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A few comments as a result of picking up our GLE 350 then headed out west.
The range of vehicle is great
Snow encountered in the Rockies doesn't take much snow to mess up the sensors
The navigation system doesn't like being in the Rocky mountains
The MBtex seats felt very good.
The GLE of ours didn't have ventilated seats but never experienced discomfort.
In a separate thread I mentioned the vehicle never did get the mountain time zone correct.
In the separate thread I mentioned about the horrendous turbo lag and bounce while on hot days while at altitude.
The turbo lag issue is greatly reduced now that the car is near the Atlantic Ocean.
I busted a windshield while in the Rockies and due to the extreme cost quoted while there I waited until getting back home. Interesting I am number 74 on the list to get a OEM windshield as there are none available apparently. I'll wait to save about $1,500.
I had lowered the tire pressure to 35 all around prior to leaving and found the run flats ok.
The console doors do not open now.
The car drove great and was very comfortable. The Mercedes lady was always interrupting conversation asking how she could help.
The Mercedes Me app worked great.
On flat land the power was adequate up to about 80. In the mountains I would say underpowered thus high revs if asked by Mercedes. Only was stopped by troopers twice one ticket, one warning.
At a fast food drive through window we received a nice comment about the digital dash(it was night)
I didn't check mileage but thought it was good except for one tank that ran through the car and I think I messed up in Colorado or Kansas and used the high content ethanol by mistake!
Robert
A few comments as a result of picking up our GLE 350 then headed out west.
The range of vehicle is great
Snow encountered in the Rockies doesn't take much snow to mess up the sensors
The navigation system doesn't like being in the Rocky mountains
The MBtex seats felt very good.
The GLE of ours didn't have ventilated seats but never experienced discomfort.
In a separate thread I mentioned the vehicle never did get the mountain time zone correct.
In the separate thread I mentioned about the horrendous turbo lag and bounce while on hot days while at altitude.
The turbo lag issue is greatly reduced now that the car is near the Atlantic Ocean.
I busted a windshield while in the Rockies and due to the extreme cost quoted while there I waited until getting back home. Interesting I am number 74 on the list to get a OEM windshield as there are none available apparently. I'll wait to save about $1,500.
I had lowered the tire pressure to 35 all around prior to leaving and found the run flats ok.
The console doors do not open now.
The car drove great and was very comfortable. The Mercedes lady was always interrupting conversation asking how she could help.
The Mercedes Me app worked great.
On flat land the power was adequate up to about 80. In the mountains I would say underpowered thus high revs if asked by Mercedes. Only was stopped by troopers twice one ticket, one warning.
At a fast food drive through window we received a nice comment about the digital dash(it was night)
I didn't check mileage but thought it was good except for one tank that ran through the car and I think I messed up in Colorado or Kansas and used the high content ethanol by mistake!
Robert
if you filled up with high ethanol content (> 10%) fuel in Colorado, that would definitely affect your High altitude performance. Ethanol has a lot less energy density than gasoline, so you’re available horsepower will be greatly reduced due to the combination of lower density air and lower energy content fuel.
There is a computer upgrade that was just applied to our GLE yesterday that specifically fixes the clock not recognizing mountain time zone while traveling from the East. Guess I have to make another trip out west to test it?
nothing yet on the dreaded turbo lag drivability.
Robert
We just did an 800 mile trip with two 2-night stops with 4 adults on board in our 450. Took it fairly easy for the comfort of our guests. First leg was Portland to Crater Lake, elevation ~7,000 ft. No problem with power or lag at that elevation. Next leg down over the CA border and back up to near Gold Beach, OR got 28 mpg running mostly in ECO mode. Used CURVE through the twisty bits. Last leg back to Portland got 25 mpg. It's a very comfortable trip vehicle, and the large tank gives great range.
Nothing you can really do about it. This is normal. Small turbo charged engines suck at altitude. The power down low before the turbo kicks in is way low at altitude. That's where the engine runs naturally aspirated and you'll easily be down 20% in power at high altitudes, so the turbo lag becomes horrendous and then when the turbo kicks in you get a huge disproportional rush of power. A small engine like this is pretty horrible in those situations. Not too mention that the engine is underpowered really to lug around an SUV on this size. I once rented an Audi S3 for a long weekend road trip. Drove up to 9000ft and it was absolutely horrible. The S3 is supposed to be a somewhat sporty car and is much lighter than a GLE, but it performed terrible at that altitude. Huge turbo lag that made for a really terrible driving experience. Never again. Probably ok at sea level and on flat roads, but not in the mountains and at altitude. The GLE 450 has a six cylinder and EQ Boost. The latter bridges the turbo lag, and the 6 cylinder makes more power. Much more satisfying to drive at elevation and in the mountains.
Nothing you can really do about it. This is normal. Small turbo charged engines suck at altitude. The power down low before the turbo kicks in is way low at altitude. That's where the engine runs naturally aspirated and you'll easily be down 20% in power at high altitudes, so the turbo lag becomes horrendous and then when the turbo kicks in you get a huge disproportional rush of power. A small engine like this is pretty horrible in those situations. Not to mention that the engine is really underpowered for lugging around an SUV of this size and weight. I once rented an Audi S3 for a long weekend road trip. Drove up to 9000ft and it was absolutely horrible. The S3 is supposed to be a somewhat sporty car and is much lighter than a GLE, but it performed terrible at that altitude. Huge turbo lag that made for a really terrible driving experience. Never again. Probably ok at sea level and on flat roads, but not in the mountains and at altitude. The GLE 450 has a six cylinder and EQ Boost. The latter bridges the turbo lag, and the 6 cylinder makes more power. Much more satisfying to drive at elevation and in the mountains.
Last edited by superswiss; Jun 24, 2020 at 04:59 PM.
superswiss said, "Nothing you can really do about it."
Actually, you can mitigate the energy deficiency by manually shifting the transmission and going into lower gears to keep up the revs. When you do that you can 'stay on boost'. Off boost, you're correct, you're driving a heavy vehicle with a modest performance 2 liter engine. By staying on boost you'll be driving a performance 2 liter that is designed to compensate for the higher altitude and providing significantly more power.
You'll use more fuel but it won't feel like the engine has died!
superswiss said, "Nothing you can really do about it."
Actually, you can mitigate the energy deficiency by manually shifting the transmission and going into lower gears to keep up the revs. When you do that you can 'stay on boost'. Off boost, you're correct, you're driving a heavy vehicle with a modest performance 2 liter engine. By staying on boost you'll be driving a performance 2 liter that is designed to compensate for the higher altitude and providing significantly more power.
You'll use more fuel but it won't feel like the engine has died!
Yes, once moving you can keep the engine on boost. I was mainly talking about taking off from low speed or a stop where you simply have to wait for the turbo to produce boost. But even keeping the rpm up doesn't necessarily spool the turbos. If you are off throttle, fuel is cut off, so no exhaust is produced to spool the turbos and you end up with turbo lag when trying to power out of a corner. This is a common problem with small turbo charged engines if they don't have a good anti-lag system. The anti-lag system is what causes the pops&bangs on many performance cars. They extend the combustion cycle past the cylinder exhaust valves opening, so part of the fuel burns in the exhaust manifold and keeps the turbos spooling. They may even periodically inject and burn some fuel with the cylinder exhaust valves open, so the engine doesn't produce any torque but keeps an exhaust stream going to keep the turbo spooled. You don't find this on regular Mercedes-Benz cars, though. Have to step up to AMG for that.
We just did an 800 mile trip with two 2-night stops with 4 adults on board in our 450. Took it fairly easy for the comfort of our guests. First leg was Portland to Crater Lake, elevation ~7,000 ft. No problem with power or lag at that elevation. Next leg down over the CA border and back up to near Gold Beach, OR got 28 mpg running mostly in ECO mode. Used CURVE through the twisty bits. Last leg back to Portland got 25 mpg. It's a very comfortable trip vehicle, and the large tank gives great range.
i must be terrible in stepping on the gas pedal. how do you average so high? i'm getting 22-23 mpg at best on highways and around 19 at best in city. highway numbers are close whether it's ECO or Comfort mode and never had anything in 24s or above (yet)
When the GLE was in the Rockies interesting it drove decent when cold. I guess the engine management allowed more pulse width of the injectors and turbo changes weren’t too noticed. But; when engine got warm it wasn’t a fun car to drive up there.
i have made several trips up there in my 3500 Duramax diesel and never experienced any driving issues with or without a trailer. Also never any issues other than power loss and mileage decline when driving the Ex350 Lexus
Robert
i must be terrible in stepping on the gas pedal. how do you average so high? i'm getting 22-23 mpg at best on highways and around 19 at best in city. highway numbers are close whether it's ECO or Comfort mode and never had anything in 24s or above (yet)
The 28 figure included a 7,000 ft. descent in ECO mode. I was taking it especially easy with another couple in the car. I usually get in the 23 range, as well, because I'm doing 75 or so.
I just drove about 330 miles from Boston to Montreal, got exactly 22.0mpg by the time I arrived (value was slowly creeping up along the way, computer was showing closer to 20mpg near the start of the trip). Used some cruise control, probably 75mph average.
[edit] I should add that in general my trip computer seems conservative. Estimated range remaining with a full tank of gas before I left was 370 miles or so, yet after 330 miles of driving the estimated remaining range was 167 miles... Similar with GPS navigation, it often estimates the trip to be significantly longer than Google Maps does (even with same route) and then eventually converges as I get closer to the destination. The nav said this trip would take 6+ hours, it was off by about an hour.
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