MERCEDES-BENZ GLSknow of a larger SUV and the consequent cabin space is properly
humongous. Will the size be an issue in India? Not really, for
the GLS will be nothing if not chauffeur driven. But it’s also
appropriate that we’re driving it in the US where only two months
ago we drove BMW’s X7; a country where everything is oversized
and a 5.2 metre long GLS gets dwarfed by America’s best selling
vehicle, the Ford F-150 pickup.
First impressions on the styling — it works! This is smart and
good looking in the traditional sense, enormous too what with
the optional 21-inch wheels on our test car, and the proportions
and detailing are really well thought out without having to resort
to shock-and-awe tactics to be noticed. The GLS looks expensive
but not garish in the way that most cars and SUVs are becoming,
pandering to the tastes of the Chinese market. There is no full-
width taillamp, a trend everybody seems compelled to adopt,
boat loads of chrome haven’t been splattered all over it, and
even though the aerodynamic drag coefficient has reduced the
windscreen and the sides are near vertical, as is the tailgate, to
make the cabin as large as possible. The GLS is exactly what the
S-Class of SUVs should look like — confident and not attempting
to be young, or sporty, or cool, or of the moment.
The colleague I’m sharing the car with remarks that Mercedes
grilles were already huge and unmistakable to begin with and
now that a large three-pointed star is housed in the grille they
didn’t have to do to their nose what BMW did with the X7’s
kidneys to announce its presence. Interesting fact: the Mercedes
roundel incorporates all the radars and sensors cleaning up the
front end from protruding cameras and since it is an expensive
piece to produce (by only one supplier, Hella) there are only
two sizes across the entire Mercedes model lineup. To visually
enhance and make the three-pointed star larger, the designers
have used the grille slats to surround the roundel, thus sighting it