[abhilashgp]

Upgrade from a Jetta is considered a difficult one. I believed it would take significant money and time. Well, significant money and 2 weeks later, we have our new companion, Mercedes Benz GLE 300d Polar White!



What I like

• The ride is super comfortable over bad roads!
• Great driving position
• Comfortable seats
• Amazing console and drivers display
• Peace of mind with a reputed service network
• Mobile app with which you can control many features
• Mileage of 10-11 kmpl in city, 15-18 kmpl in highways

What I don’t like

• Many feature misses! Seat massager, Adaptive Headlights etc.
• Music system is not up to the mark
• Due to size, manoeuvring can become an issue on smaller roads
• MBUX voice assistant gets it wrong most of the time
• Everything is expensive, extended warranty is 5L
• Already faced one niggle since delivery

The start
My current car is a 6.5 year Jetta DSG. An upgrade was considered a few years back, but was quickly shelved due to lack of budget and not seeing sufficient reasons to upgrade among the options I had then (sedans like 520d and E Class). When Volvo XC60 was launched globally, my attention turned to SUVs, condition of Bangalore roads strengthened that push. However considering it was out of my budget then, I chose to wait.
3 years later, somewhere during the COVID timeframe, the itch came back. I was planning to drive to Kerala as soon as COVID restrictions loosened up, and I was convinced to upgrade and do the trip in the new car.

Criteria

• SUV
• Budget of 75L
• Driving experience should be at par or better than Jetta
• Active safety features are a must
• Yearly mileage is 10-12K with majority in Bangalore roads
• Comfortable drive is critical
• Need a good sales and service experience
• Badge did not matter a lot
• Nice to have, Adaptive Headlamps and Music System

Options Considered

Volvo XC60
Amazing product but a huge negative on the service

• Has almost all the features I could ask! Massage seats, Active lights!
• Ride is not the most comfortable, but better than Jetta
• Great acceleration and performance
• Low service costs
• Good interior space, probably because of transverse mounted engine
• Questionable service, both in terms of dealer stability (TN and Andhra dealers shut down in recent times and Volvo got new folks) and general mindset of dealers

Mercedes Benz GLC 220d
Downgrade in terms of performance and space

• GLC 2021 had most of the features I needed except the Active Headlamps
• Ride is better than Volvo XC60
• Disappointing acceleration, worse off than Jetta
• Expensive than Volvo XC60 by a few lakhs
• Interior space was less than Volvo XC60 despite similar dimensions

Mercedes Benz GLE 300d
Car that provided the best luxury but at a significant cost

• Amazing ride, better than XC60 and GLC
• Acceleration is similar to Volvo XC60
• Significantly expensive, car from a class above
• Interiors both in terms of space and luxury was the best!
• Driving position was the best in this car!
• Many feature misses

BMW X3 20i
Did not offer anything compelling for me

• Average performance when compared to Volvo XC60 and GLE
• Seats were uncomfortable for me! Under thigh support was the root issue
• Interior space was ok!
• Looked dated compared to the other options
• No active safety features

Volkswagen Tiguan
Mismatch with my needs

• Harsh ride! I found Jetta to be better.
• Performance is very similar to Jetta
• Loved the looks!

BMW X5 SportX
Could not be considered as BMW has stopped manufacturing this version

• With the same price as GLE, it gave a 3L engine
• Loved the looks!
• Unsure if I would have closed this, as it missed active safety features

Verdict

As would be clear from my summary on each car, Volvo XC60 was the first car of choice. So much so, that I paid a (huge) booking amount. My initial call was that service can be managed. But as luck would have it, through a turn of events, I got a very early visibility into how the Volvo service was setup. It became a very obvious to cancel the booking and get a refund.
At this point the only other option was GLE. By the time I cancelled Volvo, I had already made up my mind to buy a car. Hence stretching to GLE suddenly became an obvious option than cancelling the plans and going back to my earlier state, there was significant mental effort to imagine not buying a car after all the time spent. I spent a few days thinking about it, discussed with family and finally took the plunge. It was a decision from the heart than head.

Dealer Experience

Selection
I was in touch with Sri Harsha (who used to run VW Mysore, known for their great service) for helping me with the decision. He referred me to Sundaram Motors, Bangalore. Having known about TVS group along with my trust on Harsha’s recommendation, I was easily convinced to go with Sundaram. Harsha introduced me to the Executive Vice President of Sundaram Motors, who kept in touch through out, to ensure I was getting the best experience at all times.

Pre Purchase Experience
Sundaram brought both GLC and GLE to my home. They were on time and also brought the car on Sundays to help me decide. Mercedes has the concept of a product expert, who has deep knowledge of the technical aspects of the car. Kept in touch with the product expert, via WhatsApp, to keep understanding the full technical & feature details of the car. On my request, I was also connected with their service teams, including service advisors, to get a sense of what to expect in the years ahead.

Pricing
Once I confirmed my decision to consider, Sundaram came back with their offer. After some thinking, I confirmed the purchase. It definitely ended up crossing my initial budget of 75L, to the early 90s! (For those interested in the details, pls PM me)

Booking
Booking was done online through the Mercedes portal for Rs 50K. Our colour of choice was always white, hence no confusion there.

Pre Delivery Inspection
Sundaram swiftly found a car to allot (white would have made it easier), it was a Dec 2020 make, and had been delivered to them a few days back. Did the PDI in their stockyard in Whitefield (It was the first time I saw a covered stock yard for new cars). The car had 14kms on the odometer. They had washed the car for inspection while the interiors was untouched and retained all the factory packing. Checked all the panels and overall condition of the car. Validated date of manufacture through VIN decoder.

Car in the stockyard


Formalities
After PDI, completed the formalities including downpayment and finance in 4 days which included a nationalised bank.

Delivery
Took the delivery on a Monday after the RTO formalities. Was nicely orchestrated by the team. The CEO and his team arranged a small celebration. Puja was arranged soon after and we took the car home.

Car at delivery


Post Sales Experience

The first niggle
After the delivery, while driving the car home, we found the co-driver vent not working properly. It was blowing hot air. Messaged the team and they offered to get the car picked up next day morning to check. I didn’t want to hand over a new car, hence drove down myself. They quickly diagnosed it as an actuator fault, it started working when they did a reset. However, Mercedes asked them to replace the part as per protocol. Sundaram arranged the part from another centre and gave the car back the same day. They arranged another car during this time for my use.

The entire team was full of apologies and assured that they’ll take care of all issues to my satisfaction. I don’t know if this should have been found in the PDI or not, but the team didn’t let me get worked up about it. With the heavy electronics that these cars come with, I’m not sure how much is within anyone’s control. It got resolved without much fuss.

Feature onboarding
A week after delivery, Sundaram arranged for a team to visit my home and explain all the features again. During delivery, there was hardly any time and mind space to go through everything the car had to offer. Hence this visit was very useful to understand all the features and functionality. They also brought the HSRPs and fixed them while I was learning the details. Highlight was using park assist in my home, it was very hard to just sit and let the car do the manoeuvre.

Overall Impression
My experience with Sundaram has been amazing! They were a stark contrast to the other dealers I had engaged with during this time. From experience of owning a Jetta, I know that these German cars do develop niggles over time and the best way to manage is having a dealer who you can trust and build a relationship with. Sundaram I believe meets both these needs. My experience during the first niggle has helped reaffirm this belief.
PS: My Jetta had water pump failure, compressor failure, door rattles etc., all were fixed in warranty.


Accessories
Took the following accessories from dealer
1. Mercedes front and rear dashcam (76K)
2. Floor mats (12K)
3. Boot mat (10K)

Exteriors

Nobody will miss this is a Mercedes! I find the proportions to be balanced, with the car taking a very upright stance possibly due to the height. The front grill reinforces the brand (which I believe is too much focus). The well crafted grooves like plastic design elements on the bumper are a visual treat. I love the black plastic cladding through the entire body line and bumpers that creates a nice contrast.

Front Side
My favourite angle


Front View
Notice the plastic grooves on the front bumper


Rear Side


Rear View


Cladding & Running board
It runs as a border through the car (marked with arrows). Running board is more useful for kids than adults.


Bonnet


Interiors

The beige interiors were our choice, I’m claustrophobic and I feel comforted by the sense of spaciousness. Massive seats with lots of space is the trade mark for me (I’ve had back problems in the past). All touch parts are wrapped in Artico leather, dashboard is soft touch plastic while temperature controls and vents are steel. The brown wooden trim adds a nice luxury touch.

Front Cabin
Seats are huge and are a snug fit for me. The lumbar support is good and there is sufficient thigh support. The hand support in the center is very convenient to rest your hand on for long drives.


Rear Cabin
The seats are comfortable, ample space for 3 folks to sit but the middle seat may not be comfortable for long drives.


Rear seats and leg space
Leg space is insane! Notice the size of that sun roof!


Ambient light and Wood trim
We can change the interior lights, I keep changing it when I get bored


Climate controls
Easy to access and quickly change


Wireless charging & cup holder
One wireless charging dock. Apple CarPlay works only through cable and it is tight (but possible) to put a cable and connect to the input. Wireless Apple CarPlay like BMW would have been much better. Car has 3 additional usb-c ports for charging.


Boot
690L is more than enough for our needs. It has a power tail gate but no foot sweep function.


Dash Cam (Mercedes Accessory)
Dashcam is controlled via an app in the phone. It works with the car radar system to start recording when it detects movement around the car during parking OR if a significant force is detected. We can set the sensitivities of all these via the app. It has a capacity of 32GB. The video quality is good with light but low light quality is only acceptable.


Display

The car has two different displays fused together to create a long flat slab of glass. The screen is very crisp and sharp. The interface is very intuitive and easy to find and change options. The voice assistant is another deal. It gets most things wrong, I’m hoping by speaking regularly maybe it’ll learn and understand me better. I’m going to try teach the system for the next few days.

Display Input
The console can be operated via three different methods.
1. Touch directly on the screen (leaves a lot of fingerprints)
2. Via the touchpad placed above the center tunnel
3. Swipes buttons on the steering wheel (most commonly used)

Steering Left Side
Center display swipe with mute and volume control


Steering Right Side
Driver display swipe with Cruise control and Speed limiter controls


Drivers Display - Default View


Drivers Display - My Favorite


Center Display - Default View


Active Safety Features

Radar System


Active Brake Assist

• It does NOT go off all the time in city, provided, the driving style is conservative around other vehicles
• It gets activated when you do not press brakes AND the distance with the vehicle in front is closing in below a threshold
• One can setup different sensitivities which determine how soon the system should get activated, I’ve kept it at Medium (Early & Late are other options)
• When it does get activated, first there is a beep and if you do not respond, it brakes hard! Really hard!
• For me, it got activated once when I was reversing (I wasn’t aware it works in reverse), need to clarify this with Mercedes Benz

Blind Sport Warning

• Works as a red triangle on the ORVM (both sides)
• When a vehicle or person is in the blind spot, it lights up
• Depending on how much the steering is turned, the red triangle starts blinking to alert (both the driver and the vehicle in blindspot)
• The ambient light on the doors turn red if one tries to open the door and a vehicle comes from the blind spot

Music System
The car has an unbranded music system with 9 speakers and 225W. It is heavy on bass and good in terms of output, but is no match for the 15 speaker Bowers and Wilkins on the Volvo XC60.

Performance

• Very linear power delivery, buttery is the adjective!
• I don’t feel any turbo lag (caveat: I’m used to Jetta that had turbo lag)
• Very smooth shifts, more often I don’t know the gear had shifted
• I don’t think the downshift is as responsive as DSG, but haven’t tested this much yet

Driving experience

• Steering is light, very easy in the city (not as light as Volvo XC60 though)
• Love the ease of changing gears, stalk on the right hand side of the steering
• Haven’t pushed the car much to comment on the body roll yet! Nothing significant observed till date

Cabin noise

• The cabin is very quiet
• Tyre noise does exist, especially when you are coasting (when the engine sound goes to very low levels)
• Have had faint squeaking sounds in the doors on patchy roads after the long drive, need to get this fixed in inspection

Service
Service is every 15,0000 with an inspection within the first 3 months

Mileage
The car has now crossed 1135kms, the mileage figures are as follows.
Bangalore City - 10-11kmpl
Highway (Bangalore to Salem) - 18kmpl
Highway (Bangalore to Trivandrum) - 15.5kmpl
Note: Figures are basis what is shown in the cluster, not full tank method

The fuel tank capacity is 90L, which would result in a good range. This is a big plus because I always prefer fuelling from trusted pumps (Shell or COCO only).

Long drive
We did our first long drive from Bangalore to Trivandrum. Covered 730 kms in 10.5 hours. 90% of the roads are amazing while the last 10% (Nagercoil to Trivandrum) is in poor shape with heavy traffic.

This is a route that we have taken in the Jetta multiple times, but what stood out was not feeling tired in the GLE. I don’t know if its my excitement or the comfort in the car, I just didn’t feel tired. I went on to wash the car once we reached Trivandrum

Mercedes Me App
The most useful is the ability in the app is to lock / unlock the doors and windows. Used this a couple of times already. The car is always connected via Vodafone sim that has been paid for the first 3 years.

Home
See the alert for “Unlocked”, if you click there you go the Lock/Unlock screen (shown below)


Lock/Unlock
The caveat is it takes a couple of seconds for this to execute a command


Vehicle status
Tells the current state of the vehicle including locks, windows, parking brake, sunroof etc.


Service
Shows the time to service and the status of key items that may need attention.


Trip Report
I keep seeing this to see the mileage. Unsure of its long term value post initial excitement.


Quick Functions


Conclusion

Overall, I found the car to be a solid upgrade from Jetta. It is a thoughtful combination of luxury and comfort. Hope to many years of peaceful miles in our three pointed star.

Hope you enjoyed reading through the post and pls let me know of any queries around the car and I’ll help clarify the same within my abilities.

Thanks!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[androdev]

Congratulations! Always a pleasure to read threads about upgrading from Jetta - I find them very insightful and unbiased. Mercedes has taken a giant leap with its new SUVs compared to previous iteration, especially the cabin interiors.

Your observation of not feeling tired is true. All cars at this price are really good but brands still maintain a slight edge in their favourite departments. I do many long distance trips and often switch cars during the journey with family/friends and I always find Mercedes cars to be less tiring relatively - on the flip side it takes a bit of adapting to drive them sportily but they can indeed be driven sportily.

Wish you many years of happy ownership!

[ajmat]

Nice review, how do you cope with the disruptive 80/120 bongs!

[slayer23]

Thank you for the review and hearty congratulations on the upgrade! The Merc looks simply stunning.

Also good to see some details on the app. Have been seeing front-page ads about Mercedes me connect & was wondering how good is their performance! Seems to be really useful with all the functions it provides.

[abhilashgp]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Nice review, how do you cope with the disruptive 80/120 bongs!

Thanks!

- 80 being a single warning chime is tolerable, that matters as you would be above this speed many times on long drives. Once crossed, it comes at a certain interval that I’ve gotten used to.
- 120 is not tolerable. However, in my driving style, I cross it very rarely (mostly during overtakes). If roads allow, then set the cruise control to 120 and maintain.

[GTO]

Amazing review, thanks for sharing . Your car will be going to our homepage tomorrow morning .

I think the GLE is the perfect Mercedes SUV. The GLC is too bland & boring IMHO, while the GLS might be too big & expensive for most. The GLE fits right in between, with just the right size. Wish they gave the 6-cylinder at this price though. Wishing you a minimum of 100,000 joyous km with your Mercedes. Keep it for 10 years please, these high-end Germans age too well to sell before that. And be sure to get that extended warranty, no matter the steep cost.

I lived with a different GLE for a couple of days & absolutely loved it:

Originally Posted by abhilashgp

120 is not tolerable

Disable it, man. Any tuner will do it for you in 5 minutes.

[akash_v12]

Congratulations on the car Abhilash! Glad you went ahead and chose the GLE. Wishing you many, many happy miles with your 3-pointed star. Looks fantastic in your spec!

Also, loved your reviewing style. Short, but superbly crisp. Hoping for regular updates on the car.

[PontiacBandit]

Congrats on your GLE! Wishing you many many happy miles with it! Please do update the thread with your experience as time goes by.

Also, how easy was it getting acquainted with all the features and tech stuff of your car?

[ChiragM]

Congrats on the car abhilashgp. Love the GLE for the luxury and space it offers. Wish you many happy and kms with this car.

Upgrade from a Jetta is considered a difficult one.

I was talking to my brother about this just yesterday. He used to own a Jetta in the US and has all praises for the car. I was telling him how difficult it is for Jetta owners in India to upgrade.

One can setup different sensitivities which determine how soon the system should get activated, I’ve kept it at Medium (Early & Late are other options)
When it does get activated, first there is a beep and if you do not respond, it brakes hard! Really hard!
For me, it got activated once when I was reversing (I wasn’t aware it works in reverse), need to clarify this with Mercedes Benz

Glad that you can vary the sensitivity of the system to suit Indian driving conditions. Yes, some cars equipped with AEB do come with reverse brake assist. Unsure about your Mercedes though.

[alphahere]

Loved the review! Thanks for taking the time and effort!

Originally Posted by abhilashgp

Have had faint squeaking sounds in the doors on patchy roads after the long drive, need to get this fixed in inspection

I would suggest leave the faint squeaking sound from the doors as they are. As long as they are faint. I have the same on my X1 specially when the climate is warmer. It was audible in another X1 and an X3 that I tried for this purpose. I have come to the conclusion that it must exist in most cars but we just do not hear this because other sounds drown this out. Being a larger SUV gives more possibility of flex in the doors than cars too, thus causing the rubber door beadings to squeak. It has be the downside of having a super silent cabin. Wonder how electric car owners would put up with this.

You could try applying some solution to the beadings if you are the DIY kind of person but it surely does not sound worth having the dealer fiddle around with a brand new Merc!

[abhilashgp]

Originally Posted by PontiacBandit

Also, how easy was it getting acquainted with all the features and tech stuff of your car?

It wasn’t easy, the additional onboarding visit by the dealer helped. I sat with him for an hour and kept going through each part of the control and asked him to explain. Some features were surprises for me.
For e.g. There is an A/C rest button on the climate controls that keeps the car cool/warm even when ignition is off (like when you are take a break in the afternoon on a long drive). I believe following the controls is the best way to go about it. Features accessed via display was fairly straightforward.

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Glad that you can vary the sensitivity of the system to suit Indian driving conditions. Yes, some cars equipped with AEB do come with reverse brake assist. Unsure about your Mercedes though.

Thanks for sharing this, that could explain. Will confirm this in my next conversation with service team.

Originally Posted by alphahere

I would suggest leave the faint squeaking sound from the doors as they are.....

You could try applying some solution to the beadings if you are the DIY kind of person but it surely does not sound worth having the dealer fiddle around with a brand new Merc!

That suggestion makes sense. The service team has offered to put a spray and test it. I’ll report on this as we go along.

[Aditya]

Exceptional, unbiased & detailed reviews of cars that don't have an official review have started going to our homepage reviews box. It's the ultimate stamp of trust from Team-BHP (as a platform) because lakhs of visitors every month check out reviews from there & make purchase decisions.

Your review has also gone here. Thank you so much for sharing .

[Archisman]

What a drool worthy car. Many congrats on the new acquisition.
Would be interested in knowing the actual range and mileage of the car after the first service

[tirumalavoleti]

Amazing choice and justified over XC60. Happy and safety miles ahead.

The boot space looks humongous. Could fit anything :-)