Had a GLS450 loaner two months ago didn’t like it felt like a land barge.
Sorry to hear and hope the car grows on you or you have the means to cut the check to get out of it.
If it makes you feel any better the G63 doesn’t have auto lock or HUD either.
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Not Apples to apples, but after I drive home my Taycan, I too was having some regret as the car came with 21” wheels and summer tires and it was very loud on the highway. I did some research and decided to change tires to all Season and it’s made a world of difference. Also, for Porsche at least, there is full load vs partial load tire pressures. Maybe lowering the tire pressure will help also.
The Mercedes and BMW are always going to be very different driving styles. We did the same thing and cashed out on equity on a 2024 X5 for a 2025 GLS. Overall very happy even though it is missing some of the features you described such as the HUD and auto lock/unlock. Neither of which are super important to us. Utility wise, it’s much better than the BMW given the space, especially in the 2nd and 3rd rows, and the GLS is much more comfortable in traffic.
Simply put, the car wasn’t designed to be driven like a BMW. Some people appreciate that while others don’t. The value on the 2025 GLS lease vs the 2024 X5 makes it much more palatable.
My sister and brother-in-law recently leased a 2026 X7. I can say the drive of that is very similar to the X5. Space-wise, it’s much less appealing as compared to the Mercedes.
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I wonder if the @IAC crew can confirm or deny based on their experience dealing with BMW customers…
But IIRC the product marketing research suggested that women drivers hate the auto-unlock during approach feature. They are worried someone is going to jump in the car or can hide in the car without them realizing. Anecdotally I knew some women that complain about how they hate BMW’s implementation of the unlock while approaching and they disabled it first thing after getting their BMW.
This got taken to an extreme back when Volvo had the “heartbeat” sensor that would alert you if someone was hiding in the car.
The auto lock/unlock is meh. Can be very annoying at times but useful if your hands are full or whatever. I’ve had it lock with the keys inside which can be problematic if you don’t have the app or digital key on your phone. But you can enable/disable the walkaway lock and/or the approach unlock so they operate independently if you prefer one over the other. IMO the worst implementation of the MY 24+ is that the rear door handles don’t have the keyless entry.
Really? On the MY24 GLS they removed the touch-to-unlock and the little indent to lock thing on the rear door handles?
No, I’m talking about on the BMW. Still there on the GLS thankfully.
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Was going to say, a lot of that stuff could have been noticed with a longer test drive or reviewing the spec sheet. $230k G63’s don’t even have autolock lol
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OP none of the reasons you have listed seem crazy and definitely not a reason to hate a new car you leased. You are also saving $300 a month which is a lot money.
It may not be love at first sight but try to live with it.
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That’s what chu get for being cheap papi – nes time spen the moooni – now go papi get yourself a side torta to make you happy
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Well……statements and thinking like this will continue to get you into situations similar to the one you are in with the GLS.
I can tell you personally I don’t like using auto-unlock, but auto lock is nice.
I will say, Digital Key is also pretty incredible. I still take a physical key with me if I’m ever going on a far/long drive, but the ability to just not carry a key is pretty cool.
Leasehacker roasts are the best, all of your advice is greatly appreciated.
A few things you said actually stuck out and made us rethink.
You’re right, we would’ve definitely felt it if there was something “we had to get used to” with the GLS during the multiple long test drives in multiple GLSs that we took at different hours across 2 days! All in comfort mode, too. The only difference is that we didn’t test drive the actual unit (same spec) we took home.
We don’t think it’s motion-sickness anymore, that theory is out. Symptoms aren’t the same, it doesn’t go away all day – motion sickness would eventually subside. Thanks to your comments we’re now thinking it’s a this-car-specific thing and trying to get it fixed. We want to make it work.
Probably another few days/weeks before the dust settles. Currently waiting for a loaner. My $5 is on a stuck cabin air exhaust vent. Fingers crossed it gets resolved easily and properly. I’ll keep you posted.
PS: The brake/throttle maps are learned, the brakes were getting better as they broke in, so ducking is not as much of a problem as I thought at first. Car is still a dreamBOAT. The rear camera opening mechanical noise and lack of auto-lock are still poor design/marketing decisions.
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Couple thoughts:
MB has the worst package configuration, even worse than BMW. I know you will miss the features. Take some solace in the fact though that MB has a ton of safety features that work much better than BMW…. If you have the presafe package….
The GLS is very underpowered but still somehow guzzles gas. You can try finding 93 or 95 octane fuel, helps a little.
Yes the rear backup camera is stupid. Since it’s a lease, run it out or keep an eye out for prices. I sold a gle63 for a small profit after driving it for a year.
Hit your left paddle shifter twice every time you drive it reduces the stupid regen breaking
For your next car look at a Lexus Tx. I was absolutely opposed to it. Felt not as polished as an x7 or GLS, and not as roomy as a Yukon. But I am really liking this car the V6 pairs well with the hybrid powertrain, kids have 0 motion sickness and it’s just a fun car to cruise in.
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Can you get a GLS loaner? This would help address your motion sickness theory that its specific to your car.
You probably would’ve been happier with the XC90.
Alright, good news! Issue finally feels fully resolved, been driving it for days with zero side effects.
Even though interior AQI/VOC/Formaldehyde levels were equal to ambient (I have mobile sensors for all those now), the interior was off-gassing is my best guess.
Final fix was getting the interior detailed ($400) to the point where the new car smell is 99% gone. I said nuke it from orbit, steam it, power wash it, do what you need to do because this is a last ditch effort. The detail shop found the cabin air filter to be very dirty for a brand new car, during pickup they asked “did you go through smoke or something?” (no)
Calls with MBUSA require you to re-explain issue over and over again. You get eventually stonewalled, told you need to wait at least 48-72 hours… even for the local dealership to get back to you, MB to get back to dealer, dealer to get back to MB… round and round it went for +10 days while the car sat on the driveway (dealer didn’t take it in) and we had to rent cars to do errands.
I wanted to close the loop and offer some hope for those that may have a similar experience one day. For the record we have the non-leather seats.
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also used a ozone machine I’m guessing
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Yeah, I feel your pain. I sold my 500hp Audi SQ7 to get a more tame SUV for my wife to drive. There’s no comparison. I found that changing the personalized handling to “Sport” for all settings definitely improved the driving experience. The SQ7 is basically a racing version of the SUV class, and shares the drivetrain with the Lamborghini (check out the YouTube videos of the Nuremberg track runs; second fastest SUV ever on the circuit). The GLS450 is all about comfort, which is what my wife wanted. I did get the high performance tire/wheel option, which helps a lot with handling.
I’m now going to be looking for a much faster daily driver to satisfy my need for speed.