The 2020 Mercedes GLS starts at $75,200

"LJ909" (lj909) 11/14/2019 at 19:58 • Filed to: Mercedes GLS, 2020 Mercedes GLS

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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

That’s a long ass screen

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.

arl > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 20:21

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Sooo..priced somewhere between two and three diesel Wrangler Rubicon’s?

See ms legit.

LJ909 > arl 11/14/2019 at 20:25

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Or one, depending on whos making em up.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 20:31

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That’s a lot of math. So basically a GL550 is like $95k-ish? That’s roughly the same as a Range Rover, so seems fair. It looks a bit tubby in the rear, though; trending more toward Honda Pilot / minivan than the X7. 

fintail > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 20:49

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Illuminated star? Boooo

My local dealer had one with a “credit for standard features not included” dropping MSRP to ~72K, and I heard others exist like this, supplier issue no doubt.

I am lazy and that was long so maybe I missed it, but I suspect speed limit assist is included with drivers assist, it is on my S213 anyway.

LJ909 > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 11/14/2019 at 21:05

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Pretty much. Adding the slightest of options pushes it towards 6 figures. Its nice, but I wouldn’t spend money on it. I’d go Navigator or X7. This is too cookie cutter similar to the GLC and GLE, and I don’ t think you can get a Range Rover with a 3rd row.

LJ909 > fintail 11/14/2019 at 21:09

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Wow. I’ve never heard of that existing. Maybe it was a special order or something.

From what I saw, at least based off the description, speed limit assist was presented as its own individual option. I would hope it would be lumped in with other driver assist aids, but with it having its own individual option price, I doubt it.

ihm96 > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 21:11

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Honestly the MB TEX thing is overplayed, it’s so much easier to live with especially for the many people that properly use their GLS as a kid hauler.

It also doesn’t wrinkle and crack in a few years (unless you condition your leather frequently) and it doesn’t get nearly as hot or cold when the weather goes extreme.

The new pano roof is way cooler.

My biggest favorite about the GLS is just the amount of crazy safety features, it plays a tone to protect your eardrums in a crash, cracks the windows to ease the pressure from airbags, can move you away from a side impact, can adjust to crosswind automatically, and has literally never had anyone die. I knew of someone who crashed one into the back of a construction dump truck that was parked going probably 30-40 with no seatbelt and they were totally fine

WilliamsSW > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 21:17

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I saw the same thing when I test drove a GLS 450 last week. They had one that stickered around 72k because it had credits for excluded standard items.

As Fintail noted it’s probably due to supplier issues.

fintail > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 21:29

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I’d have thought they’d hold such cars back for fleets, as I know Hertz and Sixt have had GLS in the fleet, but maybe think consumers won’t care about extra stripped models.

One way to tell is if you had selected drivers assist, then selected speed limit assist, and it didn’t give an error, then it is indeed extra.  I just know it is included with drivers assist on my S213 (and can be annoying, I changed the settings to where it won’t slow the car down, it had issues with school zones).

WilliamsSW > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 21:30

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The GLS 580 ( not 550) will have a 4.0 v8 and 480 HP. The 4.7 ttv8 has been gone for a couple years now.

I just drove the 450- very nice and pretty loaded at the base price ( except the MB Tex). The all glass panel is gorgeous. 

WilliamsSW > ihm96 11/14/2019 at 21:32

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So true on MBTEX.. And I just drove th e new 450 and it’s damn nice, even with no options to speak of ( sticker was 76k)

LJ909 > ihm96 11/14/2019 at 22:24

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Oh yea I agree on the MB Tex. I’ m sure its easy to clean. its just that at this price point, leather should be standard and MBV Text should be the option.

With this being Mercedes though the safety tech cant be beat. I wouldn’t have any qualms about driving around in this thing with my son being safe.

LJ909 > WilliamsSW 11/14/2019 at 22:30

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Either Mercedes has made a mistake, or we aren’ t getting the 580. Its all weird. The 550 with the 4.7 and 449 horses is listed on the site .There is no mention of a GLS 580 on the Mercedes USA site, not even in future vehicles. 

WilliamsSW > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 22:37

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The 550 is actually the previous generation, as is the GL63. The 450 is the new gen. I guess is wa s off on the 4.7 phase out maybe.

See below - I did find this:

https://www.mbusa.com/en/future-vehicles/2020-gls-suv

LJ909 > WilliamsSW 11/14/2019 at 22:56

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Thats weird. So maybe the new engines are coming later? Or I dont know. its all confusing. I been digging around and looks like there are only 450's stocked for now. So maybe that 580 is coming. But even worldwide there isn’ t a mention of it. The UK seems to only get a 400d model and even Germany only has GLS350 and 400D. They need to be more clear. 

WilliamsSW > LJ909 11/14/2019 at 23:40

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It’s pretty common to introduce a new design with only 1 engine. The only reason I knew about the 580 is that the salesperson told me about it - but it’s not out yet.

Mercedes is being a little coy though - if you look at the configurator closely, you’ll see that the silhouette of the 450 is different from the 550 and 63 models.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > LJ909 11/15/2019 at 01:14

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We are definitely getting the 580. The website is often slow to update. There is no 550 in the new GLS chassis . I just had training on this. It gets the 4.0 M176 engine with 48v mild hybrid system. The 550 on the previous gen used the 4.7tt through the end of its run though.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 11/15/2019 at 01:15

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They look much better in person. And the off-road capabilities are surprisingly good, particularly with the off-road package.

LJ909 > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 11/15/2019 at 01:29

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It’s weird they have it up on the configuratior while almost having no mention of it anywhere. But it makes sense. 

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > LJ909 11/15/2019 at 08:02

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It’s weird that the RR Sport can be optioned with a third row but not the larger Range Rover