So currently my wife drives a CPO 2016 GLE 4Matic with 32K miles that we purchased January 2020. My wifes previous car was a 2014 E350 that had the lighting package which is now my car. The GLE 350 has the standard halogen lights which after reading recently have been discussed many times on how poorly they light the road in front of you. Wish I would have stumbled onto that little bit of information before the purchase. My wife loves the GLE, it is in fantastic condition. We are both very OCD about our vehicles so they are very well taken care of, but I'm concerned about her driving the GLE on unlit roads at night. It is a safety concern for me. I have read the thread about retro fitting Hids which I don't think I should have to do on a nearly $70K vehicle when new. So I have been doing some looking for a replacement GLE for my wife. I have found a 2017 GLE 400 with 9754 miles pretty much with every option except Distronic. The only problem with the 400 is it has beige interior which we tried to avoid with the 350. So my question to anyone with beige interior, how difficult is it to keep clean, which interior products do you recommend, Also another concern is how easily blue jeans transfer ink to the seats and whether that is a problem to maintain. Any information anyone could provide would be appreciated.

 

I have the beige and it stays pretty clean. I would not worry. I take car full of people out twice a week and the only thing I clean are the floor mats. The drivers seat stays just as clean as any other color, my jeans don’t leave a mark at all.

 

I'd have to research when cars moved from 4 plain headlights, to 2 headlights that improved lighting, to the brighter lights many cars have today, but having grown up driving cars as old as the 70's I am amazed to see the terms people use to describe vehicle lighting. The newer cars with brighter lighting are just what people have gotten used to and truth be told many brands are aimed too high and are too bright for oncoming traffic. What I have in my '16 GLE 350 was everyday common in cars going back to the 70's. Yes I'm planning to change mine out for HID, but there is no reason to fear night driving. I drive plenty of unlit country roads in Wisconsin and when there's no oncoming traffic people put their high-beams on and problem solved.
As far as interior color goes, I'm not seeing any benefit to a black interior when it comes to dirt. Dirt and dog prints show up light versus the light interior showing dark when dirty. The MB-tex material cleans up well so I'd say pick the color you like and want to see every day.

 

I have the beige leather, not mb Tex. I clean the leather about every other month or so. Since I do it fairly often, I can do both front seats in just a couple of minutes. The rear seats once or twice a year.
ok, my jeans do leave some blue on the drivers seat on the entrance side. But, since I clean fairly often, the blue comes right off with no extra effort. Companies also sell leather Protectants which work very well.
I like lexol products. Or chemical guys leather products. I HATE the all in one leather conditioners/ cleaners because they leave a very unnatural feel on the leather.
I also bought a small soft bristle brush for the cleaner and it cleans quickly and doesn’t harm the leather.
I hope this helps.

 

I've used Lexol cleaner and conditioner products before and they seem to perform better than most when we used them on our RX330.

There were only a few GLE 350's in our area with the tow package and I have some options I'd like to consider in the future if I get a newer model, like heated/cooled seats I thought were only available with the MB-tex material. Whether you'd change to a darker color or not, would you go with leather again?

 

I agree with you, My wife and I will be 50 in the next couple of months and have become accustomed to some of the perks that come with owning a newer vehicle. It was just surprising how little light the GLE halogens produce compared to my Eclass with the lighting package.

 

Thanks for the response, the GLE 400 that I was looking at has the leather interior as well.

 

In response to - “ Would I buy the leather again”
Yes, I now have 70K miles and it still looks like new!
I also ordered my 2016 GLE with the options and colors I wanted.

Luckily , my sales person at the last minute asked me if i wanted the LED lights. She said she drove at night often and they were really helpful. Since I am not getting any younger- I said yes! Good thing...