webada

Took my GLK in for a service and got a c300 for a loaner.

Two being built on similar platform and both are entry lvl cars, I can't help but compare the car on material and quality.

Few things I notice that are better than GLK:

Alumin interior extends to ash tray and around shifter. In GLK, this is replaced with easily scratched glossy piano finish... (if you opt'ed the AL finish)

Interior door handles are much nicer, contoured backside, soft vinyl extends all the way vs GLK's plastic handle.

Interior side door lamp lights up. An option available in GLK's lighting package otherwise a simple reflector.

Side door pockets are covered with felt inside. Nice touch, you can put your sunglasses there without fearing of scratching it. GLK, plastic all around.

However, GLK has better sound isolation. Believe it or not, with open trunk in a SUV design, this is a surprise. The doors of GLK have better seals.

Obviously the two cars drives very differently. But I feel that since the parts and interior are similar and in the same price category, GLK certainly feels a bit watered down and stripped of its luxury.....

RedRover

The C300 also has Higher list price, Tiny little wheels and tires, Small engine (slower), Standard-nonadaptive shocks, Aluminum which is easily scratched, Transparent glass (No privacy), etc.......they are just different.
The C300 may have a bit more luxury. But the GLK has more utility.
One is advertised as a compact luxury sedan, the other is advertised as a compact luxury truck.
Similar platform or not, you cannot compare SUVs with small Sedans IMO.

I almost bought a C350 whenI was looking a couple of years ago. I needed a primary car. I found it to be too compact. But I sure liked the way it drove. Of course that 350 with that little car.........

glkbeige

I was loooking at C-300 luxury this morning for the wife. They want over 40K with a Nav pkg & Sirius system. It is way too small with no height and she opted for a Toyo van with all the bells & whistles for 33K.

pipicyx

glk350 is cheaper than c350...same engine....

GEMINIDAN

I am not sure where you get your facts from but a fully loaded GLK with 2 wheel drive with all the options stickers at over $51000.00 and to me this is not an entry level car...It is a baby Benz Suv..

mac911

I think the quality between the two seems very similar.

It's great the GLK comes with the 3.5 liter standard.

One nice benefit of the GLK is that right now they all come from Bremen, Germany, whereas some of the C Classes come from South Africa.

phil17

the GLK is my first Mercedes product and overall i'm impressed with the quality but 1 thing bugs me: The sun visors.... this is the only car I have ever owned that seems to have visors made out of foam?!? is this like a MB thing? it feels very flimsy and cheap (almost comical though). oh well if this is the biggest complaint I can come up with, the cars pretty damn good

webada

Well, I wasn't comparing features and functionality. Its silly to compare SUV vs Sedan. That wasn't the goal of my original post. The post is about build quality and finishes. Obviously I wasn't going to compare E-Class sedan or ML to GLK since they are in different entry point but GLK and C are similar.

Another thing to add, GLK has leather shifter where in C, its plastic.

NYCGLK

I didn't notice much difference when dirving C class in terms of buid quility. C class did have a huge bubble in a tire with only 3k miles.

SL2003driver

I've owned a new SL550 list $110K, new CL550 list $117K and a new CLS63 AMG list $118K. My GLK list for around $37K, I like it great build quality. Yes the others have a lot of leather and chrome but all in all they are all high quality rides. The GLK is perfect for Maui, its all about the right tool for the right job.

yualfred

I think the shift knob in C is cast aluminum. I still like the leather in GLK.

n5160u

It is an entry level ... BENZ

SL2003driver

I agree the other new Benz's I bought CL,SL and CLS63, listed for over $100K so the GLK is a great deal.

MilesBFree

I have received a C-class as a loaner several times when I took my GLK in for service. (Note: we had an older C-class before the GLK so I am familiar with those.)

My impressions:

The GLK seems much more solid and rigid. The engine seems better with more grunt(but this could be due to the tranny on the GLK being different?

The C-class handles better.

I think the build quality is pretty much the same. The differences I noted above are due to design differences, not build quality.

roadrunner8r

a bit late but just got a '11 c300 4matic loaner
compared to my '12 glk350 i thought it was crap! the glk shifter feels really smooth when you change gears while the c300 was all clunky.. handling is better (less body roll) but power is wayyyy less (i know specs are lower but still)..
overall i feel glk is a better buy

EDIT: Love the exhaust note on glk while c300 is bleh

Bechul

You haven't driven mine C300, when i go in the dealer for service they usually give me a GLK and honestly last one i got was an 2010 and it didn't drive like a benz, not sure if this is from all the other peps who have used it as a loaner but this is my conclusion. I think all loaners are gonna drive like crap or feel like crap; since they see to many butts sitting in them.

Oh and yeah the exhaust stock does sound too tame, but hay thas why i got the x-pipe mod done. Loving every minute i step on it.

roadrunner8r

yea that might be it.. cool x-pipe! got any videos of the sound??


heres my glk cold start.. crappy video tho but you get the idea haha

clkwork

I've had both C and GLK loaners and in my opinion they are both equally exceptional compared to other makes in their class and price range. I can see how the C might have a few more interior luxuries compared to the GLK but the GLK offers more utility. I wouldn't mind owning either one.

Sincity

Dropping my car in for service on Monday and requested a GLK as a loaner. I hope I get it.

Bechul

I will see if this works on attaching two sound clips of my C3zero in a parking garage, using my iphone 4s.

Clip of me sticking the iphone out the window: http://youtu.be/4NFCSrtgnok

Second clip of the iphone about 3 feet from exhaust in parking garage:
http://youtu.be/gm_fONpWLic

rmfnla

More info on this, please..?

Bechul

About? the sounds or the cost of doing the x-pipe?

rmfnla

The cost, who did it, any performance increase, etc...


Thanks!

Bechul

Oh okay, the cost here at least in Maryland for labor is on an average of $25 per weld. So lets in this case for an x-pipe i needed about six welds done ($150) and the two pipe 12" pipe extenders ($15 each pipe). So the shop (Meinke) wanted $180 ish for the job before txs, i haggled them down to $150 ish before txs. I just told them that Midas can do it for that price as well.

The x-pipe was the Magnaflow brand and i bought mine thru www.autoanything.com cos of the free shippping. Took about a week to get to my house from west coast to east coast.

As for performance, i don't notice anything that stands out per se. The only thing i do notice it shoots up to the redline alot faster with that mod, and for my mpg well if your taking off like this to hear that exhaust which is quite addictive because it sounds at least for me a nice tuned race bike, so yeah wont get that mpg like before, its ok the gas price here where i live for prem 93 at Shell is $3.68.

Hope this helps in your quest.

rmfnla

Cool... thanks!