Hello!

It's been two and a half months since I took delivery of my GLE53. During this time I managed to put around 3500miles on the clock. Here is my small review and a list of problems that will be soon reported to my dealer:
Engine: good enough, never felt the need for more. Good mpg, average so far for 3500miles is 19mpg, or 12.3l/100km.
Transmision: good enough, very smooth in comfort and hard in sport+
Suspension: not very good, the ride is harsh even in comfort. 22'' wheels and dynamic package, I think it was a bad decision to pick both of these options, the 20'' wheels offer more comfort. Regarding the dynamic package, you cannot feel it working 95% of the time. The big red brakes are good, but the standard ones are good enough.
Overall sensation: quite solid car, a pleasure on good roads, not so much on harsh roads.

Now, the "problems"..I noticed a few imperfections when I took delivery of the car, but I thought I can live with them, I noticed some of them on other GLE's in the showroom, so I figured the quality check is not really what it used to be. A couple of months later and the small imperfections have begun to stack up and **** me off. Nothing extremely bad so far, but still..I paid 125.000euro (135.000$), I think I can expect them to be managed:
1) 5-10 times the car just started shaking at idle, out of nowhere..cold engine or hot, nothing I can associate it with. Just a stupid shake coming from the engine bay that stops when I restart the car
2) 5-10 times the gearbox refused to shift in comfort mode, got stuck in 6th or 7th gear. I had to shift from the paddles to change gear
3) the car now has a whine when steering in parking maneuvers, similar to what old cars had when steering fluid was bad/low
4) when lifting the car in offroad mode it makes noises from the rear, small knocks. 2 times it did some pretty loud knocks.
5) the mbux sistem got stuck 3 times, had to restart the car to fix it
6) android auto works like ****, it disconnects daily, and reconnects after 5-10s.
7) the HUD on a few occasions had a very low resolution, had to restart the car to fix it, closing and starting the HUD from the menu did not work
8) the parking sensors go off like crazy every day at traffic lights, very sensitive..
Also, a few aesthetic problems:
1) the stitching on the steering wheel is quite bad..it looks different on the left side as opposed to the right side.
2) the cover for the panoramic roof has a bigger gap on the driver side
3) the panoramic roof is not level, it think it needs an alignment or something..
4) on the passanger side the leather on the door is cut out on a small portion on the corner, near the locking pin
5) the stiching on the leather panel above the climate control is bad, not level
6) the black window trims from the outside are not level on the driver side
7) the worst one..the lumbar support on the driver seat moves behind me when accelerating hard or going uphill, more exactly whenever I am leaning back into the seat.

I tried living with the aesthetic problems, but my OCD has kicked in and I cannot go any further with most of them..to be honest, I decided to leave the car to the dealer to fix them last week when a friend of mine showed me his Kia Sportage (35000$). That car had none of the problems I have on mine, all the gaps were perfect.
I know these are some 1st world problems, but still..quality control on Mercedes is absolutely disgusting, at least on GLE. The dealer calmed me down when I took delivery of my car by showing me 5 more cars with some of the same problems, suggesting that this is what I should expect from Mercedes now. But better gaps and 0 aesthetic problems on a Kia 4 times cheaper really makes me think I should save my money in the future or buy cars from inventory where I can pick a "good" Mercedes from the lot.

 

Not too late to change up. a Benz SUV is not for everyone. and DEfo different run from an S Class vehicle.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience and sorry to hear that MB quality hasn't improved - it's bad, as you have attested.

Porsche has the vehicle for you: Cayenne S with 21" wheels and air suspension. You will be happy.

 

OMG! I have a 24' GLE53 and just clicked 3600 miles. I opted for the 21' wheels, and glad I did. I thought the 22' would be too harsh. I live in the country and some roads are great, and lots, no so much. They've proven to be a good compromise.

So far (touch wood) I've only had some glitchy tech issues:

• HUD (inoperative at times, and after an update several weeks ago, is very dim - hoping today's MBUX update it is better)
• Apple car play occasionally does not want to connect, or more specifically re-connect, when I'm out an about. But it eventually does.
• parking camera(s) - they do some odd things, e.g, rear camera pops out at some odd times, at slow speed.

All of the driving/chassis/build/quality problems you list...I'd be at the dealer making their lives miserable until resolved. Totally unacceptable.

Note: have you reduced the sensitivity levels for your parking sensors? I think I have mine set to the lowest.

 

I haven't changed any settings regarding parking sensors, it's been the same since I got the car. Still, I couldn't find a pattern for the warnings, it's absolutely random..
I've had 4 Mercedes cars in the last 10 years, this one (the most expensive) has the most issues. I hope the dealer will take care of them and deliver the amazing product they sold me on paper.

 

The S class is indeed a better vehicle, but I need a SUV. Family trips, ski trips, big dog etc.

 

I'm at 11 months and 13,000 miles on my 2024 GLE450. So far no issues. (Knock on wood). Only been back to the dealer for the 10,000 mile service.

 

Update: visited the dealer today and explained all the items on my list. Car is programmed for a full day check 2 weeks from now, where everything regarding tehnical issues will be checked on ramp or test-drive and everything regarding visual issues will be photographed and sent to Mercedes. Can't fault my dealer in any shape or form, I have been a client there for over 12 years now, they always take care of me. During my visit today I checked 2 new GLE53 that were just delivered, those 2 are much better regarding QC.

 

You should be commended for your patience and understanding. Most people would have tried to use the lemon law ( not sure if available to you ). Seems to be an ongoing saga with MB quality control, I personally would look at another brand. Hate to sound negative, however, I don’t think that all the issues you’ve mentioned will ever be resolved, perhaps just some. At most dealers the technicians have the same skill level as the people building the cars. Good luck

 

There is no lemon law in my country, however, in some cases, the dealer can buy the car back if it has multiple problems. I try and keep on objective view on things and give them the time to fix the issues. I still enjoy the car and after waiting 9 months for it I am willing to wait and see how things work out.
Thank you!

 

I came from a 2017 GLE to a 2024 GLE 350. The 2017 was rock solid. Reading about all the issues especially with the 350 having cylinder issues, is what made me purchase a Fidelity Platinum warranty for my GLE. It's now covered for 8 years/120,000 miles. Having the extra 4 year/70,000 warranty over the manufacturer's warranty at least puts my mind at ease.

The only issues I've had with my 2024 with 3k miles on it so far is 1. The heads up display has been inoperative a couple of times but started working again 10 minutes after turning off the car and then trying again. 2. When I ask Mercedes to turn on/off my rear seat heaters, she tells me she is turning them on/off but it doesn't actually turn them on/off. It works fine for the front seat heaters but not the rear. For the rear, the passenger manually has to turn them on, not a huge deal but a bit annoying.

 

Update: the car has been examined by the dealer, regarding the tehnical problems they did install the latest updates from factory both for engine and gearbox and for the Mbux related stuff the car is programmed for another full day of updates. For all the esthetic issues, they took pictures of all of them and assured me they will order and change all of them with new parts, even if Mercedes offers a different answer. It will take a couple more days for them to diagnose and fix every item on my list, but they checked them all and will fix them.
Even if the car has a few factory mistakes, the dealer sure makes up for it in customer service. This is the main reason why I bought this car in the first place, I hope you all get the same good treatment when/if you face problems!

 

 

Final update: after 6months of ownership and 11.000km I have reached an agreement with my MB dealer. I sold the car back to them, because all the faults put together were too much to handle and required over 15 new parts to be ordered and instaled, including a new panoramic roof, new steering wheel, new driver seat, new exterior door trims, new mirror cover etc. So, a truly bad experience that ended after 6months. My request was to get a new car without the issues that mine had, but the dealer decided to pay me back the money I paid for it. I appreciated this gesture and decided to order a new GLE53.
This time I went for a gle53 phev, with extended beige nappa leather, alcantara headliner and pretty much all the options, a final list price of around 150.000$ with taxes. This second was ordered in August and was supposed to be delivered in January-February 2025. But 2 days before Christmas I got the call, the car was in the dealer parking lot. What a Christmas gift, I could not believe it..delivered ahead of schedule and exactly in time for Christmas. So I rushed to the dealer to do the papers, trying to get the car asap.
Now comes the fun part...my second GLE53 cannot be sold to me! Why? Because it is absolutely a joke, the fit and finish is just s**t. Bad stiching, bad leather, streched leather, not a single seat inside the car is ok. The panoramic roof is not level again, for the second time.
What is wrong with Mercedes??? 2 GLE53, one 140k$, the second 150k$ delivered to me in 2024 with a build quality that is absolutely horrible. I have 20k$ cars at work that are better build than the 2 luxury SUVs I ordered. In total, I waited 15 months for this 2 cars and received a nightmare on both orders. For the second car I went the most expensive interior available at that time, I got alcantara headliner, all the option packages, thinking that this way I will receive a true luxury Mercedes car. But no, I got an even worse car than the first one...
I am pretty much done with Mercedes, after owning one for over 15 years. I cannot get over the fact that 2 high-spec cars were delivered in such a way, passing quality control every time. HOW?? How can you deliver a Mercedes to a customer in this way???
Farewell, Mercedes! You used to make amazing cars, now you are simply a joke!

 

Thanks for posting and sorry to hear about the experience.

Sadly this is MB today, especially the Vance, Alabama MBUSI factory. Nice looking and poorly engineered and assembled vehicles, which neither the dealer nor the manufacturer stand behind.

 

I get that, maybe a certain supplier of leather parts is providing a lot of bad parts. But how does a car like this pass quality control? Being an european customer, when ordering a GLE your car has to pass 2 quality controls, one in USA before departure and one in Germany before leaving to its final destination. It blows my mind that a car such as the one from above is considered ok in 2 QC.

 

I have a 2022 E450 All-Terrain Wagon. I also have a 2024 GLE450.

If I absolutely have to make a choice between these 2, it would have to be the All-Terrain. Being a wagon, it is essentially an SUV that's a bit lower to the ground (6.2" ground clearance, versus 8.1" ground clearance), and is vastly superior from a handling, acceleration perspective, while retaining every bit of the SUV's practicality. The hatch area in the All-Terrain is longer than the hatch of the GLE, which was shocking to me, since I expected the GLE's hatch area to be significantly bigger than the E-wagon.

I have not noticed any of the problems in my GLE, that you have laid out above, but it is still under 2K miles in my case.

 

Look at the new E450 All-Terrain and see if that meets your needs. If it helps, it is made in the Sindelfingen plant in Germany, where the S-class is also made. Mine's tight as a drum, after well over 2 years and 30,000 miles of ownership.

A joy to own and drive, and being an E-wagon, has a hatch area that's similar to that of an SUV (not as tall, but certainly spacious).

 

This is the point. MBUSI and MBAG quality "control" controls nothing. The processes used are ineffective. This is built in to the business culture of MB. You could spend years reading about it on this site. Or you could look to your own current experience and arrive at the same conclusion.

 

The ground clearance is the main reason why I need an suv. The entrance in my garage at home does not allow me to park a non-suv car inside. I also have a Porsche Macan and that one barely gets in. This is why I need to buy an suv..the alternative is to buy a new house

 

So when you are entering your garage, put the E-wagon into the off-road mode just for parking, which raises it up a couple of inches !

 

Also note that Europe gets both the regular E-wagon and also the All-Terrain version of the E-wagon. The All-Terrain version of the E-wagon, sits 2 inches higher than the regular E-wagon.

And since Airmatic is standard, you can put it into the off-road mode, and take it another couple of inches higher, at speeds under 9mph, and probably solve your garage situation.

 

I was thinking about replacing my AMG53 when the warranty runs out in March. An All-Terrain was a candidate that I wanted to check out. I finally got to spend some time with one.
I like Shooting Brakes (a LOT), but not this one.
The only thing I liked was the view from across the lot, unfortunately.
Ya can't option it with any worthwhile equipment, either. Massage? Nein. Tow capability? My Macan towed more.

For me it's not as good as a real SUV with handling enhancements. Decided to keep mine.
Now, if they'd give it better handling and more engine - and a longer option list, maybe.....

 

Massage.....yes. 100% available
Towing........4500lbs, I believe, even though I don't tow with mine.
0-60 of 4.6secs, with the 450 engine.

You certainly can opt for the Big kahuna, if interested in it, which is the E63 AMG version of the All-Terrain, which as expected, is a rocket-ship......significantly faster than even the GLE63s.

 

I don't expect there should be quality differences between a 53 and 450e but I don't have ANY issues.