[bordeaux]

This post have gone sort of viral, at least at Mercedes camp! My contact at the dealership reached out in the morning and we had a long, beautiful conversation. Loved the response from dealership.

Then to my surprise, folks from Mercedes reached out and wanted to talk about the issues I have faced with the car. I am pleasantly surprised by how active these people are and want to go the extra mile to improve their car and the ownership experience of the customer. I am blown away to be honest!

Originally Posted by PSOPS

Really loved reading the complete buying process you had. The travelogue and the pics are simply brilliant. No wonder GLC is the highest selling Luxury SUV in India.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by AKSarkar1

What makes me the happiest is seeing a car in its true form in various habitats and not just being a garage queen like most of the Mercs are. Majority of my friends who have any premium German SUVs keep that car for highway runs or reserve it for when they have to go to a swanky location and then get another Fortuner or Mahindra as their SUV for off-roading drives.

Wishing you continued happy memories in this great machine!

Thank you! We plan to run it hard and run it everywhere we possibly can. We are not holding back.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Nice thread. The Mercedes Three Pointed Star will always be aspirational and a matter of passion for many of us. Its great that you’re using the vehicle the way it is supposed to be used. Well done! Wishing you many many enjoyable miles in the GLC.
Going through many of these Mercedes Threads makes me desire one myself!

Indeed. The brand recognition Mercedes has is probably unmatchable. Even people in villages, where they neither have mobile connectivity nor electricity, recognize the star without fail.

Originally Posted by ex-innova-guy

Nice crisp review and lovely travelogues of the GLC. Wish you many more miles and smiles with the Black Beauty!

OT- If I am not mistaken the Space Grey E90 was once a Mod's car.

Thank you! I am not sure about the Bimmer ownership but these car were tastefully maintained.

Originally Posted by VinsWagen

Wow wow wow!
Such a beautiful travelogue in all senses. Honestly, one rarely comes across a true value-for-money experience of owning a 4WD luxury brand - this is one such.

Thank you and agreed. I guess most of us don't extract maximum value out of our cars but then there are totally understandable circumstances. Not everyone will have enough time to go for long road trips. Also, plenty of us are comfortable in the familiar environment which is absolutely acceptable. To each his own.

Originally Posted by ProLearner

Nice write-up! GLC is indeed the most popular across India. Awesome pictures too! Glad to see you enjoying your trips even better with the Merc.
Might be one of the few GLCs that have travelled such diverse terrain.
How well is the AWD 4-Matic on this one? Does it have low range or AWD locking?

Thank you! GLC is sold with super basic AWD 4MATIC. There is no terrain selection or anything of that sort. There's no low range or locking either. I did fair amount of dune bashing and the car did alright. I haven't taken it on an obstacle course due to lack of time and not having any friends with SUVs. So, cannot really comment on that. Never felt any shortage of power or torque in Ladakh or Jaisalmer. Yet to test it on black ice. I am sure it won't be able to tackle slush on black ice especially because of the Highway Terrain tyres.

Originally Posted by ProLearner

During your search, did you not consider the Kodiaq? Or the Tiguan? They both also have AWD and are similarly sized.

We wanted to avoid anything Skoda or DSG. Kodiaq was certainly not an option given Skoda's reliability and hit or miss after sales service. I did consider Superb because I wouldn't have taken that far from civilization anyway. But getting stuck out there in no man's land with a Kodiaq will be quite painful. Also, Kodiaq is 7 seaters and probably longer. VW group was not considered at all.

Originally Posted by ProLearner

Also about the ventilated seats which are indeed useful for our climate, its still shocking that none of the Luxury German Brands have them in most of their lineup, other than Flagships. Not even the X5/5 series has them!
Meanwhile even the Nexon, Creta, VW 2.0 cars have them.

Yeah, there's something fishy about all these German manufacturers. Even Toyota and Lexus have plonked ventilated seats in their luxury cars not only at the front but at the back as well. But here we are with our German cars!

Originally Posted by aa1997

Wonderful read and love how you are properly using the Merc to create memories! Just last night was watching Korean car camping videos and wondered if it's doable in India. Will be looking out for more camping experiences and pics of the Black beauty

Well, I guess you have been watching million dollar camping videos by Fish13. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money but camping in India is possible with a catch. It feels quite unsafe to camp if you are just one car. With two or more cars, it will be pretty alright at most of the locations. You can camp solo in Ladakh as that's fairly safe. Not so safe in the northern plains.

Originally Posted by pradheepsr

Wonderful travelogue !

Would be a distant dream for GLC owners like to venture out with the merc on terrains like you did.

But your travelogue gives me a lot of hope. Im just keeping mine like a little baby cuddled up in my garage with occasional long drives, strictly on highways so far.

Would love to venture out soon with my "Red devil" on broken trails.

Man! This car is capable for sure. And trust me you'd love it. For broken trails or paved mud roads, you can go wherever you wish!

Originally Posted by Airavat

Great post! What are those big DeWalt tool boxes for? Also what brand are the camping table and awning. Where did you source them?

Thank you! Those Dewalt boxes and drawers are stackable Tstak range which holds all our kitchen supplies, dishes, accessories etc. Stackable means you can adjust the overall height as per your convenience. And drawers act just like your kitchen drawers making them super easy to use. This is the only space efficient way of setting up a kitchen that I could think of. You can always have plywood drawers drilled into your car but I didn't want any drilling or permanent fixtures.

Table, awning etc. are all sourced from Decathlon. Dewalt boxes and drawers were sourced from Amazon.

Originally Posted by Tigs

So amazing to see this. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Researcher

The top variants of Tata Hexa came with the same size (barring the final few months), fitted with MRF Wanderers as OE. I used them briefly. Pretty decent tyres and Tata showrooms generally have helped in sourcing these whenever needed.

Thank you. I guess I suck at researching tyres then! I'll take a look at these when we go shopping.

[FourBanger]

Great to see GLC being used to it’s true form.
Hearty congratulations to you for completing many miles with it and wishing your more trouble free miles for the future.

Keep updating us with your trips was great to see so many beautiful unexplored parts of our country

Fun read !

[OffRoadFun]

Wow! Probably one of the best travelogues on camping I have seen in this forum. You are REALLY making good use of 4Matic! It seems like a lot of fun.

Wish you lots of fun!

I have bookmarked this thread. These are some of the things I would like to do one day.
Appreciate any pointers on good camping sites starting with the South (around BLR) and also the big tent you put at the back of your car (DM is fine).

[bordeaux]

Originally Posted by FourBanger

Great to see GLC being used to it’s true form.
Hearty congratulations to you for completing many miles with it and wishing your more trouble free miles for the future.

Keep updating us with your trips was great to see so many beautiful unexplored parts of our country

Fun read !

Thank you!

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

Wow! Probably one of the best travelogues on camping I have seen in this forum. You are REALLY making good use of 4Matic! It seems like a lot of fun.

Wish you lots of fun!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by OffRoadFun

I have bookmarked this thread. These are some of the things I would like to do one day.
Appreciate any pointers on good camping sites starting with the South (around BLR) and also the big tent you put at the back of your car (DM is fine).

I plan to add more info to this thread as and when I get time. Recently, I came across Wild Earth Jungle Camp near Mysore somewhere online. And Camp Monk : Bannerghatta Lake Camp near Bangalore. It's a little too far for me but I plan to camp here on one of our southern trips. Maybe you can try it out since it's super close to you. You can either stay in there tents or take your own tent and cook for yourself.

The camping tarp is from Decathlon.

[Kkumar]

What a great travelogue and photos, makes one really motivated to hit the road. Nice to see some one who is using an SUV for the purpose it has been manufactured. All the best for all your future endeavours. Hope to hear more from you about your wanderlust. Keep on munching miles.

[Shiv_Hyd]

Thanks for the detailed reply. It helped me add this to my car wishlist I would like to buy in the next two years.
Very detailed narration on what to do and what no to do when you are buying the first premium car like Merc.

One thing I am curious is about your camping equipment. Appreciate if you could help me more as to where did you buy them and how is the usage experience? Is it VFM?

[7.83hz]

Works out our friends here and their cross country wagon is in Arunachal Pradesh these days.

Met bordeaux by pure happenstance at the remotest of places, Menchuka just a few days ago. I managed to drag my 2021 Skoda Octavia up there to find the GLC parked by the hotel.

@bordeaux When you do see this, drop me a line at https://wa.me/9864138997 we can meet and have a beer when you're crossing Guwahati.