Top luxury SUV: Mercedes-Benz GLS 400d

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

The Stuff Top Luxury SUV for 2020 is the Mercedes-Benz GLS 400d.

You know SUVs are taking over when they start displacing luxury limos as the ride of choice for the uber-wealthy, but can a high-riding SUV really offer the opulence and effortlessness of a good traditional LWB luxury sedan?

If it is the Mercedes-Benz GLS we are talking about, then the answer is a resounding “Oh hell yes!”

The first - and most obvious - hint that the GLS is a very credible S-Class alternative is the fact that it is almost as long as a LWB S-Class. Yes, really. It is utterly massive and blatantly luxurious.

The Mercedes-Benz GLS 400d is huge, luxurious, expensive and totally okay with all of that.

The GLS is, in fact, roughly as long as a modern ute, but with a massively longer wheelbase that allows for some seriously impressive interior space. So serious, in fact, that the GLS has room for three rows of seats (all of which are spacious and comfortable, including the third row) and still manages to swallow up to 470 litres of cargo in the boot with the third row up.

**READ MORE:

It hides its sheer size well, but the GLS is as long as a modern ute.

* Top Medium SUV: Mercedes-Benz EQC 400

* Top Large SUV: Land Rover Defender

Much luxury and technology is present in the GLS’s interior. As is much space.

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The huge amount of interior space on offer makes for a serene feeling of luxury and space as the GLS wafts silently and effortlessly along. That's proper luxury in anyone's book.

The GLS might be 200mm longer than a Range Rover, but the styling disguises its sheer size well on the road. And much of this is thanks to the effortless grunt from the silky smooth 2.9-litre inline six-cylinder diesel engine.

The big Benz is also surprisingly agile on the road, while its straight-six engine is utterly superb.

Pumping out 243kW of power and a towering and ever-present 700Nm of torque the engine is impressively powerful and with a wonderfully strong and progressive power delivery.

Mercedes’ newest straight-six is a spectacularly good engine, regardless of which model it is in or even which fuel it uses (they do a petrol version as well), but it is so perfectly suited to the GLS that it is hard to see how anything else would be necessary.

Mercedes thinks there is room to move, however, as it is doing a thoroughly unnecessary (but almost certainly awesome) GLS 63 AMG version of the big guy…

Comfortable, quiet and packed with technology that is both accessible and easy to use the GLS is a towering achievement in both comfort and luxury, regardless of which of the seven seats you are sitting in. And that is why it wins here.

What else was in the running?

While there is no shortage of luxurious SUVs on offer, the closest competitor to the big Benz is the BMW X7.

The X7 handles better than the GLS (not terribly important in the luxury stakes) and arguably has a slightly better ride (more important), but it suffers from pandering to the tasteless side of being rich with its over-use of shiny bits and tacky touches like the crystal gear shifter…

Essential details: Just the one at the moment: a 243kW/700Nm 2.9-litre inline six-cylinder diesel GLS 400d that costs $168,500. An AMG one is coming though…

Safety: Not tested yet, but the closely-related GLE is a 5 star vehicle and the GLS is utterly packed with safety features and tech, so there is no reason to think it won’t be as well.

At a glance: Dominant luxury and the sheer amount of presence it has leaves you in no doubt this is a serious luxo-beast, and driving (or riding in) it just backs that up. It’s actually impressively frugal too, with Mercedes’ claim of 7.7L/100k in the combined cycle being easy to match.

Who should consider it: Oil barons, oligarchs and brutal dictators should all apply, but in the real world anyone who wants unrelenting yet understated luxury. Oh, and huge amounts of space.

Things to consider: I may have mentioned that it is big, but it really does feel it when it comes time to park or squeeze into a gap. You have to be very aware of that extra-long wheelbase and the utterly massive wheels (23-inchers on our test vehicle) when you get anywhere near a curb too.

What else could I buy?: Well, there is that aforementioned tacky X7, which is the GLS’s closest competitor, but in terms of large SUVs, then a Range Rover is obvious, but smaller (yes, really!).

You could go well up in price and get the even more luxurious Bentley Bentayga, but you would have to give up quite a bit of space, spend quite a bit more money and become a Premier League footballer. Or marry one.