Mercedes GLC 2024
Introducing the All New 3rd Generation Mercedes GLC
As one of the main German luxury brands, anything new from Mercedes always merits some attention, particularly given how popular they are with company car hire users, so we were excited to get our hands on the all new 2024 Mercedes GLC, taking Merc’s medium to large SUV into its third generation.
Love them or loathe them, the SUV style is here to stay, from budget to prestige, it seems half the new cars on the road these days have a look, if not the underpinnings of an off road vehicle, naturally the Mercedes GLC is very much at the prestige end of that sliding scale and is the arguably the most desirable GLC to date.
The outgoing GLC was already a spectacularly popular car in the luxury sector, in fact, it’s Merc’s best selling vehicle. Not as huge as the GLE, but comfortably less ‘mainstream’ than the GLA. However, the GLA has always been hot on those best selling heels even before it ‘grew up’ when it received an update of its own a couple of years ago. The 1st Generation GLA was sometimes (rather unfairly) referred to as an A-Class on stilts, which still didn’t stop it from selling phenomenally well. The second generation however, seriously upped the class and the size, to the point where you’d have to park the new GLA and the old GLC next to one another to tell them apart. The GLA was also the first Mercedes to benefit from what was at the time the very latest technological innovations from the house of the three pointed star. The GLC (like the C-Class) needed an update and the 2024 GLC brings Mercedes’ mid-sized AWD right up to date.
So, first impressions, as you’d expect with pretty much any new version of an existing model, the 2024 GLC is a little bit bigger. To our eyes it looks a little longer and leaner, helping it be more easily set apart from the outgoing version and current model GLA, but it’s inside where it gets really exciting.
Germany is awash with home grown prestige brands and Mercedes have made technology their own niche in that cohort. The level of electronic wizardry in a modern Mercedes is a joy to behold and the way it’s implemented in a supremely elegant way is very much their own. The 2024 Mercedes GLC then, it a fantastic demonstration of the evolution of modern automotive innovation, all wrapped up in premium materials, glossy finishes and pleasing lines. It looks and feels like a proper Merc’ should!
The Mercedes GLC de300 4Matic AMG-Line Premium
… to give our latest batch of GLC SUV’s their full ‘Sunday Title’, is our pick of what we think is the best version, providing the pick of the styling options, kit level and performance.
Straight up, the ‘de’ suffix doesn’t indicate that it’s German, if you didn’t already know that’s where Mercedes is basd, you never will, rather it indicates that our 2024 GLC’s are diesel electric plug in hybrids. 4Matic indicates the presence of Mercedes All Wheel Drive System. The ‘300’ bit hints at the power output of the two litre engine (as opposed to the standard 220), we’ve gone for the more powerful engine which despite the extra ‘oomph’ still delivers pretty respectable fuel economy figures for a car this size, however, thanks to the pairing with an electric motor, you can essentially ‘make up’ the fuel economy figures up to ‘infinity’ miles per gallon (if you run on 100% electric power al the time). Officially however our GLC models sit at 706 miles per gallon. What you get in the real world all depends on your own driving, filling and charging habits, however, a diesel electric hybrid is a pretty rare beast in any guise, so no matter how heavy your right foot is, you won’t be shocked by your cost per mile.
Pleasingly, to help with this, the GLC, has a decent all electric range – The ability to drive a little way by battery is, with many hybrids, just a wheeze to return a super low C02 number on paper and keep the tax accountants of the BIK claimants happy. The plug-in GLC however, is equipped with a fairly respectable 31kWh battery. This high class hybrid is therefore capable of around 80 miles on electric power alone, which is around double what some of its closest competitors can do. As a company car the GLC is especially good for this very reason – higher earners could not only save several thousand Pounds a year in tax, but get some real-world useful range out of the battery.
You can also use the (usually) best parking spaces in any given car park thanks to being able to plug in at reserved EV spaces…. safely tucked well away from the carelessly opened doors and shopping trolley dings of the “hoi polloi”!
The cabin of the new Mercedes GLC updates and expands from the truly excellent outgoing model and because we went for the ‘Premium’ option you get some absolutely beautiful extras to augment your driving experience. The vogue at the moment across manufacturers is to include a large touchscreen in portrait orientation in the centre console and this is what the new GLC (and the new C-Class) now incorporates, elegantly embedded in the gorgeously sweeping lines of the new centre console, which takes cues from the much larger, pricier GLE and S-Class stablemates.
To put together a list of all the features in the cabin would be a make for a long list, but suffice to say, if it’s a high-end premium feature, it’s probably in there and included in a supremely elegant way. Once again, taking what was great about the previous model and improving on it in every way. There’s even a little more space in which to enjoy all that luxury!
The difference between the Premium and top end Premium Plus version isn’t massively wide. We’ve added a number of options to our Premium versions to take that spec’ level most of the way there too, with the parking package and premium sound system. Naturally, you can expect to see other versions in our car park as they arrive!
Drive Premium, But Pay A Pittance When You Rent From Westwood
As mentioned above, the plug-in petrol electric hybrid as a bit of a bargain for both tax savings and running costs, but when you rent, the savings add up further. Buy a vehicle and you have the depreciation to contend with as well as a big expensive asset taking a chunk taken out of your balance sheet. Rent however, and the rental payments are a tax deductible expense making long term car hire a far more attractive and cheaper option. We say it all the time, but Rent: It Makes More Sense!
Get in touch today and you cold be one of the first to drive this surprisingly cheap, prestige hybrid.
