Thank you for the video. One reviewer said once the battery is exhausted, the car feels down on power and pulling 700 lbs of dead weight. I was under the impression that PHEV cars retain a certain amount of charge in the battery for acceleration even after the EV range is fully utilized. Appreciate your comment.
As a plug in hybrid owner, I feel it's the perfect transition car for all of us before we are forced to go electric. It does everything well. The complexity is a thing, but then there is also only half of the work (hyperbole) on each of them, so it works for far longer
We bought a GLC300 a month ago. After a week of driving it, I thought we made a mistake. The power was lethargic. However, in this crazy day of insane power and everything having to be sporrrrty. It’s nice to drive something smooth and refined aka slow-ish
@@Ian-mv4qqYes, exactly. The power is good actually but I noticed the transmission wants to gift up to the higher gears as fast as possible rather than stay in the power band. The transmission is also very rough. There is a notable jerk when coming to a stop. I want to really like my GLC, however, the lack of refinement can’t be overlooked. I really do miss my RAV4. Other than handling dynamics, there is very little separating the two.
@@NeedSpeedRC Oh no, I hope you just made it sound more terrible than it actually is lol. I wanted a luxury comfort with a bit of sportiness and I thought GLC would give me that. Driving X1 currently, it zips zaps like no one's business. But I won't drive this for long trip, not comfy for my long legs. Even X3 is more on the sporty than comfy side. X5 is a bit too big.
@@Ian-mv4qqyeah, I think it’s unfortunate but I’m sure they will make changes to improve the experience in the mid cycle refresh. Comparing apples to apples, I think the X3 is the better mechanical choice but I can’t get over the styling and overwhelming amount of tech.
As the industry evolves, they are going through huge growing pains. Frustrating to see technologies that make the driving experience so detached when driving is supposed to be about a connected driving experience - driver, vehicle, road. At some point, they’ll get it…I hope Oh yeah, plus, it’s way too expensive!! Hi Nathan!! 👋🏼
Aha! Another PHEV. Hi Nathan. Choice is important, and I’m glad he brought it up. I own 2 PHEV’s. So, I can be in EV mode, Hybrid mode, or turn off the battery, and run it on gas. Instead of owning an Audi for my road trips and a Leaf for my city errands, and commute, a PHEV can do that. Or I can get 18 mpg in the city in the Audi Quattro if I didn’t have the Leaf. Benz wants $70,000? That could be a tough sale. Not enough economy for the price. Maybe Benz is aiming for the “more money than brains” customer. Buy a used Chevy Volt or Ford Fusion Energi, and invest the difference in bitcoin or gold.
This seems nice but if I wanted a luxury PHEV of this size I'd go for the Lexus RX PHEV. It has better efficiency and a lot more horsepower in EV mode, similar horsepower in hybrid mode and I'd trust it more for reliability. This has impressive range with the large battery and the interior is very cool so I can see how many would choose it. But most days the 37 miles the Lexus gets is more than enough at least for me and on longer trips the 50 miles of the GLC won't make much difference really. The NX450h+ is a little smaller but even more efficient and I think it's nicer looking than either the RX or the GLC.
My wife wants one. But, I wonder what the roi is when you consider the extra cost than the standard model. Electricity isn't free. Plus all the extra parts and complexity over time. My gut says it doesn't make sense and that you likely have to drive at least a third of its life to even start seeing a benefit. But hey, it sells cars, I guess.
I have a Rav4 Prime and it’s been a great combination of horsepower, efficiency and EV driving range. Consumer reports gives it a high reliability. I don’t see it as being about saving money, although I got mine with tax credits in 21 so it was the same price as a hybrid. I just really enjoy driving electric and then it’s nice to not have to charge on longer trips. If I was going to go for a luxury PHEV I’d probably go for a Lexus, you’ll get the reliability. But this Mercedes is in a class of it’s own for range as it has a large battery. That’s nice, but on a daily basis, at least I don’t need that range, and when I go on longer trips it’s not really enough, so it wouldn’t help that much. To me the Electric driving is a premium feature of my car and after 3 years I still get a kick out of it, the fun has not worn off. My next car will be a fully battery electric, but the Prime has been great. The perfect gateway drug to all electric or just a great experience in itself. And I always plug in when I get home.
Certainly not for $$. It will take nearly a decade to break even the premium. By then the battery would probably ready for replacement wiping out any savings. Own a prius prime, and no regrets. Like the EV driving. Not expecting ROI.
A plug-in hybrid makes the most sense for someone who has a commute that uses the majority of the battery, That's going to get you the quickest pay off, but there's a lot of auxiliary benefits... Less frequent oil changes, less trips to the gas station, pet owners can leave their pets in the car more easily to go to places. You should have slightly less brake pad wear since you can regen, all very hard things to calculate but a percent or two adds up when there's enough of them
I would honestly not advise the GLC, seems great on paper until you don't take xyz option which makes your experience miserable. The screen is unresponsive, interface is hard to navigate with infinite submenus, you can't turn some stuff off, or it's super hard to get to. The perfect example is that you cannot manually turn off steering wheel heating. You couple it to the seat heating but you cannot indepedently turn it on/off unless you ask the voice assistant... Yeah, honestly it's great to drive, very smooth and comfortable, but a clunky interface and stupid feature desicions ruined the car for me. I also feel like it doesn't shift smoothly when you floor it in sport, and it takes quite a long time for the engine to kick in when you floor it in hybrid (2-3s). It also constantly wants to use electric and turn off the engine in hybrid, even with 1km of range. Edit: forgot to mention how annoying the double electric door flap is, you unlock your car, it needs a second unlock to stop charging, and it doesn't even do it all the time, urgh. Also everything rolling will go to the slanted edge of trunk end, and fall off when you open it Overall I'd orient myself to an Audi or a BMW X5.
@tdg9281 thanks for the review. She actually just bought the 2025 X3 M50 with all the major options. We have a 2025 X7 already so keeping it in the family. The B58 inline 6 is so sweet.
Only downside to any Mercedes infotainment, the assistant. They really need a rethink on that, or have a way for someone to disable it, and just use apple car play and android auto, when those two are the standard for many
When I saw the mpge figures I immediately lost interest. The electric efficiency is awful. My old ioniq ev had a 28kwh battery and was rated for 125 miles. About 15% more battery for 125% range increase. Sure it wasn't lugging around a gas motor, but a rav4 prime is a phev and it gets 50% better electric efficency. I'm tired of seeing electric for the sake of electric compliance, make it right or don't make it
Gotta say, nothing about this interior screams "luxury" to me. Seems annoying at best, cheap and unusable at worst. Audi/BMW/Lexus/Acura are all doing better interiors at the moment for my taste. I'm not looking for tacky mood lighting and an iPad.
Slow boot up, worse combined mpg by 30, less gas only range by 8, less hp, and more expensive then my rav4p. Positive more ev range by 10 and fast charging Ok attempt
Calculating MPGE never made any sense. MPG using gasoline in Hybrid mode when high voltage battery is depleted is a real world number which is important. The car in the video yields 25 MPG which is mediocre since our Chrysler Pacifica eHybrid PHEV yields 32 MPG. Your Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV yields around 40 MPG. On electric part only 3 parameter matters - range about 55 miles, AC charging speed 11.5 kW, and in this almost unique case DC charging at 50 kW. There are though 2 more PHEVs on North American market having DC charging: Land Rover Range Rover Sport P440e PHEV and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
It's not a regular hybrid. You can't drive hybrids for 50 miles without the gas engine. This is basically an EV with a range extender, just like a Chevy Volt.
How much? delusional profit margins is why manufactures and dealerships are going bankrupt, so many nice cars out there to choose from just ridiculous prices.
It has faux exhaust ports because the AMG GLC 43 has a rear-exiting exhaust. It's like the blanks in a grill when you don't opt for the fog lights; or all the dash-blanks we used to have for low-option cars back when we still got buttons-All of which are to mock us for being too cheap to hand over our entire life's earnings to Mercedes; and certainly not because Mercedes is too cheap to make two parts; and definitely not because Mercedes is trying to stuff a sock in its underwear to make it appear virile./s
Wow... I hate it. It looks like a good way to ensure an ongoing series of disappointments and frustrations. 🫤 While not opposed to PHEVs, the information system alone is maddening. Why is it, the more expensive the car, the more needlessly complicated, overtly integrated, and BS the infotainment?
Thank you for the video. One reviewer said once the battery is exhausted, the car feels down on power and pulling 700 lbs of dead weight. I was under the impression that PHEV cars retain a certain amount of charge in the battery for acceleration even after the EV range is fully utilized. Appreciate your comment.
Watching Nathan try to use some of these modern cars is like watching grandpa try to program the VCR back in the day.
I just spat out my drink reading that comment 😂
I disagree
"let's make this user interface as laggy and unintuitive as possible"
was the goal established
As a plug in hybrid owner, I feel it's the perfect transition car for all of us before we are forced to go electric. It does everything well. The complexity is a thing, but then there is also only half of the work (hyperbole) on each of them, so it works for far longer
The seat controls are that way in both combustion and EV C, GLC, E, S, CLE, SL, AMG GT, EQE and EQS Models.
Mercedes-Benz Nav system has an attitude with you! 😂😂 Great review
We bought a GLC300 a month ago. After a week of driving it, I thought we made a mistake. The power was lethargic. However, in this crazy day of insane power and everything having to be sporrrrty. It’s nice to drive something smooth and refined aka slow-ish
How lethargic is it? Does it take a few seconds after you hit the gas pedal for it to accelerate?
@@Ian-mv4qqYes, exactly. The power is good actually but I noticed the transmission wants to gift up to the higher gears as fast as possible rather than stay in the power band. The transmission is also very rough. There is a notable jerk when coming to a stop.
I want to really like my GLC, however, the lack of refinement can’t be overlooked. I really do miss my RAV4. Other than handling dynamics, there is very little separating the two.
@@NeedSpeedRC Oh no, I hope you just made it sound more terrible than it actually is lol. I wanted a luxury comfort with a bit of sportiness and I thought GLC would give me that.
Driving X1 currently, it zips zaps like no one's business. But I won't drive this for long trip, not comfy for my long legs. Even X3 is more on the sporty than comfy side. X5 is a bit too big.
@@Ian-mv4qqyeah, I think it’s unfortunate but I’m sure they will make changes to improve the experience in the mid cycle refresh. Comparing apples to apples, I think the X3 is the better mechanical choice but I can’t get over the styling and overwhelming amount of tech.
@NeedSpeedRC X3 lacks the luxury comfort to me. It's more for the engine/performance I think.
Excellent review
Thank you 👍
12K views in a month on a Mercedes in the most desirable EV package, PHEV.
Are we done, EVbros?
Bro, it’s a 24kwh battery so 60kw charge power is actually pretty fast
My old ioniq ev was a 28kwh battery and had a 75kw dc charger. Then again it was only an ev, no gas
TLDR version = 54 Miles (87 km) all electric
Thanks, that’s all I wanted to know from this video 😂
@montu25 a Google search would do this faster
I mean the sloppy brakes, insane curb weight and awful electric efficiency are also things noteworthy
As the industry evolves, they are going through huge growing pains. Frustrating to see technologies that make the driving experience so detached when driving is supposed to be about a connected driving experience - driver, vehicle, road. At some point, they’ll get it…I hope
Oh yeah, plus, it’s way too expensive!!
Hi Nathan!! 👋🏼
Aha! Another PHEV. Hi Nathan. Choice is important, and I’m glad he brought it up. I own 2 PHEV’s. So, I can be in EV mode, Hybrid mode, or turn off the battery, and run it on gas. Instead of owning an Audi for my road trips and a Leaf for my city errands, and commute, a PHEV can do that. Or I can get 18 mpg in the city in the Audi Quattro if I didn’t have the Leaf.
Benz wants $70,000? That could be a tough sale. Not enough economy for the price. Maybe Benz is aiming for the “more money than brains” customer.
Buy a used Chevy Volt or Ford Fusion Energi, and invest the difference in bitcoin or gold.
It's Nathan!!!!!!!!
If you don't use the battery exclusively for the 54 miles range, what's the hybrid mpg overall? Is it better than the regular glc 300?
It will be worse, by 1 mpg due to the extra weight of the battery. If you're never going to charge, don't buy a phev
This seems nice but if I wanted a luxury PHEV of this size I'd go for the Lexus RX PHEV. It has better efficiency and a lot more horsepower in EV mode, similar horsepower in hybrid mode and I'd trust it more for reliability. This has impressive range with the large battery and the interior is very cool so I can see how many would choose it. But most days the 37 miles the Lexus gets is more than enough at least for me and on longer trips the 50 miles of the GLC won't make much difference really. The NX450h+ is a little smaller but even more efficient and I think it's nicer looking than either the RX or the GLC.
Before buying do a search on mercedes hybrid engine failures.
I can’t stand the tablet, it has to be integrated better.
My wife wants one. But, I wonder what the roi is when you consider the extra cost than the standard model. Electricity isn't free. Plus all the extra parts and complexity over time. My gut says it doesn't make sense and that you likely have to drive at least a third of its life to even start seeing a benefit. But hey, it sells cars, I guess.
I have a Rav4 Prime and it’s been a great combination of horsepower, efficiency and EV driving range. Consumer reports gives it a high reliability. I don’t see it as being about saving money, although I got mine with tax credits in 21 so it was the same price as a hybrid. I just really enjoy driving electric and then it’s nice to not have to charge on longer trips. If I was going to go for a luxury PHEV I’d probably go for a Lexus, you’ll get the reliability. But this Mercedes is in a class of it’s own for range as it has a large battery. That’s nice, but on a daily basis, at least I don’t need that range, and when I go on longer trips it’s not really enough, so it wouldn’t help that much. To me the Electric driving is a premium feature of my car and after 3 years I still get a kick out of it, the fun has not worn off. My next car will be a fully battery electric, but the Prime has been great. The perfect gateway drug to all electric or just a great experience in itself. And I always plug in when I get home.
Certainly not for $$. It will take nearly a decade to break even the premium. By then the battery would probably ready for replacement wiping out any savings. Own a prius prime, and no regrets. Like the EV driving. Not expecting ROI.
A plug-in hybrid makes the most sense for someone who has a commute that uses the majority of the battery, That's going to get you the quickest pay off, but there's a lot of auxiliary benefits... Less frequent oil changes, less trips to the gas station, pet owners can leave their pets in the car more easily to go to places. You should have slightly less brake pad wear since you can regen, all very hard things to calculate but a percent or two adds up when there's enough of them
I would honestly not advise the GLC, seems great on paper until you don't take xyz option which makes your experience miserable. The screen is unresponsive, interface is hard to navigate with infinite submenus, you can't turn some stuff off, or it's super hard to get to. The perfect example is that you cannot manually turn off steering wheel heating. You couple it to the seat heating but you cannot indepedently turn it on/off unless you ask the voice assistant... Yeah, honestly it's great to drive, very smooth and comfortable, but a clunky interface and stupid feature desicions ruined the car for me. I also feel like it doesn't shift smoothly when you floor it in sport, and it takes quite a long time for the engine to kick in when you floor it in hybrid (2-3s). It also constantly wants to use electric and turn off the engine in hybrid, even with 1km of range.
Edit: forgot to mention how annoying the double electric door flap is, you unlock your car, it needs a second unlock to stop charging, and it doesn't even do it all the time, urgh. Also everything rolling will go to the slanted edge of trunk end, and fall off when you open it
Overall I'd orient myself to an Audi or a BMW X5.
@tdg9281 thanks for the review. She actually just bought the 2025 X3 M50 with all the major options. We have a 2025 X7 already so keeping it in the family. The B58 inline 6 is so sweet.
Only downside to any Mercedes infotainment, the assistant. They really need a rethink on that, or have a way for someone to disable it, and just use apple car play and android auto, when those two are the standard for many
When I saw the mpge figures I immediately lost interest. The electric efficiency is awful. My old ioniq ev had a 28kwh battery and was rated for 125 miles. About 15% more battery for 125% range increase. Sure it wasn't lugging around a gas motor, but a rav4 prime is a phev and it gets 50% better electric efficency. I'm tired of seeing electric for the sake of electric compliance, make it right or don't make it
But can it bounce?
Gotta say, nothing about this interior screams "luxury" to me. Seems annoying at best, cheap and unusable at worst. Audi/BMW/Lexus/Acura are all doing better interiors at the moment for my taste. I'm not looking for tacky mood lighting and an iPad.
So weird that Nathan moved in California thats the last place id think he would move to.
Slow boot up, worse combined mpg by 30, less gas only range by 8, less hp, and more expensive then my rav4p.
Positive more ev range by 10 and fast charging
Ok attempt
Calculating MPGE never made any sense. MPG using gasoline in Hybrid mode when high voltage battery is depleted is a real world number which is important. The car in the video yields 25 MPG which is mediocre since our Chrysler Pacifica eHybrid PHEV yields 32 MPG. Your Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV yields around 40 MPG. On electric part only 3 parameter matters - range about 55 miles, AC charging speed 11.5 kW, and in this almost unique case DC charging at 50 kW.
There are though 2 more PHEVs on North American market having DC charging: Land Rover Range Rover Sport P440e PHEV and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
Waiting for the phev coupe!
Slow boot up
Toyota is always better
@@Mr-pn2eh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
obviusly in terms of practicality but people buy mercedes for much different reason
It’s a hybrid…not an ev and therefore doesn’t belong on this channel.
It's not a regular hybrid. You can't drive hybrids for 50 miles without the gas engine. This is basically an EV with a range extender, just like a Chevy Volt.
@ Nope. It is a hybrid. Not an ev. Doesn’t matter what type of hybrid it is it is still not an ev.
It's got a 24kwh battery. My first ev had a 22kwh battery. It's an ev by my standards
How much? delusional profit margins is why manufactures and dealerships are going bankrupt, so many nice cars out there to choose from just ridiculous prices.
It has faux exhaust ports because the AMG GLC 43 has a rear-exiting exhaust.
It's like the blanks in a grill when you don't opt for the fog lights; or all the dash-blanks we used to have for low-option cars back when we still got buttons-All of which are to mock us for being too cheap to hand over our entire life's earnings to Mercedes; and certainly not because Mercedes is too cheap to make two parts; and definitely not because Mercedes is trying to stuff a sock in its underwear to make it appear virile./s
Wow... I hate it. It looks like a good way to ensure an ongoing series of disappointments and frustrations. 🫤
While not opposed to PHEVs, the information system alone is maddening. Why is it, the more expensive the car, the more needlessly complicated, overtly integrated, and BS the infotainment?