Well,
Wife and I just returned from our Mercedes dealership. Had placed an order for a new GLK250 diesel today. When we went over the details of the order, the sales manager noticed that the specs called for run-flat tires and no spare tire at all! Guess they must be using the tire-well for Ad Blue storage. A call to the Mercedes Benz headquarters production office confirmed that there is no way around the lack of a spare! We walked away from our order. A true deal-breaker for us!

 

Noooooo!!! That is so disappointing! Runflats still aren't as good as we were told they were going to be by this point. There's just no getting around the harsh ride and additional weight. I bought the X1 in spite of the runflats, choosing to run conventional tires and carry an emergency inflation kit. But I'm not happy about it, and I told myself I wouldn't do it again. This just might be a deal breaker for me, too. It doesn't have all the features I'm looking for, but I might have to take a closer look at the CX-5 Skyactiv-D if it makes it here later this year as speculated. There's always the Q5 TDI, too, but that's going to be considerably more expensive. Ugh!

 

Agreed it is disappointing! I do not like them, but still drive my 2010 RAV4 Sport with RFT for 3 years without any problem. Just in case I have with me third party spare tire, which take a lot of space on the back, the on-the-road emergency puncture seal kit and a small compressor. The RFT extremely heavy, more noise and they eat 1-2mph.

 

Funny, I asked the very same question for the very same reason. I was told that wasn't the case. The urea tank was described to me as being in the right quarter panel with the filler near the gas tank filler. I was also told they are normal tires and the spare is in the usual location!! ???????

 

Funny or not funny, maybe it’s a pure speculation, but take a look at the most resent model year 2013 owner manual (link is below)
http://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalA...l/2013_GLK.pdf

Take a look at pages 358,359. The Tires table lists wheel/tire combinations for GLK350 and GLK250 BlueTec. Do you see that the only tires left in the list for GLK250 BlueTec are 235/50 R19 99H M+S MOExtended ( tires with run-flat characteristics). All others are “USA: not for GLK250 BlueTEC”.

Does this confirm the theory ( indirectly ) that GLK250 BlueTEC has only Run-Flat tires?

 

Yep, sure does! Bummer! Looks like they told me what I wanted to hear, which was untrue. Have to rethink this whole thing now. I'm scheduled for European Delivery in May, though I've put no money into it yet.

 

Please tell me/us about you ED experience, price negotiation, dealer approach in regard of not released car. I am thinking about ED myself if local dealers in Michigan will not agree to MSRP price reduction...

As I told in another tread I am OK with RFT on my 2010 RAV4 Sport despite they are heavier than regular, maybe consume (some) 1-2 mpg, but hoped that GLK250 has regular tires.

 

There was some discussion on this in this thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/glk-class...-delivery.html

This will be my third time. In the US the dealers were told to sell the car back in January. I contacted several dealers and all confirmed. They still don't have pricing! Of course the equipment is the same as for the gassers but pricing on the couple of differences was not available, and still isn't. I was told I had to have a sunroof, for which I wanted credit as for the GLK350. Not possible I was told as all will be made with sunroof and no credit there, and only 4Matic will be available, which is fine for me. Both of my Benz have sunroofs now and I've NEVER opened them. Seems stupid to me to have a high end conditioning system and open the car up to get pollen and corruption that the system tries to remove. I still don't have a final price. My car is scheduled for the line on March 3, supposedly, and I get it in Europe on May 21, a Tuesday. I wanted on Monday but that seems to be a European holiday and there are no deliveries that day.

Considering what I was told by more than one dealer re the spare tire, I'm doubting ALL my information. Data for builds is still on the MBUSA site.

They ship the cars down from Bremen to the European Delivery Center at Sindelfingen where you go through their regular protocol, including lunch or breakfast, and tour one of the operating lines at the time. I went through the C class line this last time and the time before I went through the S class. You don't have a choice. You do have choice for lunch or breakfast. Take lunch! Outstanding high end cuisine, excellent service, all complimentary. More info on the MBUSA site. They give you 7% off MSRP plus no delivery charges, so you effectively 'save' about 9% off the USA MSRP. Some dealers will give a little extra but usually not enough to make or break the deal. I've heard, and I've seen, 2% more knocked off, which is really only about $1K for the GLK. That depends on the dealer, but they can and will negotiate that.

Enough?

 

No, it confirms that GLK250 BlueTEC in USA will have no wheels at all.

There is a contradiction in the manual referred to. Look at note #20 below the tables of the tires: "MOExtended tires (tires featuring run-flat characteristics) only in combination with an activated tire pressure loss warning system." The tire pressure loss warning system is for Canada only (note page 335), the USA counterpart being the TPMS.

 

So, we have to wait and see US owners reports or check with European owners...

 

My dealer will give the Alps Rally on top of the tourist discount.

JB

 

It's funny that so many of you shy away from a car because it has run flats. It is true they weigh more and may have a slightly different ride but myself and 30,000 other Corvette owners are on run flats with little or no problems. There are work arounds for the possibility of a flat. To bad because for most of us the GLK is a great vehicle.

 

It depends on where you live and drive. Out west, we can be hundreds of miles from no where when we get a flat. A spare gives peace of mind.

 

Please forgive the sarcasm but I forgot all Corvette owners are on the East coast.

 

EXACTLY my concern. All my miles on the E350 BlueTech have been to Wyoming and Texas. Hate to have to replace such a tire in Wells, Eureka or Ely, Nevada, or Farson, Wyoming. On the other hand, I just commented to someone that I've been a road warrior working out of a car in the West most of my life and I can't recall ever having to change a tire on the road during those 50 years or so, so it boils down to peace of mind.

 

I guess my point is let's say your wife or GF is driving your vehicle and has flat. Let's also say she can't change the tire herself. Here she is in the middle of nowhere does she call AAA maybe if there is cell service.

On the other hand with the same scenario as above what does she do? Nothing she just continues to drive until she gets somewhere to have someone fix it. Run flat can continue on at a reduced rate of speed about 50 or so MPH.

So which is better?

 

In the west it would be stupid for wife or GF to call, then sit and wait along a road some place by herself if there is another alternative. That's a no brainer!

 

Runflats do have an advantage, and I would happily recommend them for my wife or mother. But the disadvantages outweigh the advantages in my eyes, and I prefer to avoid them on my own vehicles.

 

In all my years of driving, I have had only one time when a piece of metal cut the sidewall of a tire. Even a RFT would have been ruined. Up until then I would probably have felt that RFT were ok. Now, I wouldn't want to take any long trip without a spare.

 

I have run flat tires on my Sienna and I do not like them at all.

They are wearing out quicker, noisier, harsher ride and much heavier than regular tires.

My wife insisted that we should change the same run flat tires on her Sienna.
Who am I to argue, beside she's the one who's driving the Sienna all the time.
So the next set of tires for my Sienna will be RFT.

 

Looked at one today. Not run flats but no spare, only fill kit. Good in that the negatives of run flats are eliminated (cost, harsh ride, etc) but fill kit is useless for a tire that is slashed.. There looks like there is not enough room for a spare collapsable tire but a donut might fit.

 

Where did you look? Has car arrived somewhere? Is it with panorama roof? Any price update?

 

They are at dealers in Canada. One had roof one didnt.

 

No room for spare has been confirmed. Canada seems to have decided like Europe to run regular tires with only a can of stop leak. Still waiting for visual confirmation on which tires US models have.

 

There is a kit from Continental Tire offered on Tire Rack. It is an inflator with sealant which could take care of the no spare issue. It could be worse as in my Z3 Roadster- the OEM tyre will not fit where the spare is stored thus there is no place in the event of a failure for it except in the passenger seat ! LOL if significant other is about. Plan to add one of these kits for just in case.