We're replacing our 2020 GLS soon, and we're down to the GLS or Escalade. Has anyone owned both that can comment on the difference? Pricing wise, we're coming out pretty similar surprisingly (after adding the desired options).

 

I currently own both.

I have a 2021 Escalade ESV and a 2023 GLS600. I guess the first questions is are you getting the ESV or the short wheelbase?

I have a young, active family with 3 Golden Retrievers who are constantly on the go. Our Escalade is the one SUV that I own that cannot be replaced in terms of size, cargo capacity and utility. I can put the car seats in, strollers in the back and still haul a full load from Costco without any issue.

If you are talking about fit and finish plus luxury, the GLS is far superior. As useful as my Escalade is, the quality doesn't match the price tag. The brakes on the Escalade leaves a lot to be desired even with the upgraded big brake kit from Brembo I have.

 

Thank you, that's super helpful!

 

I considered the Escalade briefly but it was way too big for the garage and I'd imagine it's a lot harder to park (not to mention weave through tight NYC streets for visits).
I also probably won't appreciate the "benefits" of a truck-based SUV.

 

This was a decision we went through when purchasing our GLS. I am a long time GM fan/owner, but not anymore. DOD is terrible and a frequent problem which causes expensive engine work. My sisters escalade left her stranded twice when a lifter went bad. The repair was very expensive as well. This is what drove me to look at other non GM vehicles.

The main difference is size. Where I live and drive the size of a Escalade made it challenging to park and my wife hated it. I wasn't a big fan either. That pushed us to look at the GLS and Lexus LX. The GLS is fine with 2 kids. I feel like if you have 3 kids it could become too small, but that's just my opinion. This is mostly due to the 3rd row in the Escalade having seat belts for 3 people. The tight turning radius of the GLS is really nice and helps it feel even smaller.

At the end of the day, I would recommend a long test drive or even renting one if that's possible and see how you feel about it. Drive it the places you normally go, try to park it in your garage, etc. You already have a GLS so you know how it is. Are there things your GLS doesn't do that you wish it did? Does it seem too small?

 

I have a 2021 Suburban (Same platform as the Escalade), so can give a little bit of input there. Mine is a High Country (top trim) with the diesel and air/magnetic suspension. From a chassis, powertrain and dimensions standpoint, it is the same as an Escalade.

The ride is sublime, even with 22s. It is not going to be as smooth as a GLS as it is still body on frame, but it is exceedingly comfortable loaded or not. It feels much wider and less cockpit-like than the GLS, but the more you drive it, the more it shrinks around you and feels comfortable. Particularly with air suspension and not in sport mode, the ride and handling are very American boat, and significantly less nimble than the GLS. The cargo capacity is immense, and both 2nd and 3rd rows are very roomy. These were designed to haul and tow, and they do it quite well. I don't have any complaints about the brakes - the 70-0 on the Suburban is 166ft (better than a lightweight Mazda 3) to 154ft on a GLS450 - however all of the T1 GM based vehicles use eBoost and need a heavier foot than you would expect on the brakes.

I live in the DC metro and frequently drive it in the city - parking in garages can be a challenge, and some street parking is tight because of the length.

I was going to go to an Escalade ESV and have decided to go to the GLS instead. GM makes a great vehicle, they are a terrible software company. Every time an OTA update comes for the vehicle, something else breaks or stops acting right. I spent 4 months with outside mirrors that would move to a different position every time I started the vehicle, with a setting that would revert every time you turned it off. The dealer could not figure it out, and it ended up being a bug in their latest software update that conflicted with the cloud services settings for the vehicle. It's always something, and the dealer support is absolute garbage compared to MB. My selling dealer is a combined Cadillac/Chevrolet dealership, and they have no business playing in the $100K space and not having service loaners, for instance.

 

If I am spending $100k +/-, it ain’t gonna be on a damn Chevy. I don’t care what badge they stick on it. At 50k miles, it’ll be a Chevy. Same with Ford/Lincoln. I personally think the “American” car prices are absolutely asinine.

My dad has a Lincoln Continental, 2019 I believe, maybe 25k miles at this point, and is a complete pile of junk. Even the dashboard has begun to come apart. He replaced his midsized caddy suv with it that in all honesty was no different than the Chevy Equinox. Bought my mom a 2019 GLA two years ago, and is light years ahead of both of them in terms of reliability, build quality, and ownership enjoyment. The Lincoln “Tarus” sits, and they drive the Benz almost exclusively instead.

I have a hang up with spending a premium on a car that has a discounted twin. A Mercedes Benz is just that tip to tail. There is no cousin badge elsewhere. It’s not an “upscale” version of something else. That is a key reason why I tend to shy away from the likes of Lexus, Infinity, Acura, and so on. About the only brand I would consider might be Audi on certain models. In all honesty, I’ve had much better luck and enjoyment with the cheaper version anyways. For example, I’ve had two Lexus vehicles that drove me nuts, but two Toyota vehicles that I would consider to be the two best vehicles I have ever owned before. I’ve had 3 VW’s that were my favorites in terms of pure joy, while knowing others who had their Audi counterparts who did not have the same experience.

A Benz is a Benz only. I like that fact, especially at these prices.

 

question is what are you going to use it for?

Different as morning and night.

First off when looking at Caddy also look at Chevy Suburban and GMC YUKON since they are very much the same except for some slight differences that may or may not appeal to you, wife & Family.
All 3 (nboth long and Short Versions) are made on the same Arlington, TX line; a Combined 1300+ of these 3, roll of the line every day.

At least check them out online.
I like to build one on each site then compare prices and local inventory.
Yes they did get pricey for a GM but heck all cars are getting stupid pricey.

Benefits to GM product are:
Service, Maintenance & Parts will be WAY WAY WAY cheaper
More aftermarket gadgets and gizmos due to production numbers and owners like to customize them.
Way more dealers to service; so if the one you tried sucks go to another. Unlike MB you may have to drive 3 hours until the next dealer.
"Burb" has been around for soemthing like 80 years and they have it down pat.
Full frame allows for greater load & towing Capacity.
I think safer on road since well you pretty much gonna weigh more then other vehicles except for some pickup trucks.
I think you will find GM is above MB now for these "BURB" then MB SUV for the initial Quality thing JD POwers publishes.
Resale on the gm "burbs" is better then what people think due to strong used market for them as the family trucksters.

I do not work for GM -
I just always band my head when I need a MB A or B service donene as I get a CASH-ECTAMY and think of what my Truck costs for similar work to be done.


SIDE BAR about AFM:
you can easily buy programmers to turn off the cylinder turn off thingy as I think they changed the name again, (Range Technology has been doing it since about 2007)
Look pretty much everyone does this turn off cylinder crap to help with fuel and lower emissions - no one likes it but companies have found a way.
Heck the dodge Hemi has it but they call it something else.

 

You nailed it on a few of these things. These are GM's flagships, and they are the one thing they do not screw up. Quality is not an issue with the large SUVs, and the majority of issues (like the ones driving me from mine) are software related. That is the area where GM is trying to be progressive, but fails on the support side of.

My MSRP was $85K, I negotiated to $78,500 before the COVID shortage craziness hit. I've had mine 2.5 years, 53K miles and the black book on it is still $70,500. Situationally inflated, yes - but the cult like following these have keeps values high. The Escalade doesn't fare as well in terms of resale as the more utilitarian versions, but I also feel practical at looking to spend $105K on a GLS450 over a similarly equipped $128K Escalade, which was my other choice.

AFM disablers and the like do not work yet on the 2021+ SUVs. They were some of the first vehicles GM launched their "VIP" backbone on, and all CAN communications are digitally signed and encrypted, and 3rd parties are having a hard time with it. The solution is to buy the diesel, which is the premier powerplant in these regardless.

 

I'm the same as you... I think of them as "root" luxury brands versus base luxury brands.

I will say, Chevrolet/GMC -> Cadillac is a bigger leap than most of the others. While they may be the same platform underpinnings, there is enough differentiation between the vehicles that they do feel different enough to justify their existence. In the case of the Escalade, the interior is completely different down to the grade of carpet used, seat foam density, infotainment software, completely different dash design, etc. On the exterior, only the roof stamping, door skins and hatch are shared between any of the other platform mates. GM has finally killed the badge engineering of the 90s that got them into the **** they were in.

 

I’m not trying to bag on the GM or any American brand, hopefully my post didn’t come across like that too badly. I just have a problem with how much the “home team” costs when compared to the imports. When we bought our GLS in September 2020 before the craziness hit, at $85k well equipped, it was actually a fair deal when compared to the prices at the neighboring Lincoln dealer for a similarly equipped Aviator (Navigator was north of $100k). We initially thought we would wait to see what the new Grand Wagoneer would look like, and when we saw the pictures we weren’t terribly impressed, but when we saw they were in excess of $90k and on up from there, for a Jeep, we laughed it off. Somehow a brand new Mercedes Benz GLS450 in a hard to find color was the most economical one to get.

When I tried to take the Lincoln for a test drive, they couldn’t get the driver’s door to close and latch.

Old neighbor swore by the GMC Yukon XL, black. Had three of them in a row, each had engine component problems that took a long time to get fixed. The last one, a 2018 in 2018, had the ac go out at 8k miles right as summer was starting and before their annual road trip to the NC coast. Dealer told them it would take about 4 months before they could get the part needed to fix it. Somehow he was able to get GM to pull the part from another one sitting on the lot instead. He had paid nearly $90k for that car back then. All three rattled and squeaked through out too. But I do understand the comfort factor of them. They do give you that “King of the Road” feeling.

Nobody is perfect, but when I keep hearing of alternators and power steering racks failing, and stuff like that that are bolted onto the engine, it just reminds me of the phrase of designed obsolescence. I just can’t pay the premium for it.

 

I test drove a new Lincoln Aviator last year and the air conditioner didn't work at all, it blew hot air for 30 minutes of highway driving. Terrible quality control.

 

Mercedes do badge engineering in other markets. I think there is an Infiniti somewhere that's basically a GLA and don't get me started on the MB X-Class. It's just that none of these has made it to the US (and I hope no one decides to import an X-Class).

 

It wasn't too long ago when the M-Class (currently called GLE) was based on the Jeep Grand Cherokee!

 

With the being said, My NEW 23 Maybach was delivered to me with a rear passenger seat not secured all the way and a center stack that doesn't blow air deemed "normal".

 

how infiniti is the GLB then? it's still made in the Nissan plant.

 

I don't know that Nissan/Infiniti have anything that is the shape of a GLB in their line-up (at least in the US)? But the plant in Mexico is a JV, no denying that. It's pretty common all over Europe to share manufacturing capacity without necessarily sharing parts, though. For a while MB and Mitsubishi shared some production lines, too...

 

All about use case. Escalades (and all GM large SUVs, really) are incredible vehicles. I have driven the new Escalade but I rented a new Suburban for a week in FL last year, and it is just an exceedingly great vehicle. If I was driving it on road trips all the time and carrying gear and towing, it would be an easy choice to get the Escalade (or honestly a Yukon Denali etc) over the GLS. BUT, if you're going to live with it day to day the GLS is a much more managable size.

But, don't discount the big GM SUVs, they are worth what they cost...which is why so many people buy them you just need to use the capability they bring to the table.

As for reliability concerns with the big GM SUVs, nobody would accuse the GLS as being a good choice if you are concerned about reliability...

 

One thing I miss about the Escalade is the commanding seating position. Obviously extremely spacious, Very comfortable. I did have a few software glitches but so did my W223. One I thing I hated was the paint quality being terrible. When I sold it back to the dealer they even asked me if I had a body panel repainted. For long term reliability, I thing the GLS is the better choice. If you're leasing, the Escalade is fine.

 

When it comes to how reliable a vehicle / manufacturer is, I take everything with a grain of salt. I'm a VW fan, had several, all excellent, even back in 1987 with my first car (GTI). Yet, we all know someone who knows someone who had a Jetta that blew up for no apparent reason whatsoever. In fact, I actually drove through a car park last week for the first time in nearly 3 years since buying the GLS. They had Porsche, Jeep, Mazda, Toyota, Kia, Lincoln, Infiniti, and so on. The only car I saw that actually interested me, was the Land Rover Discovery extended version. Loved that thing, and was pretty well priced for what it all had on it ($89k). Really thought it was the sweetest ride in the park. So, yeah, I take comments about reliability with a grain of salt.

I do love the driving position too of the GM trucks. Drop that wheel down in you lap and cruise along like earth is nothing but a roadway built for you. Also quite comfortable for us older folks like me. But having endured a few GM products in my life and extended family's life, from trucks to SUV's, the issues and plastics they have endured, just irritate me, and I find it hard to justify that premium pricing. No joke however, I person pick when we were shopping for a new 3-row SUV was a Tahoe, until I saw the price tag against the Mercedes. My wife would have nothing to do with a Tahoe regardless, so it was a waste of time anyway. Turns out, my cute little eastern north Carolina country darling, has a little more "high cotton" to her than she would admit too. And so the Mercedes Benz was purchased.

I will say this, I have yet to ever see a vehicle leak from a rain storm since my last GM product back in the day. Nothing like a puddle dripping down the middle of headliner from front to back in a Jimmy. Dad had an Envoy for a while and it did the same thing on him too. His last GM, the Caddy mid-size SUV (the one that looks like an Equinox), also leaked along the back gate when it rained. One would think GM could figure that out....... but one could also think Mercedes could figure out how to make MB Tex that didn't split by now too!

...at the end of the day, we all end up with a Camry anyways, so who really cares. Buy what you like, while you like it!

 

I would walk before I’d put a Toyota or Honda product in my driveway. The most overrated appliances on the road.

 

Lets not go crazy now lol.

 

I don't need to get into this argument, but I'll agree there are few current Toyota products I would put in my driveway. I just find the current lineup largely uncompetitive versus competition and seemingly lazy in design. Honda on the other hand I historically have quite liked, as they seem to put some effort into the driving experience.

 

Toyotas are bland and behind in many ways, but they are solid well made reliable transport, without a doubt. Hondas nowadays are nowhere near as reliable as Toyotas

 

amen, brother; you pays your money and makes your choices! Life is too short to obsess about it.