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Anyone opting to buy a luxurious, full-size SUV would usually opt for an oil-burner and Mercedes-Benz is offering two of those. There’s a 2.0-litre four-cylinder with 265bhp and 550Nm, while the bigger diesel is the 3.0-litre straight-six making 362bhp and an earth-moving 750Nm. For those fearing the nearing disappearance of diesel-powered cars, we are sampling the sole petrol derivative here – the 450 4Matic – with a 3.0-litre inline-six producing 375bhp and 500Nm. All three versions get a nine-speed automatic, mild-hybrid and AWD as standard.
Something that diesel owners would surely love about this engine is the vibration and noise-free feel of this six-cylinder. Helped by the mild-hybrid and engine start-stop function the engine shuts off quickly and is barely noticeable as it leaves no vibration in its wake. And then there’s the engine in itself. It’s potent, to say the least, with huge reserves of power. Pottering around town, it will row through the gears and hang in seventh or eighth gear with revs going as low as 700rpms. But when you smash the throttle the kick-down is lightning quick, and the digital rev counter races towards the redline with urgency seen in a runaway train. And the gearshift’s sound when the rev-counter hits the limiter is gloriously sonorous and is music to our ears.
Mercedes-Benz claims a 0-100kmph time of 5.6 seconds, which is quick. When we tested on our VBox, the time was 5.84 seconds, while the in-gear acceleration for 20-80kmph was 3.55 seconds and for 40-100kmph was 4.54 seconds. These are impressive figures for the heavy-weight tipping the scale at around 2.5 tonne. But that’s not the only impressive thing about the GLE 450. We did a real-world fuel mileage test of it and it returned a city mileage of 7.11kmpl and highway mileage of 11.17kmpl, rounding an overall real-world mileage of over 8kmpl. These figures are highly helped by the mild-hybrid tech and a dexterous engine start-stop function. This combined with an 85-litre fuel tank allows a proper range of around 700kms. Not the figures you’d be seeing in any EV anytime soon. But if you are planning to belt out all those 375 horses, the mileage figure will surely take a severe hit.
In the drive modes department, you do get Eco and Off-Road modes, but strangely no Sport mode. As for the ride quality, the air suspension isn’t the most pliant over bad surfaces. There’s considerable movement felt inside the cabin when driving over pothole-ridden roads with garnishing of jiggles that come with air suspensions. However, highway stability is phenomenal and you can hold three-digit speeds all day without bother. The stiffer suspension also helps with reduced body movements around turns and corners. With quick and smooth steering, manoeuvring the mammoth-like GLE around city confines isn’t nerve-wracking either. We couldn’t test the off-road suite in the limited time the GLE was with us though.
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