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View Full Version : Rental Car Review: Jag... oops, Mercedes GLE350d



Yw-slayer
August 8th, 2016, 06:42 AM
TLDR Version: Yes if you want to look like a drug dealer and/or wannabe, and to some extent as an upgrade. No to everyone else. Reinforced my dislike of Mercs . I'll take Nicht if this is the Best.

Criteria/Acquistion: I booked a Jag XF via Avis Prestige in the UK. Unfortunately someone had damaged it, so they wanted to give me an XE. As I needed to transport 2 children and 1 adult in the back and as the (non-V6) XE would be a downgrade, I politely informed them of this and they immediately gave me this SUV (several classes above in terms of price) with no need to refill the tank before returning it. So, full marks for service and I can continue to highly recommend Avis Prestige (Heathrow or Central London).

Engine and transmission: Some displacement if diesel. Enough power to haul this heavy and huge POS at a decent clip and for general overtaking. As it had a full AMG kit the exhaust sounded halfway decent when flooring it. Transmission was a bit too aggressive in Sport Mode and a bit too relaxed in Comfort Mode, but I lived with it. Why oh why did they put gear selection on a stalk and use that horrible, unintuitive, and cheap feeling e-brake?

Steering and Handling: Like the transmission, slightly overly chatty and aggressive in sport and too relaxed in comfort. Admittedly body roll was relatively well controlled for such a tall and needlessly huge POS. Still not a good choice for B Road blatting. I would rather have had the 520, or even the Skoda.

Interior: Trim was borderline acceptable for a brand that claims to be the best. At least there was a lot of space inside at the back, more than the other cars anyway. Bluetooth never managed to pair audio with my Oneplus (the other cars all worked fine with that and my other phones) although it bizarrely was able to pair with it as a phone, which as is typical of the shitty COMAND interface uses a different setting. Stereo was slightly better sounding than the Skoda but not as good as that in the BMW. COMAND is an ugly mess in terms of font, layout, etc. Reversing camera was slightly better than that in the 5 but that had a much better all-round view. Redundant Reversing slide sensors above the main screen were redundant and stupid.

Practicality: Inside it was large and there was lots of space. But it was a bit of a Birch to drive around due to its size.

Looks: Thuggish and penis-extension like, even in silver. I hated it. But I can see how the target audience would lap it up.

Other stuff: I parked in a carpark and immediately attracted an old Land Rover Discovery and Hilux pickup to park next to me, which shows you something, I think.

Verdict: Unless it's an upgrade, please no.

Yw-slayer
August 12th, 2016, 02:24 AM
Further note on interior after reading Greg's rant on the 328i's lack of push-button start:

The Merc actually had push-button start but someone had removed the button from the ignition and put it in the glove compartment. I found out why, since when I inserted it back in I found it rarely worked. So I just used the ignition key. Best Oder Nicht is typical Merckey Mouse build quality, ja! :lol: