My wife test drove a GLE350 today and said it felt "a lot weaker" accelerating from 0 to 30 than her 10-years old Sienna XLE V6!

Is this even possible? Maybe it is the eco engine start/stop thing? She was just test driving in the city.

No GLE450 in-stock, so she tried GLS450 and it felt good. Will get her to try GLE450, but I was hoping GLE350 to be sufficient.

GLS has a much bigger MSRP discount and is likely a better value overall for us, but she doesn't want a large SUV.

 

The GLE 350 has decent acceleration at 0-60 of 7.1 seconds. The 450 at 5.5 is much better. I haven't tried a 350 but it could be smooth and a little deceptive. The new Sienna with 8 speed is about 9 seconds so it's not close.

 

Her Sienna is very old, in every stat there is no way Sienna should be competitive.

She was so happy to see our kids growing up and we can use a SUV instead of Minivan.

Could it be some settings on the car making it slower than it should be. Maybe it is the eco engine stop and start thing? We are not even testing 0-60, we were testing 0-30. She has to try GLE450 again and I will try to get her to try GLE350 one more time.

 

Start/stop has no influence on acceleration. There are mode settings with Eco as the lowest that will influence throttle response and perceived performance. 450 will be much more satisfying.

 

Perhaps she just thought it was slower because it was so quiet etc..

 

Just finalized my order for a fully loaded GLE. Going to put the deposit down tomorrow. Hopefully I'm not making a mistake given all the delays recently.

 

Just got my build sheet and there are items added and items deleted by MBUSA This 2nd time this has happened. SA says not his fault. All on factory

 

The way things are going I would believe him!

 

I just got a call from MBUSA CAC saying my car was completed Saturday and left Vance today! I can't believe it, and probably won't until it arrives.

 

Now I’m getting optimistic again.

 

Will you be the first official ordered GLE delivery on these here parts? Congrats, the unbelievably long wait you've endured will soon be over. Woo Hoo for you!!

 

Great news Greg. Hopefully they have resolved whatever issues they had...!!!

 

Ron.s's vehicle is supposed to arrive this week. Mine may be the first with E-ABC.

 

Can't wait to hear all about it. My build decade is almost over. Crickets. So congrats, Greg!

 

Great news Greg..now even I feel more confident about putting an order...

 

Ron.s's vehicle is supposed to arrive this week. Mine may be the first with E-ABC. Dealer previously told me it should take 18-20 days to arrive, but maybe they put it on an express truck so I'd quit complaining?!

 

Looks like the squeaky wheel finally got the grease! That is good news for sure. Hope it shows up in Wilsonville soon.

 

Thats amazing Greg!!! I am so excited for you!! Hopefully mines will get finished soon. My date of production was supposed to be 4/7/2019

 

Well, mine completed 24 days past the production date - hopefully, yours has is closer than that!

 

3 weeks or less and I'm good! Gonna get that cheap rental suv booked just in case ha.

 

My sales guy offered me a loaner.

 

So after communicating with my sales guy and sales manager on Saturday, 3/30, about my 17-day overdue build, the sales manager sent an email to West Coast Distribution explaining my situation. The response was, "Just got off the phone with MBUSA Distribution. He will make your order a top priority and we should expect it to get to B5 status this week.
I will keep checking for you." Monday after that they get an email from Distribution, "Those GLE’s are holding for parts to build. And at this moment we do not have any eta." On Wed. 4/3 they asked if there were any options that could be changed to improve things and were told "no." That's when I sent a polite but strong letter to the Vice-President for Consumer Relations at MBUSA, and copied all the relevant people. Friday the communication to dealers was issued acknowledging that there were some issues, and they shouldn't give customers an ETA until the car was shown to have production complete. All this time I had also been calling my "executive referral manager" at MBUSA Customer Assistance Center, but he had no more information than anyone else.

So today I get a call from that CAC guy telling me my car finished on Saturday, 4/6 and was shipped today, 4/8. So, it turns out Distribution was initially correct on it finishing last week. What was frustrating all along is a new ETA was never ventured, even though it seems they should be able to do that. So I'm left in the dark, with my current car presold with buyer as anxious as I am. I know MBUSA wants to keep tight-lipped lest the public find out there are issues, but they should trust their dealers to use discretion on what information can be given out. For longtime customers with sold orders there should be some realization that they need to keep these people informed.

I don't know if my activism had any influence, and I don't know if things are getting ironed out or they eased mine through to quiet the squeaky wheel. All I know if this rollout has been a cluster-F. I'll believe my fortune when I see the car.

I am sending a follow-up email to MBUSA.

 

It was this week but they changed it to next Monday the 15th now. SA thought it odd that they would make such a minor change since it was only from Friday to Monday and it’s only an estimate. And the drama continues.

 

The new GLS: More space, more comfort, more luxury

The largest and most luxurious new SUV from Mercedes-Benz can be seen for the very first time: the Mercedes-Benz GLS is the S-Class among SUVs, and embodies the claim to excellence in the premium SUV segment. General spaciousness, especially in the second seat row, benefits from the 60 mm longer wheelbase. The three fully electrically adjustable seat rows offer all passengers a generous amount of space and outstanding seating comfort. The active E-ACTIVE BODY CONTROL suspension based on a 48 volt network is familiar from the new GLE, and ensures superior suspension comfort, agile handling and good off-road capabilities. The GLS is also equipped with the latest generation of Mercedes-Benz driving assistance systems giving cooperative support to drivers.

 

So, we finally got the prices for our market, although delivery is August- September. Some of you might be a bit surprised considering this is a pretty lightly equipped GLE, but this is how things are here due to heavy taxes on car imports. We're not the worst, but definitely much higher than regular Msrps.

Extra specs:
992U Selenite Grey paint
H31 Natural grain gray trim
P31 AMG Exterior package
P55 w/ Night Package
P47 360 camera
876 Ambient lighting
810 Burmester Surround Sound System
RWB 21" AMG Tires

Total price: US$106,300

Some codes might be off, but these are the codes used by my local dealer. Have not double checked them against DOG.