Floobydust

New to this forum - I hope it's the correct one. About six months ago I got a new 2018 GLE350 and recently I noticed that it seems to take a long time for the engine to come up to operating temperature. I can drive for 20 minutes and the temp gauge is still only half way to the "normal" operating temp. Eventually the engine does reach full operating temp. Has anyone else noticed a slow engine warmup or do I possibly have an issue with the engine thermostat?

Thanks in advance.

GLE43_Sube

I never pay attention to how long the engine takes to reach normal operating temperature. I just notice that it eventually does. I go by the RPM's. When the idle slows down, that's when I pull out.

When I go out later today, I'll take note of it and let you know.

chassis

IMO it is the way M-B chooses the UI, meaning the physical position of the indicator needle vs the full scale reading of the gauge vs the psychological interpretation of all of this by the driver.

M-B is different than other manufacturers in this regard. It is subjective and does not indicate vehicle malfunction, or function, so long as the indicator is inside of the extreme ends of the scale. Most noticeable when coming from another vehicle, primarily Japanese or American brands.

Same comments are true for fuel and vehicle speed indication. VW is very different vs M-B in how fuel level status is represented to the driver.

GLE43_Sube

I can personally attest to this with regards to the fuel gauge. When that "low fuel" light comes on, you'd better get to a gas station quick, fast and in a hurry.

So, are you saying you've found the speedometer not to be accurate? I've checked mine against the GPS based speed and it always matches. But then again, I'm meticulous about my tire pressure. The rate of travel determined by the speedometer is based on rotation of the tires, which would be affected by under/over inflation .

Tbone8771

The fuel gauge is one of the early items that I test on every new car I have. I want to see how it represents the remaining amount in the tank (does it sit on full for a long time then drop quickly, is it a steady decline, etc) and I also test out at what level does the indicator light come on and about what I have remaining when it does.
It seems to come on right around 60 miles remaining according to the on board computer, but I know that there is around 3 to 3.5 gallons left in the tank and I can adjust it according to my driving at that time if I needed to.

chassis

GLE43, thanks for the comments. I am not saying any of the indicators are inaccurate. I would say on the contrary, that they are generally accurate across all carmakers. What I am saying is each car maker makes subjective decisions on how to present information to the driver.

Consider a fuel level indicator in a 2011 VW Touareg vs a 2017 MB W166 GLE. The purpose of the fuel level indicator is the same in each vehicle, to indicate fuel level.

Subjective choices are are made by VW and MB, to wit:
- needle indication or numeric, physical or virtual needle
- total angle of needle travel from full capacity to completely empty
- sensitivity or “speed” of movement throughout the range of needle travel
- red shaded area size (proportion of full scale reading)
- position/location of fuel indication in the instrument cluster
- fuel level at which the “low fuel” light turns on
- and more

All of the above applies to other indicators such as engine temp, volts, tacho, vehicle speed, etc. The topic falls into the areas of ergonomics and psychology, and at one time the label “human factors” was used.

In the fuel indicator example above, neither VW nor MB are right or wrong. Just different. Better or worse is in the eye of the beholder.

SUV John

Excellent point on the fuel level quantity. When I was on 1/8 tank I put in 20 gallons so I'd agree that miles to empty is exactly that so the fuel gauge is quite accurate.

This is in contrast to my '04 RX330 that runs roughly 50 miles past "0 miles to empty" running with the needle below 'E'.

SUV John

I've read that new cars do not need to be warmed up, but the idea of waiting sometimes not even a minute for the idle to drop down after starting is a good idea. It allows the oil to coat engine components I want to last as close to "forever" as possible.

sjahanmi

my 2018 gle 350 is EXACTLY the same way as you described. guess its normal. just wait for the rpm needle to come down on first start of day then pull out and you'll be fine. i love this car!