As goes the Mercedes-Benz C-class, so goes its game utility kin, the GLC-class. Benz's minimal chief car got an extensive makeover for 2022, adding a 48-volt gentle half breed framework to the powertrain and updating the looks, the lodge, and the tech in that. Presently, it's the GLC's move, and keeping in mind that the 2023 GLC300 may not appear to be all that unique from an external perspective, it's grown a little and got a few prominently more pleasant accessories.
The 2023 GLC300 conceals its recently embiggened aspects well in pictures, yet it seems portlier face to face. With the wheelbase unaltered at 113.1 inches, and length extending 2.4 crawls to 185.7 inches, all that development goes right to overhang — a perception our restroom mirrors are excessively acquainted with. Gear limit is up by almost three cubic feet, to 22 aggregate. Since the wheelbase is unaltered, it shouldn't come as a shock that front and back legroom change by 0.1 inch (the front more limited, back longer) and feel the same in the new model.
A couple of different aspects have been rubbed to help streamlined slip. The GLC300's drag coefficient currently gauges 0.29, an improvement of two-hundredths over the active model. Generally level is down a 10th of an inch, the front track develops by 0.3 inch, and the back track is almost a full inch more extensive than previously. Weight is up a fair piece, to 4406 pounds versus the 4122 pounds we estimated in a 2020 model.
Whether it's bought with back or all-wheel drive (a $2000 upcharge), the GLC300 is presently a 48-volt gentle mixture. The incorporated starter-generator bolts up to a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four, delivering a similar 255 drive as in the past, yet force rises 22 pound-feet to 295. The electric engine can amount to 23 drive and 148 pound-feet, yet not at top. That intention force gets steered to the wheels via a smooth-moving nine-speed programmed transmission.
With almost 300 extra pounds of mass being pushed around and just an additional 22 pound-feet on draft, the 2023 GLC300's speed increase endures, yet entirely just barely. The GLC300 arrives at 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, 0.3 second behind the 2020 model. The story's comparable in the quarter, with the 2023 model going too far in 14.4 seconds at 95 mph, a unimportant contrast to the 2020's 14.2-second run at 96 mph. These numbers stay better than the last BMW X3 30i we tried, and they're about even with the Audi Q5 45.
A portion of this comes from the tires, which on the 2020 model had 235/55R-19 Pirelli Scorpion Verde The entire Season Run Pads at each of the four corners; our 2023 model wears more extensive, staggered AMG wheels ($850) and rolls on 20-inch Mainland EcoContact 6 summer elastic estimating 255/45 front and center and an astounding 285/40 in the back. That Rubenesque contact fix positively makes sense of our improved skidpad figure of 0.88 g, outperforming the old GLC's 0.85 g — not excessively amazing, however, while representing the change from the entire season to summer tires.
Mercedes' changes to the 2023 GLC equation help EPA-assessed interstate economy to 31 mpg, 3 mpg more than the active model. The GLC300's newly discovered zap additionally improves the SUV's on-street attitude. This stop-start is among the smoothest available, resuscitating the gas motor with nary a shiver. Under deceleration, it's challenging to see when the motor turns down for low-speed drifting. This perfection stretches out to the controlling — perniciously thus, as it's absent any trace of askew development and is simply numb all over — and the brakes, which are not difficult to adjust for reliably smooth stops.
The leftover pieces of the Merc's driving experience would be best summarized as "sport-contiguous." The GLC's standard versatile dampers keep things quite smooth over somewhat lopsided pieces of the street, and body movements are very much controlled, however more emotional protuberances and knocks move a decent digit of movement inside.
Throw the GLC into a corner and, sure, it'll incline in excess of a C-class, yet it remains very much arranged and presents a decent defense for taking the long way back from school drop-off. The four-banger sounds very great when you give it the beans as well. It's a damn disgrace about that directing thinking about how very much arranged the remainder of this vehicle is.
In the event that your drive has more traffic signals than bends, fortune has smiled on you, since now you can see the value in exactly how much better the GLC300's inside is. The cascade like mid control area shape remains, yet the rest has been redone to match the style found in other Mercedes vehicles, and it functions admirably. Our example GLC's dashboard was canvassed in normal grain dark wood with aluminum strips ($200). The guiding wheel has been overhauled with a more honed plan, however fanatics of actual buttons will see as not very many anyplace inside — a mark of periodic disappointment, as the capacitive directional cushions on the controlling wheel spokes are too simple to even consider enacting coincidentally. The all encompassing rooftop ($1500) highlights a more slender cross-swagger as well, not that anybody would take note.
Do you adore screens? Indeed, the GLC is a cutting edge Mercedes, so you would do well to. The old model's profound measure binnacle has been destroyed for a 12.3-inch show with various designs and the capacity to show a full route map. The 11.9-inch standard focus touchscreen runs the most recent emphasis of MBUX infotainment programming, which is responsive, adequately simple to explore, and incorporates remote cell phone reflecting. The middle showcase will get (and reflect) oily fingerprints like no one's business, so acknowledge your preschool guidance and clean up frequently.
We're gazing intently at an as-tried cost of $65,950. A portion of that comes from the top Zenith trim's $4450 cost knock, yet independent choices sure aren't modest by the same token. More forceful AMG Line styling will interfere with you $3450, albeit the Night bundle's shut down trim just adds $200 to the reality. The Driver Help bundle contains all the standard dynamic and detached driver helps for an extra $1950. Indeed, even this particular shade of Cardinal Red Metallic is a weighty $1750.
Its lodge is incomprehensibly worked on over its ancestor's, while its new half breed parts add a dab of perfection to in and out of town obligations. However it actually can set free and have a good time — even with the additional garbage in the storage compartment.