96 http://www.evoIndia.com | July 2019
at the top of the SUV range. And if you’re a fan of the traditional
gun-sight sitting atop the bonnet, bad news, it’s not even available
as an option on the GLS. I don’t miss it.
Mercedes always had confident exterior design but you rarely
went wow just looking at the interiors. The GLS changes that.
With two massive 12.3-inch screens arranged side-by-side,
there’s this wide-screen look to the dashboard that looks far
more expensive and cutting-edge than its rivals. The resolution
is of course high-def and the speedo/tacho display can be
customised with different graphics, different displays in the
tacho pod including a g-force meter, or you can have a full-width
navigation that is augmented by the largest head-up display. The
second screen is finally touch sensitive, has a proximity sensor
so you don’t have to reach out all the way to touch the screen
to activate icons and also incorporates gesture control though
Mercedes is loath to use that word or allow you to twirl your
finger in front of it to raise or lower the stereo volume. There’s
a track pad to cycle through the menus of the MBUX operating
system that, finally, can be called best in class. The voice
assistant, activated via ‘Hey Mercedes’ understood the accents
of journos from various countries on the test drive, we only had
to ask once to be navigated to the Bonneville Salt Flats, activate
massage on the seats and switch radio stations. However it does
wake up whenever you say just Mercedes, which can be a bit of
a bother for two journalists engaged in an animated discussion
on Mercedes. And the sound, as you would expect, is via an
excellent Burmester system that also incorporates a two-way
system for voice amplification so you can tell passengers in the
third row that they have their own climate control (the fifth
zone) without having to raise your voice.