The rear floor sits about 6 inches higher than in other GLEs due to the battery. But I've driven multiple Mercedes with this same exact system within the past six months, from the C-Class to the AMG GT R supercar, and have not once experienced this unintended effect.Ĭompromise is the name of the GLE550e’s gameīecause of the hybrid battery pack, cargo space in the GLE550e is compromised. Perhaps if you exaggerated the angle of your wrist, this wouldn't happen. With the way it's oriented (or perhaps inclined), that grazing pulls you out of the intended menu that you're looking to adjust.įor example, if you're within the radio station presets and go to change stations, you might graze the top before doing so, thereby pulling you out of the radio presets menu and calling up other upper or lower on-screen menus with unintended consequences. It was far too sensitive to a mere grazing of the touchpad by my palm or wrist. Oddly, the GLE550e's Comand infotainment interface forced some errors in use that I've never witnessed in other Mercedes vehicles with exactly the same system. Matte-finished "Natural Grain" ash trim ($160 extra) evokes Scandinavian furniture and the standard leather is suppler than the vaunted M-B Tex of yesteryear. The GLE offers quite a lot of hidden storage space between the forward bin of the center console and beneath the central arm rests, too. And once you're used to it, the electronic steering column-mounted transmission selector makes sense. The GLE550e's seats – fitted with optional multi-contour adjustments, massaging functions, heating and cooling, all for a total of $1,670 – skew toward the cushy and comfort-focused, as you'd expect in a luxury SUV. But the GLE's interior design is showing its age, especially with the temperature dials on the climate controls they're simply not on par for a nearly $80,000 (sticker price as-tested) SUV. It's merely a curious byproduct of this air-spring suspension.įine materials and ergonomics, but an aging design insideĪs in virtually all current Mercedes vehicles, the overall quality of the interior and the ergonomics set a very high bar. This does not, however, indicate a malfunction or compromised ride or handling when moving. Though certainly subtle, the front end rose and dropped slowly, all while the SUV was perfectly stationary. Curiously, as you depress the brake to start the car, pedal travel is enormous and you can nearly floor the brake pedal upon startup.Īnother curiosity I noticed, usually when waiting at a traffic light, was that the GLE550e's air-spring suspension seems to hunt around slightly, looking for a ride height to settle on at rest. Though they're effective and rapidly haul the SUV down from speed, they demonstrate inconsistent pedal feel and travel. There's a soft funkiness afoot in the brakes. But unless the roads ahead of you are straight and only straight, the GLE550e rolls substantially in corners, the steering provides little feel, and the brakes deserve a paragraph of their own. On the positive side, because of that softly sprung, roly-poly suspension, the GLE550e's ride quality is superb.
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