Hi everyone, a newbie from the UK here.

I'm currently on my second X167 which I've now had for six months, the first one I had for 6 weeks. The journey that I have been on to own a GLS has been a long and difficult one, I do love the car and it's great when everything works and I have made it my own with a few custom touches.

Unfortunately acquisition and ownership has been and still is an ongoing saga. Thought I’d post and say hello, as well as share my pain with some fellow owners

Test drive- after short-listing the GLS along with the BMW X7 and Audi Q7, my bias was always towards the GLS given that my last car which I loved was a was a W213 Mercedes E-Class. After test driving the X7 (boring) and the Q7 (too small, lots of turbo lag, hated the touch screen) neither of which ticked any boxes, I then spoke to my local Mercedes dealer to arrange a test drive. Unfortunately, after a month of trying, they couldn’t find any vehicles in the dealer network, as the GLS is quite rare out in the UK. After numerous failed promises I then got frustrated and wrote to Mercedes and the head of the dealership directly.

A few emails, phone-calls and an apology later, the dealership purchased a brand new GLS for me to test drive! Once it had been registered, I was given it for a five days to test drive which was great, we loved the car and my faith in Mercedes had been restored!

Unfortunately, my dealer couldn't arrange a satisfactory deal on a new one, nor could source a used one so after the usual spiel about the spec I’m after being too particular and that I’d never find a used one, I then embarked upon my own journey to find the one I wanted.

After 2 months of searching, I then found the perfect car at the perfect price, a 2020 GLS 400D Premium Plus Executive in black. It was a used vehicle that had been leased by a dealership employee for 6 months and only 2k miles. As it was used, the price was great, I went to see it (it was at a dealer 200 miles from me), drove it, fell in love and made the purchase

The car needed a few things to be rectified before collecting it a week later:

· One alloy had a scuff which needed a refurb

· The rear headrest pillows were missing

· The rear entertainment system was missing the 2 screens and tablet which I was told were put away for safe keeping and what would be installed for collection

· The car needed a detail as there were lots of visible light scratches and swirl marks on the black paint

A day before going to collect the vehicle I then got a call from the dealer saying that the wheel hadn't been refurbed as they cannot find the locking wheel nut for the car and they need to order a new one from Germany. Also, the tablet and the 2 rear entertainment screens had gone missing so they needed to order new ones to replace them. As I had sold my E-class and at that point was car-less, they arranged for a new GLE Coupe to be delivered to me to use plus some cashback to keep me happy, all of which softened the blow of not getting my new car, well done Mercedes!

A week later and the GLS arrived, it was delivered to me on a transporter and they took the GLE coupe back. They called ahead and said that the rear screens had been installed, the alloy refurbed, the tablet was still on back order as to were the headrest pillows, not the end of the world and they would ship these to me direct.

That’s when it all went downhill - The screens looked very different from the MB brochure and although they switched on, they wouldn’t do anything. To cut a very long story short, it turned out that the screens weren't compatible with the X167, in fact they turned out to be the screens from the older GLS, the X166.

After numerous conversations with the dealer , it then transpired that the vehicle never came with the rear entertainment screens from factory. Apparently, the car was one of the first X167’s that were made and had a different spec which meant from factory, the car never came with the rear entertainment screens nor did it have a TV tuner.

The dealership offered my money back which I refused as they had mis-sold me the car and I wasn't prepared to start the painful journey again to try to find an alternative vehicle. After numerous conversations the dealer, they finally offered me a brand new car, same colour but the right spec and after a two week wait the new vehicle was delivered to me and the dud spec X167 was taken away, again restoring my faith in Mercedes.

Having not been able to make much use of the vehicle as we've been in a lockdown/restrictions for quite some time in the UK, I wanted to make a few custom touches to it to make the vehicle my own so, as well as adding my own licence plate I then took it to the paint shop to have the car de-blinged. Unfortunately, in the UK we can't order the night edition/blackpack and there was far too much chrome/silver on the car so I had the paint shop paint it all black which really transformed the appearance of the car. I kept some of the chrome on the door handles and on the front grill so it wasn't too ‘thugged out’.

Then the problems began to ensue firstly one of the rear entertainment screens failed to turn on followed by the other. I had also noticed that the air balance system wasn't dispensing any of its fragrance. Then one of the rear floor mats had moved and there was no pin for it to be pushed into on the carpet. To add to that I also had what appeared to be a slow puncture, something I was dreading given the 23 inch wheels.

So, after waiting a month to get a slot in the dealership to get all of those matters attended to the car was booked in for one day, the dealer ender ended up keeping the car for 5 as they were trying to troubleshoot problems with the rear entertainment system with the engineers in Germany and they needed to keep the car longer to figure out the solution.

So, after getting the vehicle back they hadn't fixed the issues with the rear entertainment screen, 1 powers up and operates fine but the other needs replacing so they ordered another. They claimed to fix the air balance system but after trying to use it there was no difference and it still broken. They did however fix the puncture on the tyre free charge which was a nice touch. On leaving the dealership though an airbag warning light appeared on the dashboard though, great!

A few weeks later the car was back at the dealership for a couple of days in which they managed they fix the pin for the rear mat, however that became dislodged from the carpet within a couple of weeks. The airbag light needed a part ordering for the seat cushion (a seat sensor). The screens were another issue, as they had ordered the wrong part. Instead of ordering a rear screen they actually ordered a windscreen/windshield. They came clean about the error and apologised and ordered the right part.

Now, the car is due in at the dealership to have the rear entertainment, the pin for the rear mat, the air balance system (the dash needs taking apart they said), and the airbag warning light attended to next week, although I'll be very surprised if they managed to resolve all of those in that visit.





So, apologies for writing war and peace here, however my journey in purchasing a car all the way through to owning it have been plagued with many troubles, some of which I know you guys have experienced too, other than that it's a great car to drive and own. In the UK they are very rare as well as being pretty large on the road so it does turn heads and give you that feeling of exclusivity........well when everything works as it should that is!

 

Sorry to hear about all these issues. Mistakes happens but it sounds like your dealership does make the same mistakes (like ordering the wrong part again and again and doesn't learn from that mistake). Thankfully they admit fault and compensate you, that is all that matters. I am hoping that all the issues were fixed and you have been enjoying your vehicle since a year ago and which it never gave you further issues.

 

For what it is worth, she is a gorgeous looking vehicle!!!!