There’s no denying the imposing stature of the Mercedes-Benz GLS 580 4Matic and you certainly won’t go unnoticed when you comfortably cruise around town or on the highway.
At just over five metres long, two metres wide and 1.8 metres high, the big luxury SUV is the kind of car people let pass when they see it creeping up in the rear view mirror.
With a new four horizontal louvre grille, new front bumper with gloss black finishing on the air vents and a large bonnet covering the V8 4.0-litre bi-turbo engine with 48-volt mild hybrid assistance, the GLS 580 looks large and in charge.
That goes for the interior as well which is about the size of a Sea Point apartment sans the luxury seating, fittings and fixtures.
It does come across as the “S-Class” of SUVs with opulent heated and cooled seats, brushed aluminium inserts, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and MBUX infotainment system and turbine-style air vents.
It all looks and feels luxurious and premium and a pleasant way to spend the time behind the wheel whether cruising or inching forward in peak hour traffic.
The new chunky steering wheel fits comfortably in your hands and adds to that feeling of being in charge. Mercedes may want to have a chat with their German counterparts at Volkswagen who have reinstated buttons on the steering wheel as opposed to touch sensitive haptic controls.
Merc have retained the touchpad on the centre console which proved to be a bit finicky so using the touchscreen directly becomes the preferred option combined with the occasional “Hey Mercedes” command.
There’s an artist’s palette of colours for the ambient lighting which exudes a pleasant atmosphere at night but the reflection on the windows makes glancing at the side mirrors somewhat intrusive.
Thanks to its size, rear seating is ample for tall passengers and the third row of seats are fine for short distances for adults and will easily take on smaller children.
Fitted with Airmatic suspension the ride is sublime and when Off-Road Mode is selected it raises the almost 2.6 ton car to increase ground clearance.
Whether you’d want to do that on the optional AMG 5-twin-spoke alloys at an eye-watering R49,000 fitted to the test unit I seriously doubt though.
The big V8 with 380kW and 730Nm provides a pleasant rumble on start up and idles around effortlessly throughout the nine speed automatic transmission.
Somehow when you’re driving a V8 there are visions of belting around corners and flying down the straights, but that’s not what this car is about.
It’s a lot more subtle, but if required, all four wheels will propel you to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds and top out at 250km/h aided by the EQ Boost system with 16kW and 250Nm.
Around corners the suspension keeps body roll to a minimum with the seats providing comfortable support in all the right places.
To be honest there’s not much you can say about the Mercedes-Benz 580 GLS that is out of place or in any way a deal breaker.
I had driven it a few weeks after the GLS 450d and I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps the similar specced diesel version at R480 300 less, was possibly the better buy.
The Mercedes-Benz GLS580 4Matic comes with a two-year/unlimited mileage warranty and a five-year/100 000km maintenance plan.
Pricing
R2,956,649