When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Well I've had the car for 3 months. So I figured I'd post and provide my first impressions.
The wife's new car was ordered on June 20 2018. It's final assembly was Sept 18 2018. Loaded on a ship on Oct 1 2018. Successfully off loaded at the port in Baltimore on Oct 8 2018. Now for the disappointing part. Mercedes held release of the vehicle. On a positive note the wife gave me the OK to purchase the E63S on the show room floor if the GLC wasn't in by Christmas. Unfortunately for me it arrived at the local dealership on Dec 3.
Now for the details.
We ordered the car in black with black interior, black ash wood and aluminum trim. We opted for the night and AMG packages to give it a more masculine look. The rubber studded pedals and brake upgrades are truly noticeable. The only thing negative I would have say would be in regards to the low speed tire scrub due to the 20" tires. My fix...don't make a full lock turn = no tire scrub.
The performance of the 2.0L turbo 4 cylinder is very good. In Sport + the car really livens up. Fuel economy is tough to gauge. The wife only drives around town, so for the most part she stays in electric mode and the gas engine rarely starts. Currently she's getting 64mpg. The first week we had it we did a little touring around to get used to the car and we got around 29 mpg. On the wall outlet, charging is completed over night.
Comfort and handling are exceptional. Roomy enough for the 6'3" teenage grandsons in the back seat. Fuel economy meets expectations. All in all we are thrilled.
Sorry for the lousy picture. I'll post more when we get out of this Mid-Western gloom we call winter.
To be honest we haven't measured exact range yet. I will say in Hybrid mode the switch from Gas to Electric and back again is seamless. I will take it out this weekend to evaluate range.
Well, as with a gasoline engine, your mileage may vary.
On Friday night we took the car out with a full charge straight to the highway. After about one mile of intown driving we accelerated to 65 mph. As we transitioned up a hill, the gas engine started. We had traveled 9.7 miles. I did note there was 6 miles of range left on the dash gauge when the engine started. So I don't think I would trust the range gauge on the dash. On Saturday we set out with a full charge but this time stayed intown. I was pleasantly surprised the gasoline engine didn't start until we had 11.1 miles on the odometer. Unfortunately I don't remember seeing how much range was remaining when the gas engine started. The increase could be credited to lower loads, recharging while costing and under braking. Either way we beat the advertised range of 9 miles in both instances.
As for charging costs. It seems to match estimates. The battery capacity is low (8.7 kWh). Most Hybrids have twice the capacity. The car gets plugged in every day and our bill has gone up less than $20 per month. If drained, it should cost about $1.14 per day to charge.
Additional things noted.
Regardless of the battery's charge state. The car always starts out from a stop on the electric motor.
When it's cold outside there is instantly heat blowing from the vents. it must have an electric heating coil in the heater box. Nice.
There is no remote start for the hybrid in the Mercedes me app. However, The "pre-entry climate control" function accomplishes the same thing.
Thanks for the impressions and info. Does the car or Mercedes Me have a function to select the start and stop times of the charging to save on electricity costs? Thanks.
03-10-2019, 09:51 AM
