ChinaBob

I picked up my 2017 GLC 300 on May 19, 2017. It had been a CPO service loaner and had less than 4,000 miles on it. It’s a 4Matic, black with saddle leather, COMMAND system, 360 cameras, PARKTRONIC, head-up display, Burmeister, etc. I am retired and drive a lot, coast-to-coast and border to border a couple of times, putting 80,000 miles of my own on the car in less than two years. This being one of the few, if not only, GLCs with this kind of mileage, I thought it might be useful to share some of my observations and experiences with the forum.

Particular likes

• Head-up display: always have it on. It puts vital speed, navigation and cruise control information right in front of me so I don’t have to take my eyes off the road for routine monitoring.
• CPO warranty: saved me $2400 in repairs just since it went off new-car warranty at 50,000 miles. The right blind-spot monitor went out at around 60k and it would have cost $415 without the warranty, but the really big one, so far, was the leaking engine mount that the service advisor said would have set me back about $2000 if it weren’t for the CPO.

Particular dislikes

• It’s black and I hate black. To add insult to injury it’s metallic black, which added $750 to the sticker price, but that was the trade off to get HUD and CPO.
• It’s not diesel. My last few cars have been diesels and I love them. The GLC was originally going to be imported with a diesel option but then the VW diesel scandal hit and effectively wiped out diesel cars in the USA. Way to go, VW!

Early issues, also reported by many others

• Wind noise: the dealer installed acoustic glass in the front side windows, which not only took care of the wind noise but made the car noticeably quieter overall, even at idle.
• Front suspension vibration over irregular surfaces: This was to the point where it could have been dangerous. Dealer kept the car for a few days, taking the suspension apart. It was better but the problem was still not really solved until I put non-RF tires on it when the originals wore out. Puzzling problem, if you think about it. Surely M-B engineers would have noticed and fixed this before production, unless, and this is my pet theory, they forgot to tune the suspension for run-flat tires.

Tires
The original tires went 34,000+ miles before needing replacement. I got the Michelin PRIMACY TOUR A/S, an asymmetrical tread tire that Consumer Reports says should go 80,000 miles. I’ve got 50k on them now and they look good for at least another 30k. Noticeably quieter and better riding than the originals and took care of the suspension vibration problem.

Brakes
Yes, mine squeal, too, when I back out in the morning. Sometimes they even howl, but it’s only for a short distance and in any case this is not the kind of thing that bothers me. On the other hand, I am still on the original pads. When I had them checked at 60k (double-checked because I didn’t believe what the dealer was telling me) the fronts were still like new and the rears had little wear.

COMMAND system
Already cussed and discussed to death on this forum so I won’t belabor it here except to say that I hope MBUX is a big improvement.

mbrace® Entertain
Pretty useless except for the WiFi hotspot. The sound quality of the internet radio stations ranges from poor to tolerable and you can get them only when driving in an area with Verizon cell, and oftentimes not even then. In addition, Yelp! and Gas Buddy and maybe some other apps that originally came with mbrace have long since disappeared, but I still subscribe because of the WiFi. I stream Spotify and some other apps on my phone using the WiFi hotspot when available and cell when not, and download a lot of listening in advance so I am using neither as much as possible.

Mercedes ME
I use it often on my Android to input destinations before I leave. It’s much easier than trying to use the COMMAND navigation, especially if your destination is out of state. It works about 99% of the time. I have also used ME to start the car on cold mornings and have had no problems with that feature, either, except that I find the 5-gallon minimum fuel level requirement rather annoying.

Service
I know of a guy who refers to M-B dealer service as his $400 car wash. He has a point. I’ve always had my cars dealer- serviced by the book but with the Mercedes I’d become more and more disenchanted with value per dollar. The breaking point was when they charged me $60 to rotate the tires and then told me I needed new tires. Surely they noticed the wear and could have called me before rotating to let me know, but they didn’t, and they wouldn’t budge on the 60 bucks, so now I have all my service done at an independent Mercedes shop except for things they don’t have the tools for, like changing the transmission oil and filter on a GLC 4Matic. I get the oil changed regularly at 7500 miles and other things done as needed. Oh yes, and I got my new tires at a tire shop that not only gave me a good price but rotates them every 5,000 miles for free.

Conclusion
I like my GLC and plan to keep it until the CPO warranty plus extensions expire in January of 2024, at which time it should have somewhere north of 200,000 miles on it if I continue my current driving habits. I have always poo-pooed extended warranties but this car is proving to be an exception. The $2400 I saved on repairs with the CPO warranty have almost paid for the 2-year extension and I have 120,000 miles yet to go.

kombifan

Whoah!

Nice writeup and happy motoring! The cpo program was definitely made for your needs!

62bassman

Considering the long distances you’re traveling, do you carry a spare since no more RFT?

ChinaBob

I do, bought it off Ebay, and you just reminded me that I need to get a set of the short lug bolts so I can actually use it in the very unlikely event that I need it.

I figure it this way: in my 50+ years of driving I don't ever recall having an air leak big enough that required me to mount a spare tire. Instead, I've had a few slow leaks that allowed me to get to a tire fixit shop in plenty of time. The last time, and probably the first in 20 years, was a few weeks ago. In that case I used the compressor that came with the spare to re-inflate the tire and drive to the nearest Walmart auto center. But I got the spare anyway because it was only $125 including compressor and shipping, cheap enough insurance.

gholland

There is a software update to the steering that eliminates the issue with the vibration. At least it did for me. I had the steering wheel vibrate after hitting minor dips in the road, I asked the techs to update the software and it has eliminated the issue. Search my past posts and you'll see it.

gh

chassis

Great report, thanks. Did you buy an extended warranty on top of the CPO coverage?

ChinaBob

Yes I did. I got the two-year extension, which brings it up to 7 years of unlimited mileage coverage for $3000. I normally don't buy extended warranties but in this case I went for it because of the extremely high mileage I intend to put on the car.

chassis

Thanks ChinaBob.

George in KG

Who did you buy the extended warranty through? MB or someone else?

ChinaBob

I got the MB extended warranty.