 So if you guys will go back to another one, if you are new to this channel, I'm Goldpony under new car truck, SUV reviews on YouTube and today, we are in the brand new 2024 Mercedes Benz GLE 350 courtesy of Mercedes Benz of Hagerstown in Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information on their inventory, please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. So today we are in this one because there are plenty of updates for 2024, including a refreshed front end, refreshed back end and also some new standard features for this one as well. And there are some amazing color options available for the GLE, including the color option that we have on this one today. We'll get more into that on the exterior portion of this review, but ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering feel, ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so MSRP for the GLE 350, we'll start at $62,650, but that is just the starting MSRP. As I always say with Mercedes, there are so many different options available. Price as tested in the one we are in today goes for $75,465. But regardless of what options that you go with, the power plant on the GLE 350 is going to be the same. Powering the beast is a two liter turbocharged four cylinder with a mild hybrid drive, putting out 255 horsepower, 5,800 RPM, 295 pound feet of torque coming in at 1,800 RPM, that power being sent to all four wheels through a nine speed automatic with paddle shifters, which we will be testing out here in a little bit. Zero to 60 time coming in at approximately seven seconds flat with MPG numbers coming in at 20 in the city, 27 on the highway taking premium unleaded fuel. But so before we do any kind of fun acceleration or paddle shifter test here in our GLE, wanting to mention to you guys the drive modes. So there's a little silver toggle switch located just to the left of that touch pad controller. It's labeled dynamic, stands for dynamic select. If you hit that, you have your choice between eco, comfort, sport and individual, adjusting things like the shift points, the throttle response and the steering sensitivity with the individual mode, of course, being the mode where you can really tailor it to your own liking if you want to have your steering feel, but not that instant acceleration kind of thing all the time. So anyways, that's what that's there for. But now I've got all of that out of the way. What do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find it straight away. Let's put the paddle shifters and acceleration here to the test. Let's see how quickly the paddle shifter is going to react for us. And let's see how quickly we can get this one here up the speed. All right, got it in sport driving mode here. We got it straight away. Let's downshift first gear. Go, baby. You like that sound? All right, plenty of acceleration, slight delay to the paddle shifters. So it's not that bad. Honestly, I don't think many people are going to be using the paddle shifters in GLE anyways, but having said that, acceleration was quite good. So you certainly are not going to have any issues in merging onto the highway in the GLE 350. But to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So as expected, you will find four-wheel ventilated disc brakes coming standard on the GLE 350. As far as that 60-zero stopping distance goes, that actually comes in at a very impressive 118 feet. That is sports sedan good in terms of that number. As far as the braking feel goes, it's on the firmer side, 100%. That is definitely a firm braking feel, which I love because traditionally, you don't find that in SUVs. Typically in SUVs, you find a softer braking feel because you don't need that sporty braking feel that you would find in a sports sedan. But in the GLE 350, you got it. So that's a good thing. I really do like the braking feel on this thing, but anyways, then touching on suspension and handling, up front, you're going to get an independent double-wishband tight front suspension. In the back, independent multi-link rear suspension, but you also get an adaptive variable suspension. So I always love that suspension because essentially what that is, is it monitors each shock absorber individually, not only adjusting to the road imperfections, giving you a smoother ride, but it's also going to tighten up that suspension during heavy cornering, really giving you the best of both worlds. You got better handling, you got better ride quality as well. And it's typically a feature that you don't find in the non-luxury brands. It's sometimes even optional in the luxury brands like Mercedes. So I do like that it comes standard on the GLE 350. That definitely lends to a much more smoother ride as we are getting right now, although Hager Sound roads are pretty darn good. But very smooth ride in my short little test drive here today, so certainly no issues there. As far as cabin noise goes, I want to touch on that next because Mercedes always crushes it with their cabin noise. It's very little wind noise, no road noise whatsoever. You got a little bit of that engine noise when you really get on it, which is a good thing, it sounds good. But cabin noise is really on the luxury side of things in here. It's a very serene cabin. So big fan of that. As far as steering feel goes, it feels good in that sport driving mode. I will say that, it leans on the heavier side of things. Let me just do a little experiment with an Eco, let's say. It does loosen up a little bit, but it still kind of leans on the heavier side of things. Nope, I'm just kidding. It's a loose steering feel. So yeah, I like the steering feel in the sport driving mode. But having said that, there is something for everyone with the drive mode. So that's a good thing. If you like a heavier feel to the steering like me, put it in the sport driving mode or individual at that. And if you like a looser steering feel, you got the Eco where the normal driving mode. So it's there for everybody, I guess you could say. Then touching on visibility, I can see 100% perfectly fine out of my rear view mirror. There's certainly no issues there whatsoever. Brainsensing windshield wipers actually do come standard on the GLE 350, so I love that as well. Essentially what that means is it's gonna detect any kind of mist or rainfall and then it's gonna automatically turn on your windshield wipers for kind of like automatic headlights. So just one last thing you gotta worry about there. And if you were interested in a head-up display that is available, that essentially is gonna project your speed, speed limit and safety features up onto your windshield so you can better help keep your eyes on the road for forward visibility there as well. But that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, you guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350. All right, so here she is you guys, the new 2024 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 finished in manufacturer Alpine Gray, which is a $1,750 paint option if you wanted to go that route. But again, they got some pretty darn cool colors for the GLE and this is definitely one of them. It's a very, very matte pearl kind of color. So I like it, I think it looks good. But as always, let's go ahead and start with where the GLE is made. Take a look at the bin. First character is the number four, indicating that the GLE is built and assembled in the US. However, most of the parts do still come from Germany, of course, but final assembly point is going to be in the US. But let's go ahead and start up front on this one. Dual horizontal slat front grille is going to come standard. However, if you go with one of those AMG line packages like we have today, you are going to get that signature Mercedes-Benz Diamond Block front grille like you guys are currently looking at, which definitely looks good. It did what I also mentioned there, there is an illuminated star available. That one doesn't come standard, but it typically goes for right around $500 if you were interested in that. There are some chrome accents on the front lip traditionally, unless you go with the night package that we have today and then all those chrome accents essentially are going to be switched up to gloss black, like just around the front air curtains to the bottom corners there as well, which by the way, help direct the air around the wheel and tire combination. So a little aerodynamics there, but full LED headlights do come standard with LED daytime running lights. Of course, get the automatic feature with them. You also get automatic high beams. So when you have your high beams on at night, since the vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams. So very convenient feature there. And also there is an adaptive front lighting system that is optional. I did want to mention that. So when you're going around a bend at night, those headlights are going to swivel based on the direction of your steering angle, better help illuminating what is around that bend. So definitely a pretty cool feature there as well. Again, it doesn't come standard, but it is available. But very good looking front end. I like the slight refresh here, but let's now go ahead and make our way to the side. All right, so now some CR around to the side of the GLE. Aluminum roof rails do come standard. Satin chrome windows surrounds typically come standard, but again, with the night package, everything's going to be gloss black. Of course, rear privacy glass do come standard, of course, as well. You still get that satin chrome accents though on the door handles. Still got them on this one here today. So I do like that. I also like that everything is body colored in terms of the side skirts and the fender surrounds because even with Mercedes-Benz, most SUVs will finish that in like a matte black finish, but everything's body colored here on the GLE 350. So I do like that. Take a look at the side mirrors. They traditionally are body colored. However, they can be gloss black like you're looking at. They are power adjustable. They are heated. You get LED integrated turd signals and they are actually power folding as well. So when you lock this one up, they're going to fold in. When you unlock it, they're going to fold back out. Pretty cool feature there. Then take a look down at the wheel setup. 19-inch alloys do come standard. There are several wheel options available in both 1920 and 21-inch designs. 20-inch AMG alloys is what you guys are currently looking at. These are the ones that come with the AMG line package. So pretty darn good looking. You guys have probably seen that before if you're familiar with AMG, but that pretty much rounds out the side profile. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, and so been now since I have climbed into the wilderness, the tall brush here for you guys. First one to mention though, there is no shark fin antenna all the way to the top. That is something Mercedes-Benz have been doing lately. Love that clean look. It's something that probably most people will notice, but I do because I look at too many cars. But anyways, rear spoiler with the integrated brake light does come standard rear window wiper as well. LED tail lights do come standard. You gotta love that added illumination at night there. To the very bottom, you're either going to get chrome accents around in the bottom portion of the rear bumper or gloss black as I keep mentioning to you guys. There is a towing package available. We got that of course as well. But then just below it all, Mercedes-Benz would have you think they are integrated dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips. And it looks like that, but the actual exhaust tips themselves are actually folded down just underneath the rear bumper. I'll share that to you guys, but I don't know, I got mixed feelings about that. But having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next as always here is that exhaust clip. All right, so been now since we are around to the back of the GLE. When it comes to opening that rear tailgate, it is a hands-free power tailgate for all trim levels across the board. Love that, that makes it so convenient when you have groceries or kids in your hand or whatever the case, but once opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 33.3 cubic feet behind that second row. If that was not enough space, of course the rear seats do fold down, bumping that up to 74.9 cubic feet. So that's a respectable amount there. There is some cargo lighting back there. You got a couple grocery bag hooks as well. There are some chrome plated tie-down anchors. There is a cargo cover. Got some netted storage on the left-hand side looking in the cargo area back there. That if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you will actually find a spare tire. You can probably put an ice scraper within that cargo floor as well. So there's a decent amount of space there. And I love how everything is carpeted nicely back there as well. That is pretty cool. You don't always get that, but anyways. Then making our way up to the rear seats here. First thing I wanted to mention to you guys, there is a third row available that traditionally goes for right around $2,100. We obviously don't have it in this video today, so I can't show it to you guys, but I do want to mention it is there if you wanted it. But second row legroom then is going to come in at 40.9 inches. For reference, I'm an even six feet tall. This is how much space I had back there. Can find rear ventilation for those rear passengers. There's a little bit of storage, some foam charging ports as well. Rear center armrest with cup holders, of course, is going to come standard. If you wanted heated rear seats, that's an option for right around $580. Four-zone climate control is going to be optional on the GLA, meaning both rear passengers can actually set their own individual temperatures. So that's pretty cool. The one thing I do wish was available back there for the rear passengers would be rear window sunshades. That's something that you can traditionally find in non-luxury automakers. So would make sense if Mercedes-Benz would possibly offer that, maybe a future generation or something like that. But anyways, then making our way up to the front seats, power adjustable front seats with four-way power lumbar do come standard. You will find memory settings for not just the driver, but the passenger as well. That's something that you don't usually see, but Mercedes-Benz does tend to do it quite often. So passenger can actually set their own memory settings as well. I absolutely love that. But heated front seats do come standard. Leatherette seating coming standard. Leather seating is going to be optional obviously then. Ventilated front seats goes for right around $450. Multi-contour front seats with a massage function that is going to be available if you wanted to go that route. Overall, as far as seat comfort goes, it's not the most comfortable Mercedes seats out there. I'll just put it that way. Mercedes has kind of hit and miss with their seat comfort. Typically the S-Class or a Maybach obviously, it's going to be super comfortable because they have vertical seams. The seats are nice and plush, but in the GLE 350, the aren't as plush. They're kind of stiff and they got a bunch of horizontal seams. If I were to compare it to another vehicle, I would say it's very similar to like a Honda CR-V in terms of seat comfort and kind of how the seats are set up. So not the most comfortable seats for me in my bad back. But anyways, let's take a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping and it's power adjustable. It is wrapped in leather of course, but there is a wood leather combination available for right around $600. That is pretty darn cool. And it kind of gives you that new home smell if you were to go with that particular setup. I remember that in my review last year of the GLE, I loved that smell, but this one still has a good new home smell in it, but it's just not as much as the one last year. But then making our way to the startup, let me start by showing you guys the key here. You got all of your buttons are located on one side, lock on lock, and the button has the rear tailgate there, but it is all keyless entry with the push button start. You can also get that remote start at the Mercedes me mobile app. But in this case, all I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press that engine start button located just by the driver's right knee. It's simple, once started up, there is a 12.3 inch digital gauge cluster that does come standard and I absolutely love it. Mercedes-Benz does an amazing job at their gauge cluster. It's super bright. And of course, using the steering wheel mounted controls, you can adjust it to a bunch of different loadouts that can completely change the look up there, including an understated loadout. There's sport, classic, you can choose to display only navigation up there, which is pretty cool. You can also have kind of an off-road setup up there as well, if you wanted to. So plenty of different loadouts. And really Mercedes-Benz crushes it with their gauges. They do an absolutely amazing job. I personally like the understated. It's a very calm, very tranquil gauge cluster, if you will. So I'm a big fan of that. But anyways, then make your way to overall interior quality. There is a panoramic sunroof that goes for right around a thousand dollars. We actually do have that option. I absolutely love it. And since we're looking up here, I love this lighting, this interior lighting. It kind of fades in and fades out slowly. So it's a pretty cool little effect there. Autodimming rear view mirror with home light controls does come standard. And by the way, that's home light controls are up to three different garage doors. So that's pretty cool. Dual zone climate control does come standard. But like I said earlier, four zone climate control is available. Heated and cooled cup holders go for around $180. If you wanted that option, we don't have that option today, but it is available just in front of that. We have a wireless phone charger, a couple phone charging ports as well. Don't want to forget to mention though, there are 64 colors of ambient lighting. And Mercedes Benz always does an absolute amazing job with their ambient lighting. And I like the overcast lighting that we had in this video because I'm gonna actually be able to show you guys some of the nice ambient lighting that this Mercedes actually does have. So it's everywhere and it's super bright. Plenty of one trims available as well. We have one of those wood trims. And again, it does contribute to a nice new home smell as opposed to that new car smell. So I know you guys can't smell it over YouTube, but take my word for it. If you actually were to sit in one of these with a wood trim, you're gonna be able to smell it. It's pretty cool. Anyway, it's just behind the touchpad controller within the center armrest here. There is a decent amount of space in there. You also have a USB charging port within there. And I always liked the grab handles kind of in the middle of the driver and the passenger for the GLA. I thought that was a pretty cool design element. But overall, everything is finished very high quality. A lot of soft touch material. Got leather finishes on the doors. You have of course wood finishes everywhere as well. And it's a kind of matte wood texturized finish. So a lot of nice texturized finishes on the climate control vents and things like that too. So as expected, Mercedes-Benz does a wonderful job with their interior quality. But now let's go ahead and take a look at the infotainment screen here to match the gauges. It is yet again another 12.3 inch screen. And it is a touch screen, but there is also a touchpad controller and buttons located just behind the cup holders there. And it is voice activated by simply saying, hey Mercedes, how can I help? Turn on the radio. So that is pretty darn cool that you have that functionality. But nonetheless, Bluetooth and audio streaming does come standard Android Auto Apple CarPlay. You got factory navigation system up there as well. You of course could check out your ambient lighting settings up there as well. But one thing I did notice that is different from last year is I don't see the theme section anymore. I think that's probably just adjusted based on the gauge loadouts that I was showing you guys earlier, but there is a cool off-road kind of icon with the GLE on a bunch of rocks. Let's see what happens if we press that. That is pretty cool. It gives you your tire pressure. It gives you your elevation. Gives you your different angles and everything, a nice compass. I like that screen. Well done Mercedes. I'm glad you put that. That is pretty darn cool. So you can climb a mountain in the GLE. But anyways, you can check out your radio information of course up there as well. And so there is a standard sound system, but there's also an optional 13 speaker Bermester sound system. And that of course is the one that we have today. So what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio, see what we got playing today, and let's test out the clarity of our 13 speaker Bermester sound system that we have with us here today. All right guys, that sound system has officially slotted into my number three sound system of all time. That was beautiful. And it wasn't the kind of sound system that was overwhelmingly too much on the bass or anything like that. That honestly felt like you were at a concert just surrounding you it. It was absolutely amazing. The clarity was 100% on point. When I say that you could hear it from every single angle. I heard it in the back. I heard it from the side in the front. It was brilliant clarity. That is really where that sound system shines with Bermester bass was of course amazing as well. But I like the aluminum speaker colors as well. I didn't even mention that, but that was an incredible sound system. And definitely I would say my number three sound system out of the last 700 plus that I have tested. That was remarkable. Excellent. Anyways, last thing I wanna mention you guys on the infotainment screen is of course when you do put the GLA in reverse, you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board. The surround view monitor that you guys are seeing on the left, that is gonna be an option but that's gonna give you that bird's eye view which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so to start the GLA 350 is an IIHS top safety pick plus which is the very highest rating given by IIHS. That pretty much is it all right there. Front side, side curtain airbags do come standard. There is a driver's knee airbag up front as well. In the back you're gonna have latch AKA lower anchorages to other children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks, tire pressure monitoring system, but also coming standard active brake assist to driver retention monitoring system, cross wind assist, blind spot assist, park tronic where the car parks itself. It is an absolutely amazing system. I love playing around with that. Adaptive braking technology and a parking damage detector with the Mercedes Me app. So if somebody at Target rams into your front bumper and then leaves without leaving a note like what happened to me a couple of years ago, that app is going to tell you that and then I'm not sure what you're gonna do from there but that's pretty darn cool though. But overall when it comes to my final thoughts here of the GLA, it is a nice refresh. This thing still looks plenty good. Great interior quality, great driving dynamics as well. And my very favorite part quite honestly, I didn't expect it but this sound system, this 13 speaker Bermester sound system absolutely blew me away. It is incredible. So I would 100% recommend that sound system if you're into music even a little bit. So it's absolutely amazing. But so far it's been for improvement guys. Like I said at the beginning of the video, this thing can get very pricey, very quick. MSRP starts at 62 when I'm driving a $75,000 SUV. So $13,000 worth of options. And the other thing is there's no rear window sunshades and maybe the person spending $75,000, their kids are a little bit older, you would think at least and maybe you don't need them at that point. But anyways, let me know what you guys think of the GLE 350 in the comment section below and that is about it for this one. You guys, thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen if you wanna see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube. Be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in any new car reviews cause that is what we do here on this channel. After all, do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay gold, I'm gonna turn back on the radio for that sound system.