What do you like about 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class?
excellent ride and performance. a great car.
How would you improve 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class?
well I have had my new GL 450 for a little over a month now and I must say there are a few design flaws that I find disturbing.
1. the clock, and the outside temperature gage should be viewable by passengers and the driver, preferably by putting them between the two vents on top of the center counsel (at the same time this would allow the temp, and the digital speedometer to be viewed at the same time, not currently possible). I would think it is clear that these things not only crowd the instrument cluster, but that the passengers would want this info also, not just the driver.
2. this would allow the digital speedometer to be placed where the clock currently is, and allow the trip data, or the other information to be more easily laid out. the current display is to complicated and operation distracts from driving, a safety hazard.
3. the controls on the steering wheel are open on the bottom, i.e. when you are turning the wheel using the bottom openings in the wheel, you can too easily hit the buttons and change your data display inadvertently. I would have thought that Mercedes would have taken a page from Chrysler designs that have the control buttons on the steering wheel surrounded by a solid lip that can keep you from inadvertently hitting the buttons except on rare occasions due to this feature.
4. the gear change buttons on the back of the steering wheel are also poorly located. I don't know how many times I have hit these buttons when trying to turn on the turn signal, maybe relocate these to the center counsel, or some other easily accessed location. again I do not think that they have done any user testing on this feature.
5. the windshield wiper control is not viewable when driving and is too complicated for an occasional driver to use when trying to drive and change the settings, (my wife), true once you drive the car a while you know where these are and how to use them, but I would guess that many buyers of this type of car have a few different cars and do not always remember the controls on each one easily.
6. the GPS system should have a keyboard of some sort, preferably something like on your cell phone where if you hit the number 1 once, you get "a" twice you get "b" and so on. the current selection system is too difficult.
7. when shutting the car off, after I get out, I hear a metallic clunk, must be a vent control shutting or something, but this from a $60-70,000 car ?, not acceptable. (I have not asked my dealer about it).
8. climbing out of the car is difficult, it is to high up from the ground for your legs to reach unless you are 7 ft tall, this is causing excess wear on the edge of the seat, this could be alleviated by installing a running board so you can use this as a step. this may be available in aftermarket, I have not looked into this, but first I am reluctant to let a non Mercedes mechanic touch my new car, and 2nd I would expect for Mercedes to have thought of this and taken care of this problem (again, for the price of this car, it should be near perfect).
9. the owners manual does not fit into the glove box, come on now, this is real basic. how could this happen to a well designed car?
10. the center counsel top storage unit is almost completely filled when the Bluetooth phone is installed. could they not have put this in the rear or something. what a waste.
2007 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class Review:
I do not want to dissuade anyone from buying this car. It is the best of all the cars I have driven in this class, Mercedes focused efforts at providing a quality product and excellent driving vehicle worthy of the autobahn shows itself with in this car. But with that comes a snobbishness that says you will learn and like our controls, or find yourself with another manufactures product that lags in many other ways.
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