Car Review

Mercedes-Benz GLC review

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Top Gear Team

Published: 17 May 2023

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“ Merc's C-Class on stilts impresses as a hybrid, and majors on softness and luxury. Far from cheap, though ”

Good stuff

Better than the old version in lots of small ways, dependable family transport, hybrid version is genuinely useful

Bad stuff

Suspension is wallowy and lacks control, more expensive than it ought to be

Overview

What is it?

It certainly wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that the GLC is crucially important to Mercedes – perhaps its most important car. Why’s that? Because since it first went on sale in 2015 it has rather swiftly climbed its way to the number one position on the Mercedes sales chart until it’s become the firm’s global best-seller. Who’d have thunk it, eh?

What are the changes over the old car?

Mercedes modestly says that it was “hard to improve” on the outgoing car, but that hasn't stopped them tinkering with it. The styling is sleeker (21mm narrower, to be precise), longer and lower than before, with 70 litres of space freed up in the boot. We think that the styling is improved over the previous-generation GLC too – a touch more elegant and sophisticated, you could say.

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Why do people like it so much?

Well, there’s the question – it’s quite a neat little family SUV , sitting alongside the C-Class in Merc’s parallel universe range of slightly bloated soft-roaders. It looks alright, not too ridiculous, it drives decently and there’s enough room for the family. Plus it gets some fun tech.

Such as?

Well, you’ve got the now ubiquitous ginormo-touchscreen on the inside that draws the eye as soon as you get onboard. The aircon controls are always available in the corners and the graphics are fairly crisp and intuitive. The GLC has almost done away with buttons, and the haptic touch controls remain a pain to operate. The idea is that you use voice control, but it’s hit-and-miss at best.