You know, I can't disagree, we are very fortunate and spoiled to be able to afford luxury items. I would never consider anything less....as long as we can afford it.

 

For sure, obviously picking which luxury vehicle is a first world problem and in this case, it is a good problem to have having a great selection/options to choose from.

 

My 911 was a 6

 

How come you sold it? 911 has a different personality : )

 

Left the hospital for a meeting...took a back way cut around....drifted into traffic (right turn onto a three lane)....hit it. Cop was behind me and was going to pull me over. As I went through a STALE green light (waiting for the cop to pull me over after the light)...a Saturn SL1 being driven by an 82 year old uninsured driver came through my drivers door.

I woke up at the hospital I left....about 300' from my office...

Totaled were - 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S, Brand new Ford F350 (was on the corner at a Ford Dealership), a $100k + stop light.....all on before cop cams existed, damnit.

 

Darn sorry to hear that glad you came out unscathed, I mean mostly (completely )recovered now, welcome to MB.

 

Massaging seats is the reason that we went from a 450 to a 580, they come as standard in the 580, and are an option in the 450. I think that to get ventilated and massaging second row you have to get the Executive Rear Seat Package. I don't know how it is outside of the US, but here you tick boxes to get packages, and then you can add some other things on. We bought our 580 used and it s a great car, the V8 is a beast, I never complained about the 450, but wow the 580!

 

Thanks for all the replies. Taking notes!

 

I agree about the massage seats.

I have a couple of questions for you.

Do the executive rear seats fold manually, or do you have to hold a button for an interminal amount of time while they fold?

How does your fuel economy compare, 450 to 580?
My 450 got in the low 30s on the highway, but my 53 has trouble seeing anything over 24.
That's my only real complaint with the car, because I regularly put in 500+ mile days, and I expect to do more cross-country driving in the coming years.
(Thus my preference for massage seats!

 

@mikapen in our car the rear seats (way back) are 100% automatic. The seats behind the drivers are manual(ish) as you have to flip the lowers up if you want a fully flat rear area.

 

@mikapen there are multiple buttons in the trunk that will fold and raise the seats with a single touch. If you do it from the front to access the 3rd row you have to hold the button.

Our gas mileage is in the mid 20s on long road trips.

The massaging seats definitely make a difference when it comes to driving fatigue on long trips. There also a seat kinetics feature that periodically moves your seat a bit. I think the massage helps me more, but they definitely both help to reduce driving fatigue.

If you're looking at the 2025, you can get the Pinnacle trim and Execute Rear Seat packages on the 580 or 450. E-ABC is only available on the 580 and IMO it's definitely worth it. Especially if your road trips include winding roads.

 

Thanks @Dynamicpulse

 

Hmmmm....I gotta go to the garage....

 

Hard to put GLS , economy and performance in 1 sentence. My 2021 580 gives me 16 combined and 20 on highway, but I absolutely love the power we get.

 

Also everything is automatic w.r.t the seats. Only thing we found out later is that the rear massaging seats with executive package can be enabled only using the rear tablet. The driver cannot do it for the rear passengers.

 

Quick question. My last MB was a '15 S. I am potentially looking at the GLS. It will replace my Ram 1500, I use it to tow a double jet ski trailer. Although living in NY it's only a few weekends per month. Total weight is about 2000 lbs, and it's not that far. Will the 450 tow that with ease or would it need to be the 580?
Thanks in advance.

P.S I went from the S to a Q8 in '19 which was a complete disaster. Was lemoned.

 

One thing i have to recognize is that The GLS is a lot smoother than My X6 with the adaptive air suspension. Personally the trade off from one to the other has been too much. The X6 while comfortable it was engaging to drive... you felt the road till certain point and where isolated from many others... you could feel the B58 rumblee ... the melody of its roar getting to almost 7k rpm. How planted it was on the turns... how you could drift the car on wet streets if you wanted.
The GLS450 is night and day from that.
but and its a big but.... DO NOT GET THE 23 IN TIRES... DO NOT..IF THATS HOW THE DEALER ORDERED THE CAR JUST WAIT..... INSTEAD OF GETTING the continental premiun contact 6 ... you get pirelli Pzero Pz4 in the gls.... 285/40R23 and 325/35R23.... if you suffered for expensive tires in the bmw.... you will cry getting new tires for this one.... you are lucky to make them survive till 15k miles.
Too much road noise.. and bumo isolation its there but not so good as the 285/45R22 and 325/40R22 tires...

in terms of engine... the M256 from MB is silent... you dont feel anything... dont hear anything..... so if you want refinement .... yes the MB GLS450 is the way to go..
now suspension wise.....
This car has 2 options... the Nornal adaptive air suspension... that has Zero.... body motion control .. specially in the rear... is literallya. Boat.. and i hate that.... for Mee its a deal breaker...
if you can afford it add the
E-active body motion control suspension... but you will need to buy the GLS580....
Fuel economy wise the B58 is superior to the m256....
acceleration wise... for meee
The b58 is faster....
But the m256 gives it a run for its money.. better ... noo.
Is it a good option yes..
Now the importang thing .... reliability...
THE transmission of mb while smooth... tends to be jerky and weird...
this year mb got a repair for that.... so if you get one... good luck..mine had the problem .. around 5k miles... more less 7 months of ownership.
Price??
well its a bigg jump
if you can go ahead.. if thats what you want..
service intervals... once a year.. not less...

So conclusions from mee
i still own the x6 g06 with the gls450...
If i want to really drive.... i take the x6... if i want to bw relaxed... the gls is the way to gooo...
But get the e active body motion control... thats the best you can doo...
interior wise... the bmw interior is superior....
well mine is top noch everything in the x6 with individual special leather carbon fiber and crystal around...

 

Owner of a 2025 GLS 450 here - with AMG line option.

Do NOT get the 6 seat cabin configuration. The second row seats are so uncomfortable that no one wants to sit in them. The base of the seat tilts back so that your knees are really high and it's terrible on your lower back. There's no way to change it.

If you do a lot of highway driving, this vehicle is floaty - even in sport. We also own 3 BMWs and the Mercedes GLS 450 is a much different drive. My kids call it the boat.

Most annoying feature is the steering wheel control for the radio. I hate the slide. AND you can't change the radio station when you are in Apple Car Play. You have to exit Apple Car Play, go into your radio settings, and then go back to Apple Car Play.

The A/C screen is cumbersome. It just seems like everything is more complicated than it needs to be with this vehicle.

My suggestion is to take a look at the BMW X7.

 

Regarding the cumbersome AC screen, why not just put your climate control on auto and use the up down switches for temperature control? That's about as simple as it gets.

 

What if you don't always want the air blowing in your face or on your feet? The only way to change this is by opening the main A/C screen (which shows like 4 things for each row). This inconvenience is not specific to Mercedes. The new BMWs also have the AC controls on the screen. My 2024 X3 M40i was the last year for A/C and heat tactile plastic BUTTONS - so much more convenient.

 

It gets worse for the newer G45. I think the rear vents wouldn't look out of place on an Imperial Star Destroyer!

 

Just wait for a few minutes. The system goes Full On - all vents open - until it reaches your set temperature. Then it resolves with mostly vent circulation, which each person can adjust to their liking. Like my '95 Chevy pickup.
If it's really hot inside, it takes longer. If you fiddle with the menu it'll take forever to normalize.
Try waiting for a few minutes, because the airflow will re-distribute automatically. Then aim the vents where you like them and adjust the volume to your preference. Like my old pre computer Chevy.

I found that if my 2nd row vents are accidentally closed, it takes a longer time for the entire cabin to normalize.

If it's really really hot, open the windows and let some of that hot air escape. I do that with the key before I enter on those days. It's the only time I take my key out of my pocket.

 

I think it depends on what you want and need in your new vehicle. We seriously considered the 2024 X7, but did not like the interior at all in the fully loaded one we drove and felt that the MB was more lux. To add to that, we couldn't remove some of the terrible styling "features" we hated and keep functionality we wanted, like heated and cooled cup holders. The seat massage (very important to us) felt very weak. Not to mention size wise it's more equivalent to a GLE than a GLS. The interior space was lacking for our needs/wants.

Was it snappy and fun to drive? Absolutely. I also really liked the added touch of an individual fixed sunroof over the third row, but for our tastes and needs it just didn't cut it.

We also don't have any noise issues with the 23" wheels. It's annoying to require a winter set of wheels, but it also saves our summer tires since we tend to put more miles on the car in the cooler months.