ToneLA

Hi all,

Recently purchased a brand new 2021 GLE350 and I am quite surprised with the build quality – now that the new car euphoria has worn off, I am starting to realize I've perhaps made a mistake (which also involved getting rid of my 2019 BMW X540i that was built like a rock).

Beyond the somewhat underpowered engine, the interior quality is starting to alarm me. I've just passed 300 miles on the odometer (that's how much I drove in a month since getting it) and the steering wheel feels like it's about to disintegrate in my hands (video below). It creaks badly when pressed and depressed towards the bottom (also the top but to a lesser extent) and a few drops of lubricating oil between the tight plastic parts underneath were no help. I also have some rattle by the few front facing cameras embedded in the windshield (near the black plastic cover behind the rear view mirror) and the car pulls to the right as if the alignment of the wheels is off. The resting position of the steering is slightly off axis when driving in a straight line.

At $65K, I am puzzled by such build quality – before I jumped ships for BMW 12 years ago, I owned a CLK and ML350 – both of which were tanks that never gave me any issues. The GLE feels really cheap in comparison to some other cars in the segment – the interior certainly is compared to my outgoing X5 where I couldn't discern any hard plastics anywhere, when the GLE appears to be full of them.

If the wheels alignment can be corrected easily and I'm sure I can figure out the rear view rattle with some felt tape, the steering wheel construction has me wonder whether I'm now stuck with a car that will sound like a cheap one from the 70s each time I touch the steering. Has anyone encountered this and was able to fix it? I am this close to bring it to the shop and ask for a steering wheel replacement which I'm sure they'll refuse saying this is normal. Any insight would be truly helpful.

Many thanks!

mikapen

That's not normal.
I'd try to remove your oil, since oil tends to dissolve plastic, and I don't think I would be doing mods that might compromise your warranty.
Take it to the Dealer.

You might have to take it to the selling dealer, since part of the Dealer Prep fee that you pay, and M-B reimburses the Dealer for, is for "Service Adjustments" that are technically "comebacks" for their PDI. My opinion is that it's not Mercedes, but rather the Dealer who did the Prep.

Was it a Dealer Trade? You can tell by looking at the window sticker, and seeing where the car was originally delivered. Sometimes the Prep gets overlooked in dealer trades, with the receiving dealer assuming that the first dealer completed the prep.

ToneLA

The car wasn't a trade – its final destination was the dealer I bought it from, it arrived a few days prior from the factory and was only made available a few days later for sale (once the PDI was complete I assume).

I'm just wondering how the steering creaking would have been solved during the PDI or how it could be solved today without replacing. I already spoke to a SA a couple days ago about it who immediately stated some rattles are normal so I'm fully expecting them to tell me this is acceptable. Surely GLE steering wheels at large don't sound this way though. It's diminishing the perceived value of the vehicle, IMO, as the steering is essentially what makes a car a car. Is there any proven method to get this taken care under warranty?

mikapen

That's BS. As before, it's not normal, and it should have been fixed by the selling dealer. Maybe they actually caused it, if the wheel's not straight.
Take it to them before you do any mods that may void the warranty. Let them figure it out.

ToneLA

Will do, thanks for the advice.

I also just realized on my way out this morning that the sunshade below the panoramic roof shows a big gap on the left but not on the right. I can’t comprehend how this can also pass QC on any car, let alone a GLE.

nextmilenium

I have none of those issues on my 2021 GLE 450, April build. I now have 3500 miles and everything is rock solid.

Don't let the dealer tell you some rattle is NORMAL. That's not true, especially for a brand new car! If the dealer is not helpful, take it to another dealer if possible and also escalate it with MB customer service.

Good luck!

Bryce1023

Do you feel that the steering wheel being off axis and the car pulling to the right may be a related problem. Perhaps the car was driven over large potholes , curbs, or in a reckless manner during dealer prep or taking it to the gas station to get its initial fill up . I luckily have none of these issues, I am sure your GLE 350 can be properly fixed and your confidence in MB will be restored. Good luck, and be persistent and also cordial.

Neurobit

Def not normal. I've none of these issues. As others have said, take it to the dealer. If they blow you off, speak with the GM.

Cheers,

makris0000

My GLE 350 is about 6 months old, built sometime between October 2020 and December 2020 (and delayed about 3 months), mine did not have any of these issues when I took delivery. I currently have about 4,300 miles on the clock and everything seems fine so far. Like others said, take it to the selling dealership and have them fix it. If they give you the run around and other nonsense, take it to a different MB service shop and have them fix the issues under warranty.

petee1997

No doubt you have a problem. Take it to the dealer and they will repair your vehicle. That’s why there is a warranty

RockChips

Bro, what are you talking about?

The X5 literally has plastic switches, while the GLE has metal everywhere.

Independent reviews put the Mercedes interior above BMW.

ENCT

+1, my wife has a 2021 GLE580 and I just picked up a X5. GLE interior is better and the entire car is more solid. However the X5 drives like it weighs 1000 pounds less.

ToneLA

The best or nothing.

I thought I'd give an update on everything that's been going on so far with the vehicle – it's been down in service for months (literally). More issues continued to develop in the first few hundred miles after writing the initial post.

The first trip to the dealer attempted to correct the following issues in the fall:

- Car pulling dangerously to the right when driving flat on a straight line and releasing the wheel (steering's resting position is 3 degrees off-axis)
- Creaking of the whole steering plastic assembly when steering the car around
- Squeaking of the entire dashboard assembly behind the screens (on most road surfaces near the air vent on the left and fake vent on the right of said screens)
- Rattle near the interior mirror / front facing cameras behind windshield when closing front doors (and on most road surfaces)
- Sunroof sunshade cover gap when closed above the driver but not the passenger
- Car stalled in ECO mode after engine restarted whilst awaiting left turn mid-intersection (which nearly resulted in double t-bone collision)
- Insane windshield wipers skipping making it nearly impossible to drive in the rain safely
- Random triggering of the PDC sensors screaming in traffic with no cars around for no apparent reason

Dealer kept the car for a whole month to address some (not all) of the issues above. Vehicle is returned to me with the same drag to the right (I'm told the alignment of the wheels is correct), a new steering wheel (which no longer creaks), new clips to replace the broken ones they found and didn't hold headliner properly (somewhat closing the gap above the driver), new mirror / front facing cameras assembly (within which something was loose creating the rattle when actuating the doors) and some buffing of the windshield with some elusive compound supposedly helping lubricate the wipers (which, obviously, helped for 10 seconds until it was worse than before and also left a nice scratch in the glass right in my field of vision). I am assured PDC issue was corrected with recent software update that was needed to address specifically this concern yet it takes all but 3 minutes to happen again upon my return home. In regard to the stalling issue, the dealer claims they couldn't find an error message in the onboard computer (to their point, no engine light ever appeared). I am advised "this might just be a fluke."

I make an other appointment to force them to look into the alignment once more, insisting the SA gets behind the wheel with me inside the car to show me how they're able to drive it straight without releasing the wheel (when it can't). A few days before the appointment, the car loses all power on the highway at more than 70mph; out of nowhere the car chimes and engages neutral, engine shuts down entirely and I'm left "gliding" across 5 lanes of highway traffic. The accelerator is fully depressed to the ground, the car essentially becomes a pricey 2.5-ton dead weight. Like the first time, after a complete stop, pressing the START/STOP button appears to reset the glitch, the ignition turns off, back on again and the engine restarts as if nothing happened. No engine light on the dash appeared here again.

SA realizes during test-drive that the vehicle does indeed pull significantly to the right and claims this "might have to do with motors found in the steering column" probably forcing a replacement of the whole component. SA advises windshield will either be buffed out by a glass specialist or replaced if they can't get the scratch out of it. As for the stalling, a ticket with MBUSA engineering is created as no one seems to know why the car randomly shuts down. After more than 6 weeks driving their loaner car, I am told MBUSA isn't sure what's going with my GLE; "it's perhaps some of the front radars or the engine compression, it's perhaps something else."

We're now closing in on 3 months without the car for which I still pay monthly – a brand new vehicle that's been insufferable since day 1 of ownership. As stated before, I've been a long-time MB customer in Europe until I bought BMWs in the US for the last 13 years; my former C200K, CLK200K and ML350 were the most solid cars I've owned; no squeaking, no pulling, no cheap cutting corners. Whilst I certainly agree newer cars are more prone to issues (electronics aiding), I cannot fathom how such nonsense is tolerated by some MB customers today. My neighbors own a 4-Matic from the same year; it's been at the shop 4 times since they bought it for various electronic and cosmetic issues (talk about quality; their rear windshield wiper and some trim around the rear wheels fell off randomly from the car). At more than $65K, the quality of the car (or lack thereof) combined with the dealer network that's clearly overwhelmed by cars they don't even know how to fix is enough to fully deter me from the 3-pointed star.

I've had a lively conversation with some customer service supervisors a couple of days ago. The car is being bought back by MBUSA; lesson learned, I'm happily returning to a trusted X5.

RockChips

The best or nothing.

Mercedes is nothing.

ToneLA

I wouldn’t perhaps go as far as saying Mercedes is nothing but the GLE is certainly a terrible vehicle. I’m confused about how many threads I now find with people plagued by problems even worse than mine yet content the vehicle is being rebuilt 4 times over at the dealership.

Not what I would expect at such a price tag.

Lanzz

My GLE had the known issue with the front camera and it seemed like the AC had a mind of it's own - but otherwise, really nothing wrong with it in 22,000 miles. Mine was a very early build and despite that, it was very very solid.

ToneLA

That’s good to hear there are some good apples out there. I wish my experience with the vehicle could relate to yours!

Glad it’s being bought back by MBUSA frankly. They know something severe must be going on with the engine shutting down randomly without any error message left behind in the computer; the ‘investigation’ after my repurchase request was to take 6 to 8 weeks before they could take a position towards my request. They ended up agreeing within 24 hours after I spoke to their CS…

ToneLA

I’m not talking about the window switches or AC controls (most of the latter are actually plastic in fact in the GLE). I’m talking about the plastics throughout the cabin; from the cheap stalk to select the gears that feels like one could snap it in half to the one found at the bottom of the doors and rear center console. Let’s not talk about the steering wheel assembly that’s entirely made of harsh plastic with visible casting marks.

The lower portion of the doors in particular is as hard as the one found in an A-Class, which would irreversibly scratch with sharp shoe soles. Typical way to save on costs. An X5 at the same price point has soft touch materials throughout the cabin down to the floor.

People perceive quality differently and independent opinions out there can certainly favor a metal temperature control switch over a soft-touch plastic one.

I personally think quality has more to do with the whole package, in particular a cabin that is rattle-free from soft touch materials precisely assembled throughout (like Audis or BMWs). Unfortunately, that is certainly not the experience I’ve had with the GLE that rattled more than a 1978 Toyota within the first few hundred miles. Compounded with the absurd issues encountered since day 1 which resulted in a bricked vehicle that’s spent 3 months at the dealership (and still isn’t fixed) is certainly not the qualitative experience a returning customer would expect from a brand like Mercedes-Benz. It seems they are more interested in appealing to people in their 20s with their CLAs, GLAs and GLBs than to cater to people willing to purchase their mid/top-of-the range vehicles.

A shame but hardly surprising; a lot of people are introduced to the brand as it stands today thus having nothing else to compare it to. Arguably, their vehicles were far superior 20 years ago than they are today. Happily seeing them repurchase this overpriced and dangerous lemon.

RockChips

Mercedes never had a reputation for quality.

Lexus took off in the 1990s because it was higher quality than Mercedes.

haibieb

(ToneLA) I just made a service appointment to have the dealer address a minor rattle emanating from the upper left side of the dashboard. This condition occurs when the left front tire goes over a road imperfection such as the traffic reflectors on the lane markers. A similar issue on our previous CLS was attributed to a broken trim piece on the HUD unit. Other than that, our 2022 is very quiet.

haibieb

Update on dashboard rattles: Dealer removed the MBUX screen and installed felt material between the screen and edge of upper dashboard. The car's rattles came back today four days after getting it from the dealer. They also ordered a new interior Overhead Control Unit since the technician found it to be making noise while they were working on the car. He mentioned that this issue is common on GLE's. The part is coming from Germany. Once it comes in hopefully next week, the dealer will once again attempt to fix the rattles on the dashboard and install the control unit.