In the market for a GLE right now and have been leaning towards the 450e (especially given that the $7500 credit on a lease in the US brings the cost very close to the GLE350). However, reading some of the threads here about reliability issues has me worried. Are these isolated issues or should I stay away from the hybrid?

 

I am planning to test drive it actually, so any feedback would be good.

 

I have a 2025 450e on order, so would like to get some feedback on this as well.

 

My 450e (pinnacle trim, tow package) has been trouble free for 4,000 miles. I love the looks, the ride, cargo space and the power is all I need. The comfort and quality of the cockpit is outstanding. I’m averaging 55+ mile on electric and 28 mpg in hybrid mode. To me the only things lacking are small storage areas due to the battery under the cargo area.

 

We love ours. We had one trim piece on the front fascia that had a tab missing and was loose that I found on first wash and it was replaced. Other than that, it is a great experience.

We have had it since April 3, have 3,000 miles on the car, and have used 1/2 tank of gas. For our purposes where most trips are within electric range, it’s outstanding.

 

MB sells nice looking cars with bad delivered quality, poor medium term reliability and has a dealer network with zero skin in the game from a customer satisfaction point of view. Spend some time reading this site and you will come to this conclusion.

I would not own any current MB outside of manufacturer’s original warranty. And even then I would likely not own an MB because Porsche and BMW have better ownership experience, e.g. reliability and dealer experience, in comparable models.

 

With all due respect I disagree. I own a 2024 MB GLE 450E and a 2023 BMW Z4. Both are good vehicles but I had more delivery problems withe the BMW (fixed by multiple visits and software updates).

The Porsche is far more expensive when comparably equipped. Besides I want a luxury drive SUV not one that pretends to be a bloated sports car. My 2 seater convertible gives me all the sport experience I want.

We love the luxury, the space, the ride. Great heads up display. Excellent navigation with augmented reality. First vehicle in a decade I have preferred the built in nav over google, Waze or Apple nav on Car Play. Still use Car Play for music, podcasts and phone in combination with MB nav.

The GLE 450E is an excellent plug in hybrid experience. From 59 to 63 miles electric range in the summer while using AC.

The electric motor has all the torque needed for almost all driving situations. If I stomp on the pedal for highway passing the ICE instantly jumps to life.

When the electric range is used up the vehicle seamless switches to hybrid mode, usually impreceptively.

The battery will charge on our home L2 charger in under 3 hours. We use night time electricity rates. Never use the ICE for city driving which is almost always under 60 miles per day.

At our vacation home we plug into 120v outlet and charge in 24 hrs.

At first I was miffed by the lack of under cargo space storage because of the battery. But have a soft sided box to hold emergency items (flashers, tools, etc.). No longer a concern.

My 4th MB. The other 3 were 2008 E320 Class diesel RWD (brain dead nav and electronics), 2010 E350 4matic, 2018 E400. By far my favorite.

 

After driving mine for almost a year I've had no issues. I have several post in this forum during the last year regarding performance, driving options, charging, mileage experiences and other matters; look them up for more details.
I'm scheduling my 1 year dealer service appointment soon. Only routine service items are on my list.
In short, I'd buy the car again.

 

We are in month 3 of our new GLE450e, and in summary, we love it! We have had a few minor issues:

• Charging cable release button fell out during the Dealership delivery charge. They fixed in one week, and the Dealership gave us a full charge and a full tank of gas after the fix.
• One tailpipe extension was loose, they fixed at the same time as the button replacement.
• In the second month we had some "creaks" that kept getting louder. See my post "2024 GLE450e - Body Flex Noise." This turned out to be a simple door rubber issue. Now the car is very quiet.
• The last one is my fault for not asking enough questions at the Dealership. If you do not order the Driver Assistance Package (I did not), you will not have adaptive cruise control. Unfortunately, this cannot be added at the Dealer level, so I am stuck without this feature I had become so used to with our last 2 Lexus RX350s.

Here are the links to 3 YouTube videos that helped my wife and I to decide to get this vehicle.




Good luck on your decision!

 

totally disagree.

 

The adaptive cruise control can be added if your car came with all the required cameras and sensors. Go to https://rjautomotive.net/products/di...ntrol-retrofit and ask. Raj helped me out.

 

Thank you for the information, very interesting. I checked out the video, and unfortunately that is a bit more complicated than I am comfortable trying to do. I will most likely just wait to trade-in time. Thanks again!

 

Despite this forum priming me to find fault, my only gripe related to quality is the tires the 450e came with. Six months in, with 12800 mostly highway miles, I’ve spent the last month in a metro area tooling around on electric. The car is fine zooming across Montana, going through the Canadian rockies, in a calm city, and I’m very glad I had the 450e for my first time driving in Dallas/Plano (i.e., definitely not a “calm city”, driving-wise).

Drifting from the thread topic a bit….

On the tires, which were Bridgestone Alenza A/S MOE 275/55R19, search this forum for “bridgestone alenza” and you’ll find some useful threads, while the thread with all the answers is “Tire Life - GLE450E / GLE450”.

In it, user “chassis” gives an argument preparing you for disappointment. User GregW points at Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season as great tires. Users “Sigp232” and “deer” add to the support for the Pirelli. It seems the disappointment can be eliminated if you get great tires.

User “Lucky 777” declares Bridgestone run flat as “POS.” User “BenMB GLE450” says “I hate them”, referring to Bridgestone Alenza 275/50R20. His experience is the same as mine with the 275/55R19: 12,000 miles and you are done.

The most informative thread on the Bridgestone topic might be started by “tKelley.EClass” where the headline is “FS: 4x New Bridgestone Alenza Sport Tires A/S RFT”. Nothing to read there, except it suggests an approach when your car is delivered with the crappy Bridgestones.

I followed the advice in this forum (thank you!) and recently got Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season, a good quality air compressor, and I’m waiting, waiting for Airman tire repair sealant to be delivered. I learned run-flats are single-use tires in the sense they should not be repaired (and repair is prohibited in some jurisdictions). You get 50miles at max 50mph and then, if you are lucky enough to be close to a place that has the right size tires, you buy a new tire. If almost all my driving was in a major city, I might be comfortable with these limitations. For example, if I had a car solely for commuting to/from work, then I could see sticking with run-flats. But, 90% of my mileage is on wide open spaces, so I agree with those here who basically state you should take control of your tire fate.

Now… I have several gripes about default settings in MBUX, but these are not quality related.

 

I only just realized that my 21 in, staggered tires are not run flats. I bought a fix a flat. The problem is the instructions say not to store in the passenger compartment. In the 450e, the whole car is the passenger compartment.

 

The GLE450e without run flat tires is supposed to ship with a TireFit kit. You shouldn't need a can of fix a flat.

 

It was a CPO from a different state. For whatever reason that wasn’t included. There was no mention of it on the sticker.

 

The previous owner probably took it. There should be a space to store a tire fit kit. Is there a small storage compartment under the cargo mat where the spare tire would normally go in a non-battery powered GLE?

 

The cargo mat doesn’t move in the 450e. There doesn’t appear to be any hidden storage space.

 

It looks like it is supposed to be stored on the left side of the cargo compartment.





You can purchase a tire fit kit at the dealer. Or you can get a similar item like this:


Probably better than a can of fix-a-flat

 

did you look at getting adaptive cruise controll via coding ? I am in similar situation and thinking of pulling the trigger, just concerned if it will void warranty

 

Looks like a mess to deal with. The fix a flat should do the job.

 

Response to otterpond post.

I only know about the coding per the response from kvelez above. There is more than coding, there are also buttons that must be added. kvelez provided a link that has an interesting video on what needs to be done.

My entire career has been in the automotive industry working with OEMs around the world on all things diagnostic and workshop services, and changing the coding is not something that I would do. Today, more than ever, there are ongoing software updates to fix issues, and these updates are done after the OEM has oftentimes worked with multiple suppliers because coding changes can affect multiple controllers in the car. Therefore, introducing outside coding could cause issues in the long-term. You also run the risk of an OEM update "breaking your external third party update."

Will it void the warranty? Possibly, or at a minimum you could have to pay for updates/repairs the outside coding caused.

FYI, I asked the Dealer to do the update since it appears the cameras needed are already installed, but I was told MB does not authorize this to be done at the Dealer level. So for now, I will drive the 450e that I have, and have already picked out the options I will get on my next one when the Dealer is ready to trade.

Hope this helps, and of course the above is just my personal opinion, so good luck on what you decide!

 

CPO should have replaced it. Ask them for it. Your build sheet will specify it as well.

See CPO checklist here under trunk /cargo. It's very explicit. If they don't send you a replacement, call MBUSA.
https://www.mbusa.com/content/dam/mb...s-Brochure.pdf

 

Thanks for the checklist. I found mine. It shows passed.

 

I purchased my GLE 450e back in April 2024, and it’s been an absolute game-changer as my daily driver, especially during the summer. When fully charged, the battery range shows an impressive 64 miles, though it varies depending on how I drive. I’ve been averaging around 3 miles per kWh, which means the 23.3 kWh battery gives me roughly 60 miles on a single charge. I expect the range will decrease a bit in winter, but so far, I haven’t had to fill up the gas tank in four months, and I’ve only used about 15% of the fuel.

As for the driving experience, the 4-cylinder engine does feel a bit underpowered for such a heavy vehicle, and I’ve noticed the engine noise coming into the cabin when I’m in battery hold mode. But when the engine and motor work together, the power is not bad at all. 5.4 second from 0 to 60mi. ( )

While I know that PHEVs, including the GLE 450e, often face reliability concerns, I think this car is pretty amazing choice as a "family suv".