The Mercedes-Benz GLC is an important SUV. It rakes in those numbers for the brand in India, and actually the world as well — being their best selling SUV globally. There’s a significant update to the GLC for 2023. A whole new generation brings in updates to the platform, the drivetrains, the interior architecture and the levels of luxury on offer. Sitting one rung above the entry-level GLA, this GLC is a step into a world where levels of luxury are built less to a price and more towards an experience. It competes with the likes of the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60 — all mighty fine SUVs in their own right, so the GLC has its work cut out for it!
It's a good looking car, this new GLC. It isn’t frumpy and disproportionate but looks neatly styled and handsome. There are changes through and through — the face is new with a little bit of inspiration from the new EQ design language. The grille is imposing and you’ve got a neat-looking bumper and skid plate. Over at the side, the whole character lines have changed — it's cleaner and less busy. The rear sits more in line with the rest of Merc’s GLC range. There’s a fair bit of bling-bling on here — chrome on the front and rear skid plates, a satin silver finish for the window surrounds and in the grille. Special mention to the 19-inch wheels. So often luxury carmakers spec down their wheels to mundane-looking ones for India especially in cars under Rs 1 crore, but not the GLC. The wheels look smashing. The GLC has also grown in size — it is longer by a whole 60mm (a lot of it at the rear overhang to improve boot space by 70 litres), the wheelbase is up 15mm while the front and rear track width have been increased as well. It does have plenty of presence. It sits higher up on its wheels (20mm higher ground clearance with this update) and looks really handsome in the flesh. Mind you, there’s no AMG kit on offer at the time of launch and the car comes with standard LEDs and not digital lights. Both these would have given the GLC significantly more flair, but that isn’t to say that the GLC is lacking in the form that it is right now.
This is where the real changes are. Taking a leaf out of the new generation C-Class, the Mercedes-Benz GLC is incredibly lavish. The whole dashboard concept is new — there’s a floating 12.3-inch instrument cluster, and an 11.9-inch infotainment system. The large centre screen reduces a lot of the buttons on the centre console and it looks great, and gone is the trackpad from the centre console. It's very functional and the screen spoils you with how large maps and Spotify is on the screen. My only grouse is the AC controls are set in the screen, but it's also not super annoying because they’re permanently placed at the bottom of said screen and you don’t need to dive into any menus to access them. The seats are wide, and with good lumbar and side support. The materials used on the dash are exceptionally good — leather, wood and soft-touch plastics feel expensive. The door handles and door cards are nicely done with a brushed metal finish and more leather, the air-con vents are incredible to look at and very tactile with this oiliness to the way they move that makes them feel expensive. The only tactile point I wish they’d paid more attention to is the paddles. They feel cheap and plasticky, which is a disappointment as keen drivers will forever have their fingers on them. On the equipment front, you’ve got a large panoramic sunroof and a banging 15-speaker Burmester audio system. However, there are no ventilated seats (you do get seat heaters) and those would have been a nice touch.
At the rear, knee room is generous and so is headroom despite the sunroof that’s raked all the way back, though I found foot space to be compromised. Materials in the rear are as rich as the front, with the door panels feeling suitably luxe and good support on the seats. With a 15mm additional wheelbase, space in the rear is not significantly more than before but the boot space has increased courtesy the longer rear overhang.
The Mercedes-Benz GLC has two variants on sale in India — the GLC 300 with its turbo-petrol engine and the GLC 220d with the diesel engine, with AWD as standard on both. We’ve driven the GLC 300, featuring a 2-litre petrol mill putting out 254bhp and 400Nm. Mind you, both petrol and diesel engines are now mild hybrids, with a little starter motor generator integrated into the transmission that can add 23bhp and 200Nm under acceleration, and can regenerate energy under braking.
The mild-hybrid system has a dual role — it fills in torque while the turbo is still spooling up, and improves efficiency by allowing a more robust start stop system and allowing the car to coast with the engine off. Acceleration certainly feels sprightly — the GLC feels quick off the line and the mild-hybrid no doubt adds to that. It reduces the sensation of lag considerably, and makes the GLC’s responses feel sharp. Obviously, it isn’t EV-instant, but it certainly irons out the lag that a traditional turbo-petrol would have had. In comfort mode, the GLC shifts to the highest possible gear for the sake of efficiency which is great while you’re cruising but the roads around Hampi were great and demanded some enthusiastic driving. Punch it in to sport and your responses are sharper still, with the gearbox holding a lower gear and keeping the revs higher with the turbo spooled up for when you hit the fast pedal. Refinement is great, and I love the fact that you can hear the faint whine of the turbos spinning up and forcing air into the engine. The engine itself delivers power in a smooth, creamy manner and that makes you really want to rev it out hard. The claimed 0-100kmph time is 6.2 seconds, which is more than adequately quick for our conditions.
Again, the GLC is really competent in this respect. Both low-speed ride and handling is impressive — it rides over bad bumps, ditches and broken patches of road with composure. The suspension doesn’t seem to get ruffled by even big bumps and breakers, soaking them up in a manner that you feel isolated from the road below. It doesn’t crash and thud through bad patches and wears its luxury car credentials proudly. High speed ride is as you would expect of a German SUV — planted, stable, and capable of dealing with the foibles of Indian highways without trouble. It feels solid.
Then there’s the handling. The steering feels quick, it feels dialled in, and there’s a nice weight to it in Sport mode. Thread it to a set of corners and delivers confidence to push hard. Yes, there’s a bit of roll but it is well controlled. There was a fair bit of tyre squeal and the eco-tyres that the SUV comes with will be the limiting factor of cornering. That said, it didn’t careen into understeer even while coming downhill pretty quickly and remained composed when being pushed hard. The AWD system allows you to get back on the gas quickly and use that punchy acceleration to hustle it out of bends. The GLC doesn’t get dynamic dampers, so changing the drive modes has no real impact on the way the suspension behaves in the corners. But the balance is good — it delivers on both ride and handling, and ensures you’re having a good time behind the wheel no matter what mood you’re in.
No, we didn’t drive it off-road. But it has some cool kit if you do want to utilise that additional 20mm ground clearance and take it off-road. The off-road displays throw up all sorts of information like the gradient that the car is on, incline, altitude, coordinates and a compass along with tyre pressures and temperatures. But the big trick is the transparent bonnet that uses the front camera to learn the trail ahead and stitches together an image of what is underneath the car as you move forward, and previews it on the infotainment screen. It means placing the wheels on a trail is far easier — once you lose sight of rocks and obstacles under the bonnet line, you can see them on the screen and place your wheels as you would like. Hopefully saving you from a bent bumper.
The updates are real! The GLC has improved in every measurable metric — it feels more luxurious, it has a punchy motor, ride and handling is great and it has upped the game on the practicality front with more space. It is a proper all-rounder, this SUV. The GLC has been a best-seller for Mercedes-Benz in India and this one certainly has the potential to do the same. Prices should go up — we expect them to start in the region of Rs 75 lakh ex-showroom, which will make it more expensive than its rivals like the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60. But then again, Merc is pushing the game upwards in this segment, especially on the promise of delivering a ‘luxury car’ experience. Prices are out on August 9, a day after this story drops so stay tuned to our website and social media for coverage.