Anyone had a GL ?
Discussion
We've had our GL 320CDI from now (Sept 2007) and wouldn't be without it. Excellent car and pretty rare on UK roads. 320CDI is pretty quick for a car of this size and ours has the Brabus chip (dealer fitted, no effect on warranty) and it makes a noticeable difference.
We've had no real problems in 105k miles. Ours needs two new shock at the rear but that isn't uncommon. It has air suspension so £1000 for the pair, fitted. If the car doesn't lift when you tell it to (using the control on the centre console) it probably needs new shocks.
Superb build quality inside and out although the electric tailgate (if fitted) is prone to being troublesome and not shutting properly but that is more an irritation than a real problem.
Winter performance is excellent when on winter tyres.
Take a close look at the lip in the rear arches. Ours started to show signs of minor corrosion this year and it is, apparently, a common problem - so common that Mercedes fixed ours under warranty and beefed up the protection. It is caused by the equivalent of sand blasting when the rear tyres spray debris.
Servicing not too bad for a car of this size. Ours always goes to Mercedes in Lincoln and I've always been happy with the amount charged.
Tyres are a little pricey. Our 20" rims take 275/50R20 109W which are around the £300 mark per corner. The cars were originally supplied with MO-spec Michelin Diamaris but they are rubbish. They tend to wear to below the limit in a ridiculously short time whilst leaving 4mm+ on the edges! I switched ours to using Continental Cross Contact UHP, which are also MO-spec, and they are so much better, with good and even wear across the tyre.
The 320CDI returns 26-30mpg depending upon our usage. The average over the last year has been around the 28mpg mark which is pretty good for a vehicle like this. I know people with crappy little cars that do worse than that!
Pretty much every GL comes in black or silver with just a few rare ones in Tanzanite blue (which we have) or old man gold (sorry, Cubanite Silver!). Almost all have black interiors too although we went for the two tone grey which makes the interior lovely and airy. Ny parents-in-law had one of the first UK cars in black with black interior and, for me, it was just too much.
All in all, a brilliant vehicle with loads of internal space and great towing capacity but that is quite rare and many people have no idea what it is!
We've had no real problems in 105k miles. Ours needs two new shock at the rear but that isn't uncommon. It has air suspension so £1000 for the pair, fitted. If the car doesn't lift when you tell it to (using the control on the centre console) it probably needs new shocks.
Superb build quality inside and out although the electric tailgate (if fitted) is prone to being troublesome and not shutting properly but that is more an irritation than a real problem.
Winter performance is excellent when on winter tyres.
Take a close look at the lip in the rear arches. Ours started to show signs of minor corrosion this year and it is, apparently, a common problem - so common that Mercedes fixed ours under warranty and beefed up the protection. It is caused by the equivalent of sand blasting when the rear tyres spray debris.
Servicing not too bad for a car of this size. Ours always goes to Mercedes in Lincoln and I've always been happy with the amount charged.
Tyres are a little pricey. Our 20" rims take 275/50R20 109W which are around the £300 mark per corner. The cars were originally supplied with MO-spec Michelin Diamaris but they are rubbish. They tend to wear to below the limit in a ridiculously short time whilst leaving 4mm+ on the edges! I switched ours to using Continental Cross Contact UHP, which are also MO-spec, and they are so much better, with good and even wear across the tyre.
The 320CDI returns 26-30mpg depending upon our usage. The average over the last year has been around the 28mpg mark which is pretty good for a vehicle like this. I know people with crappy little cars that do worse than that!
Pretty much every GL comes in black or silver with just a few rare ones in Tanzanite blue (which we have) or old man gold (sorry, Cubanite Silver!). Almost all have black interiors too although we went for the two tone grey which makes the interior lovely and airy. Ny parents-in-law had one of the first UK cars in black with black interior and, for me, it was just too much.
All in all, a brilliant vehicle with loads of internal space and great towing capacity but that is quite rare and many people have no idea what it is!
Edited by StephenP on Friday 7th June 12:21
We test drove the 420CDI before getting our car and it was certainly nice to drive. It was hard to choose but we had a very specific list of bits we wanted on the car and, to get one at the deal we did, it had to be one already on the build list. As you can imagine, tanzanite blue with grey interior cut the available cars considerably! 
The 420 is a great engine and I nearly went for that one but if you haven't already tried them both, I'd certainly give both the 320CDI and 420CDI a try before discounting the 320. It has loads of torque and is certainly an excellent engine. We use ours to tow a 2.5 tonne trailer as well as a 28ft boat trailer with a 23ft cruiser on it and it handles both with ease (and still gives 22mpg+!)
The 420 is a great engine and I nearly went for that one but if you haven't already tried them both, I'd certainly give both the 320CDI and 420CDI a try before discounting the 320. It has loads of torque and is certainly an excellent engine. We use ours to tow a 2.5 tonne trailer as well as a 28ft boat trailer with a 23ft cruiser on it and it handles both with ease (and still gives 22mpg+!)
Obsidian black exterior, Black Leather Interior. The interior seems different to some of the GLs I looked at. it's Black leather but the leather is also over the dashboard, door panels, centre console etc...and has a light grey stitching. Looks and feels really nice, I'm wondering if this was an option.
WindsorRob said:
The interior seems different to some of the GLs I looked at. it's Black leather but the leather is also over the dashboard, door panels, centre console etc...and has a light grey stitching. Looks and feels really nice, I'm wondering if this was an option.
We've got medium grey leather on the upper dashboard and lighter centre console lid/hand rails, door panel centres/handles, all with a course grey stitching. The lower dashboard is a high-quality plastic.It might be the other cars you saw had Artico (a man-made "leather") which, to me, looks and feels noticeably different.
Quite a few of the (limited) used GLs seem to be of a relatively low/basic spec, possibly because quite a would have been purchased during one of the MB low interest incentive schemes that were running back then. I know some of the dealer-spec'd showroom cars had a weird mix of options!
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