ilanshanon

I just bought a 2024 gle 450 4matic, and after reading about the new 450e I began to wonder whether I should have waited for the 450e. There's lots of good hype about the 450e. However, as I thought about my driving habits, I realized that for me, the 450 is a better choice as follows: I'm retired, and I spread my local driving between the Mercedes and my fun car, which is a 2008 BMW 128i convertible 6 speed manual with less than 45K miles. Most of the miles on the Mercedes will come from highway driving back and forth to my kids who are 280 miles away, as well as multiple road trips that can rack up over 1K miles each. So the choice of those highway miles is to go for about 50 miles electric, followed by many more miles using a 4 cylinder engine instead of the straight 6, with an additional 700 or so pounds that comes with the 450e, with no spare or storage underneath the cargo compartment, versus having the lovely straight 6, 2 less motors and less complexity. So am I rationalizing my purchase, or do you think my logic holds?

BlueYonder

I think you made the right choice. The PHEV is great for local driving, especially if you have level II charging at home. Once you get on the highway, the smoothness and power of the straight 6 will make for a more pleasant ride. The lack of a spare tire in the 450e will also force you into crappy runflat tires with their reduced milage and high costs.

Joe1005

We have the 450e and for us, it's the opposite situation. Most of our driving is local. We've had the car for 7 weeks and I have over 3/4 tank of gas left from the dealer fill up.

As for the other items, I disagree with the perception the car is a weak 4 cylinder when you are beyond full electric. In hybrid mode, the car retains battery voltage and behaves like any other hybrid, where the ICE and electric motors combine to give the power. In fact, if you look at the specifications of the car, the 450e has more horsepower and torque than the 450 at full power.

The storage concerns and lack of spare are personal choices, obviously. The run flats are certainly more expensive to replace, but I don't know that the mileage argument is valid to any significant extent. I don't mind not having a spare in this car, since most the other car manufacturers are getting rid of spares mostly and providing crappy cans of fix-a-flat and a crappy air pump. I'll take run flats over that combo. Of course, my Bronco has a spare!!

One thing about how we drive this car - It will be forever before I know what fuel mileage we get on gasoline only. For my "savings" calculations, I am using the 450 combined EPA rating. We don't have any road trips planned anytime soon.

ilanshanon

I didn't realize that after the initial 50 miles all electric it goes into hybrid mode. That's smart. My wife has an all electric BMW i4, which is awesome. Well, there's no looking back, and I love the 450, so I'll drive it through most if not all the 6 years of warranty period, and then buy an all electric with hopefully greater range.

Joe1005

Just for reference, depending on what kind of driving you are doing, the real world all electric capacity can be well over 60 miles. Right now, the app says 64 miles of range with a full charge. If we are stop and go around home, that number is absolutely accurate. If we hop on the interstate, etc. and we’re going 65 mph or more, it’s more like 56-58 per full charge. We drove it all interstate last week and it switched to gas/hybrid at 59 miles.

BlueYonder

I should have been more clear. I was referring to the lower miles as in the tread life that comes with run flats.

HAILERS2

Yeah, I had a EQS 450 plus and the rear tires lasted approx 17-19K. Rear drive car it was indeed.

Hmm, bit of vanity here. For the first time I updated my Avatar and could only list three cars from the past. I've seen Avatars listiing quite a few more than that . Wondering how to do so? Cars of consequence: Several RX-7, One Mark IX Jag around 1964, one XK140 used around 1967, several VW bugs, one Ford Fiesta 1980 or so, one used '65 Mustang, one 2007 XK Jag, one BMW 350d, two SL550's, two CL550s (Not CLS but CL 550 coupes, one S560 Coupe one 2014 ML350 BlueTec, one
GLS 450, one GLE 450e sold to my neighbor and started with a 1957 MG with all of ?? 78hp. i think I missed a couple. Most bought used like the '19 S560 during the Pandemic Panic with but 17k miles on it. Opps forgot the Porsche Panamera 4S I traded for the S560. Cars I did not buy 'cause I'm too cheap would be a Aston Martin DB11 'cause I'd have to have it serviced in Dallas. Forgot and well forgotten 2020 and 2022 Tesla S Models which are 'go nowhere cars imho 'cause they can't go very far without charging. Forget Tesla hype of 405 mile which is bs on interstate hwys. More like250 mile range. Great, got that out of my system. Born late '42 not '56 like it says on my avatar.

kauffee

I would not second-guess your purchase given the driving you do. I just got the 450e but the overwhelming majority of my driving is city commute in traffic. After a month, the only gas I've used is when I've thrown it into sport mode for fun. If you're doing long trips at higher speeds the 450 makes sense.

silberrosa

Dittos - I think you made the right choice for your driving style. I have a 450e that I use 70% city and 30% hwy and therefore have been very impressed with the fuel economy. Highest EV range I've seen indicated is 99km or ~62mi. I charge exclusively at work (L2 charging not available at home) and have cut my fuel cost in half. The ICE engine is certainly adequate for the job along with the EV boost but not as smooth in the delivery of course as the I6. Trade-offs which for me are worth it. Both great cars.

One nice surprise on the 450e was how the app-based remote climate control works and the additional flexibility to set temp and heated seats like in the other MB EQ cars. My previous GLE ICE car just set to whatever was previously set in the vehicle.