

We will be using it everyday around the city, a few highway miles, grocery shopping (costco) etc. I need to be able to put two child seats in the second row, front and rear facing and grandparents in the 3rd row for occasional trips to mall, restaurants, or even a 2-3 hours trip.

I do like the Gl450 on how it looks, and was thinking of CPO for price you get a lot of car. However, my concern which cannot be resolved with a test drive is, who doe sit fare as a daily driver, in mall parkings, parking garage etc? does it feel sluggish? does it start to feel heavy instead of being nimble? merging into traffic etc?

Also, how easy is it to access 3rd row when with child car seats installed on the outset seats? I had read somewhere that the headrests cannot be taken out? is this true?

Lastly, what concerns should I have buying a CPO? I see that the CPO warranty is only 1 year. How long have you guys kept your cars? do you keep it out of warranty?
regular maintenance? does it cost a lot? insurance - does it cost a lot?

Now the other two cars, MDX is reliable, and has many safety features and options and is decently priced for a new car, has 3rd row, but i don't think adults can sit longer than 30 min ride, something to consider, and its not a benz.
XC90 - looks great, inside and out, but reliability is a question and can't see myself spending $60,000 for a volvo.

I am really having a hard time figuring out which car to get?
What are the must have options that i should look for in a CPO GL450?
Do any of you have any of these 2 cars, what are your thoughts?

 

I have a 2015 GL450. It has plenty of power for passing on the highway and does not feel sluggish at low speeds. To get into the third row you have to fold the second row seats. They are 2 separate seats and can be folded individually. If you have car seats in both second row seats you will not be able to fold them. I have not tried to remove the headrests but I think you are correct that they are not removable
Maintenance is expensive compared to MDX. Each service A is about $230 or so and each service B is about $450 or so. Service is required at every 10,000 miles or 12 months

 

I have a friend with an XC90 and they are getting rid of it the second the warranty runs out. They are having big issues with it.

 

You cant access 3rd with child seats in position on two outer seats. Only option would be child seat in middle and passenger position. 2nd row behind driver allows single seat flip up to access 3rd row.

With 2 child seats and need for 3rd access, best bet it to find truck with captain chair option, GM/Nissian/Honda Pilot /etc.


edit: reverse what I said, single flip seat is on passenger side.

 

I went from a '13 Durango R/T Hemi to a '14 GL450 CPO. The Durango with 2nd row Captain chairs would allow a very agile adult to squeeze past child seats in the 2nd row into the 3rd row. I'm 70 and my wife is 67. I could do it but grandma might balk. I've been told the Durango 3rd row is comfortable. This past weekend I had my 67 and 64 year old brothers climbing in and out of the GL 3rd row with the 2nd row seats folded forward. They didn't like the climb.
I believe that both the MDX and XC90 are basically front wheel drive with AWD as an option. That's still front wheel drive in my book. The XC90 front wheel drive has 250 lb ft of torque vs the '14 GL's 406. With 6 bodies in the car, more torque is better.
One poss solution (gasp) is a Honda (or any) mini van. The configuration is made for easy access to the 3rd row with babies in the 2nd row. Now I get why you'd want a GL. The other day some schmuck in a Subaru wagon was going 35 mph in the outside lane in a 50 mph zone. I pulled into the right lane to pass him and he didn't like it. I saw 2 bursts of exhaust as he floored it to stay ahead of me. I tromped on the GL and left him in the dust. There's 2 sayings I live by...front wheel drive is for girls and there's no substitute for cubic inches. I already mentioned my age....
Re GL options, mine is bit strange in options. Halogens, base radio, but Parktronic which gives the 360 camera, 3 row a/c, and 3 sun roofs. A lot of people will tell you it's Bi Xenon or nothing. I drive in the early morning dark and the halogens are fine. Brighter is better but I can see where I'm going. The stereo? The road noise in the GL is quite acceptable. My wife's '14 ML350 has the HK system. At 60 mph on concrete I can't tell the difference. With 2 kids in car seats you ain't gonna get to listen to the radio unless they conk out. The ML also has ventilated seats which work fine here in Houston. I miss those in the GL. Get a mini van until the kids are out of the car seats. Then treat yourself to something sweet.

 

I have only 900 miles on my 2017 GLS so far and I'm getting 13mpg in the city, I wonder how much worse it would be if I had the old V8 engine? There is def. enough power and I can go 50mph in 9th gear and when I go 70mph the engine is at about 1600 rpm's, I love that. I live in the city and parking is not an issue but I have the 360 camera and that really makes a difference. There is a big difference between the standard stereo and the harman kardon's. I had it in my ML and I've driven loaner cars without out, so I'm sure. I had a friend in my GLS the other day and he said it's way more comfy in the GLS than in an Escalade which btw is not as roomy in the third row according to youtube videos I watched. As far as I know all Mercedes 2016 or newer have the option to remote start the car via phone app. I don't know what the configuration was like in the GL but if you got a GLS with Premium 1 package and Parking assist package which as the 360 camera, harman kardon and power easy (which makes the 2nd seats flip via push button) it's all I would need to be happy besides my color choices.

 

Gm third rows are not meant for adults.The floor is so high to accomadate for the rear suspension, an adults knees are in your face when seated.

Lincoln Navigator with IRS has a much lower floor in rear that sitting back there as an adult is actually comfortable.

 

Try Carmax so you can drive them all back to back. Bring the kids or seats.

 

Interesting you say that about the Caddy. I went to a Cadilac driving event a month or so ago and while a friend was driving I rode in the 2nd and 3rd row of a 2018 Escalade long wheel base (no more EXT markings). I found the 2nd row to be larger than my GL but the 3rd slightly shorter than the GL in legroom. However the Escalade is certainly wider and so are the seats.

Anyway, a few days later in caranddriver.com I found an article that supported my findings. It compared the 2017 GLS450 to the GMC Yukon XL Denali, Nissan Armada Platinum, and Cadillac Escalade Platinum (short wheel base). I took a screenshot to tease my Detroit automaker friends which reads Legroom for the GLS 3rd row is 35.0", Yukon XL Denali 34.5, Armada 28.4 and Escalade(short wheel base) 24.8. I'm making the assumption the the Escalade (LWB) has the same interior dimensions as the Yukon XL.

Certainly in an Escalade there is more room for "man spread" but the 3rd row leg room was not what I expected. The ride was ok but I expected the ride to be far superior than my 2013 GL, it wasn't. But on a long road trip with my 6'2"+ friends, I'd rather ride in the LWB Escalade. Note the "0n the road" test drive was only 15 minutes or so.

 

This is going to be hard. I went to my local deanship today, and they have 3 Gl450. The one I test drove did not have the easy access and it was a lot of steps to get to the third row. I did get to test drive it and it drove fine, plenty of power and did not feel sluggish. The third row access is of concern and now MPG is also something I need tithing about where someone mentioned they are getting 14mpg.

The dealer also suggested that I can get a leftover 17 GLS if i wanted to lease and they are taking off $10,000, but they don't have the color I want.

 

Tin, I don't know where you live so mileage may vary. I've got a '17 GLS 450 I bought in February. I live out in the country at almost 7,000 ft elevation and do most of my driving on highways and in the mountains to and from skiing. I regularly show 24 + mpg for a tank and I don't dawdle. I've seen up to +26 mpg for a full tank under good conditions for economy. I also pulled a fully loaded (3k lbs maybe?) 2 axle U Haul trailer from Colorado to Montana last summer. I got 14 mpg on that trip showing a 72 mph average over 1,040 miles. I think real world mileage is based on if you keep the turbo's spooled up and under load or if you can feather the throttle and let the engine loaf.

I keep asking myself if I'd choose a GLS again after over 20 years of Land Rover and Range Rover ownership. Short answer is yes.

 

City Driving.


Resetting after Gas fill up. Again City driving gas mileage.
I guess Gas Mileage thing is hyped up, if you drive sensibly and sober you get way better gas mileage in this V8 SUV. Check the attached image and these are from City Driving only.
And also I do have a Toyota V6 Camry and the Gas mileage for that car is 17-18MPG what you gonna say for that?

Thanks

 

You average 34 and 38 mph in city driving?

 

Don't know what traffic is like in your city but I was talking about going from red light to red light when I said that I'm getting 13mpg

 

That’s a AVG add +15-20. Even if you reset the cluster while driving on highway and brake 2-3 tines the Avg speed drops from 80MPH to 68-70MPH. Against this thing is not real time just an AVG.

and for V8 you don’t mostly go on cluster reading, you go 26Gal / Miles. Which I avg around 16-17.

Thanks

 

I agree with Mike450... you seem to be driving in the burbs, you can't get an average of 34mph in Chicago

 

I get 17.6 to 19.6 avg city highway and typically 22.4 if I reset the odo on a long highway trip. I have the following options
Adaptive lighting package (A must have in my opinion)
360 Camera (A must Have)
Third zone climate control (A must have)
Heated Steering wheel (A must have. I live in cold climate)
Lane departure and distance warning (nice to have)
MB Tex wrap on lower dash (nice to have)
Illuminated star (use less. I can't see it but Im sure it looks cool to others from outside)
Parktronic (came with 360 camera but have only used it twice to park)

 

About the headrests, they really aren't in the line of view when put down, so no reason to take them out.

And about the insurance, I went from a C350 to an ML350 Bluetec to a GLS450 and the insurance got cheaper with every switch although the cars got more expensive every time. These days its more about how likely you are to get into an accident and not just horse power and car value.

 

Out of curiosity, I looked at my cluster tonight.

15k miles and 680 hours, 16.1 with average speed of 22mph

22 miles 1hour 18 minutes, 15.3 mpg and 17mph average from start today.

Admittedly, I drive with a big foot, but I also live, commute, and spend 90% of my time in the suburbs.

 

My wife had the same dilemma - MDX vs GL. Then went to Carmax and saw a 2014 GL350 with 33k miles still under warranty. She drove it around, liked it and we bought it. Has a lot of torque - and gets down the road nicely. So I was having fun the other day and hypermiling for about 80 miles round trip 70% highway (65 - 72 MPH). I got 27.3 MPG of diesel - not too shabby

 

So, the discussion has started focusing on MPG, what is the general recommendation? Do you owners recommend the GL 450?

 

Yes if you like a comfortable, powerful SUV with a variety of options. No for someone who has 2 car seats and 2 older folks who'll be consigned to the 3rd row.

 

Was in the same boat a year back (XC90, Q7, MDX or GLS). We ruled-out the XC90 due to forum posts and price just isn't right for a Volvo. This part is purely subjective, but we didn't feel the interior on the Q7 and MDX did not feel as nice as those on the GLS. The GLS has met our needs and we're very happy with it.

Best of luck on your decision, these are all nice cars, just need to go with what makes the most financial and emotional sense to your situation.

 

Curious why did you buy from carmax, I am assuming its not a CPO, can you still buy extended warranty on it? did you buy carmax warranty?

 

Found one that was CPO at a local dealer in VA. A year newer about the same mileage - they wanted 10k more for about the same configuration. I tried to negotiate and the sales guy must have called me 10 times.. but still 9.5k more. I didn't think it was worth it. Something to be said about just going in and knowing exactly how much I'm paying - even though I may have paid a little more.

Car is still under warranty, all service history available from the dealer and car fax, and a few hundred bucks to get "152 point inspection" - which the MB dealer in my neighborhood told me I didn't need to unless I really want to get it done after taking a cursory look.

I went for the Maxcare, but I am not sure I will keep it. The customer satisfaction for Maxcare is at 1.5 out of 5. Doug Demuro seems to be the only one really happy with it. I am now researching all the issues that this car has and they are the following:

- Oil cooler seal - The seal has been replaced with a new Viton gasket since ~2012, so not an issue
- DEF heater - may have been replaced with an improve unit, but not sure. Hit or miss with replacement under emissions warranty (8 year/80k). 2.2k if MB replaces it, as low as $350 parts if you want to replace it yourself - I am a pretty good wrench.

MB extended warranty for another 3 years/100k miles after the factory warranty expires, is listed at $4700. I have until April 2018 to think about this. I know a lot of people say it is a mistake to not get an extended warranty on these cars, but I don't really see much that has gone wrong on 2013 and later GL diesels..

Sorry about hijacking this - and this is only my second post! Not a good start...