► Merc GLC replaces outgoing GLK
► Audi Q5 and BMW X1 competitor
► Engine choice is limited to two motors for now
If last month’s ‘new’ Mercedes SUV, the GLE, was like microwaved leftovers from a moderately decent restaurant – being little more than a warmed-over M-class – this month’s is genuinely fresh-baked and ready to make mouths water. Called the GLC, it plunges straight into the intense on-going fisticuffs between the Audi Q5, BMW X3, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Porsche Macan. Although to be honest, that last is essentially standing at one side of the room looking like a badass, and no-one is really giving it any grief.
Anyway. With metaphors suitably mixed, you can rest easy that the GLC is neither anything to do with the Greater London Council nor likely to issue aggressively Welsh proclamations about the mental status of your better half. Rather, it’s the replacement for the GLK, a mid-size pseudo-mudplugger that never troubled us on this side of the Channel due to the Germans’ lack of interest in making the four-wheel-drive platform compatible with steering on the right. The GLK was Mercedes’ best-selling SUV all the same, and we can confidently predict that the GLC isn’t going to have any trouble carrying on this tradition.
GLC: the best 4×4 Merc
It is easily the best 4×4 the firm currently makes, even if the engine range on rhd arrival in October will be limited to just two variants of 2.1-litre turbodiesel (a petrol plug-in hybrid follows later). Most buyers will opt for the more powerful 250d rather than the entry 220d, and given the upgrade costs £1255 with no CO2/mpg penalty for an extra 33bhp and 74lb ft we won’t be arguing with them. The engine is slightly noisier in the punchier configuration, but in the grand scheme of Mercedes 2.1 turbodiesel applications it’s practically demure – refinement here is very good indeed, and performance more than adequate to wake up the ESP on a winding road.
In this respect, the early onset understeer is a tiny bit disappointing given the supposedly rear-biased 4wd system. And while the optional air suspension helps keeps you upright in the sportier Dynamic Select driving modes, it never really delivers outstanding comfort in the less determined alternative settings. Still, the air does give the equally optional Off-road Package another 50mm of ground clearance to play with (it’s actually quite impressive in the rough), and can lower the rear to make life easier for vertically challenged canines or the oiks at Ikea.
But no-one is going to buy the GLC just for the driving experience. They – you? – are going to buy it for the handsome modern Merc exterior, which gives way to an outstanding modern Merc interior with all the right curves in all the right places. Technically, this is the SUV of the C-class family, but it seems to be channelling a touch of S-class Coupe in the higher-living Designo specification. Roomier and lighter than the GLK that went before, the GLC really does make the GLE seem like old hat – there can be fewer better justifications for downsizing from within the same brand. As for that opposition, while rivals are cheaper and most certainly better to drive, in the GLC you might just feel like you’ve already arrived.
Mercedes-Benz GLC250d: the specs
Price: £36,105
Engine: 2143cc 16v four-cylinder, 201bhp @ 3800rpm, 369lb ft @ 1600-1800rpm
Transmission: nine-speed auto, four-wheel drive
Performance: 7.6sec 0-62mph, 138mph, 56.5mpg, 129g/km CO2
Weight/material: 1845kg
On sale: October 2015
Love: Great interior, good refinement, guns don’t kill you
Hate: Pricey, limited engine choice, understeer, rappers do
Verdict: Want to try one without air suspension, but the best Merc 4x4xfar
Rating: ***