Saturday, June 19, 2021

Mercedes GL450 100k miles

 


I bought a 2013 Mercedes GL450 back in 2018.  It had 64k miles at the time.  It is a fantastic trip vehicle and we have used it for many long road trips.  It hit 100k miles the other day.

As I said this is a fantastic road trip vehicle.  We have taken it on numerous long road trips from 500 miles to 1800 miles each way.  I have made several trips over 1700 miles in 2 days and with me behind the wheel the whole time.  This has the lowest driver fatigue of any vehicle I have ever owned.  For a large SUV it actually handles pretty well.  The fuel economy is not bad either for an SUV this size.  It has done 21MPG on road trips and I generally get about 17MPG in town.  The twin-turbo 4.7L V8 has a nice wide powerband and good power.  I have towed a car on a trailer up steep hills out West with little effort.  


The utility of this vehicle is also very good.  It can tow 7500lbs and has great interior space.  The air suspension keeps it level at all times too.

The vehicle did have one annoying sound that was very intermittent when we bought it.  Accelerating from a stop while turning left cold the clunking sound would intermittently happen.  It was under warranty so we took it to the dealer.  They replaced a bunch of parts at 80k miles and it seemed to go away for a while.  At about 95k miles it came back and was much worse.  Finally we had the left front axle replaced and it was fixed.  One of the CV joints was bad causing this noise.  

The factory equipment tires do not last long at all.  There were not many tire choices for this vehicle either.  It has higher load and higher recommended pressure than most tires this size.  The first set I replaced I used the factory Continental tires at 76k miles.  They were down to the wear bars by 96k.  Now there are better tire options so I upgraded to Michelin tires.



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