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A funny thing is happening with the extinct woolly mammoth: Russian scientists are trying to clone one, using DNA extracted from a corpse preserved in ice. Employing an elephant as a surrogate mother, they seek to render the mammoth ... um, is "un-extinct" a word? Similarly, full-size luxury SUVs may escape the boneyard previously thought to be their destiny thanks to the clever application of science. Case in point: the 2015 Mercedes-Benz GL450.
We called it a buffalo when we ran one through our 40,000-mile long-term-test regimen, noting that the category was undergoing a steady, endangered-species-like decline. But sales have rebounded strongly as of late; the GL-class is up 33 percent year-over-year during the past three months.
The body, chassis, and even (for now) the name are the same in 2015, but the GL450 has been genetically modified. Under the hood, where our 2013 long-termer housed a mammoth, 4.7-liter twin-turbocharged V-8, there's now a diminutive 3.0-liter V-6. Also force-fed by a pair of turbos, it makes an identical 362 horsepower. It produces just 369 lb-ft of torque where its predecessor made 406, or 10 percent more. And the lesser amount of torque peaks a bit later, at 1800 rather than 1500 rpm.
Most of the Performance, Most of the Time
In normal driving, the transplant works just fine, capable of a zero-to-60-mph dash of 5.9 seconds, which is identical to our long-term truck's initial run and an insignificant 0.1-second behind the first GL450 we tested in 2013. On our scales, the new version weighs 254 pounds less than did our option-laden buffalo and 111 less than the first 2013 truck. The mass reduction offsets the V-6's torque deficit at launch, though autobahn-runners are more likely to detect the missing cylinders as speed rises. The 2015 model was three-tenths of a second slower getting to 100 mph and took 1.9 seconds longer than the long-termer to reach its 130-mph terminal velocity. Passing times?acceleration from 30?50 mph and 50?70 mph?are also longer, by 0.2 and 0.4 second, although they're still damned quick. In a tight passing situation, we might opt to downshift with the paddles rather than wait for the seven-speed automatic to kick down, but that was true before.
In other respects, the new GL450 is the same old GL450. At 179 feet, the braking distance from 70 mph to a stop is identical to both previous tests; it's good enough but not outstanding. We again noted that the brake pedal offers little retardation in the first portion of its travel. Stomping hard at the test track, this wasn't an issue, but doing so repeatedly resulted in slight fade and a softening pedal.
At the time of our testing, our skidpad resembled the Yakutian permafrost where mammoth remains were discovered, so we have no fresh roadholding figure to report. The intrusively aggressive stability control shuts everything down in ordinary traffic maneuvers, and it inhibited cornering in our previous tests to the 0.73-to-0.77-g range. The steering remains light and vague around center, improving only slightly when the driver selects the Sport setting with a console button. And while the $3700 option package of Adaptive Damping and the Active Curve system keep the ride comfortable and level, this Mercedes is not the German SUV aimed at eager drivers. For that, shop the Porsche Cayenne or the Audi Q7, both of which are smaller. For space and comfort, the GL-class rivals or beats the Cadillac Escalade and the Lincoln Navigator.
Survival of the Fuel-Efficient-est?
As you'd expect, swapping in a V-6 for a V-8 enables the GL to post better EPA numbers, allowing Mercedes to sell more of these big trucks without adversely affecting its corporate average fuel economy as much as it might have. The 2013 edition was EPA-rated at 14/19 mpg city/highway. The 2015 model gains 3 and 2 mpg in those metrics, while the combined rating jumps from 16 to 19 mpg. Sixteen mpg is what we averaged over the entire 40,000-mile test of our 2013 V-8 model, and it's also what we saw over a few tankfuls in this 2015 V-6. No gain, right? Not so fast?in a similar short-run test of a 2013 GL450, we got only 14 mpg. So maybe the 2015 version is actually a couple of mpg better. Regardless, if you drive like we do, using all the power at least occasionally, you'll never see the EPA estimate.
Not that buyers in this segment care. The power-mad can still get a V-8 in the GL550 or the stampeding rogue pachyderm GL63 AMG, and those two continue to exist because Mercedes has now engineered this volume model to avoid regulatory exterminators. The frugal-minded, if that word can be applied to anyone opting to pay more than $60,000 (often much more, as we shall see) for transportation, can still get the GL350 Bluetec with its turbo-diesel V-6 and EPA ratings of 19/26 city/highway and 22 mpg combined.
Mercedes sells a little more than 2000 GL-class SUVs in a typical month, less than one-tenth of Honda's volumes for its little CR-V. Yet it's worth the effort to keep it alive mostly because of the prices these things command and the margins on the options. The GL450 starts at $66,125, but we easily pushed our long-termer's price into the $90K range. This 2015 example came just short of that, the sticker inflated by the $4410 Premium package, which includes stuff like proximity entry and start, heated and cooled front cup holders, auto-dimming and power-folding exterior mirrors, COMAND with navigation, and other telematics features. The aforementioned Active Curve package adds $3700, then there's $2800 for the Driver Assistance package with Distronic cruise control, blind-spot assist, and lane-keeping technologies. (Is it only gray-bearded curmudgeonly boomers who remember when Mercedes-Benz's reputation for safety engineering rested in equipment that came standard because every customer's life was equally valued?) Toss in $1620 for leather here, $1090 for a panoramic sunroof there, $1450 for three-zone automatic climate control, and, as the man said, pretty soon you're talking real money. That's a powerful motivator to keep the mammoths around, even if you have to splice in some elephant DNA.
