A fine car in a class where very good is not good enough

How does the all-new Mercedes GLE compare with its main rivals in a market for big premium SUVs that is more competitive than ever?

TANDREW ENGLISH

MOTORING CORRESPONDENT his car’s ancestor, launched in 1997 as the ML, was the first of the premium SUV/ crossover breed. Admittedly, it wasn’t a fine bloodline; on an old-fashioned, ladder-frame chassis with bodywork bolted on top, the early ML felt like a bull in search of a china shop.

It was a peculiarly American car; these vehicles seldom go off-road, but they do work in the “snow states” of the US and the ML was essentially an all-weather family troop carrier for well-heeled “soccer moms”.

In 2015, for the revamp of the third generation, the ML was renamed GLE-class in one of the most confusing model renaming strategies. Well, before Audi set about that task in a more comprehensively baffling way.

This fourth-generation ML/GLE is an all-new car with a chassis floorpan which will underpin next year’s GLS and eventually the Maybach SUV. It’s not the most handsome thing on the road (SUVs seldom are), but it is recognisably part of a family that started with the ML 21 years ago. The body is stronger and the suspension system is via wishbones at the front and a multi-link rear end.

The initial UK offering will be two cars, arriving next spring: the £55,685 GLE 300d 4Matic and the £62,300 GLE 450 4Matic. The 300d has Mercedes’ 241bhp/369lb ft, 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel giving a top speed of 140mph, 0-62mph in 7.2sec, a combined consumption of 46.3mpg and CO2 emissions of 162g/km.

The 450 has Mercedes’ new 362bhp/ 369lb ft, 3.0-litre, turbocharged and electronically supercharged straight-six petrol engine, with figures of 155mph, 5.7sec, 33.6mpg and 191g/km.

Next autumn the company will add a 400d with a 325bhp, straight-six diesel, and a 350d, which has the same engine with 268bhp, which will cost about £61,000 and is expected to be the most popular version in the UK. All

models will only be available with the AMG trim level, although there will also be a Mercedes-AMG performance version, the GLE63, next year, along with a couple of plug-in hybrid diesel-electric drivetrains.

Where previous generations had an all-wheel-drive system with a fixed

AMERICAN DREAM?The GLE has sold well in the US thanks to classy looks and a luxury interior

ROUGH IDEA With the right kit it could excel off-road but few owners will do so