Checked out the new Mercedes GLC: My observations as an M340i owner

The car appears significantly longer and wider than the previous generation GLC and is close to the previous generation GLE.

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Had a look at the new GLC this weekend at the nearby Mercedes dealer. Was driving by to stretch the legs of my BMW M340i. Saw this black GLC on display at Titanium Motors on OMR went in to have a look at it. It was a Sunday morning and there was hardly anyone at the dealership. The Sales Agent who was quite friendly and knowledgeable showed me around the car. Some observations below:

• The car looks stunning in Obsidian Black, with all the chrome and silver elements sharply contrasting with the Car body.
• The paint quality is top notch and the car is finished on the exterior really well
• What you notice first is the imposing grill with the massive, three-pointed star. Overall, the car has flowing proportions that are well coordinated, with lots of rounded corners and curvy lines and hardly any straight edges.
• I was surprised to see the LED headlight of a reflector type, and not the projector type that one would expect in a car like this. It does not appear that Mercedes has tried to cut costs in any other part of the vehicle. So there must be a reason by they went for reflector LEDs in this car for India

• The car looks purposeful and sporty when viewed from the back. The broad base and the noticeably tapering/narrower upper body, convey a sense of stability and dynamism.

• The car appears significantly longer and wider than the previous generation GLC and is close to the previous generation GLE in terms of size, except in terms of height. I thought the car could be taller given the segment it competes in. It is only about as tall as the Creta/Seltos.

• The alloy wheel looks real sweet. The alloy wheel pattern is neither too much in your face, nor too regular and dull. The contrasting black and steel color bands look lovely.
• The wheels are a sensible size, with 19 inch rims and 55 profile tires. Importantly, the tires are not run flat, they are tubeless Continentals with a 235/55R 19 size. After having driven around with 35 profile run-flat tires in my M340i, I think this looks like a very welcome comfort sizing. It is a pity that the car does not have adaptive dampers, that would have been a very good addition to this car which prides itself to be equally good on bad roads and no roads.
• OT - I don’t know why BMW keeps going for ever larger rims and ever smaller tire profiles. This is a bad idea for Indian roads. I already have one case of my run flat getting torn torn after passing through a pothole at not too high a speed.

• The car looks its best from the rear three quarters, with that dynamic and flowing shape at its best and it does look imposing from this angle.

• On a 90 lakh OTR car, not having comfort access is quite a shock. This is probably related to recent incidents in Europe, where Car hackers stole cars through a method called key hacking by hacking and copying the key's signal. The pre-facelift BMW 3-series also omitted comfort access perhaps for this reason.
• Imagine having to fish out the key every single time to get in and To lock the car at the end of the trip. Especially as the Mercedes GLC key is big and heavy. There is obviously no NFC key or Software key available, without comfort access.
• It is great to see that Mercedes is now including concealed space for a spare tire in the trunk. The loading bay is flat, and the boot space is massive. They could have easily fitted a small third of seats in there - the boot is that long! Though, of course, no one would want it in this segment.
• With the second row of seats also reclined, one can easily carry a bike without disassembling in the back of the this car. There are switches to flip down the second row from the boot, which is convenient.

• The back seat is quite firm and although the there is sufficient amount of legroom, there isn’t enough thigh support and the seat back recline is not very much and is actually a touch upright. The quality of materials is top notch. One would be hard put to guess that this is not real leather.
• I do wish was a bit more cushioning built into the arm rest areas in the doors, including the driver side door. Although there is a slight bit of padding, it does feel inadequate and a bit hard for long distance use.

• The screen beneath the sunroof feels like it’s just a piece of cloth. It is so thin and lets everything in, including the light and the heat. BMW do a much better job here, with their sunroof screens that are thick and opaque so that you can use the sunroof when you really want it, and conveniently forget it exist when you don’t.
• Overall, the back seat is a good place for medium sized adults who don’t mind a firm seating surface and sitting a bit upright. Not one for the chauffer driven, they have many better choices in this price range.
• The driver seat has a massive range of adjustment. Everything is controlled by the haptic touch based switchgear on the door. I tried the bling feature to enter my height and have the seat set up automatically by Mercedes. However, this makes a seat go too far back and too low for my liking, I had to take back manual controls to find the position I liked.

• The steering wheel has a luxurious feel, although it does feel a bit thin for my larger hands. The touch base controls seem to work OK but I’m sure one would need quite some time to get used used to them as they are quite small and not easy to read.
• The dash surface with art leather surfaces and brown stitching feels really luxurious. The pinstripe pattern on the fake wood is also very unique.

• The instrumentation display is lovely. It’s really high resolution and the choice of displays felt better than BMW’s with the traditional circular two-dial speedo and tacho combination available.
• The display is highly customizable and has a very rich feature set. The SA told me that Apple maps can be displayed on the main console but not Google maps - would like to verify that.
• The central tablet-like screen feels well-positioned and is just about the right size, so that it is not too much in the face. Everything was very slick to operate with a very fast touch response time.

I made a mental note to take a test drive sometime soon. The Petrol engine plus mild hybrid seems like a pretty potent combination, doing 0-100 in 6.2 seconds. This level of acceleration rivals even the best petrol sedans in the price range (The BMW 330i is now long wheelbase and takes the same 6.2 seconds, the C-Class has just the 200 tune and takes 7.9 seconds while the Audi A4 takes 7.3 seconds)

Overall a very luxuriously appointed SUV, with a few quirks, like the lack of adaptive suspension (the biggest downer for me), absence of comfort access and an average back seat. It is quite pricey at 75 lakhs ex-showroom.

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