2010 Mercedes GLK-350 Ride Report/Review
Jan 12, 2012, 11:19 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 4,396
2010 Mercedes GLK-350 Ride Report/Review
http://carrentingreviews.com/2012/01...rcedes-glk350/
Interestingly, I rented GLKs from National and Hertz recently, though the Hertz vehicle had the additional P1 Premium options package. They were both 2010 models; fortunately, no significant changes between 2010-2012 model years.
PRAR
Interestingly, I rented GLKs from National and Hertz recently, though the Hertz vehicle had the additional P1 Premium options package. They were both 2010 models; fortunately, no significant changes between 2010-2012 model years.
PRAR
Last edited by drzoidberg; Mar 2, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Feb 25, 2013, 2:17 pm
#6
Moderator: National Car
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SE MI
Programs: Delta PM, National EE, Hertz PC, Hilton DM
Posts: 2,168
Just rented a 2013 GLK 350 4MATIC for the weekend. Mine came in Steel Grey Metallic (+$720) over black MB-tex leatherette with burl wood trim. Mine also came with the Premium 1 package (+$3450) for an as-rented price of $44,165. It had 200 miles at pickup so I was probably the second or third renter. I received it on a G reservation after the only other Premiums available (including the one assigned to me) reeked of tobacco.
For 2013, M-B added a few features not found on the car reviewed by Dr. Z above, including an engine stop-start function (it can be disabled, but not obtrusive like the BMW system) and brake hold feature which applies the brakes automatically at stoplights.
On the plus side, the ride was fantastic and it soaked up NYC's pockmarked excuse for infrastructure with ease. Plenty of power but gas mileage was not terrible (about 18 MPG average for the city, 23 on the highway, on a non-broken in engine). I found myself missing the heated seats especially, but as a stand alone option, I am not surprised that fleet buyers are not ticking that box. I was also impressed with the small footprint of the car but relatively spacious interior (I disagree with most major magazines and Dr. Z on this point - we did not find the space to be too small). We were able to fit 5 normal size adults in, with luggage, with only minimal discomfort and no compromise on visibility. Base audio was OK and the 6-month Sirius trial was still active. The standard halogen headlights gave off excellent light though I would have preferred xenons (the Lighting Package is another option box not being checked off here).
Mine did NOT have the COMAND system which was a serious shortcoming. I found the operating system clunky and unintuitive, and the screen was much too small. (Sorry, Dr. Z, I have to disagree with your analysis on that point as well.) I found the gauges hard to read, even if the small black numbers against the silver were quite handsome in appearance. Thankfully, the speed can also be displayed on the central color LCD screen. I found that the buttons were hard to read, especially at night, and lacked sufficient illumination; there is no "dimmer" for the button brightness, only for the LCD screen, which gave the options of "Day," "Night," or "Auto." This was quite annoying as the buttons turning on at all was left entirely up to the car - even turning the headlights to "On" from "Auto" did not turn on the interior gauge lights. I'm not the only one with this complaint, as apparently many folks on the GLK forums complain of the same problem. I also did not appreciate that the car had the nav controls built in (including a button on the radio) but no actual nav capability. That's pretty inexcusable, IMO, for a car costing this much. Not hard to put in a switch blank there, but cost cutting at it's finest!
Helpful tip, you can tell the 2013's from the 2012's by the presence of LED strips in the lower front fascia. 2012's have round fog lights.
Overall this was not a bad rental, and I'd probably get one again. A word of caution, however, as mine was labeled as being Neverlost equipped but it did not actually have Neverlost (which was fine by me). Make sure you aren't charged for it if the car doesn't have it!
For 2013, M-B added a few features not found on the car reviewed by Dr. Z above, including an engine stop-start function (it can be disabled, but not obtrusive like the BMW system) and brake hold feature which applies the brakes automatically at stoplights.
On the plus side, the ride was fantastic and it soaked up NYC's pockmarked excuse for infrastructure with ease. Plenty of power but gas mileage was not terrible (about 18 MPG average for the city, 23 on the highway, on a non-broken in engine). I found myself missing the heated seats especially, but as a stand alone option, I am not surprised that fleet buyers are not ticking that box. I was also impressed with the small footprint of the car but relatively spacious interior (I disagree with most major magazines and Dr. Z on this point - we did not find the space to be too small). We were able to fit 5 normal size adults in, with luggage, with only minimal discomfort and no compromise on visibility. Base audio was OK and the 6-month Sirius trial was still active. The standard halogen headlights gave off excellent light though I would have preferred xenons (the Lighting Package is another option box not being checked off here).
Mine did NOT have the COMAND system which was a serious shortcoming. I found the operating system clunky and unintuitive, and the screen was much too small. (Sorry, Dr. Z, I have to disagree with your analysis on that point as well.) I found the gauges hard to read, even if the small black numbers against the silver were quite handsome in appearance. Thankfully, the speed can also be displayed on the central color LCD screen. I found that the buttons were hard to read, especially at night, and lacked sufficient illumination; there is no "dimmer" for the button brightness, only for the LCD screen, which gave the options of "Day," "Night," or "Auto." This was quite annoying as the buttons turning on at all was left entirely up to the car - even turning the headlights to "On" from "Auto" did not turn on the interior gauge lights. I'm not the only one with this complaint, as apparently many folks on the GLK forums complain of the same problem. I also did not appreciate that the car had the nav controls built in (including a button on the radio) but no actual nav capability. That's pretty inexcusable, IMO, for a car costing this much. Not hard to put in a switch blank there, but cost cutting at it's finest!
Helpful tip, you can tell the 2013's from the 2012's by the presence of LED strips in the lower front fascia. 2012's have round fog lights.
Overall this was not a bad rental, and I'd probably get one again. A word of caution, however, as mine was labeled as being Neverlost equipped but it did not actually have Neverlost (which was fine by me). Make sure you aren't charged for it if the car doesn't have it!
Last edited by dwbf11; Feb 25, 2013 at 2:29 pm