Mercedes-Benz adopted an aggressive strategy in India through 2015, having targeted 15 launches for the year. The thirteenth new model with the three-pointed star on the nose was the GLE SUV, which is a replacement for the M-class. We've driven this SUV earlier when it was launched abroad, and now bring to you our first hand impression of the model that has arrived on our shores.
The rechristening puts the GLE in line with the latest naming scheme prevalent at Mercedes- Benz; the ‘GL’ standing for all their SUV offerings, and the ‘E’ suffix indicating that the GLE is the SUV equivalent of the E-class luxury sedan from the Mercedes stable.
Although the overall silhouette of the GLE remains nearly identical to that of the M-class, the new, more swoopy looking headlamps, the chunky nose grille and the restyled bumpers with faux-vents up front tell the GLE from the older car. At the rear, however, not much differentiates the two SUVs, save for the LED-treated, reprofiled tail-lamps and the mildly tweaked bumper.
The interiors on the GLE are mostly carried over from the M-class, which in turn translates to top notch interior quality, large and well-bolstered seats, amply spacious interiors and all the bells and whistles you'd expect in a luxury offering. The most prominent change you’d notice over the older car is the floating screen that sits on top of the centre console. The top-end GLE 350d comes with an 8-inch screen, while a 7-inch screen is provided on the standard car. The screen, controlled by a rotary knob between the seats and centre console-mounted keypad, feels intuitive to use and allows for browsing websites and streaming music from internet radio stations, when paired with your mobile phone. The screen also displays navigation maps, video feed from the 360-degree camera, and all the car’s onboard settings. The GLE sports a stylish, three-spoke, multifunction steering wheel, and gets rounder looking air-con vents along with neatly executed matte-finish wood inserts along the dash and doors. The only probable downside on the GLE’s interiors is that it comes strictly as a five-seater like the M-class, unlike its close rival, the BMW X5, which comes with an optional seven-seat configuration.
The GLE carries over the engines from the M-class, namely the 201bhp, 2.1-litre, twin-turbocharged diesel engine from the ML 250 CDI and the 255bhp, 3.0-litre diesel engine which did duty on the ML 350 CDI. It still gets the 4Matic permanent all-wheel-drive as a standard feature, though both engines now come married to a nine-speed automatic gearbox. The GLE impresses you with its poise and the silken smooth manner in which it dishes out its power. Given that there is no real change in the engines, the GLE doesn’t feel any different than its predecessor in terms of outright performance. But give it a long highway stretch and it climbs up the gears of its nine-speed gearbox, and comfortably cruises along, with its engine running at near idle speeds, barely sipping on diesel.
That said, when called upon for an overtaking manoeuvre, the gearbox quickly jumps down by as many as four gears at a time, putting the engine back into the meat of its powerband to make that quick getaway. All in all, the new gearbox makes the car feel a lot more responsive to right-footed inputs and also feels on its toes when controlled via the steering mounted paddle-shifts.
The drive-mode selector in the GLE lets you alter the SUV’s character via a new dial that lets you choose between five driving modes – Sport, Comfort, Individual, Slippery and Off-Road. While the ‘Sport’ mode firms up the GLE and makes it feel more eager, in the default ‘Comfort’ mode, the GLE rides over road undulations like they weren’t there, especially more so in its air-suspension equipped 350d version. ‘Individual’ lets you personalise the engine, steering and suspension responses to your likings, although the car feels most at home with the engine and steering set to 'Sport' and suspension in 'Comfort'. The ‘Slippery’ setting, as the name suggests, primes the car for low-friction surfaces like ice while in the ‘Off-Road’ mode, the suspension is raised to its highest and the four-wheel-drive system makes maximum traction available on all four wheels.
Mercedes-Benz has priced the more driver-centric GLE 350d at Rs 69.9 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), which makes it roughly Rs 2 lakh dearer than the ML 350 CDI, a fair bump in price, given the additional kit the GLE packs in. For chauffeur-driven owners, GLE 250d makes for a more sensible buy, despite it not being as packed to the gills as the big-engined GLE. Besides, at Rs 58.9 lakh (ex-Showroom, Delhi), it saves you Rs 11 lakh flat on the sticker price.
