2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS450 review – Roadshow

The Good The GLS450 packs a smooth ride and is nearly as capable as its bulky body-on-frame competition. It’s surprisingly good without requiring a ton of options, too.

The Bad Since it’s an older platform, the GLS lacks many of Mercedes-Benz’s most visually stunning new features. The second and third row lack USB ports, and some connected features are slow as molasses.

The Bottom Line Despite being long in the tooth, the GLS450 is a properly capable family trucklette with on-road demeanor that bests competitors.

Trying to fish through a field of options is tough when you’re trying to buy a new vehicle. But it’s even tougher when you have to review one within the span of a week. I might spend all my time trying to figure out where half the baubles are by the time it’s ready to go back home.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when a 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS450 arrived on my doorstep with very few options — what some call a ‘stripper.’ Sure, its $68,700 base price inflated to $78,550 (including $925 for destination and delivery), but considering most Mercedes-Benz press cars arrive with a CES show’s worth of gizmos, this nearly base GLS450 allowed me to spend most of my time evaluating how it drove and how it survived daily use in and around the metro Detroit area.

What I learned is that the GLS450 packs an impressively smooth ride with decent fuel economy. Its day-to-day demeanor is leagues ahead of its body-on-frame competition, but its age lets it down a bit in the face of newer, fresher unibody rivals.

What I’m trying to say is, this is one stripper you’ll want to take home to the family.

Not a truck, but still a behemoth

Other new Mercedes-Benz SUVs play host to a smorgasbord of curves, as if the engineering team lost all the rulers and replaced them with compasses. The GLS is unabashedly old school in comparison, keeping what rulers remain quite busy.

There’s no getting around the fact that many full-size, three-row crossovers and SUVs look like bricks on wheels. The GLS450 is a large slab with wheels underneath, and this impression isn’t helped by its design, which is still based on the original 2007 model (then dubbed GL).

Yet, there is some character here. The front end is mostly new, bringing it closer in line with other new Mercedes-Benz products. The rear end has some changes, too, like new taillights. The sides feature some impressive sculpting. The whole package is cohesive, despite being a smattering of both new and old design. It works. It’s one of the best-looking vehicles in its segment, if only because it doesn’t resemble those bricks that make up dorm room walls.

It’s an attractive car, but there’s no hiding this thing’s size.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

An interior bordering on anachronistic

If the outside strikes you as a little old, boy howdy, you’re in for a treat once you step inside the GLS450. Whether it’s the centrally located volume knob on the center stack or the keypad immediately to its right, the GLS450’s interior takes you right back to the pinnacle of Mercedes-Benz’s design — from the last generation.

Mercedes-Benz has added some new bits to keep it relevant. The COMAND infotainment controller is the new touchpad, the steering wheel is newer and there are two USB ports in the (admittedly small) center console. But the best parts of Mercedes-Benz’s new interior design will not make an appearance. There is no double-widescreen display, à la E-Class, and the ambient lighting comes in three colors, as opposed to approximately one billion.

That said, the trim is still pretty, the seats remain very supportive and there’s plenty of room for adults inside. That’s what really matters. The second row has a massive amount of space, according to this 6-foot-zero lanky Gumby type.

The third row is tight, putting my knees to the seatback, but headroom is ample. Its third-row legroom measures 35.0 inches, which is ahead of the Cadillac Escalade and Infiniti QX80, but it lags behind the Lincoln Navigator. It would help if the second row could slide forward, but it can’t. It just tilts.

Speaking of tilting, folding down the third row for extra cargo space is a breeze, thanks to power switches in the trunk. You can fit a week’s worth of groceries for two in the back without dropping the third row. Moving the second row is a larger hassle — the 60-percent portion of the 60/40 split is rather heavy.

The addition of a power third row must feel like the saving grace for every driver with an arm full of groceries and children in tow.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

Super soft on the road, for better or for worse

I’ll just dispense with the tired boat references — the GLS450 is supremely soft. Detroit’s horrible roads became much easier to deal with, although there is a trade-off, because with all those gradual motions comes a fair bit of body roll, and it might be too soft on the highway with its 275/55/19 Continental all-season tires. But it’s comfortable.

The GLS450 packs a 362-horsepower, 369-pound-foot V6 engine. It’s the volume engine, and while it doesn’t pack the outright thrust of the 449-hp V8 in the GLS550, it’s still plenty capable along with managing to save you more than $10,000 in the process. The new nine-speed automatic transmission keeps the revs low for fuel economy’s sake, but the shifts arrive quickly if you put the hammer down.

You’ll want to leave it in Comfort mode for the whole period of ownership. It starts from a stop in second gear, which requires a stronger pedal push, but it’s a gradual departure free from drama. Sport mode is horrible and pointless, as it attempts to inject some unwanted performance characteristics, like an all-too-touchy throttle and transmission shift points that hold all nine gears for unnecessarily long periods.

Sport mode is stupid. Don’t use it, unless you like a jittery giant under your right foot.

Andrew Krok/Roadshow

Much of that softness comes from the air suspension, which is standard. You can raise it for slightly more treacherous terrain, but I recommend against that unless absolutely necessary. It takes more than a minute to raise the vehicle a couple extra inches, and at least in the case of my tester, the suspension creaks and groans the whole way up. I thought it was broken the first time I lifted it. A Range Rover, this is not.

If you want to get a little dirty, though, there’s an optional Off-Road Package that adds a two-speed transfer case, skid plates and extra ride height.

Visibility from all angles was ample. Blind spots were minimal, and the driver gets a great view of the road ahead. That said, for something so big and fancy, I was turned off by the amount of road and wind noise that permeated the cabin.

Over the course of a couple hundred miles in the GLS450, my highway fuel economy danced between 18 miles per gallon and its EPA-estimated 22-mpg highway rating. It’s rated at 17 in the city, but I saw closer to 15, although I prefer to keep up with traffic instead of steadfastly adhering to posted limits. Stop/start helps keep fuel consumption in check, and it’s very hard to tell when the engine turns off and starts up again.