Had an opportunity to rent a 2021 GLE 350 for about a week recently, and thought it might be helpful to share some random observations/general throughs on the experience compared to my current ML 350... I'll admit up front that I was LUSTING for the newer model GLE for quite some time, and even test drove one a few months ago, really committing to making the jump to the new beauty.

First, a quick level set on specs: both cars are gasoline powered and have 4matic all wheel drive, they also have very similar features - other than size and the 4cl vs v6. Other than that, everything below is my opinion (obviously) and you may or may not agree (which is fine). Your Y167 and/or W166 may be different, this is really just a few thoughts and not a total list of everything, and so on with the caveats...

Positive differences on V167 from W166
- Spacious interior; really enjoy the extra front cabin surrounding space, it seems more like a GLS now than the GLE ever did before. Lots of width and the roof line inside is nicely rounded so it just feels really spacious all around inside. Also, the trunk space is wider as they've removed the sloped sides and made it more vertical so there's another 3-4 inches of perceived width available in the back for luggage and stuff (like 3rd row seats). The 2nd row seats felt like a L version with at least 4 inches more knee room compared to the older W166.
- Absolutely gorgeous exterior; the version I had was the one with the regular front end (not the speckled AMG grill) with the wide wheel well arch trim and the 21 inch twin-five spoke wheels... man the thing looks so planted and muscular now, really a pleasingly weighted looking design (like a bulldog). I got so many looks from people admiring the car is wasn't even funny, no one looked at me, just the car!
- "Hey Mercedes" is actually very handy and works pretty good! I forgot how cumbersome having to use the small metal dial in the W166 to manually select each letter of an address is. Using your voice is AWESOME!
- Beautiful wide flat display all the way over to the passenger, nice deep/wet looking colors and great job avoiding any light/glare and loss of visibility, beautiful display! I enjoyed all the information it provided in navigation mode and even the parking/reversing cameras looked incredibly detailed (even in the dark!!). I'll add here that this model had the feature where the navigation gives you a live-feed view of the what's coming up with a silly blue arrow telling you to turn... but that didn't really work all that helpfully as there's no real way to show 3d depth the way you'd think it should work. I always saw it a little too late to actually use it (had to look for the turn still). Finally, when we'd switch over to use Apple Car play, the navigation on the iphone looked like a hand-drawn comic compared to MB's native navigation quality, just beautiful navigation by MB!
- Nice seat support; really appreciated how the seats' shape slide under each of your sides and support you under your shoulder blades.
- Huge space in the lower doors for water bottles, small umbrellas, road-trip trash, whatever, huge space!

Negatives differences on V167 from W166
- Wretched gear changes at every stop...lurching from 2nd into 1st!! No matter how I tried to either feather the brake and coast to a walking-pace stop, or even stop hard and late like an F1 driver, no matter what force I applied to the brake the car absolutely jerked/lurched forward when coming to a final/complete stop. I used to think my W166 had a rough transmission (which I greatly improved recently with a fluid flush and refill on the 7G tranny) but this new 9G tranny is terrifyingly bad. Note: I overcame this horrible lurching by actually pressing the left paddle shifter to shift down as I approached a red light... no need to shift any more than once, or do anything else, the car will stop in the correct gear and automatically switch to D1 auto again on it's own. But for some reason, the override of me simply pressing the gear down paddle as I approached a stop made that FAR MORE smooth.
- You CAN tell it's a 4cyl...while the overall drive is very "smooth" and it's not as noisy/whiny as I was expecting (torque felt pretty low in the power delivery which was nice), there was very little "horsepower" to accelerate the big girl when needed. Don't get the wrong, it wasn't bad or "slow" but it was NO WHERE near as smooth/linear and constant pulling power delivery of my current ML 350 V6. My 2014 pulls linear/smooth power all the way over 100mph and beyond without hesitation.
- The new touchpad is too large and my wife kept hitting it with water bottles or things she was trying to put into the cup holders that are literally 1/2 inch further in front of it... so my navigation would be gone every time I looked up because my wife unknowingly kept "bumping" the edge of the touchpad exiting menus on accident.
- The front seats don't extend leg room very far back... I guess this is a limit MB put in place to keep enough room for the optional 3rd row to fit in the trunk area... but as a tall user you will have to lower the seat down really low to get any additional felt reach. It was awkward when I first hit the limiter, I was like wait what, that's all I get! Even my wife who is 5'6" kept asking how to get the seat to go back a little further. Very strange to include this limit on a non-3rd-row seated car.
- The button layout inside was frustrating... I couldn't figure out how to change a channel in navigation mode and just overall it was hard to figure out where things where. On my 2014, menus make tons of sense and all the buttons do what you expect. I have no idea what the strip of buttons are even needed for that are there in this new version as I only touched them once to set the auto-air temp and the rest of the time they were useless. I'd rather the A/C controls be in a menu and all of the other features have a hard button, or maybe give a button for each of the main areas to launch the menu on the screen, something. I'm sure I'd figure it out after a few more days of ownership, but it's not intuitive and I'm not old or tech-stupid.
- The key design needs more braille-like surface texture to help me figure it out while in my pocket... It was no where near as intuitive as the old key phob.
- The Auto-Start/Stop felt terrible... it usually kicked on right as the car was shifting into 1st roughly, or worse it kept me from being able to accelerate out into tight traffic spots as it delayed the initial pull away response time. Driving in Miami where we were, you need ultra-quick reflexes in a car or you will get hit... people there drive CRAZY!
- This model didn't have auto-dimming/bright headlights. Not sure if this is removed or just an extra feature. I kept flashing people thinking I was putting the headlights into auto-bright so I wouldn't have to think about it.
- The step rail really does get into the way... I read that and heard it on reviews a lot and thought "what a picky and pointless thing to say, just step out wider..." but in all actuality you cannot avoid touching your pant leg on the side of the rail it's way too big. The car may actually sit a little lower than the W166 as well so even more pointless.

Conclusion
I was so happy to see my ML 350 again. We had a 250 mile drive home after this vacation and I kept saying to my wife "wow, do you feel how smooth our ML drives...feel that power?" I absolutely love my old car even more now... the way it drives, the interior design, the smoothness, the power, the ride, everything is either "just as good" or in many cases "better to me" than the new one. I am so glad I didn't choose to buy one and be stuck with $1200 a month payment for a car that isn't as good as my current one that's paid off.

Hope that is helpful for anyone on the fence about the new model and wondering, those where my observations. Beautiful, spacious car but not an improvement worth the money.

Take care,
Joel

 

Great review, thanks for posting. Fully agree having driven the GLE350 several times. It doesn’t do much for me. Cosmetics and display tech are good but that’s where it ends. Functionality of the fundamental vehicle is inferior to W166. The 450 with more power would be on my target list but with the atrocious 48V flopped launch I am not touching it. Porsche, BMW and Audi are ahead of MB on my short list.

 

Yes totally agree. In some ways it was a let-down because I wanted it to be as perfect and it looked, but in conclusion it was actually great as now I can keep my car and spend that money on other fun things . It pains me to agree, as my wife is a die-hard VW/Audi fan, but those other brands will likely get my next big purse. I drove a rental Q8 a little while back and that thing was amazingly beautiful and well-refined...gorgeous really, looks and drive!
For now, though, I'm still young enough that I can just "be the guy who buys 2012-2015 MBs" at least until the used market becomes too old and expensive to afford maintaining. LOL
Happy New Year!
Joel

 

Too much tech, not enough car

 

Funny thing, I read the new GLE is the best selling vehicle in the US.

 

Not to put a nail in a coffin here -- as again it's perfectly okay if someone wants the newest GLE model, it is beautiful! -- but, Consumer Reports also gave it some surprisingly low scores. Our W166 gets their green mark for Reliability (not shown below), where this newer one gets their red mark... completely opposite sides of the scale from their perspective. That's even harder to accept as marketing has conditioned me to subconsciously believe that "New = Improved".

Here's a screenshot from Consumer Reports showing the review highlights (since it's a subscription service I know most folks won't be able to access a link).



Happy New Year!
Joel

 

This is exactly the case. Repeated poor reliability and QC is often times forgiven simply because of the tech.

 

And in the not enough car department - they downpowered the base model. Another big fail.

 

From the pens (keyboards) of V167 owners.

 

JoelCrow;
I totally agree with you!
My wife drives a 2010 ML350 that just tuned 80,000 miles - and if I heard it once I heard it a thousand times, "I'm driving an 11-year-old car, it's time to get a new 1!"
We looked at a CPO 2018 GLE350 33,000 miles, asking about $46000 - she hated the dash to center console to much plastic, the 2010 is wood grain into the center console with the storage drawer which she loves - test drive was ok but certainly not spectacular. so on to the next 2020 CPO GLE 350 25,000 miles about $63,000 liked the dash much better, liked all the gizmo's, test drive ok, didn't like the 4 cylinders at ALL. The 2010 ML has been paid off for years, is now driven less than 5,000 miles a year and has depreciated to under 10 grand. either car would cost us between 7 to 11 grand a year in payments. So, I asked her are they worth the money? It would eat up most of our vacation money, do they drive 40 to 50 thousand better than what you have? Her answer was NO!


2010

2018

2020

 

Good thinking. Can't complain about a paid off and reliable vehicle!

 

And your 2010 will be far more reliable than the one-sixty-lemon (167) GLE. We have three 164's in the family, all paid for...one has 178k miles and still running and driving great. Just got back from a week vacation driving a rented Nissan Rogue with 40k miles. When I got back in my 2008 ML at the airport, the difference in power, ride, and interior noise over the Nissan was astounding. My wife's 2011 just passed 80k miles. No reason to trade it.

 

Honestly, to me, the problem is the 4 cylinder engine overall.

I have had a chance to drive (as MB loaners while servicing my W212) the A220, CLA 250, C300, and the GLE350. I drove all of them for about 80+ miles (back and forth from the dealer->home + errands in a day). I would not trade an MB V6 gasoline engine for neither of those models. In fact, I rather drive my sis W211 with 165K miles than any of those cars. The materials used on the finished product are not getting any better. The engine (not in Sports/nor manual shifting) can get you fast given enough highway, but it is not the same thing. To me sounds like spinning a blender with just water, or empty when attempting to pass another car. Manual shifting is something else when the turbo really kicks in and keeps the shift long, but I usually do not redline my cars (anymore)

My 2c.

 

As a total aside, you'd think everyone who is *****ing about low torque, less engine power, inadequate takeover speed/power would be well versed in what is going on around the world re: environmentally friendly vehicles and either step up to the plate and buy a f*ing EV with more torque and speed than they know what to do with, or not buy the base model SUV based off of base model SUV standards from 20 years ago expecting the same bang for your buck re: performance. It's not rocket science. It's the same reason I can't buy my '87 560SL that gets 8-12mpg in the city today. SMH.

 

Unfortunately, I did not get the meaning behind your message .

The discussion in this thread as I understand it so far is to compare the ML/GLE 350 between two different years. Both cars are labeled the same and marketed as equivalent or better than before (including price increases). The review clearly highlights the vehicles are not equivalent as marketed. It has nothing to do with Base/Overloaded comparisons.

MB has failed greatly to their customer by labeling what effectively is a GLE 200 T(urbo) as a GLE350 just to confuse/mislead customers into thinking they are getting an equivalent replacement/ upgrade vehicle.

Now to the EV comment, EV solutions available are still half-baked solutions or over-hyped xxx-karts. EV technology has been around for more than 30 years, what has changed is the battery-specific power technology that allows larger xxx-karts, but the main problem still persists range, time to recharge, and the eternal battery disposal issues. EV vehicle still pollutes the environment nearly as much as gas/diesel vehicle but they do it in someone's else neighborhood, not mine (so I can feel good about it), and in addition to that leaves a trail of pollution since the recycling technology is not there for the scale that will be needed. Where do I see EV in the future? In bed with gas and diesel sharing the market. I do not expect to see ubiquitous electric heavy trucking, commercial airplanes, or trans-oceanic travel with pure electric vehicles in the next 20 years

I get the feeling that those evaluating an MB SUV for comfort, style, luxury, and performance (either off-road or not) are smart enough to filter out all the EV marketing bombing to still test/buy/lease a gas/diesel-powered vehicle of their choosing and not offered a technology prototype to be tested as a guinea-pig. I respect those willing to invest their hard-earned money into the bleeding-edge technology of their choosing, but that would not be me. I do already contribute with my career helping engineers in the aerospace, automotive, and power generation industries to solve their challenges (in my area of competency) to produce the most efficient engines current knowledge can create, and less pollutant as possible to help with the environmental issues. I do not think I also have to throw my earnings into it as well.

Did you stop traveling by plane/ship for vacation or business?

 

MB's badging has not lined up with engine size for some years now.

 

Definitely, it has been a slow and well-planned process of "transitioning" the customer base with an "equivalent performance labeling" probably from the beans counters at Daimler.

Like any transition rushed to comply with regulations or energy crisis, the first generations will pay for research (recall the GM mess with the V8->V6 transition in the early '80s, pure junk). In software, we call it "do not get version x.0, wait for the service pack" Windows Vista for example?

They started with the C-Class @2015, then E-Class @2017, and they came for the ML/GLx @2020 and the S-Class @2020 (lucky for this class is not a 4cyl)

 

Dude, your spot on, I had the exact same impression coming from a 166. I was pumped to get the 167... underwhelmed in the areas you pointed out, leaves me thinking if I should have kept my 166.

 

I feel the same, I got to drive my uncle's GLE 450 (V167) and I was underwhelmed. Didn't have the power or handling that I expected, the interior is great but the rest was only marginally better than my 350 Bluetec. My diesel with a tune feels significantly more effortless in the power department, I also just like that the W166 is small and nimble enough to be easy to drive, but big enough to be functional without being too big. If something ever happened to the ML I might just buy a W166 GLE