All new for 2020, the GLS looks to make waves in the large luxury category by offering luxury and tech wrapped in an all new from the ground up body. It’s basically an S Class on stilts. Here’s the pricing.
There are 3 flavors of the GLS to choose from: the base GLS 450 ;GLS 550, and top dog performance GLS 63 AMG. All models get 4Matic 4wd standard as well.
The base GLS 450 gets powered by a 3.0 turbo I6 with 362 horses. There are 11 luxury exterior colors to choose from. 2 of them (Black & Polar White) are no charge. 7 other colors are all $720 options. The last 2 colors are of designo trim. Cardinal Red Metallic for $1,080 and Diamond White Metallic for $1,515. I stuck with Black of course.
Wheel options, besides the standard 19” wheel, include 4 others: a 20” design for $850; another 20” design for $950, and two 21” designs both $1,750. All can be selected without any option package obligations. I choose the $950 option. There are 6 stand alone exterior options that round out the exterior:
- Pano roof $1,000
- Illuminated running boards $650
- Illuminated Star $500
- Chrome door handle inserts $100
- Roof spoiler $600
- Black Side cladding $450
I choose the pano roof and illuminated star.
Interior options are plenty for you to make the GLS as luxurious as you want. Starting off with seat coverings, there are 8 options. Howveer, $76 grand doesn’t get you standard leather. You read that right. No standard leather seating. Its standard MB-Tex leatherette in 3 different colors. I don’t care how good MB-Tex is. Paying this much money for something with no leather is unacceptable to me. The other 5 choices are leather. 4 of those are $1,620 options and the last, a Nappa leather, is $2,990.
You do get a choice of real wood coverings for the dash however. The standard trim is a Gray Linden wood. Or you can choose from an Aluminum trim for no charge. The last 2 options are both $160: Natural grain Gray Oak or Natural grain Brown Walnut. I choose the Espresso brown leather seating with the brown walnut trim to make the interior not as drab as it would be in a dark color.
Options for the interior consist of 2 packages and 8 individual packages. The 2 packages are:
Executive Rear Seat Package $2,200:
- 2nd-row comfort head restraints
- 2nd-row wireless charging
- 2nd-row MBUX tablet
- 2nd-row side-impact air bags
Executive Rear Seat Package Plus:
- Heated and ventilated 2nd-row seats
- Multi-contour 2nd-row seats with massage feature
- 2nd-row comfort head restraints
- 2nd-row wireless charging
- 2nd-row MBUX tablet
- 2nd-row side-impact air bags
I added the Executive plus package. It should be noted that both can’t be selected. Its either one or the other. And selecting the plus package like I did requires the addition of ventilated seats.
Individual options include :
Black DINAMICA headliner $1,600
6 seat cabin configuration $0
Heated steering wheel $250
Wood/Leather steering wheel $600
Top stitched lower dash and upper door trim in either MB-Tex ($350) or Nappa leather ($1,050
Exclusive trim package $450: Just adds wood trim on the back of the front seats along with MB-Tex covered map pockets.
Acoustic Comfort Package $1,100: Pretty much a suite of noise canceling tech that includes thicker insulated glass on the windshield and side windows along with extra sound insulation. Also adds infrared reflecting on the windshield and rear window to block sound and harmful sun rays.
I added the headliner, wood/leather wheel and acoustic package. It should be noted as well that selecting the MB-Tex or Nappa leather trims requires the selection of Black seating.
There are quite a few individual options under Entertainment & Convenience along with 4 additional packages:
Convenience Package $1750:
- 4 zone climate control
- Ventilated front seats
- Power 2nd row window sunshades
Warmth & Comfort Package $1320
- Rapid heating feature for front seats
- Heated front armrests
- Heated 2nd-row armrests
Energizing Package Plus $2100
- Air Balance cabin-air purification system
- Air Balance cabin fragrance system
- Ventilated front seats
- Multicontour front seats with massage
Air Balance Package $350
- Air Balance cabin-air purification system
- Air Balance cabin fragrance system
- Ventilated Front seats $450 (already included with the selection of the Convenience Package)
- Multicontour front seats with massage $1,100
- Heated 2nd row seats $580
- Heated 3rd row seats $360
- Heated and cooled front & 2nd row cup holders $180 each option
- 4 zone ($860) or 5 zone ($400) climate control
- Burmester 3D sound system $4,550
- Augmented video for Navigation (displays a live feed from a camera on the front of the vehicle that overlays nav info on the feed) $300
- HUD Display $1,100
- MBUX Interior Assistant (a system that is similar to BMW’s gesture controls) $300
- Load sill protector $150
I added the Convenience, Warmth, ventilated and massaging seats for both rows, heated and cooled cup holders for the first and second rows, sound system, augmented nav and HUD display. Mostly all the options. It should be noted though as well that stupidly, adding heated 2nd row seats requires the removal of the Executive Rear Seat Plus Package if you have that selected. But adding heated 3rd row seats requires no change to selected options. I added this as well because having 3rd row options is pretty cool for passengers way back.
The GLS has a few performance (if you want to call them that) and saftey features that already enhance how advanced this thing is
Driver Assistance Package Plus $2250 (standard suite of driving aids you can get anywhere now)
E Active Body Control $6500 (Mercedes impressive adaptive suspension system that debuted on the new GLE. Can even get the vehicle unstuck from sand)
Class IV trailer hitch $575
Speed limit assist $295 ( an overly fancy system that shows how lazy drivers have gotten with relying on tech. Recognizes speed limit signs and displays them in the dash and alerts if you exceed posted limits. Last time I checked, humans have that same system. Its called eyes.)
All in, you’re looking at a 6 figure GLS450. With an eye watering $31,450 in options alone, fully loaded a GLS 450 rings in at $106,470. And it only goes up from there.
Move up into the into the GLS550, and it starts damn near where the 450 tops out at. Powered by a twin turbo 4.7 V8 with 449 horses, it starts at $95,750.
Things differ from the onset with the 550. It sort of leans towards the more sporty aspect of the SUV as it gets bigger openings in its front fascia and some options are different. Paint choices for one, lean more towards the sporty side as well. Instead of the 450’s 11 choices, the 550 gets only 9. 7 are no cost. The last 2 are both designo colors and are $360 (red) and $795 (diamond white) respectively. It also only gets 2 wheel choices. The standard wheel is a 21” 5 split spoke AMG wheel. The only option is 21” 5 spoke AMG wheel with Black accents. Its no charge, but selecting it requires $3,500 option package. More on that in a bit.
The only other 2 exterior options that differ from the base vehicle are a $300 Night Package that confusingly includes the aforementioned Black accented AMG wheels and gloss Black exterior accents; and a $1,090 pano roof that includes old school 3rd row vent windows. I added these.
The interior options differ as well and are more upscale. Getting to the 550 gets you standard leather seating across the board. No MB Tex here. You only pay extra if you want higher quality leather. Of which there are 2 designo leather options. Both being $4200. There is one other designo leather choice (a porcelain/espresso brown Nappa leather) but its included in the Grand Package. In all, there are 8 different leather choices to choose from, 5 of them being standard no cost options. Wood choices increase from the 450 as well to 7.
The main option for the interior is the aforementioned Grand Package. For $3200 it gets you:
- “Grand Edition” detailing
- designo Porcelain/Espresso Brown Exclusive Nappa leather
- Top stitched Nappa leather dash trim
- designo Natural Grain Linden wood w/Light Stripes
I didn’t add this as it seemed a bit over the top. Interior stand alone options are different and more high end as well.
- B&O BeoSound system $5400
- Heated 2nd row seats $620
- Power folding 2nd row seats $400
- Heated & cooled front cup holders $180
- Cabin air purification system $280
- 2nd row window sunshades $380
- Rear seat entertainment system $1950
- Rear seat entertainment system pre wiring $170 (required if you have the dealer install the rear seat system instead of having it come equipped from the factory.
- Multi contour front seats with massage $1100
- Ventilated front seats $570
- Soft close doors $500
I added everything except the rear entertainment system.
The 550 gets different “performance” options as well. The driver assistance pack is only $1375 on the 550 instead of $2250 on the 450. A big difference is the option of an offroad package. At $3200 it includes front skid plates and whats described as an advanced off road driving program: In addition to the standard modes of DYNAMIC SELECT, a second Off-road mode further increases the prowess of the GLS off the beaten track. Each of Off-road programs progressively increases ride height and fording depth, while providing specific settings for the adaptive suspension, automatic level control, Downhill Speed Regulation (DSR), and 2-speed transfer case whose low range is useful during off-road driving. Impressive for sure. Not sure how often it would be used but it would be cool to have so I added this as well. Other options include active park assist ($970), class IV trailer hitch ($575), active curve system ($2900) and magic vision control (fancy wipers $$350). I added the park assist and curve system as well.
All in, with only $17,135 in options, a fully loaded GLS 550 will set you back $112,525. Not much more than the loaded 450. And it might be worth the extra $6k or so for the more powerful engine.
The top of the GLS hill is the GLS 63 AMG. Starting at $126,150, its powered by a 5.5 twin turbo V8 with 577 horses and 561 ft/lbs of torque available at a low 1,750 RPM.
The AMG gets the same exterior color choices as the 550. Wheel choices are different however. In addition to the standard 21” AMG titanium wheel, it gets 3 other AMG wheel choices: a 21” matte Black AMG wheel for $500; a 22” multi spoke wheel with Black accents for $1,250 and a 22” matte black wheel for $1,750. I choose the $500 option wheels. Selecting this wheel also allowed me to equip the Night Package for $300 that also equips the vehicle with gloss Black accents.
Interior leather choices include a standard Black Nappa leather with options of Brown Napa leather or Porcelain/Black Nappa leather. Dash coverings are also sportier. Standard trim is aluminum. No cost options are Natural Grain Brown Ash wood; Black Piano Lacquer; Anthracite Poplar Wood, and AMG Carbon Fiber $1,750 which I chose. Individual interior stand alone optpns are a heated steering wheel ($250), a wood/leather wheel (no cost), and an AMG wheel with DINAMICA/Nappa leather ($500). I choose this wheel as well.
Other interior entertainment and convenience options are the same as the 550. There aren’t that many performance options for this being the AMG model. Well there aren’t any at all really. The only option is red painted brake calipers for no cost. All in, a GLS 63 AMG will set you back $134,990. This should do battle with the X7’s, Escalade ESV’s and Navigators of upper middle class America for king of 7 seater luxury family haulers.
