[Mr-shifter]

Hi guys (from the uk)

Just a quick message to say hello. Not yet a glc owner but I will be from September. Last month I ordered a glc. Due to the fact I’m handing back a company car to go on a car cash scheme I can’t get it before September, and I know I’m being overly premature but I got a great price on carwow and found 2 dealers that were willing to honour the price for the sales.

I have ordered a 220d sport premium plus with the off road pack, running boards and beige leather in Cavansite blue.

I had my heart set on an epace but now I have driven one I was really surprised at how small they are, as well as the sat nav being obscured by the position I had the steering wheel in. I have never had a merc before, but have had a couple of BMW’s in the past. I found the x3 and the q3 rather dated and loved the interior of the Mercedes the first time I saw it.

Not sure wether I have my head in the sand or not regarding the crabbing issue but I’m just sort of ignoring it. I’m hoping as the off road pack has 17” wheels (I think) with bigger tyres there will be more give in the larger side walls and less crabbing. Does anyone know what the all weather tyres will be on this model?

If you look on the mb pages on Facebook there are just takes of angry people moaning about their cars being undriveable etc etc but reading this and the other forums that seems to be well over the top.

When you look at Porsche owner forums, they seem to all crab. Their attitude is generally they don’t care.

Final question, how capable are these off road. I don’t have any major plans for taking it greenlaning but it will need to be able to get across wet grass and up and down farm tracks from time to time. I also saw a lot of people moaning about performance in the snow bit again, was that because they assumed their car would drive the same in snow as it would on a dry summers day.

 

[Philamg]

Welcome Mr Shifter, can you please fill in your location for future reference.

If you read the crabbing threads on her you will see that in the UK MB came up with the solution of free all season tyres for the GLC, it really works and your car may come with them fitted as standard.
I don't think you will have any issues with the car on wet grass, during the recent snow I was pleased with the cars performance and my last car was a land rover.

Lots of good information on this forum and a friendly bunch of helpful members ready to help.

 

[Toobad]

Hi Mr-Shifter and welcome. I don't think your GLC will disappoint. I have a designo Hyacinth Red 220d Sport Premium Plus also optioned with the Off-road Engineering Package. I added the air suspension and a 360 camera. With this set-up Red Ken is pretty unstoppable thanks to Slippery Mode and Downhill Speed Regulation. In the last two snow events he managed to get to the highest pass in the Brecon Beacons despite the road being closed and humiliate a Bentley Bentaga who couldn't get up a gradient. The entrance to my driveway is very steep but Red Ken has always been able to traverse it whether covered in 8" of snow or pack ice. Here are a couple of threads showing him in the snow:

The December Snow Thread

The February Snow Thread

As to the crabbing issue, my car came with Hankook summer tyres but never displayed any tyre skip. I still got them swopped to Michelin Latitude all-season tyres at the first service in June 2017. Have a look here:

The FREE all-season tyre swop

BTW, are you choosing side-steps purely for the styling? They actually impede maximum clearance when off-roading and you will spend your time stepping over them and cleaning them with your trouser leg. Personally I'd swop them out for a 360 camera if it is not too late.

 

[Mr-shifter]

Thanks for the replies guys. Reading those snow threads is reassuring. I was expecting the car to be capable but reading some of the comments on Facebook you start to wonder about what sort of people are writing them, and have they even seen a glc, let alone driven one.

Because of my ridiculously early sorting and ordering of the car I can still change everything.

Would I be right in thinking that the car will come specced with all weather tyres as standard, and if I chose anything else I wouldn’t get a free swapout. I would assume mb will now put all weather tyres on everything.

I have specced the running boards for asthetics. I thought the car looked a little naked without them and they set the look of the car nicely, especially with the front bumper from the off road pack.

My wife had a new Nissan Juke last year (don’t laugh, her choice) and that has a 360 camera. Cool feature but I find in reality I don’t use it much.

The aromatic suspension is a tricky one though, as I do like the idea of the super smooth ride. Am I right in thinking I will get all of the off road modes with the off road pack, it just won’t lift itself up like it does with the airmatic. I only really need the hill control descent and the slippery mode. I don’t want it not to be able to get anywhere I have already taken the Juke (which is 4x4) and to be fair to the little thing, it has been capable. Squirms around a bit but never stops going forward.

Been looking around the forum and have another question. If I spec the retractable tow bar, do I lose any other features. One of the biggest pluses of this car, aside from the incredible deals available through carwow and brokers, the fantastic interior and the looks of the car was that you didn’t have to add much to get almost all of what you actually wanted on the car, and I hate taking things off.

Thanks

 

[LONS]

My wife had a new Nissan Juke last year (don’t laugh, her choice) and that has a 360 camera. Cool feature but I find in reality I don’t use it much.

Tell me about it. After a run of 4 Minis and due to having to transport a Labrador and young granddaughter my missus needed a 4 door car and we bought a new top of the range Juke, only 2 wheel drive though. I hated it and she wasn't really impressed and bits kept falling off as well as loads of faults which took ages to resolve. We dumped it after 15 months and bought a new Mini clubman which at £25k isn't cheap but the difference in quality is clear.

She liked the 360 camera and so do I now I have it on the GLC btw.

If I spec the retractable tow bar, do I lose any other features.

Mine has that and I love it, much better than the Westfalia plug in type I had on my last 2 Audis. I don't think you lose anything and the foot wave bit works very well on mine whether retracted or lowered.

 

[Toobad]

Would I be right in thinking that the car will come specced with all weather tyres as standard, and if I chose anything else I wouldn’t get a free swapout.

A lot of the GLCs are now coming through with all-season tyres are OEM fitment. I would think by September this will be the norm but to play safe you can just make this a condition of sale with your Dealer.

My wife had a new Nissan Juke last year (don’t laugh, her choice) and that has a 360 camera. Cool feature but I find in reality I don’t use it much.

It costs £335 to add. It has really helped me to not kerb my rims. I figure there wouldn't be much change out of that amount to get a couple of wheels refurbished and I also get to circumvent a world of grief. My fear of vampires means I don't go out at night very often so I didn't option the Intelligent LED headlights. Everybody raves about how amazing they are so have a think about missing out. With Air Body Control you get to ride 50mm higher with the Off-road Engineering Package instead of the 20mm higher the springs can achieve. There is also an additional switch in the boot which can drop the rear a little to aid with loading. IIRC you only get Rocking Assist mode with ABC and there may also be an additional synergy if you are going to tow something. But set in Comfort mode it delivers that wafting magic carpet ride I so dearly craved after a lifetime of owning ridiculous custom cars that needed an annual pass to the Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries Unit. The GLC I road-tested was on conventional steel springs but my leap of faith paid off in spades.