Hello from a snowy suburban Detroit. My amazing husband has allowed me to indulge myself with a terrific automotive Christmas present, and yesterday we picked up our new AMG GLC 43.

As there are no doubt many "car-people" here, I'll share the story of the car that almost didn't happen.

We live downtown in a big city - private automobile is the worst way to get around! We do, however, drive to our cottage about 2 hours north whenever we can get away for the weekend. This has meant I get to have a car - husband wanted to go car-less when we'd first moved to Toronto. After a brief experiment with being "car-free", I have been living with a 2012 Nissan Murano Platinum for the past 3 1/2 years. It's got lots of "stuff" and is a perfectly pleasant car, though not one scintilla of excitement. We'd bought it at 18 months old with only 12,000km. A very rational choice. In fact, as I write, the car still only has 45,000km. Obviously we are low-mileage drivers and we certainly didn't "need" a new car.

But I really wanted a new car. I am a "car-guy". I love driving and I love cars. I've actually had so many cars over the years that the number of vehicle's I've owned is almost equal to the number of years I've had a driver's license (which is a shockingly big number!). The Murano, while pleasant, just wasn't doing it for me. After some lobbying, husband finally relented, so the shopping began!

I thought I wanted a Range Rover Sport. They may as well be the official car of Muskoka - the area where our cottage is located - as it seems everyone has one. And they have an appealingly "sinister" look. Turns out, however - for me - they don't have appealing driving characteristics. It struck me as very truck-like. It was also vast in size, and much too big for our urban environment.

Next up was the Macan. I've always wanted a Porsche - who doesn't - and the Macan actually worked for how we use a vehicle. I booked a test drive and husband trooped along for more car-shopping-which-he-hates. I drove the 4-cylinder car. Porsche charges stupid high interest on it's leases and that means the payment on the 4-cylinder is about the same as the 6-cylinder Merc. The Macan felt a lot like a GTI to me. I've had two of those plus an "R", and the drive was so familiar I feared I'd get bored quickly. Husband liked it - it is very likable - and, as mentioned, my desire to have a Porsche was very strong. I struggled the entire day following the test-drive with not wanting to admit the Macan under-whelmed me. I actually wrote an e-mail to the dealer rep telling him to place the order, and then deleted it.

And then, fortunately, a gap opened in my schedule for late afternoon. I rang the Mercedes-Benz corporate office to see if there was anywhere in Toronto I could test drive a GLC within the next 90 minutes. In hindsight it starts to look like a "meant to be" scenario, but as it happened the guy who'd showed me a C300 cab (husband hated the low-down seating position) earlier in the fall, and based at the nearest dealership location, was available. I cabbed it over (why do cabs always smell so badly?) and we drove a GLC 300. That's a pretty nice car in and of itself, and I would definitely have chosen it over the base Macan. Unfortunately he'd sold his AMG demo a few days prior and so I couldn't drive that. He did suggest I drive the AMG C-Class sedan and I am so glad I did! What an experience. I giggled like a child at the sounds the exhaust made in Sport+. And the engine - wow. This was exactly the excitement I'd been missing and so keen to find again. And, again with the "meant to be" theme, he had an Exec demo car in the right colours that I could get before we left for the in-laws on Saturday morning. I signed immediately.

So there we have it. I hadn't actually even driven the type of vehicle I was to be getting! This is the only time in my life I've bought a car without driving the exact model I would buy. The picture is one the dealer sent when it arrived for PDI Thursday morning. I was super-excited!

Oh, about the "back to Benz" part. Among the hordes of cars I've had have been two Mercs, both bought used. A 1991 300E and a 2000 C240. I'm looking forward to the AMG experience ;-)

Post Script: So I did get delivery of the car Saturday morning. I was so excited to drive it and take it on the trip to the in-laws in Detroit. Unfortunately, the dealership didn't have time to fit the snow tires. It was snowing heavily downtown, and, stopping for a red light, I slid into one intersection on the way home. In the interests of safety - ours and others - we took the Murano on the road trip as it is wearing snows. So my new GLC is sitting in my garage in Toronto, and I'm still driving the very competent but not engaging Nissan.

PPS: I've already re-watched the Autogefuhl AMG GLC 43 review. Wishing I was doing those acceleration runs myself in my own car, but watching the snow fall furiously in the Detroit suburbs I'm certain that taking the Murano was the right call.

Finally, as it seems of interest here, this is the spec my car has:
Designo Hyacinth Red exterior
Two-tone designo Black/ Platinum interior with aluminum door trim and matte-black wood centre console trim (the best choice, imho)
heated front seats; heated rear seats and heated steering wheel
Premium package
Premium Plus package
Night package
Active LED performance lighting system
Aluminum running boards (hate these and would never have gotten them had I specced the car)
Trailer hitch (I pay people to tow what needs to towed and would much rather this car had the Burmester audio rather than the running boards and hitch!)
Snow tires on 19" M-B rims

In Canada, this configuration comes to about $86,000.00. With sales taxes (HST at 13%), my car stickered for almost $100,000.00. A big indulgence. Hope I get to start using it soon :-)

 

Great post ELD, enjoy your 43 it is a great car.

 

Nice looking car and good luck up in the North Land.

 

I’ve consistently driven everything else and like you I keep coming back to AMG BECAUSE IT HAS TREMENDOUS SOUL! Everything else just feels like another tool in the shed lol. Merry Christmas and Enjoy the new Ride!!!

 

Great write up! Welcome to the club and enjoy your new ride....you will love it when you hit the twistys.

 

Congrats that awesome!!! I still, find it odd the rest of the world calls it Hyacinth red and we have to call it Designo Cardinal red...

 

Love the color and the designo!! We have designo in our little c300....amazing interior quality!! I had to pick white since we could not find more than a handful of GLC43's in all of SoCal for some reason!

 

I agree ... great colour combination. I ordered the same interior colour on my 2018 GLC43 with the diamond white exterior. Took delivery at the end of November (ordered in September) but I made sure that winter tires were installed before I took delivery. The vehicle has been great during this cold snowy winter!

 

The roof is black on a Night Package?

 

No, the roof is black because I have the sunroof. The night package doesn't change the colour of the roof.

 

ELD: Do you have any more pics of the interior that you can share? Is the white portion of the seating difficult to keep clean? Blue jeans stains?

 

Front seats


Close-up of driver's seat


Driver's door panel (I bought this "off the lot" - it should have had the Burmester audio; not only for how it sounds, but for how the silver speaker covers look!)


Centre stack


Rear seats

 

I've only had the car for two months, and have only driven - at most - 2,000 km, so there hasn't been much use. There is no evidence of staining at this time, but I did have some concern about a white interior for the same reason. It looks fantastic, though. I especially like the two-tone aspect. Personally, I don't really wear "blue jeans" so I can't comment specifically about staining from jeans.

 

I will NEVER understand this! How in the hell do you order a fancy AMG Benz with upgraded everything, including ultra fancy (look amazing btw) leather designo two tone seats and not get the upgraded stereo??? WTF??
I tested the base stereo vs the burmester and there is no comparison. The base stereo is good and does the job. But the burmester is frikkin amazing and just blasts my ear drums with pure audible chocolate! It even makes the Backstreet Boys sound awesome (my wife's choice)!
Again, you almost spent $100K on a car like this and you get the basic stereo system? And it doesn't look as nice without the amazing speaker grills. WOW! Such a disappointment (on the dealers decision making).

 

I have had my 2018 GLC43 for 3 months (5,000 km) and I had similar concerns regarding keeping the white portions of the seat clean. This is my daily driver and I consistently wear jeans. Last month, I did notice the front left side of the seat cushion (front portion) had a hint of blue colour which was obvious in the sunlight. To say the least I was concerned that it would not be easy to remove. I did a bit of research on cleaning white leather and found that a damp microfibre cloth removed the blue colour. I guess it was just on the surface. I also cleaned the leather with a leather cleaner wipe that I had for cleaning leather furniture. It looks great now with no hint of blue at all. The lesson I learned from that experience is to be in the habit of cleaning the leather regularly - particularly for while or light colours. I am now on the hunt for a good leather conditioner/protector to use after cleaning.

 

Complete agreement! I mean, anyone willing to up for the designo paint AND interior is obviously wanting it all! I'd have happily paid more for the content I'm missing (the upgraded audio and the ventilated front seats).

 

That is spectacular! Tks for posting.

 

 

great write up, now waiting to hear your driving impressions!

 

Well, it’s coming up two years now, so I have pretty consistent impressions.

- the power is awesome; I am curious to try the V8, but can’t imagine more power than I have. Whether from a standing stop or on a rolling basis, this car can really move.
- not saying I do, as the posted limit is 100-120 km where I drive, but this car will (I mean would) very happily cruise at 140-150 km all day long. In fact, the “natural cruising speed” feels to be about 135/140. Which I know from track time only.
- the transmission is too rough (I want seamless shifts in Comfort) and can get confused in Sport+
- the steering doesn’t give me the same “holding the road confidence” or feedback that I recall from the Macan; I am less confident in high-speed corners than I want to be
- I HATE the “auto-shutoff”; combined with the transmission not shifting smoothly enough it can make for very jarring stop-light acceleration (passengers complain all the time and even when I am not trying to be a hooligan!). By the way, I have had cheap rental cars (Ford Escape comes to mind) that had an indescribably smooth auto-stop function... Mercedes should be able to do this, too.

Would I get another? Well, from a product standpoint I am sufficiently satisfied that I would consider it. But Mercedes-Benz Canada made the decision without my consent to domicile my data outside Canada and I am really pissed off by that. I know it’s my government’s fault for lax legislation, but I am still pissed with Mercedes. I hope you’re reading this, Mercedes Canada!!

 

I looked at a white GLC 63 with those seats. I liked it but my wife did not. She kind of pissed me off so I bought the most expensive GLC 6S3 Coupe they had.