2018 Mercedes-Benz AMG GLC AMG GLC 43 4MATIC (CKD) User Reviews

Excellent
4.0
1 Reviews
Performance
Ride Comfort
Space
Fuel Economy
Quality & Features
Price & Cost

Pros
1. Great autonomous driving and active safety features 2. Decent amounts of power and superb ride comfort 3. Ventilated seats are a godsend in summer 4. Insanely Practical 5. A design that still looks fresh today
Cons
1. one of the worst infotainment systems on the planet 2. big turning circle and crabbing issues at full steering lock 3. lousy fuel consumption 4. a transmission that can’t make up its mind 5.

Safety

Distronic Plus with active steering was really useful for long distance driving. Victorian (Austrialia) speed limits are enforced very strictly (with only 1-2kph tolerance). As a result, I always engaged radar cruise control to always maintain an exact speed to avoid getting fined by cameras. Distronic Plus was also such that it would automatically maintain a set distance from any vehicles in front, and would also work in conjunction with active lane assist to autonomously steer the car to stay in lane (rather than just bouncing the car back and forth between lane markings). For long periods behind the wheel, having level 2 autonomous driving engaged takes a lot of strain off the driver, especially in traffic jams. I would just let Distronic Plus automatically stop and go in traffic, and steer itself in lane. Most people would feel tired and drained after spending long hours in traffic, but with the car pretty much driving by itself, never once have I felt tired after spending time in traffic.   

Final Thoughts

Would I have bought something else if it was available? Actually…yes. If the GLC 350d (V6 diesel) was available at that time, that’s what I would have bought instead. I don’t drive my car hard and rarely push it to the redline, so having torque lower down the rev range is far more useful for me.

But do I regret my purchase? Not really – my family’s history with Mercedeses is long enough for me to know the typical quirks and workarounds to get around them (yet another not-so-subtle dig at the prehistoric COMAND infotainment). I’d say that every dollar I coughed up for it is well-spent – it has never let me down with its space, comfort, build quality, refinement, versatility and most importantly, its safety. If I could only pick one car to keep out of all my others, I’d pick this one (although my heart would ache at having to put a lot more kilometers into it). I could practically live out of this car in an RV park on long road trips, because I can easily fold down the back seats into a bed (placing a mattress pad over it) and still sit up in it without my head touching the roof. I can’t do that in my estate wagon.

Would I buy this car in Malaysia? Definitely not – because even with the CKD version, it’s overpriced given the spec available there.

Given the direction Mercedes is heading, their future does look promising – especially with the new MBUX infotainment system and all. They’ve finally wised up and completely revamped everything wrong with COMAND. Although it may not be as polished as iDrive, MBUX is nearly as good and it looks to be future-proofed, with support for OTA updates. I’m also very attracted by their new compact lineup, especially the GLB’s packaging, interior design and build quality. Their current compact lineup has designs and build quality that easily rival or outstrip previous-generation E classes. And if they are already doing such wonders to their MFA2 platform vehicles, I can only imagine how much better the next iteration of the GLC will get. 

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