Long-Term Road Test Update
arrow
Sometimes it’s okay to be banished to the back of the bus.
Months in Fleet: 8 months
Current Mileage: 25,267 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 16 mpg
Range: 396 miles
Service: $844.25
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $0
We last reported on our long-term Mercedes-Benz GL450 when it had 8979 miles on its clock. That was last May. Five months later, our 13-window Bus of Bronze whooshed past the 25,000-mile plateau. This thing accumulates miles like Willie Nelson’s bus. Course, ours smells better and is easier to park. Well, a little.
So far in this seven-seat SUV’s life, we’ve spent $844 on scheduled pit stops—oil, tire rotations, fresh brake fluid, dust filter, and so forth. On one scheduled maintenance at 20,000 miles, Benz mechanics were required to inspect the trailer hitch. (“Still there? Sure looks like it. Must be okay.”)
Other issues were covered under the four-year/50,000-mile warranty. These included new rear brake rotors (which were vibrating); a new back-up camera; a few trim pieces whose chrome had peeled; and a start/stall issue that the dealer couldn’t pinpoint but which since has evaporated. None of which cost us a dime, but the wobbly rotors certainly induced a few knitted brows. Mind you, stopping nearly three tons of SUV in only 179 feet understandably taxes the whirling parts.
In city traffic, the GL450 is something of a moose in a pilates class—a bit ponderous, awkward, blending into traffic only when woolly-mammoth-size holes open up, and its steering tells you almost nothing at all. This is one SUV in which you will study the camera before backing out of your Safeway slot. Of course, the trade-off is that our bus is otherwise one of the world’s finest long-distance interstate cruisers, its height and massive windscreen offering vast downrange sightlines. Plus it’s quiet—four decibels quieter than, say, the Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged at wide-open throttle. On the slog from Ann Arbor to Montana, one of us slept quite soundly for three hours in the super-comfy middle seat, leg-twitching dreams and all. Taking turns driving, two of us covered 1100 miles that day, and at one point on I-90 in a desolate stretch of North Dakota, which describes the entire state, we sampled the Bus of Bronze’s 130-mph top speed, fast fleeing Fargo.
Magic Carpet Ride
The air-spring suspension delivers a magic-carpet ride in its default setting. It’s actually too pillowy, with plenty of porpoising on accel and decel. The Sport setting imposes firmer discipline, but you rarely remember to dial it to Sport until you’ve already wallowed through that first hairpin.
Throttle tip-in is peculiar—gooey at first, producing little forward motion, then all of a sudden, “Hang on Newt, she’s headed for the alfalfa!” And that’s when two bags of groceries topple. Also requiring a little practice is the grabby long-travel brake pedal, which mandates a delicate application or the third and fourth bags fall over, too.
Our bus’s next adventure will entail some minor Montana off-roading, testing its 8.5-inch ground clearance and its super slippery running boards, which true off-roaders consider an infected pustule on the nose of two-track travel.
Drink Up
Not surprisingly, the 362-hp V-8, asked to haul 5855 pounds to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, has a serious fossil-fuel drinking habit. So far, our GL450 has managed only an observed 16 mpg. Of course, if you can afford an (as-tested) $90,845 SUV, maybe fuel isn’t a worry. Thing is, we all share the same planetary atmosphere, so maybe it should be a worry. Those repeated 26-gallon fill-ups certainly scorched our nerve endings, not to mention our credit cards.
What we have here is a veritable living room of a family road-tripper, an incredibly opulent and comfortable Teutonic freighter that is as capable as a Chevrolet Suburban at twice the price. It ticks all the boxes of irrational desirability. Carries them all, too.
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 7-passenger, 5-door wagon
PRICE AS TESTED: $90,845 (base price: $64,805)
ENGINE TYPE: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 285 cu in, 4663 cc
Power: 362 hp @ 5000 rpm
Torque: 406 lb-ft @ 1500 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 7-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 121.1 in
Length: 201.6 in
Width: 76.1 in Height: 72.8 in
Curb weight: 5855 lb
PERFORMANCE: NEW
Zero to 60 mph: 5.9 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 15.2 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 30.2 sec
Rolling start, 5–60 mph: 6.7 sec
Top gear, 30–50 mph: 3.1 sec
Top gear, 50–70 mph: 4.1 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.4 sec @ 97 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 130 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 179 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.74 g
*Stability-control-inhibited.
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 14/19 mpg
C/D observed: 15 mpg
Unscheduled oil additions: 0 qt
WARRANTY:
4 years/50,000 miles bumper to bumper;
4 years/50,000 miles powertrain;
4 years/50,000 miles corrosion protection;
Unlimited roadside assistance
Continued…