Mercedes-Benz GLE Review 2024

If you’ve previously owned a Mercedes M-Class, ML or GLE, then the latest GLE will feel like a real step on. It’s posher than ever before, better to drive than ever before, it has bags of luxury equipment and, like many large SUV rivals, it now offers seven-seat practicality.

Granted, the seven seats aren’t as roomy as those of rivals, so should only be used occasionally rather than habitually. Still, it’s a useful option to have. And where the Mercedes GLE really comes into its own is on its infotainment technology. It has loads of different functionality, and a good operating system - plus really clever voice control - makes that functionality easy to operate. Tech-heads will love it.

Once upon a time, the GLE’s rivals would’ve been pretty clear-cut: the BMW X5, Audi Q8, the Porsche Cayenne, the Range Rover Sport, and any other big, posh SUV that only offered five seats. However, as most rivals have diversified into offering seven seats, just like the majority of other big, posh SUVs, then so did the GLE. The means cars like the Audi Q7, Land Rover Discovery and Volvo XC90 are also in the GLE’s crosshairs, and you could argue that bigger offerings like the BMW X7 and Merc’s own GLS, are also in the mix.

Any luxury SUV needs to deliver a classy environment for its occupants, and the Mercedes-Benz GLE does just that. In all versions, the seats are upholstered in leather and the dashboard gets a plush-feeling covering made from a (very convincing) man-made leather substitute. Meanwhile, the dark wood trims that are standard on every version also help inject a sense of modern sophistication, while those infotainment screens inject a high-tech feel, too. All in all, the GLE’s cabin is very pleasant, and in terms of poshness, it feels right up there with its rivals.

However swish, though, the GLE’s interior doesn’t feel quite as solid or substantial as rivals from Audi and BMW: pokes and prods of various bits and pieces result in a few more creaks and flexes than they do in the other German cars, so the Merc doesn’t feel quite as dense. That said, it really isn’t far behind, and you’ll certainly have no reason for complaint.

The Mercedes-Benz GLE’s cabin is dominated by two glass-fronted 12.3-inch screens that are mounted side-by-side in front of the driver. These take most of the car’s various functions, plus the information that would usually be delivered on conventional analogue instruments, and presents them all in one integrated unit. First things first, it looks fab.

The system is controlled by tapping and swiping the left-hand screen, or via a touchpad and shortcut buttons located on the central partition between the front seats. The graphics are really sharp and the menus have a logical layout, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around the system, but the touchpad controller isn’t a patch on the iDrive rotary dial you get in a BMW X5. It's less precise and more distracting as a result. On the other hand, you can also operate the system via a sophisticated voice control system that’s designed to recognise natural speech rather than specific commands, and happily, it works well.

Most of the infotainment functionality you’d expect is supported on all GLEs, including DAB radio, sat-nav, Bluetooth and a whole bunch of connected services. There’s also a wireless phone charging plate as standard. However, the basic AMG Line car doesn't get Apple Carplay or Android Auto a standard, and if you want it, you have to step up to AMG Line Executive trim, which gives you literally nothing else except some bigger wheels. Pretty cheeky, that.

Stepping up a trim further adds augmented reality for your sat-nav. This overlays instruction graphics over a camera image of the road ahead of you, pointing out precisely where you should be going. It looks really cool, and it’s also really handy. Stepping up to the very top trim also adds a Burmester surround sound system.

Predictably, nobody will struggle for headroom or legroom in the front seats, and things are even more impressive in the back seats, There’s more space back there than in a Q7 or Discovery, allowing passengers to stretch out aching limbs if they need to. The middle seat of the rear bench isn’t as wide as those either side, but it’ll still be wide enough to keep life comfortable enough on short trips. The cabin is wide enough to accommodate three adults across the rear bench, too.

Some GLEs stick with a five-seater arrangement, but unlike the previous version, the latest car can also be had with seven. Pricier versions have seven as standard, while some cheaper versions require you to add them as an option pack. However, these bonus chairs are much tighter on space than those in a Q7, Discovery or XC90, and the access to them is also tighter, with only a small space to clamber through. That means the GLE can’t match the best as a true-blue seven-seater.

The second-row bench in all GLEs - five- and seven-seaters - takes on a 40-20-40 split configuration. In five-seat cars, these portions are raised and lowered manually, but in seven-seat versions, it’s done electrically, and the chairs slide and recline electrically, too. Seven-seat versions also come with four-zone climate control (rather than the two-zone that comes as standard) and some additional USB-C ports.

Boot space with all seven chairs in place is actually pretty good, with room for a few carry-on cases. and With five chairs in place the Mercedes-Benz GLE's boot capacity is 630 litres (down to 490 litres in the plug-in hybrid) - an impressive size, although not quite as huge as a Q7’s. Two-seat mode brings a predictably enormous load bay, and all the seats fold flush into the floor, giving you a usefully flat and level load area.

The Mercedes-Benz GLE is almost identical in dimensions to the BMW X5 at 4924mm long and 1797mm tall (including roof rails), it's just slightly wider at 2157mm (with the mirrors folded out). 

Bear with us here, because there are quite a few different engines to take you through. We’ll kick off with the diesels as they’re more popular. 

The range starts with the GLE 300 d, which has a 2.0-litre unit with 245PS. Arguably the most interesting version is the 350 de, which takes a down-tuned version of this engine, but combines it with an electric motor in a super-efficient plug-in hybrid package, delivering 320PS. Don’t confuse it with the similarly named GLE 350d, which uses a 3.0-litre six-cylinder diesel with 272PS, while the GLE 400 d uses the same unit, but hikes power to 330PS.

There are just two petrol options for now, beginning with the Mercedes-Benz GLE 450. This uses a 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine, which is sometimes given a wee bit of electric assistance (from what is essentially a posh starter motor) for a bit of extra shove. This makes it a mild hybrid. It’s the same deal with the sporty one, the GLE AMG 53, which uses the same hardware, but power is boosted up to 435PS. All versions use a nine-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive as standard. Still with us? Good.

Unfortunately, we’ve only had the opportunity to try a couple of the engines so far, but we’re keen to rectify that as soon as we can. One of them is the entry-level 300 d, and we reckon it’s all that most buyers will need. Performance is thoroughly respectable, and with an eager power delivery, your progress is nice and easy. The other unit we’ve tried, the 400 d, is considerably quicker. You don’t have to get too silly with the accelerator to have it properly racing down the road. In fact, only the AMG 53 is quicker against the stopwatch.

The Mercedes-Benz GLE does an impressive job here. Of the engines we’ve tried, the 300d is definitely the noisiest, but it’s still far from raucous, with only a small amount of noise and vibration making it through to the cabin in most circumstances. Yes, it isn’t quite as hushed as the equivalent units in the Audi Q7 and BMW X5, but it’s a lot more subdued than the engine in a Land Rover Discovery.

The 400d is quite a bit quieter and smoother. Its more eager acceleration means it doesn’t need to be worked as hard as much of the time, which immediately makes it more relaxed, but also it takes more revs to make itself heard. And when you oblige, it sounds satisfying rather than strained.

The nine-speed automatic gearbox suffers the same affliction as those in all large SUV rivals. Bury the accelerator to ask for a sudden burst of forward motion, and it has to consider its options for a second or two before deciding which gear is right for the job, leading to a rather pregnant pause. However, this isn't nearly so bad in the big Merc as it is in some rivals, and otherwise, the gearbox goes about its work, briskly, smoothly and largely unobtrusively.

Road noise and wind noise are also pretty well isolated at most speeds, making the Mercedes GLE a very capable motorway cruiser.

Mercedes-Benz AMG Line and Mercedes-Benz AMG Line Executive cars come with a very solid amount of safety kit as standard, including seven airbags, adaptive high-beam LED headlights, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assistance, traffic sign recognition with automatic amendment of your speed, an active pop-up bonnet to better protect pedestrians and a self-parking system with sensors and a reversing camera. Not bad at all.

Stepping up to Mercedes-Benz AMG Line Premium gives you cleverer multi-beam headlamps and an upgraded parking package with a 360-degree camera, while the range-topping AMG Line Premium Plus adds the Driving Assistance Package. This is, essentially, adaptive cruise control that brings in a whole bunch of other clever functionality, allowing the car to pretty much drive itself under certain circumstances. The GLE has been crash-tested by Euro NCAP, and achieved the full five-star rating.

Like we say, we haven’t had the chance to try the Mercedes-Benz GLE 350de plug-in hybrid version yet, so we can’t tell you what it’s like, but the official figures suggest it can cover up to 66 miles on a full charge of the battery. That charge is said to take around 11 hours with a normal domestic three-pin plug, or a little over three hours on a 7kW wallbox. The actual range you’re likely to get in the real world will differ according to the ambient temperature, traffic, road conditions and a whole range of other factors, but compared with those of rivals, the official figure looks really impressive.

Mercedes-Benz came 13th out of 30 manufacturers in the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index. Specific models varied in reliability with the previous generation Mercedes E-Class appearing on the top 20 most reliable cars and the A-Class and C-Class in the 10 most unreliable cars. However, the brand's SUV range did not feature so the manufacturers' 87.9% satisfaction score should be a good indication for how reliable the GLE will be. 

Insurance groupings for the Mercedes-Benz GLE range between 44 at the bottom of the range and 49 at the top, and bearing in mind that group 50 is the priciest group there is, that shows you premiums aren’t going to be cheap. That’s the case with any car as expensive as this, though, so you won’t be better off in that regard with any of the GLE’s rivals.

The last big change in the VED tax rules brought in a flat rate of tax for petrol and diesel cars, but also imposed a £325 surcharge on cars that cost over £40,000 when new. That applies to all versions of the Mercedes-Benz GLE, so between years two and six of the car's life, owners will be required to pay tax at a rate of £475 per year. After that, annual bills will drop to the £150 flat rate. However, used car buyers can take solace in the fact that that they’ve dodged the hefty first-year tax payments that buyers of new examples are required to pay, which amounts to £1305 on most versions and £1850 on the AMG 53s.

Company car drivers will definitely want to go for the PHEV version. While the rest all command Benefit-in-kind tax payments based on 37% of the car’s value, meaning very steep bills, it’s just 6% on the 350de. That’ll mean colossal savings.

There isn’t much that the entry-level Mercedes-Benz GLE AMG Line car doesn’t give you. On top of all the infotainment and safety gear already discussed, your roster of standard luxury kit includes two-zone climate control, heated front seats, power-folding door mirrors, automatic lights and wipers, four powered windows, keyless go, cruise control, leather upholstery, a leather-effect dashboard, and ambient lighting with no fewer than 64 colours. 

You could upgrade to Mercedes-Benz GLE AMG Line Executive, but all that really earns you is Apple Carplay/Android Auto (which should be included as standard, we reckon) and some bigger alloys. Every other step up the ladder also includes wheels that are either bigger or of a different design, by the way.

The Mercedes-Benz GLE AMG Line Premium trim doesn’t add much except the augmented reality navigation and a memory package for the electric seats, while the Mercedes-Benz GLE AMG Line Premium Plus (got deja vu with the trim names yet?) adds a panoramic roof.

The Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 versions have their own bespoke trims based on AMG Line Premium and AMG Line Premium Plus. They’re pretty much the same with a few little tweaks, and all 53s get more sophisticated air suspension.

Specify the seven-seat option, and as well as a pair of extra chairs, you also get four-zone climate control, more USB sockets (of the C type) and powered seats in the second row.