Motor Trend is not my favorite car rag (is it still a rag if it's digital?), but for what it's worth:



The GLE was brought down by the base 4-cylinder and base suspension. I tend to agree - adequate but not what the vehicle deserves (bring on the responses, 350 owners!). Note the "superlative build quality" statement - I tend to agree, but others here will not be so kind.

 

Had my hesitation about actually buying the 350 but turned out it's better than I ever could have imagined. Fuel economy on the highway is about 27-28 mpg; interior and comfort can't be beat. X5 is a bit clunky to drive and the #2 Land Rover's quality is questionable. Buyers need to do their own reviews and comparisons. The experts always have an agenda.

 

When i first drove the GLE, i did not know it was a 4 cylinder and I was shocked when the Sales associate mentioned that at the end of the test drive.
I really wanted to get the 6 cylinder, so i test drove both of them back to back multiple times. Ultimately i went with the 350, since there was no difference in refinement or NVH.
And for our purposes of this SUV, 250hp/270lbft was plenty. Infact, my real dilemma was between GLE350 and GLS450.

 

Yeh. I went through the same thing; the GLS wouldn't fit in my garage though and certainly not as nimble.

 

It was February 2019 when I test drove a 350. My dealer had just received their first demos. I'm not sure they were making 450's yet. I was, and still am, happy. The X5 was my 2nd choice, but the deal I received on the 350 clinched it for me. I am no longer a driving enthusiast, so I don't need the extra power of the 450. I didn't even consider a Range Rover. We no longer have a Range Rover dealer in our town, but when we did, my oldest son worked there one summer during high school. His job was cleaning engines that had been leaking oil! That kinda kept me away from RR's.

 

So sorry for you! I'm 72 and still love to drive (but more in my M4).

 

The BMW I can sort of understand but the Rover is a lump & the Lexus is vanilla as they come.

 

I gave up on reviews years ago. I primarily read them to look for negative issues and look at pictures of models not yet released. Advertising dollars, personal relationships, demo vehicles given to reviewers and a lack of review standards across Magazines make them unreliable. There was a time when the magazine reviews were more helpful but like newspapers they are in survival mode now.

 

I'm nipping at your heels age wise. Keep that spirited feeling and enjoy life!

 

Happy for you young man. I’m 86 and drive our 350 everywhere, often at 80+ mph on our desert freeways. My “outing” today was down to the car wash for a $46 wash and hand wax with Griot’s Garage Best of Show wax.Totally exhausting watching that young man work for an hour in triple digit heat. Life is (still) good.

 

Agree whole heartedly. I know what I like, and don’t need someone else’s validation. I like my 350 and the way it is optioned. The turbo 4 meets my performance, refinement, and fuel economy expectations. People who disagree are welcome to, I take no offense...I like the fact there are choices—it forces continuous improvement. To me, more HP and faster acceleration times are expensive options that are basically bragging rights on a family transportation device. The additional engine refinement in the 450 is desirable, but I chose to trade off additional luxury options on the 350 for the same price, as I don’t have an unlimited budget. To me, the 350 was a good comprise. Of course, that’s just my opinion.

 

I agree that the 350 does not have the refinement of the 450; however, neither does an oil burner diesel. The 350 settles down nicely on the highway and the savings in mpg feels better than the sound of the 450.

 

We have had our nicely equipped GLE350 for 13 months and 17K miles. I agree with the statement about the build quality - nearly flawless with only one manufacturer defect and total reliability of every functional element including the driver assistance systems and MBUX. Although the engine is indeed coarse, I recently had a client ask me if it is a diesel, the performance of the drivetrain is really quite good most of the time. It is surprisingly responsive considering the output ratings and normally very quiet. It really mimics a diesel in many ways, which I consider a good thing having purchased two MB diesel vehicles in the past.

On the suspension, I think that Motor Trend's description of the suspension as "awful" is kind. How a manufacturer like MB could produce a product engineered like this is unimaginable. It is uniquely capable of simultaneously porposing, tramlining, and harshness to the point or trying to shake the car apart while sickening the passengers. Add to this the hard seats, hard center armrest, and hard door cards, and the cabin can be hateful place to spend time. And on concrete, the tire roar can sound like a jet engine is in the hatch. This is not a tire problem as I had the same Michelins on the vehicle I traded. This is a real shame as the package could otherwise be a real winner, especially at the price point. As much as I hate the financial punishment I will take, it will be gone from my garage before the end of the year.

Just for reference, this is my seventh new MB. And I have also owned 15 new BMW, Audi, Porsche 911, Range Rover autos.

 

😬 It’s been a while since Septuagenarians were called young. Keep it up!

 

This is stupid. People can debate whether GLE or X5 is better. After that I would rank the Genesis. Then the Range Rover - the tech hardly works, the car is small and it doesn't fit this segment. I'd rank the RX last because it is a FWD Toyota vehicle masquerading as a luxury car.

 

I am a tech writer albeit in the areas of motion picture/tv/digital cinema production. We tech people look for very different things than users and unfortunately some of our (collective) writing overlooks actual users. For example, in evaluating a lens or camera we can become "pixel peepers"-- enlarging a portion of an image hundreds of times to find imperfections. But when you look at the entire image on even an HDR TV it looks great. Same thing here. I find tech writers really like BMW's for reasons of ride, suspension and general sporty feel. I must admit the Range Rover is a mystery to me. But then again, I always get hate mail of "why did you give that POS camera such a great review?"

 

Seems that the review was slanted against the four banger which I can totally see why. If the six was the base the review may have been different.

 

The biggest complaint was the suspension. Does the GLE450 have a different base suspension than the 350? In the end, if you like your car, that’s the only review that matters.

 

AFAIK, the components are the same, but likely the 450 has different tuning at the front for the added powertrain weight. Adaptive damping is only on Airmatic and E-ABC variants.

 

Did you take it to the dealer and have them ride with you and see how bad it is? FWIW, we have a 350 w/base suspension and my in-laws have one as well, and this has not remotely been our experience. I’ve had mine since Feb ‘19 and have 24K miles. It’s quiet, smooth, and I can drive 70-80mph with 1 finger and it tracks like a laser. In fact it’s so smooth and quiet the first few months I frequently found myself unaware I was speeding. For reference, I have the AMG line exterior w 20” wheels & Michelin tires that are not low profile. If anyone has a 350 with an “awful” ride and “roaring tires” I would advise taking it to the dealer because that obviously isn’t the standard. As to the interior, I find it to be comfortable and it impresses everyone who has sat in it. The MB Tex shows almost zero wear after 24K miles. No, it’s NOT super high-end luxurious like my last S Class but that has a six figure MSRP and this was half / $66K. I wouldn’t call the engine super smooth but the transmission is, and in sport mode I’ve never had an issue getting up to any speed in aggressive traffic and 25mpg in an SUV is pretty strong if that matters.

As for the review: I’ve been in the Lexus RX and it’s not in the same league as Merc. Rovers are pretty sweet, but notorious for issues. Beamer is probably on par or slight notch up in some ways but we prefer the GLE AMG styling and our local Benz dealer is wonderful. I respect all opinions on here and if mine had suspension that made people sick and tires that roared like 40” mud tires, I’d be at the dealer screaming and/or trading out of it. I would suggest anyone on the fence about the GLE takes a test drive and doesn’t rule it out based on “horrible suspension and cheap interior” because if you don’t get a defective unit they’re really a pleasure to own.

 

We have a 5-month old 350 RWD and after reading your comments, I concur 100%. The four-banger coupled with the 9-speed is remarkably well performing. Although we have had several MBs over the years, our last two cars consecutively were Lexus RX350s. We think the GLE excels in ride, handling and performance compared to the Lexus. The GLE certainly has a less pillowy ride, but that’s consistent with all German vehicles. We have had zero flaws since taking delivery, just as was the case with the Lexus, and we yet have had to connect with the local dealer after 6000 miles.

 

I second what you have written about how quiet, smooth and pillowy the ride is on the GLE. The very next day after taking delivery, we went for a long drive. Soon enough, my wife in the passenger seat and kids in the back fell asleep, their excitement of a new car notwithstanding. Coming from a 5 series, this car has been a wonderfully serene family hauler.

 

I appreciate the response(s) to my post. I have indeed taken it to the selling dealer with no real satisfaction. In fact will mention it again when there tomorrow to have them try and program the the aggressive lane keep assist to default to the last setting versus always turning on at every start.

I notice that most of the responders are from the south where the roads are fairly decent. And while in the south, the car rides fairly well, However, we spend summers in the midwest where the roads are far from perfect and the highways are grooved concrete. Here is where the problems with the tracking and suspension reveal themselves. Previous two vehicles before this were an X5 with MSport package (huge low profile tires) and full size Range Rover. Neither presented the suspension and tracking issues that the GLE demonstrates. As I stated, I have no issue with the drivetrain...it's characteristics were easy to determine during the test drive. Interior comfort is a matter or personal preference, but I feel as if MB was/is pretty stingy on the upholstery design. I like the overall package enough that I am going to try and find a GLE450 with air suspension to test drive, or even a 53 if the dealer has one. Otherwise, may just go back to Range Rover, but they are due for a redesign in a year, so are pretty dated now.

 

My dealer updated my Lane Keep over a year ago so that it stays off when turned off.
Cant help but wonder if you have something wrong with your suspension...or if the road in question has had work done since you last drove on it. Concrete does require resurfacing work at times and it’s possible (not likely) that they made it worse. We have about a 2 mile section of concrete freeway close to town that has that issue. I drove a base model 350 loaner over it several weeks ago-wasn’t any better or worse than my 450 with Air or our Audi SQ5. We have about 80-100 miles of concrete freeway near me and only 3 short areas with that issue.
A dealer is somewhat limited unless they can observe the condition and compare to other similar cars. Since it happens when you are away you might video a few occurrences. Or go to a Dealer in that location.

 

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned in this post but it's been discussed before. If you have the Extended Mobility (run flat) tires, the ride quality suffers quite a lot.