balthus

I have been driving a 2004 E320 Wagon as my husband as gotten 2 or 3 new cars since I got mine. I do not do a lot of driving & it only has 39,000 miles on it & is paid for - yeah no car payments.

He has been driving a 2008 Infiniti M35 that was totaled 3 weeks ago when someone ran a red light. Luckily everyone walked away ok. It was a lease so no issues with gap, etc. but it out us into car shopping mode a year and a half before we expected to be.

We were planning to downsize to the G37 Journey and save a couple hundred dollars a month lease and I actually like the way the G36 drive way better than the M (M drove too loose for my taste). But I did not like the front seats of the G36 even in Journey & I really wasn't feeling the love from the dealership & salesperson even thought they had 150 G37's in inventory!

So I started researching & we started looking & test driving. I had a C300 loan car a few times so that was on the list as we were still thinking sedan.

We were all over the place from Prius's to Audi A4's to Subaru's. We were even thinking about VW CC and took one home overnight Friday. It's a pretty nice car & drive well but getting in & out was not comfortable.

I am not an SUV person. I love my wagon & will cherish it for years to come I hope (particularly after almost chocking at cost of new ones plus very hard to get in Texas). I must have been living in a cave or something because I had never hear of the GLK and had never seen one.

We went back to look at C300's & really want luxury trim but pretty much all local dealers carry Sport & we are practically settled up with insurance & Infiniti so needed to make some decisions.

Then I saw the GLK and I was like - what car is that? I love it. I love that it is kind of not pretty and that you won't see them everywhere. I love that it drives very much like car & not a SUV. I love that it is not too big. And I love that it is a Benz.

We have been Benz owners since the 80's. My husband bought a 1965 190C in early 80's and it came with us to Dallas in 1993 & lasted until 1996 with over 300K miles. I had a 1972 280SEL from about 1988-1993 but it had too much rust to bring it with us although I regret letting that beauty go.

Since then we have always usually had at least one Benz in the household but the 2004 wagon was first one financed as I planned to keep it. It's a classic.

So that was it Friday night. And I told my husband he'd be getting the wagon and I was getting the GLK since I had not had a "new" car in years. I had POC 2000 E320 Sedan before the wagon. He was cool with this. It was fair.

Of course I had done no research or run any numbers so I told salesperson to see what he could find in black or white with the options I wanted & I'd be back Saturday.

I did my homework & checked inventory pretty much throughout Texas and there was no budging for me on black or white exterior so it was the optiosn & interior that I had to make some decisions on.

I was surprised that most all the GLK's in stock - about 98% of them - were pretty basic - hardly any even had Premium or Multimedia let alone both.

I wanted black or white 2WD, black leather, Premium, Multimedia, iPod, Multimedia, Keyless Go & Parktronics. Could not find exact car anywhere.

And we have to lease the GLK as my husband is self-employed

So the decision was going to be - take a base car & regret not having Navigation, Sunroof, etc for 39 months & feeling like we really stepped own in terms of amenities - or get more than we wanted & have about saee car payment and nit save any money over what we had.

We went with Option 2.

Here's what we got that I wanted:

Color - Black
Premium Package
Multimedia Package
iPod/Multimedia Interface
Keyless-Go

Interior - we got MB-Tex instead of leather - yes I know those seats will be hot but can't be much worse than the black leather i have now & car is garaged most of the day

Here's what we got that I didn't particularly want & didn't like to have to pay for:

4WD (like we need in Texas but who knows where we might go)
Sport Appearance Package (although I like the chrome roof rails)
Heated Front Seats - I just never think of turning them on

The white GLK had even more stuff.

Got the price down some & also got a repeat customer allowance. Put minimal $ down and basically have same payment as the 2008 Infiniti M35 we replaced.

It just didn't seem that there was a lot of point trying to negotiate when they only had one car in stock we wanted. The A4 was going to be about same payment and for a couple hundred bucks a month more, we are getting a Benz over a VW or Subaru or Prius, etc. Plus I am eclectic & quirky so I like the car & it's unique look.

The car had 22" wheels which they have to take off & detail it so it will be ready for pick-up on Monday.

Most of the negatives in some reviews don't apply to us - I think there is ample cargo space particularly with back seats down plus we have the wagon. Fuel economy may not be great but I only drive about 5-7K a year. Back seat room seemed ok to us but we rarely have 4 people in the car anyway.

I have spent the past few hours reading many of the posts & I am glad all the experts are here.

I am very excited. i think we made a good decision. I will update after I have had my new baby for a bit and post some photos.

Thanks.

rdef1

Congratulations on the new GLK, I hope you will enjoy it as much as the rest of us on here

EnigmaAW

congrats on your new glk. where in texas did you get it? your's came with 22's? the only factory wheels available are 19's or 20's?

MB_Owner

Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Baby G

Congrats and welcome to the family.. Post pics when ever you get a chance, and let us know if you have any questions.

balthus

Thanks - from Park Place Dallas. It has 22's on it as a dealer add-on but they took them off & replaced with the 20s that came with Sport Package before I picked it up.

balthus

Picked up this afternoon. Spent most of the time going over phone & nav & had to get back to the office. Got to dive my 3 miles home late tonight. It will take some getting used to after driving my 2004 wagon. Will get some photos this weekend & I am sure I'll be back with questions. Thanks.

NYCGLK

Congrats and welcome. MB's are easy to get used too. My better half and I went from driving Matrix to driving GLK, didn't take that long get used to it.

F18BEN

Good luck with the car....Enjoy it!!!!!!!!!

BostonPrince

Enjoy the car...

ftttubrgcm

I'm sure you will be very happy. It still brings smiles to our faces, even after the few months we've had it.

mr.mbenz

from Vancouver, BC
I am thinking of white now too...
MB says it is one of the 3 colors that holds better re-sale value as it sells well during trade-ins.

TXGLK

congtrats and hope you enjoy it for years to come.

Matsqui

Way to go....GLK is an excellent choice among this segment. I have waited one month and have to wait 2 more months for mine. It is gonna be 2 painful months, but it will be worth it.

balthus

Thanks everyone. I have spent all of 30 minutes in the car since I bought going back & forth to work on my short commute. Haven't even read owners manual yet. Plan to play this weekend!

balthus

Here's my new GLK that I picked up last Monday. Loving so far but haven't had much time to drive or get too familiar yet.

balthus

Sun was very bright & it rained this week so my baby is dirty but I am too afraid to take her to be washed.

Baby G

Personally black when it's clean is sex on wheels... Nic pics, thanks for posting

balthus

Thanks.

My husband's home office looks out onto our front driveway & he is a realtor so works from home most of the time. He sees everyone who who takes a walk or walks their dogs & he says everyone this week has stopped to look at the GLK. He said no one ever stopped to look at his Infiniti M35 when it was parked out front.

I really want to keep the GLK in our garage (2 car but too filled with crap to fit 2 cars) and let him keep the 2004 E320 wagon out front but I usually get home from work late & our garage is via back alley so I prefer pulling into our circular driveway.

Decisions, decisions.