Mercedes-Benz GLS

The Mercedes-Benz GLS is one of the most luxurious SUVs that money can buy before you cross the line into the lavish Maybach lineup The 7-seater SUV is available with both petrol and diesel engines, offering various visual and tech packages to help it cater to a specific need even better than it already does.

With rivals like the BMW X7, Audi Q8 and Volvo XC90, the Mercedes-Benz GLS has its work cut out if it wants to win you over its peers. So what all has Mercedes packed it with to help it achieve that, and does the GLS justify its near Rs 1.5 crore price tag? Let’s find out.

There is no denying the fact that the Mercedes-Benz GLS is humongous. One look at it is all you need to fathom that its road presence would be second to only the big commercial vehicles on the road. And that road presence, which it gets from its size, comes with a serious ‘get out of my way’ attitude, especially in the AMG Line trim, which brings blacked out elements and more aggressive styling bits.

Starting up front, the nose is daunting to say the least with a wide grille that can put most BMW ‘kidney grilles’ to shame. The horizontal lines on the grille further add to the ruggedness of the SUV. The LED headlights look chic with the multiple sleek LED DRL elements and a chunky projector. There is a lot of chrome usage around the bumper in the standard car, which is blacked out in the slightly more aggressive look that you get with the AMG Line.

Massive is the only word that comes to mind when you look at the profile of the GLS. For a luxury SUV, it looks rather clean with a flattish roofline, minimal body creases and subtle chrome inserts. It sits on 21-inch alloy wheels with a star-shaped pattern, both in the standard and AMG-Line versions. 

There’s not much in terms of design at the rear. It stands tall and wide, has a rather simple bumper design (even in the AMG Line), and sports fake exhaust outlets on either side. The real exhaust is actually tucked away underneath the bumper. 

In terms of colour options, there are five monotone shades to choose from with the GLS. The options include Polar White, Obsidian Black, High-tech Silver, Selenite Grey, and Sodalite Blue. 

Over the standard car, the AMG body kit brings slightly different bumpers, alloys, and side skirting. The Night Package further adds black elements on the grille, mirror housing and alloy wheels. I would personally prefer the AMG body kit, as it does add some flair of sportiness to what otherwise is a rather simple, yet elegant design for Mercedes’ flagship SUV.

Design & Quality

The interior experience of the GLS is as you’d expect from a flagship Mercedes. The design hasn’t changed much over the years with a lot of horizontal elements and multiple vents on the dashboard, but still looks luxurious. The thoughtful integration of ambient lights all around the cabin further elevates the experience at night. 

There are different themes on offer too with a black dashboard as standard, contrasted with Macchiato Beige, Bahia Brown, and Obsidian Black upholstery. My pick of the lot would be the Bahia Brown and Black dual tone theme, which looks and feels the richest, but is also easy to maintain at the same time. 

Material selection is top notch with a lot of leather on the dashboard, door and central armrest. Even all the buttons and switches have a tactile feel to them, and feel rather satisfying to interact with. 

Front Seats

Getting in and out of the GLS does require some effort due to the car’s height. So instead of just sliding in, it requires you to raise your foot and step inside, which can be an issue for the elderly in the family. And while there is a side step to make things easier, the size is inadequate for you to comfortably place your foot. Instead of offering support, it can actually make you slip and is something you need to be cautious about.

Once inside, the plus-sized front seats offer great comfort and good levels of bolstering, which can be adjusted to your preference. Finding the right driving position is made easy with powered seat adjustment and powered tilt and telescopic adjustment for the steering. The only thing that the front seats miss out on is the massaging function.

The car already sits rather high and with a tall bonnet inspiring confidence, even new drivers won’t find the size of the vehicle to be intimidating. 

Second Row

The second row of the Mercedes GLS is spacious and comfortable for all. Add the Rear Comfort Package Plus to the mix, and the experience is made even more comfortable with soft pillows on the headrest, extended central armrest with storage and additional charging options.

The seats have powered adjustment for the slide and recline function, so you can open up more space for a truly relaxed experience. While the sunblinds are powered too, you can also control the panoramic sunroof from the second row itself.

While there is a tablet in the central armrest for various controls like media and temperature settings, the main highlight has to be the individual entertainment screens that you get behind the front seats. It has bluetooth and HDMI connectivity for you to plug in your device (can be a phone, a tablet or even a laptop) and play your own media. Both the screens have a good resolution and fast response times.

Third Row

Getting inside the last row of the GLS isn’t a straightforward task. The second row seats are powered, and take their sweet time to move ahead and allow you a space to get inside. And because they don’t tumble, you only have a narrow gap to make your way to the third row.

Once you’ve somehow made your way in the third row, you will find it cramped even for regular sized adults. I’m 5’8, and I could barely manage to sit without rubbing my knees with the seats ahead. Foot room and underthigh support is limited too, however, head room is plenty. 

While the overall space might be restricted for adults, the seats offer recline functionality, which makes them usable for kids. With multiple charging ports, their devices will never die out of charge, and the large windows and panoramic sunroof won’t make them feel suffocated either.

Storage Options

The GLS has plenty of storage options with bottle pockets on all four doors. The central console has a covered storage space that houses adjustable cupholders and a space to store your phone. The glovebox is wide and deep; adequate for multiple 1-litre bottles. 

For the key, you get a slot underneath the central armrest along with some additional space to store your wallet or powerbank. Behind this armrest are two cupholders which are shared with the rear passengers.

There are seatback pockets that can store your magazine or documents. Once the central armrest is down, the rear occupants get a slot in the headrest to store their phone with some tiny storage in the armrest itself.

Rear passengers get a cupholder on each side. 

Charging Options

The 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLS has enough charging options to keep the devices of an entire football team charged with 11 Type-C charging ports. Three of them are at the front, four in the second row, and two each side in the third row. Of course, there’s a 12V socket in the boot as well.

Features 

The Mercedes GLS packs all the regular features that you’d expect from a luxury SUV of this price point, but there’s nothing that stands out in particular.

The main 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system is fairly easy to navigate. It has a bright resolution, crisp graphics and defined icons, which make it easy to use. Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay is available, which is also nice. In case the screen is too far away from your reach (which it can be), you can control most of the functions via the touch sensitive buttons on the steering wheel or the trackpad on the central console.

You get a matching 12.3-inch digital driver’s display that displays essential information alongside navigation and driver assistance details. It features multiple viewing modes, which have rather distinctive identities in terms of their visual treatment.

For entertainment, apart from the aforementioned rear screens, you also get two sets of headphones to connect with them and enjoy your music or shows with some privacy. If you want to sing along to songs with everyone else in the car, the 13-speaker Burmester sound system is powerful and offers high quality audio output. 

While there’s heated and ventilated seats at the front, the second row passengers do not get any ventilation. The massaging function in the seats is another miss for the GLS. Instead, you get a feature called seat kinetics, which just reclines the seat back and forth.

In terms of safety features, the Mercedes GLS comes with seven airbags, ISOFIX mounts, 360-degree camera with parking assistance, traction control, electronic stability control, all-wheel disc brakes and a tyre pressure monitoring system. 

It also packs Level-2 ADAS features like lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control. These features work okay on well marked expressways, but can feel a bit too sensitive for the disorderly Indian traffic. Even the adaptive cruise control has a rather conservative setting wherein the distance that it maintains from the car in front is okay for international driving standards, but in India, somebody will take it as an opportunity to cut you off.

There is no crash test score for the Mercedes GLS. 

Even with all the three rows up, the GLS has enough space to store multiple cabin trolleys with ease. You can fold the third row down with the press of a button which then becomes a flat bed, which is good enough to store a family’s luggage worth an international trip. The parcel tray can be adjusted or even removed entirely if you want to stack up the boot to the roof.

In case you want to move houses or just carry large items like a fridge, for example, then you can do so by folding the second row down too. It might not fold flat, but there is no bump between the third and second row, so pushing any heavy items won’t take much effort. The second row can also be folded down with the push of a button.

Even loading or unloading the car could’ve been a task if not for the air suspension, which can be lowered down at the press of a button. Furthermore, there’s some additional storage underneath the floor, which is shared with the space saver tyre.

The India-spec Mercedes-Benz GLS can be had with either a 3-litre turbo-petrol or a 3-litre diesel engine. Both come with a 9-speed, torque convertor AT and all-wheel-drive (AWD). There’s also a 48 V mild-hybrid system on board that adds some additional power and torque to the total output, aiding performance and efficiency. 

There are only three drive modes in the GLS: Eco, Comfort and Offroad. There is no dedicated Sports mode, but the performance is adequate so it isn’t like you’ll miss it in the first place.

3-litre turbo-petrol

This is a super refined engine offering effortless performance for all use cases. As long as you won’t care about the fuel bills, this engine will be hard to fault.

City Performance

All city commutes are a breeze. It crawls from a standstill in a smooth way, and doesn't feel too eager. Gear shifts are so smooth that you won’t even feel them for the most part. You don’t ever need to drop down a gear to make an overtake, but in case you do, the transmission is quick enough to do it for you.

The petrol GLS will return you a fuel efficiency of around 7-9kmpl in the city.

Highway Performance

The petrol engine’s output is more than good enough to haul this mammoth of an SUV to triple digits speeds without any effort really. Even the gentlest of throttle inputs are enough for zipping through traffic, and in case you do floor the throttle, the engine responds immediately. 

Even at full send, the power is delivered in a linear fashion, so it never gets scary. But the delivery is strong enough to take you well beyond legal speeds without you even knowing it. The gearbox feels quick when you need those quick downshifts, and you can alternatively use the paddle shifters too.

In terms of fuel efficiency, it will deliver you a figure between 10-12kmpl if you drive it sedately.

3-litre diesel

This is one of the most refined diesel engines I’ve driven to date. If you have a high running and care about fuel efficiency (even slightly), then this engine offers a good balance of performance and efficiency.

City Performance

All city drives with this diesel engine are effortless. There is so much torque in the lower band of the RPM range that you will rarely ever cross the 2,000 RPM mark for your city commutes. 

Here too, the transmission is smooth, and makes city drives stress free.

The diesel GLS will return you a fuel efficiency of around 10kmpl in the city.

Highway Performance

Just like the petrol engine, the GLS’ diesel engine feels like it was made for highway cruising. It feels quick to hit triple digit speeds and it does so in a smooth manner. The strong acceleration continues beyond the 100kmph mark, and you will never feel like the car is underpowered in any situation.

The transmission does a good job when left on its own, but it feels fun to use the paddle shifters when you want to drop a gear and make a quick maneuver. 

You can expect a fuel efficiency of around 12-14kmpl on the highway.

Ride Quality

For a flagship SUV that is designed to be comfortable and luxurious, I found the ride quality of the GLS to be a little harsh. At low speeds, it rides well over small speedbreakers and potholes, and is able to separate the occupants from any jerks. But anything other than a small imperfection at a slightly higher speed (30-50kmph), and you will feel it inside the cabin.

It tends to get loud over the deeper potholes, while rough roads can throw around the occupants a little bit, especially at the rear. To maintain comfort, you will have to really slow your speed down. Considering that you have a dedicated off-road mode that lifts the vehicle up to inspire confidence while going over an off beat path, the ride comfort in those situations could’ve been better.

However, the air suspension works beautifully on the highway, where all undulations and expansion joints are absorbed well. The car remains settled and you can do long distance inter state journeys without getting any fatigue.

Handling

While nobody is ever going to go and carve a corner with the GLS, I’m happy to report that despite its weight and size, the GLS feels like it can corner at speeds higher than you should. Its steering wheel has a nice weight balance to it that manages to induce confidence in the driver, and makes it easy to handle at higher speeds. 

It isn’t nearly as dynamically poised as a BMW X7, but it feels predictable and you won’t have any trouble with taking your family to hill stations or ghats.

The India-spec Mercedes GLS is available in a single 450 variant but with two engine options, petrol and diesel. 

You can opt for the AMG Line model, which only brings cosmetic tweaks to the package.

The Mercedes-Benz GLS isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary for a flagship luxury SUV. It justifies the badge and its price (to an extent) with its potent engine options, a rich cabin, premium features and safety technology. The money you’ll be paying for the GLS won’t get you something outright exciting or anything that’s a conversation starter. Instead, what you’ll get is the classic Mercedes indulgence in its most opulent form. And that, for some, is more than enough. 

Other Cars To Consider Instead Of Mercedes-Benz GLS

BMW X7

Reasons to consider

• More fun to drive

Reasons to ignore

• Rear seat entertainment package isn’t as good

Audi Q7

Reasons to consider

• More affordable by nearly Rs 30 lakh

Reasons to ignore

• No diesel engine option

• Rear seat experience is not as lavish