Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class VS BMW X4
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class
Likes
- In-line six engine
- Grand interior
- High-tech features
Dislikes
- Visibility
- Size
- Three-year warranty
BMW X4
Likes
- Slick exterior
- Punchy engine
- Excellent steering
Dislikes
- Cabin size
- Restricted visibility
- Boot design
Summary
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class
Not so long ago, even the idea of 'coupe SUV' would have been considered just a little bit silly.
But not anymore. This almost contradictory bodystyle is well and truly here to stay, as evidenced by the expanding catalog of available models pouring out of premium automakers.
Benz tells us, for example, that coupe versions make up some 25 per cent of its GLE sales in Australia.
Which brings us to this car – the second-generation GLE coupe. We were sent to its international launch to find out what’s new, what’s changed, and what Benz has in store for the Australian market, come its arrival in Q3 of 2020. Read on to find out what we discovered.
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.0L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Diesel |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6.9L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
BMW X4
Look, personally I found it amusingly weird when German car companies started sloping the roofs on sedans and calling them “coupes”, despite the fact that they had four doors. Their ability to imagine segments, and find buyers in them, that have no reason to exist is almost something to admire.
But turning SUVs, like the already very capable X3, into coupes? Frankly, it’s like turning an ass into an elbow. Lower the roof to reduce headroom and shrink the boot? Why? Because it will look so sexy people won’t be able to resist it. That’s BMW’s approach with the X4 and, somehow, it seems to work.
And, to be fair, sporty SUVs are not a BMW thing: the Range Rover Evoque, Audi Q5 Sportback, and Mercedes-AMG’s range of GLC Coupé models have all taken off, each contributing toward an unlikely trend that doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
Read more on BMW
We’re having a steer of the 3.0 version to see what it’s like to have the somewhat bulky body of a mid-size SUV while shortchanging yourself on cabin space thanks to the lowered roof.
| Safety rating | |
|---|---|
| Engine Type | 2.0L turbo |
| Fuel Type | Premium Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 7.9L/100km |
| Seating | 5 seats |
Verdict
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class7.6/10
Whether you like Coupe SUVs or not is an entirely subjective matter, but there’s no denying the GLE 53 is a tech and spec showcase – some of the best Mercedes has to offer. If you can get past its relatively enormous dimensions and naturally compromised visibility – it’s even a hoot to drive.
The significant proportion of GLE consumers who are picking one of these over the regular version will be pleased with its many improvements. We’ll know more about how its price and specification lines up against primary rivals closer to its Australian launch date, so stay tuned.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel and meals provided.
BMW X47.5/10
Okay, so the BMW X4 xDrive30i is neither an ass nor an elbow, to be fair, it's more of a bulky shoulder muscle, or two.
I can't say I'll ever love the X4, the idea of it is a bit too weird for me, but I can't help admiring the way it looks and the way it drives.
It's a bit like a sedan on steroids - or an SUV on a diet, depending on your perspective - but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s fun to drive, comfortable and retains just enough coolness, and just enough practicality, to make it worthwhile.
Design
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class8/10
The GLE Coupe has improved so much in its looks it’s easy to see when it came to the second-generation GLE underpinnings, Benz had it planned from the beginning.
It looks mean, especially the 53 with its giant toothy grille. The stance is low and wide for an SUV, and I’m especially a fan of the much more resolved rear end.
It’s less bulbous and frumpy, more slick and menacing, rounded out nicely by the flick of a lip spoiler jutting out the rear.
You might think proportionally, the very idea of a coupe SUV is silly, and there’s no denying that, but then, you and I might not be the target audience.
That audience is someone looking for an avant-garde take on what a sports car actually looks like. They will be pleased – I’d say its even more resolved than BMW’s X Coupes and a little less science-fiction than Audi’s Q8. The incoming Coupe version of the Porsche Cayenne will be a real challenger.
The presence the GLE Coupe exudes extends to the inside, where there’s plenty of Mercedes wow factor. Level what you might at the brand’s use of silver fittings and flat dual-screen set-up, there’s no denying Benz offers an interior entirely unlike its competition.
The GLE has one of the best of the recent Benz interiors, too. I love the way the big dual-screen set-up is framed in a 'leather'-clad bay of vents.
I also like the real wood trim on our test car which runs across the dash and flows into the doors, and of course the wholly unnecessary vent-overload (becoming a Benz signature) pride of place in the centre of the dash.
It’s complemented by the tape-deck style silver switches for the climate controls which protrudes underneath.
The materials are great, with Artico trim running down the centre console, and across each doorcard. Almost every surface you’ll reasonably come into contact with is soft, and the commitment to real metals and wood is admirable.
Other highlights include the comfortable seats (with heating which extends into the armrests!) and AMG wheel which is flashy and aggressive, well suited to such a gratuitous vehicle.
BMW X49/10
So here's the thing. Obviously I have a personal beef with the existence of vehicles like this, but my eyes cannot deny the facts - the X4 looks fantastic. It's muscular, imposing and smooth all at once. Unlike the X6, a bigger and less visually successful attempt to play the same styling tricks with an X5, it doesn't have a ridiculous rear view that looks like it shoulders and buttocks have been fused (although it's hard to miss just how small the rear window is).
Even more impressively, there's no denying it looks better than the X3 that gave birth to it, so I can easily see why someone in a BMW showroom could be drawn to it. At least until they sit inside.
If the exterior style and eye-catching Sophisto Grey metallic paint don’t make an immediate impression then your eyes will surely widen at the interior, resplendent with bold Tacora Red seats, Aluminium Rhombicle trim finisher and the kind of sleek, classy styling that BMW excels in.
Both the adjustable ambient lighting on the doors (we were partial to lilac) and door projectors that shot out what looked like robot wings onto the ground every time we hopped out of the X4 at night walked a fine line between futuristic cool and “parked out the front of a nightclub entrance” chintz, but over time the scales tipped more to the former.
The big differentiator between the X4 and X3, of course, is the sloped coupé roof, a design feature that may make the X4 look a little cooler, but at the expense of cabin space, but more of that in a moment.
Practicality
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class7/10
Naturally, the entire idea of shaving a solid bit of roof off of an SUV is going to compromise the amount of ‘practicality’ you get from such a large footprint.
Those compromises are not only there, but they are quite obvious. The sheer height of the GLE makes peering over the edge of the bonnet difficult for parking, and the sloped roofline causes the A-pillar to eat quite a bit of your field of vision.
As you might imagine, it’s genuinely difficult to see much out of the back of the GLE Coupe. I caught myself continually adjusting the rear vision mirror – as though somehow it would grant me more vision out of the letterbox rear window.
While front passengers get away with plenty of room, rear passengers are a little harder done by. This is again, largely due to the roof pillar, which eats into headroom and gives the cabin a claustrophobic feel.
Thankfully, legroom is fantastic (largely due to that massive GLE platform), the trim is all just as good as it is in the front seats, and the back of the centre console gets its own set of climate controls, adjustable air vents and USB-C power outlets.
I’d hardly say there’s an abundance of bottle holders for occupants, but there are a few. They aren’t big or packaged in ideal locations, but you’ll be able to get away with four 300ml containers in the front and four in the rear.
The boot has been re-worked from the GLE Coupe’s predecessor, there’s five extra litres on tap, for a total of 655 litres (VDA) – so it’s far from useless, but still down significantly from the full size GLE which has a massive 825L of space.
Benz has made the boot more useful, too, lowering the sill by 60mm for easier access.
BMW X47/10
For a car that is very much a mid-sized SUV on the outside, the interior can feel a bit too snug, like you’re driving a compact car that’s tried on a suit a few sizes too big (for reference, I’m 175cm tall - above-average height drivers may find the snugness soon turns to claustrophobia).
While comfortable - it is BMW we’re talking about, after all - there’s not an overly abundant amount of headroom available, a feeling that becomes more pronounced should you shut the big moon roof.
My two children felt slightly too close to “you’re annoying me” distance from one another, which is to say this isn’t really the kind of car you should be getting if you plan on regularly ferrying about passengers in the rear who are bigger than a child. But I really don't think many people with kids would choose the X4 over the X3.
Boot space also takes a hit when compared to the X3 (550 litres versus 525-litres in the X4 - I was surprised the difference wasn't larger - although that expands to 1430-litres with the rear seats folded down.
The boot opening is also mouth-shaped, which makes packing in wide-load items more of an issue.
Cupholders are plentiful - two in the front, two in the rear, and bottle holders in each door - and there’s a decent-sized storage cubby in between the front two seats.
The sloped roof, and big fat A pillars, also result in the X4 being a bit more pinched at the rear, which is not especially great for visibility, with the vehicle’s blind spots taking some getting used to.
Price and features
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class7/10
There’s no dancing around the fact that the GLE Coupe is a niche, gratuitous product, targeted at a well-off consumer.
We don’t know what the pricing will be for the Australian range yet – and we won’t for a few months. But what we do know is Mercedes-Benz will only bring two highly specified variants to our market for the launch.
Those two will be the AMG-tuned GLE 53 which we were able to test at the launch, and a slightly lesser specified GLE 450.
Expect tall pricing, north of the wagon bodied GLE 450 ($111,341) for the 450 Coupe and outgoing GLE 43 Coupe ($145,829) for the GLE 53 Coupe.
The GLE Coupe will go into battle against the new BMW X6 (from $121,900) and Porsche Cayenne (from $116,600) and Audi Q8 ($128,900)
Standard features, as with the rest of the second-generation GLE range will be pretty good. We don’t know exactly what Australian-specified vehicles will get, but the GLE 53 as tested in Europe came with an extensive list of items.
You can expect all variants to get 20- to 22-inch alloys, electric tailgates, LED headlights, and Benz’ signature ‘Artico’ faux leather interior trim. The 53 also had a swish fully RGB adjustable interior ambient lighting suite and real wood in the dash. Very nice.
All GLE Coupes will have the impressive MBUX (I’m told it’s said “em bee you ex”, not “em bucks”) digital dash and multimedia suite, consisting of two 12.3-inch screens, one a digital dash, the other a multimedia screen.
The flashy setup also supports Apple CarPlay and Android auto as well as the usual connectivity via Bluetooth and packs several USB C outlets alongside Aux and USB 2.0. Our test 53 had a head-up display, too.
Mercedes’ built-in assistant (summoned by uttering 'Hey Mercedes') has perhaps the best native voice recognition on the market in terms of its accuracy and what it can do.
You can do things like adjust air conditioning, open the sunroof shade (oh yes, the GLE comes with a panoramic sunroof, too), and even find your specific music tracks via internet radio.
Then there’s the built in nav suite which is also one of the better ones on the market, featuring some very cool innovations.
The system will switch to the forward-facing camera when approaching an intersection and show you where to exit using augmented reality. Neat.
The 53’s system is also uniquely adjustable with AMG-specific themes and modes for the dash cluster, setting it apart from the lesser GLE 450 when it arrives.
It’s safe to assume there will be an extensive options list, including the 'E-Active Body Control' system (a $13,000 option on the wagon version) which uses cameras to detect road quality and optimize the air suspension system to suit. It also leans into corners. We’re keen to test it when it becomes available on the GLE 450.
BMW X47/10
Cost-wise, the X4 is roughly in the same ballpark as the other cars in this strange sub-segment, but when you add in optional extras - metallic paint, panorama glass sunroof and BMW Laserlight headlights among them - the base price of $95,900 plus on-road costs sneaks up to $101,800, which is is no small figure.
It’s also a considerable $8000 more than the SUV-shaped X3, meaning you’re essentially getting the same car, but with less cabin and boot space, for more money. To be fair, this is just part of a long tradition of the style-conscious buyer being willing to pay more for less, one that the invention of the coupe pretty much invented.
That kind of money also makes exclusions like adaptive cruise control, heated seats and wireless charging a bit of a head-scratcher.
Still, there’s plenty to love, including an M Sport kit that comes standard with the X4 (a suspension/brake package and various styling embellishments), butter-soft Tacora Red Vernasca leather seats (Sport adjustable for the driver and front passenger), 20-inch M light alloy double-spoked wheels, a head-up display, adaptive LED headlights, and an automatic tailgate.
There’s also a generous high-resolution 12.3-inch control display and digital 12.3-inch instrument display, the former operated by touch or via the rotary iDrive Touch Controller.
Cable-free Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also available, but BMW allows you the option to use its iDrive system instead, just in case you're some kind of mad Munich fanboy - or you hate Apple.
Under the bonnet
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class8/10
Australia will only get one engine in the GLE Coupe – a 3.0-litre 48-volt mild-hybrid in-line six-cylinder twin-turbo petrol.
There will be two states of tune. The 450 will be able to make use of 270kW/500Nm, while the AMG-spec GLE 53 we were able to drive at the launch has more power still (thanks to extra hybrid augmentation on the turbo) for a total of 320kW/520Nm.
For a quick comparison, the single-variant Q8 produces 250kW/500Nm from a twin-turbo V6, while the equivalent X6 – the M40i packs a 3.0-litre twin-turbo in-line six to make 250kW/450Nm.
The GLE 53 has a nine-speed auto transmission which is specially tuned by AMG to go with the expanded list of available drive modes. All Australian GLE Coupes will be all-wheel drive via a permanently active '4Matic+' system.
BMW X48/10
Now, prepare to be confused. In the past, the 3.0 in the xDrive3.0i nomenclature might have led you to believe you'd bought a BMW with a 3.0-litre straight six engine. But in this case, you have not, the 3.0 just means you have a more exciting version of the 2.0; a TwinPower turbo 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder engine, making 179kW and 353Nm that the xDrive system delivers to all four wheels.
The claimed zero to 100km/h time of 4.9 seconds feels completely realistic as this engine has plenty of poke. Put it in the Sport setting and you'll get some serious shove. Indeed, the switch between Comfort and Sport is very noticeable and changes the character of the car entirely.
The transmission is an eight-speed conventional torque converter automatic gearbox that’s both smooth and responsive.
Efficiency
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class8/10
The claimed combined cycle fuel consumption figure for the GLE 53 Coupe is 9.3L/100km, and while that’s not bad for something this heavy – keep in mind it’s an NEDC figure and not the widely-used WLTP figure so it could be a bit different by the time the GLE Coupe launches here.
Regardless, the fuel consumption is helped along by the abundance of ratios in the transmission and 48-volt mild-hybrid additions which help to remove inefficiencies from the drivetrain.
Our sweet but brief drive route in the Austrian Alps was not a fair reflection of fuel consumption, so we don’t have a real-world figure for you yet.
Expect the GLE 53 to require premium 98 RON unleaded petrol to fill its 65-litre fuel tank.
BMW X47/10
The X4’s 65-litre tank needs to be 95-octane at a minimum, and BMW’s claimed combined fuel consumption is 7.9 litres per 100km. The temptation to use its rorty little engine is going to push you higher, though - you chose the one with the 3.0 badge on it after all - and we averaged 10.9 litres per 100km in our week together, which was mainly city driving, to be fair.
Driving
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class8/10
The resurgence of the in-line six engine is a glorious thing, and it makes the GLE 53 quite a fun, if chunky, unit to drive.
Acceleration is urgent thanks to the pre-spooled first-stage turbo, and the transmission flicks through the gears like there’s nothing to it.
It’s perhaps not as 'smart' on the downshifts as competitor transmissions from Audi or Porsche, although Mercedes was keen to point out this will get better over time as the car’s computer 'learns' your driving characteristics.
Thankfully though, unless you’re in 'Eco' mode, the GLE 53 does a great job of letting you ride each gear out, giving you that signature in-line six sensation of an entire revolution range of relatively even torque distribution – a characteristic which Mercedes has gone to pains to perfect on a turbocharged engine.
This has the result of letting you bask in the sound for precious extra seconds.
While not as furious as preceding V8s – it is distinct. It’s refined and rich, although more subdued than you might have come to expect from vehicles wearing the Affalterbach badge.
I’m a fan. It’s an engine befitting a more refined sports machine than a garish statement.
The AMG suspension tune was great, too, keeping the massive Coupe truly under control in the corners, while soaking up bumps (which we’ll admit, there were few of on Austria’s immaculate roads).
It was interesting to read colleague Matt Campbell found the standard suspension less than impressive on the regular SUV-shaped variants, so we’ll see what the more basic set-up on the 450 is like at the Coupe’s launch.
I have no complaints about the steering, which proved to be responsive, smooth and accurate, while not erring too far on the heavy side, even in 'Sport' or 'Sport+' mode.
My main complaints lie with outward visibility and the sheer size of the GLE’s body. There were some nerve-wracking moments piloting it at speed around narrow streets with tall snow embankments encroaching.
And no matter how much I adjusted my seat and mirrors, the view out the back was particularly compromised.
BMW X48/10
The impressive trick that BMW continually pulls off with its SUVs is giving them the same sensual, muscular steering as its sedans, and an impressively similar ride and handling balance.
The steering is the highlight here, but it's also noticeable how planted to the road it feels.
The X4 speaks to its looks, in fact, by feeling sportier and more alive to drive than you'd expect an X3 to be.
This is less an SUV for soccer mums and dads, and more a bastard love-child that’s into loud leather and bright neon - a CEO who dressed punk rock-lite on weekends, if you will.
If those weekends are bereft of child taxiing and loading up the boot with several tons of kid stuff, then you’ll have a blast in the X4.
Safety
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class8/10
We don’t know exactly how Australian cars will be specified yet, but expect the two GLE Coupes to come with flagship active features like high-speed auto emergency braking (AEB), lane departure warning with lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, rear and front cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, 360 degree parking sensors and cameras, fully auto LED headlights, semi-autonomous parking, and driver attention alert.
The GLE has nine airbags and dual ISOFIX child seat mounting points in the outer rear seats.
Regular wagon bodied GLE class vehicles have maximum five-star ANCAP safety ratings as of 2019, and we’ll update you when we hear more about the Coupe variants.
BMW X48/10
A 2018 test gave the X4 a five-star ANCAP safety rating, and an easily located button on the dash brings up the vehicle’s safety suite if you’re the kind of driver who likes to make a few adjustments.
A 360-degree camera offers multiple viewpoints and is a godsend when parking the X4, since the cabin makes the car feel smaller than it actually is on the outside, and the range of safety features on offer are more than adequate.
Those include autonomous emergency braking, dynamic braking lights, dynamic stability and traction control, rear-cross traffic alert, speed limit information and hill descent control.
Ownership
Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class7/10
Mercedes continues with its three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty which is frustratingly standard across European premium car manufacturers in Australia– particularly its primary competitors, Audi and BMW. We doubt this will change any time soon.
Like VW Group competitors, though, Mercedes is now bundling in service costs in packages which can be tacked on to finance. The GLE requires servicing once a year or every 15,000km – we’ll update you on the cost of the packages closer to the Coupe’s local launch.
BMW X46/10
Despite all the brouhaha about other car manufacturers offering more generous warranty periods - seven years for Kia, for example - BMW has not shifted its stance, still offering its standard three-year unlimited-kilometre warranty. Frankly, it's just not good enough.
BMW also offer a Service Inclusive package for $2010 that covers owners for five years, or 80,000km.