2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 review: Opulent, but not over the top

There are some folks who need to have more luxurious than a typical Mercedes-Benz can present. And for them, there is Mercedes-Maybach. Formerly only the S-Course bought this additional-additional therapy but now, Maybach is broadening its get to with the new hifalutin GLS600, as properly.

This fancy SUV appears to be like like a vivid, shiny silver dollar, full with copious quantities of chrome and an accessible two-tone paint work. The grille, while shiny as hell, is in fact very subdued with its uncomplicated vertical slats. Yes, they reflect the sunshine and glint into the eyes of the peons that dare seem at you, but I truthfully envisioned a thing even more ostentatious.

The silhouette is dominated by my tester’s accessible 23-inch multi-spoke wheels. Curiously, the center caps are not self-centering as those on the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which is a bummer, as which is a fairly uncomplicated function to include. Irrespective, when I open the door the GLS lowers alone a little bit and a operating board produced of anodized aluminum deploys for uncomplicated ingress.

2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600: When more is more but not too considerably

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Inside, the dashboard and entrance seats are primarily ripped from the typical GLS, but tweaked at any time so a little bit. My tester has attractive, open-pore wood leather at every single touch ambient lights ridiculously comfy seats that are heated, cooled and massaging and heated and cooled cup holders. You will find plenty of Maybach badging as properly and this point even has its have dedicated Maybach scent piped in by way of the air vents. I am no bloodhound, but Mercedes describes this aroma as, “The white osmanthus blossom, floral and light, rounded off by a gentle leather notice and spicy tea.” So yeah, let us go with that.

But truly, the spotlight of the Maybach GLS’ cabin is in the again. The typical GLS’ 3rd row is absent and the again seats are moved rearward for enhanced legroom. You can get a bench seat, but I will not know why you would, specifically due to the fact the magnificent 4-seat configuration is a no-value option. Also, there is a developed-in champagne cooler, together with holders for your champagne flutes and cooled cup holders for your more uninteresting beverages. Go big, y’all.

The govt chairs in again are supremely comfy — heated, cooled and massaging, natch, with a recline function and footrest that brings riders almost fifty percent-way to horizontal. At 5 feet, nine inches tall, I am capable to stretch all the way out, but taller travellers may possibly discover their feet resting versus the entrance seat. With a delicate pillow for your head and decreased again, this is a area to chill out, for absolutely sure.

Ought to you want to get some function finished, there are optional folding trays for every seat and a pill laptop or computer in case you forget about your laptop computer. You can preserve all the things charged with two USB-C ports as properly as a one hundred fifteen-watt outlet and wi-fi charging.

Mercedes’ MBUX infotainment technique is below, operating on a 12.three-inch display screen. I usually plug in my cellular phone to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto when navigating, but I enjoy the virtual overlay on the in-sprint navigation that displays specific arrows for turns and avenue addresses. The virtual assistant is also fairly good, recognizing all-natural language and will even tell you a joke or two. The typical 12.three-inch electronic gauge cluster is nifty, displaying me all the information I could perhaps want. There is also a typical head-up show to preserve all the things at eye degree.

I truly enjoy Mercedes’ suite of superior driver’s aids and they are all typical on the Maybach. That usually means you’ve bought blind-place checking and lane-trying to keep aid, while the adaptive cruise management functions excellent in quit-and-go visitors. It can even slow the vehicle down centered information gathered from the in-sprint navigation. The steering aid can help drivers get down the road and can even transform lanes immediately supplied the coast is obvious. On the other hand, this is nevertheless a palms-on technique and if the GLS thinks the driver is incapacitated in any way it will quit the vehicle in its lane and unlock the doorways so initial responders have accessibility.

Where by the Maybach suffers, having said that, is in cargo house. Behind those govt seats is only eighteen.5 cubic feet of house and which is without the need of the rear of the champers cooler invading the cargo area. That’s a little bit much less than a Rolls-Royce Cullinan but way much less than the 24.5 cubes in the Land Rover Selection Rover SVAutobiography. Only the Bentley Bentayga, with seventeen cubic feet behind the second row, has much less.

If you desired even more evidence that the Maybach GLS is all about remaining driven, the SUV has a special Maybach drive manner that prioritizes the comfort and ease of rear seat travellers. This drive manner starts the GLS in second gear, mutes the throttle and turns off the quit/begin for much less passenger jostling.

Of course, the Maybach GLS has plenty of electrical power under the hood, with its four.-liter twin-turbocharged V8 good for 550 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque. The motor is supplemented with EQ-Increase, a 48-volt mild-hybrid technique that can fill in lower-rev turbo lag with an additional 21 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. The EQ-Increase technique also can make the quit/begin technique very easy, almost imperceptible. Nevertheless, even with that hybrid tech, the Maybach GLS is a thirsty gal, earning a fuel financial state score of 15 miles for every gallon in the town, 19 mpg freeway and sixteen mpg blended.

If you want absurd pace and excellent managing, seem at the 603-hp Mercedes-AMG GLS63. The Maybach is nevertheless fast, scooting to sixty mph in four.8 seconds, but it’s tuned to be softer all round. The Sport manner isn’t really as aggressive, forcing me to slow down just a little bit and not tackle a backroad with abandon. The Curve manner utilizes the air suspension technique to sort of lean into turns, which sounds weird, but can make for a much less roly-poly trip. There is also an Off-Road manner that can bounce the big SUV up and down to aid get it unstuck from delicate sand, in case your chauffeur didn’t air down sufficient while driving on your non-public beach front. You can also just bounce for the reason that it appears to be like awesome, too.

I are not able to say sufficient good issues about the nine-pace automatic transmission. I’ve usually been a lover of the Benz’ modern gearboxes, and this just one is a delight, giving up easy, silent shifts particularly when I want them. In the same way, the brakes are easy, with a company, linear come to feel even with the Maybach GLS’ 6,000-pound footprint.

The 2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS starts at $161,550 like $one,050 for vacation spot. My tester wears the $eighteen,500 two-tone paint work and the $5,500 23-inch wheels. The fridge is an additional $one,a hundred and the champagne flute holders are $800. Finally, the folding tables incorporate $one,800 for an as-analyzed rate of $a hundred ninety,000.

If you truly want to come to feel like you are using on a cloud, the GLS are not able to truly touch vehicles like the Bentley Bentayga or Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Yeah, those SUVs value a complete bunch more income, but if you are in the market for a super-magnificent SUV, is rate truly that considerably of a worry?

In simple fact, which is my just one big challenge with the Maybach: It will not go much sufficient. Apart from the trip high-quality, the Land Rover Selection Rover SVAutobiography will get you farther off the crushed route and the Bentley Bentayga is more pleasant to drive. I’d somewhat see the Maybach go even even larger in the luxurious division to truly present a thing special.