Rascally Wabbit

When looking for information on the Off-Road package, I stumbled across this article from 2008. http://www.autoweek.com/article/20080418/FREE/323477494
The link shows exterior differences to the front & rear fascia with this pkg. & the absence of chrome on the exterior. The article describes engine & a couple of other options which were not available when introduced into the USA.

koalatm

There are actually tons of things we don't get over here.

This is from the Konfigurator in Germany:

-Light Package (lights up the trim line just below the air vents, and a few other areas)
-Offroad Tech Pkg (looks like it adds about 3 extra buttons where the e/s/m and heated seat buttons are)
-Delete Model Designation (simple thing, but I wish we could do this here without having to de-badge ourselves)
-Ash tray and lighter are an extra charge (not sure why they're even standard here)
-Heat insulated dark tinted glass
-A heater that works independent of the engine when the car is turned off
-Seat climate control (ventilated seats)
-Split view screen
-Telephone module (SIM card)
-Travel & Restaurant Guide
-Convenience telephony
-Comand Online w/o DVD changer (would be nice to skip the dvd changer here).
-Roof rails in black
-Fire extinguisher
-Rear side airbags

BTW a GLK 250 BluTEC is 46,677.75 EUR (base price)

balticgreen

What is "Convenience telephony?" The other things we have in the USA. I have the Interior Ambient Lighting package that lights up the trim; it's not worth the money but fortunately it wasn't expensive. Our COMAND includes Zagat guide, which I'm assuming is basically what "Travel & Restaurant Guide" is. We also have mbrace and if you have the Concierge service, they can recommend and book anything you want. Our roof rails are black as standard equipment; you need the appearance package or sport package to upgrade them to the aluminum rails.

That is the only thing on the list I would have wanted.


A few things we don't have in the USA that Canada does:

- Power folding side mirrors.
- MB-TEX inserts on the door panels with MB-TEX interiors. We need the Leather Package to get those inserts.
- Power seat controls for the front passenger on the door panel with MB-TEX interiors. Again, we need the Leather Package to get the passenger-side controls on the door where they belong.

Those are what immediately come to mind. There are some other things that are just differences like the tires on the GLK250 (we get extended mobility tires; Canada gets regular tires and a sealant kit).

Rascally Wabbit

The stripped of chrome look on the Off-Road Pkg. I find appealing. It is unfortunate for consumers that there is not greater standardization between different markets which certainly would be a cost savings. I really like the Canadian folding mirrors & wonder it they can be retrofitted to a USA market vehicle. Years ago while on vacation in Portugal, folding mirrors were an absolute necessity even in a small Fiat due to the width of streets in countryside villages!

AvWuff

A friend of mine used to be the CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA; I asked him why many of these features were missing from US and Canadian models.

He said the reason was twofold: One, each new feature needs to be tested for that market, for example, it needs to have proper documentation, certifications, FCC clearances, etc etc.

And two, MOST people who buy cars in the US and Canada buy from the dealer's stock off the lot. Very few people custom-order a car. That's why the features are grouped and the less-popular features are missing entirely. In Europe, custom-ordering a car is a much more common occurrence.

Rascally Wabbit

I have never bought a new car but if the stars align & a new GLK is in sight, I will be ordering not buying a lot car. Best would be Euro delivery. The ventilated seats are another feature I want out here in the Southwest. Heck, even a lowly Kia has them available!

AvWuff

If you're upset about the lack of options available to the US and Canadian markets, here's something to make you feel better: We get the same car (made in the same factory) as Germany does, except we pay about 2/3 as much as they do. I priced out my GLK and it was $30,000 more expensive over in Germany.

balticgreen

Mercedes is one of the hardest brands to find what you want on a lot because a lot of stuff that should be standard on a luxury car is optional and other than a small number of big packages (Premium and Multimedia), most of the options are in small, narrowly focused packages (Lighting, Lane Tracking, etc) or they're standalone options (Keyless Go, Parktronic, harman kardon, heated seats, etc). The number of possible configurations is nearly infinite. I don't know how anyone finds an in stock Mercedes they want. My assumption is that they settle for something that is "close enough" and maybe they're okay with that but I am not. Every Mercedes I have had was a factory order.

Other brands have trim levels or stepped packages (they build on each other) that significantly reduce the number of possible configurations. For example, if you want an Acura, your choices are which package (none, Tech or Advance), what color, and maybe AWD or not. Chances are an Acura dealer either has what you want or can easily trade for it.

AvWuff

I think it's because in Germany, nearly everything on a Mercedes is a single item and not in a package. It's really a north american thing to bundle stuff up into a package, I guess.

In Canada, there's even more packages -- parktronic and keyless go are part of the "convenience" package, the only things I was able to select individually was things like the Logic7 sound system and trailer hitch, etc.

fabbrisd1

I thought America has always been based on "individualization" !

You do have more individual "choices" available for the GLK - and on the GLK - with major five packages being 4matic, Premium 1, MultiMedia, Appearance, Lane Assist (Blind/Lane) - - the major consumer decisionis between what mix of those five - depending on wants and more importantly budget.

balticgreen

I would add heated seats as a major option for the US as a whole, although I understand that they're probably not as common in, say, Florida or Arizona.

But no matter, I can work with your list. Let's do some math because I like numbers. If you only consider those five options and pretend for a minute that no other options exist--except metallic paint--there are 1,296 configuration possibilities from just those options. That's 12 possible combinations of the last four options you listed (4Matic will be considered with the model) and also accounting for the fact that you can't get MM without P1, multiplied by 3 different models (350 RWD, 350 4Matic, and 250 4Matic), multiplied by 36 color combinations (12 paint choices with 3 MB-TEX colors) = 1,296 possibilities. Even from only those five options, finding on a dealer's lot at any given time the one configuration you want out of 1,296 possibilities might be difficult. If you're flexible then obviously your chances improve.

If you acknowledge that leather and black ash trim options exist, there are 144 possible combinations just of paint, upholstery, and wood trim before you've even added a single option other than leather, wood, or paint. There are actually 216 if you count the special order aluminum trim but I'm not counting any special order options.

With all the options in the printed sales brochure, there are over 10.6 million different combinations. That number accounts for not being able to get Multimedia or Leather without Premium 1, not being able to get both the Appearance and Sport packages together, and the standalone Sirius and Media Interface options not available with P1 because P1 already includes them. That number does not include special order options, nor does it include accessories installed at the port or dealer. Any of those options push the number of possible configurations higher. Looking for one configuration of 10+ million? Good luck!

I mentioned Acura earlier. Looking at the RDX, there are 10 interior/exterior color combinations and 4 models (base FWD, base AWD, Tech FWD, and Tech AWD). No other options are available except dealer installed accessories that could be added to any RDX. That makes 40 possible RDX configurations from the factory. Not 40 thousand or 40 million, just 40. A far cry from 10.6 million.

BigBoeing

Chris,

Speaking of fully-loaded GLK250's...how are you liking your new 2014? Haven't heard much from you since you took delivery. Any "learning points?"

Best Regards,
Jim

Rascally Wabbit

Amazing number of possibilities! So if I settle on two or three colours, RWD only & choose only the Premium Pkg., Appearance Group, H/K upgrade, Bi-xenon headlamps & the trailer hitch I might have a chance of locating one so equipped. The hitch is the tough one to locate on a GLK350.

balticgreen

Love it. I've had it not quite two weeks but I did get to drive it up to my parents' for Thanksgiving, so that was a nice little road trip. My dog fits well in the back even with a rollaboard size suitcase. There was a discussion somewhere here about cargo liner mats. I ended up buying the Weathertech mat. $120 at Amazon with free Prime shipping, saving me the $18 shipping fee from Weathertech direct. As promised, it fits perfectly and it's typical Weathertech quality.

The biggest "learning point" was buying diesel fuel. The first place I stopped--because it was on the right side of the street at the time--only had truck diesel nozzles that wouldn't fit in my GLK. I knew those existed but most places also have car nozzles. This place didn't. There was a small amount of cursing as I had to cross a busy road and pay a few cents more per gallon just so the nozzle would fit in the car.

Judging from the "From Start" trip computer, I'm getting 25-29 mpg around town and 32-36 mpg highway.

Mercedes made a number of improvements to COMAND since my last car. Being able to say an entire address at once is a huge win. The disembodied voice is more pleasant although she is chattier, which is both good and bad. It reads my contacts right from my iPhone, which makes the painful process of updating the contacts in the car unnecessary. Showing the name of the next intersection when not navigating is a nice improvement. Lane suggestions when navigating are much improved too. I need to spend more time with the COMAND manual because I'm sure there's more stuff I haven't discovered.

MB Apps is so slow that it's worthless. It's faster and easier to look something up on my iPhone. That won't be renewed, nor will Sirius radio. Sirius Traffic, yes, but not the radio.

The cornering lights with the Lighting Package are much more useful than the cornering lights on my last car. I don't miss the headlight washers that were removed for 2014; they were much better at spraying the hood than they were at cleaning the headlights. The "dance" that the headlights do when starting the car is almost enchanting. My last car just dipped down and then back up. The GLK goes up and down and swings to the sides. It reminds me of an orchestra conductor, haha. I think I said this earlier, but the automatic high beams work really well.

Distronic is a godsend in our crappy DC-area traffic. To think that I almost didn't get that package and only added it right before my build was locked out from any changes.

Blind spot assist and the 360 camera are both wonderful because, like most SUVs, the visibility at the rear corners is not great. Lane keeping assist is sometimes annoying. It's a computer and looks only at the lines without understanding the bigger picture of the situation. There's one place in particular near my house where you need to merge right unless you're turning left, in which case the left-turn-only lane is marked strangely, so either way I'm crossing one of two dashed lines even though I plan to go straight and the car yells at me.

I haven't had any occasions to need to parallel park but people have asked to see it. Hands-free parallel parking is a crowd pleaser for sure.

Ooh, yeah, the hitch is hard to find on a dealer's lot. Also, the harman kardon upgrade without the Multimedia Package seems to not be very common. Likewise, the Lighting Package doesn't seem to be common without a bunch of other options that push the price well over $50k.

BigBoeing

Chris,

Thanks for your very complete report! Glad to hear you're liking your new GLK250. I'd wondered if a truck stop diesel nozzle was a larger diameter given the volume of fuel they pump in to an 18-wheeler. You resolved that mystery for me. How's the climate control and ventilation system? And the seating comfort?

I posted the Consumer Reports January 2014 review of the GLK350 on my old thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/glk-class...ery-etc-3.html

They seem to really like the vehicle, and mentioned the GLK250 diesel option. I hope they eventually perform an independent review of the GLK250.

Best Regards,
Jim

balticgreen

The gas station wasn't what I would call a "truck stop." It was a normal gas station on the corner of an intersection and mostly serves passenger cars. Their sign does say "High Speed Diesel Pumps" but I didn't realize that meant they ONLY had high speed pumps. The station just up the road has the two nozzle sizes on each pump and a different station has one pump island marked "TRUCKS" and another island marked "CARS." I never paid any attention to this before, but I obviously do now.

Climate control and ventilation are excellent, as per usual for Mercedes. The heated steering wheel is a personal favorite; it has been quite cold here this week. The steering wheel does not seem to automatically turn off after a period of time as the heated seats do, which bugs me slightly only because it's inconsistent.

The seats are very comfortable. I took a friend to lunch earlier this week and she commented on the seat and especially the comfort headrest that comes with the leather package. I'm still fiddling with the seat controls every time I get in the car because I haven't found my perfect position yet but that's due to me, not the car. I am so used to sitting lower in a C Class that getting in the GLK is odd to me.

I downloaded the PDFs you posted in the other thread and will read those later this evening. Thanks for posting them.

derekwh

I guess we are the other side of the coin, we chose not to go with all the extras. The only options we wanted were the metallic paint and the media (ipod) connection. We found one rolling off the line in Bremen and bought it. The only difference was that it had the metal dash instead of the burl. We've come to like the metal since it is unique. We love the car and though we are only up to around 2k miles it has been trouble free.

BigBoeing

Anybody have any recommendations regarding car wax and/or polish for Mercedes paint?

I've been using Nu-Finish on our vehicles which was the #1 rated polish by Consumer Reports. They recommended the Nu-Finish paste over their liquid, however loved them both nevertheless. It's actually a polymer coating. Very easy to apply and lasts a long time. Just look for the orange container.

Best Regards,
Jim

Gt. Dane

A little off topic but you might want to check out this post:

https://mbworld.org/forums/glk-class...o-you-use.html

107123210

Reading that thread, Detailing for those so inclined seems to be akin to religion. No chance of everyone agreeing!

My idea of detailing, is one or two applications of some type of real or synthetic wax each year plus washing at DIY carwash whenever needed. Works for my white and silver cars, but maybe not for black!

My car is new right off the truck except for the dealer prep. It is black and looks good. It is already winter here and I am using GLK very sparingly. In January, we will drive South and car will be exposed to all sorts of road conditions until we get to sunnier climes.

My question, is: Should I be doing anything to protect the factory finish before heading South? I would have to get a detailing shop to do it because temperatures here are below freezing.

I suppose I could ask the dealer what they recommend.