2026 Mercedes GLE 350e Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) Review Australia
This is the Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e, and it’s a plug-in hybrid version of the brand’s medium-sized luxury SUV. And this model effectively brings the best of both worlds, combining a claimed electric driving range from up to 132 km, which is perfect for local city driving without using any fuel. And to cure range anxiety, the backup of a 2 L turbo petrol. So, how does this all work? How much does it cost? And is it any good? Well, this is going to be a full detailed review, and there is a lot to cover. So, don’t forget to like, share, subscribe, hit the bell, and let’s get straight into the video. First, what is there to know before walking into a showroom? Pricing for the 350e starts from under $100,000 before on-road costs. And if you compare this to other luxury plug-in hybrid SUVs, the GLC is the more attainable option. And this has also been positioned between the mild hybrid 200 and 300 in terms of pricing. And it is also worth noting that a fully electric GLC will be coming in 2026. And that is supposed to have an all electric claimed driving range from over 700 km. And what about configuration? You do have a wide selection of external colors, interior colors, and optional packages as well. And in terms of ownership, warranty, servicing, running costs, on your screen is a breakdown on everything you need to know. And finally, a big thank you to Sanderson’s Rush Cutters Bay. They have lent me this car to road test. And if you are in the market for a new vehicle, I’ve shared their details down below. And they are located in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Okay, let’s talk about styling. This car has been fitted with the AMG line package, and this is what the regular version looks like. This car has also been fitted with the night package, which replaces chrome to gloss black on the front, side, and rear. And as standard, LED headlights with adaptive highbeam. And I do like how the grill has been shaped to resemble a 300 SLR from the 1950s. and of course the 300SL power domes on the bonnet. And if we take a look at the side view, this version has a set of 20-in wheels finished off in black and they’re wrapped in Continental tires. And it’s part of the AMG pack. You get larger ventilated disc brakes on the front axle. And this section is bodycoled and down the bottom aluminum look running boards along with dark tinted privacy glass from B-pillar to the back and a large panoramic glass sunroof which can open and close. And if we take a look at the back you have a set of LED rear combination lights, an illustrated rear diffuser with two fake exhaust pipes and towards the rear axle self-leveling rear suspension. And finally, styling is subjective. So, write down your feedback in the comments below. Let’s now talk about the interior. So, as the GLC is pretty much based on a W206 C-Class, it is very similar in terms of presentation and it feels well built as well. Solid door slam, soft padding up the top here where you rest your elbow. I’m not a fan of the grab handles and you do have a bit of plastic down below and I don’t like the piano black in the center but you do get a softly padded center armrest soft over here as well. Open pore wood grain and again soft up the top here with metallic switches. The AMG line also gets a napper leather wheel which does feel nice to grip onto and that offers electronic tilt and reach adjustment. The seats are finished off in what Mercedes refers to as artico leather which is synthetic but the front row seats can be heated electronically controlled with memory. There’s a power lumber support seat kinetics and within the 11.9 in touchscreen is a dedicated climate control menu and this infotainment system is running MBUX. It is a fantastic system to operate. There are also touch shortcut icons down here, touch controls on the wheel, a fingerprint scanner to sign into your driver profiles where you can store and save settings. You can also talk to the car. Hey, Mercedes. I’m listening. Open the sunroof. Let there be light. The sunroof is opening. Pretty cool tech. There’s also customizable ambient lighting with an array of colors to pick from. And other key features include inbuilt navigation with 3D mapping, wireless Apple CarPlay, and wireless Android Auto. And if I go into radio, AM FMDAB, you can Bluetooth two devices at the same time, USB connectivity, and a Burmeister branded sound system. But if you do like your music, it is worth stepping up to one of the option packs which includes a premium version of the sound system. And diving deeper within the infotainment, you can go into a hybrid app to take a look at your charging status and of course vehicle and engine data. This function is kind of quirky. The allwheel drive versions get an off-road screen with off-road specific cameras as well, plus a hill descent control. Moving on to safety. If I flick the car into reverse, you get cameras everywhere, multiple different camera angles to look at gutter views and also an anticlockwise 3D view. And there are front and rear parking sensors and a front and rear cross traffic alert and auto dimming rear vision mirror. Automatic braking, blind spot monitoring with a safe exit warning assist. A lane departure warning with an active lane centering system. Adaptive cruise control that keeps you within distance between yourself and the vehicle in front. Traffic sign recognition and a coffee cup which is the driver fatigue monitoring system. And this 12.3 in screen is customizable in the center depending on which menu you prefer. And you can also change the menu structure as well. Sport navigation assistance and even an off-road screen. This being the allwheel drive version. There is also a customizable head-up display on the windscreen. And that does look pretty good if you have the navigation active. And there’s also a selection of drive modes between an off-road specific drive mode, battery hold, which maintains current charge of the battery. And if I go into electric, that is driving the car in full EV and running it in hybrid is running both the internal combustion and the battery. And when you put it into sport, the engine fires up, as you can hear, because that is its sportiest mode. And there’s individual, which sets the car up on your preference. What about storage? The center console is pretty decent. That goes down deep. And there are two USBC charging ports. And over here, two small cup holders for small bottles of water, a wireless phone charging pad, and two USBC ports. The glove box is a decent size. Door bin storage is also pretty good. They both fit big bottles of water, lighting, and mirrors on the sun visors. And thanks to the running boards, this is an easy car to climb in and out. There’s also a remote key, keyless entry, and push button ignition. Here in the back with this seat set in my position, knee room, tow room, and head room is pretty good. And over in the middle section, knee room, tow room, headroom is also okay. You’ll also find a set of air vents, a little bit of storage, two USB C ports, map pockets behind the front row seats, decent door bin storage, which can also hold a big water bottle. Grab handles up the top here with codle hangers, lighting, and a flip down armrest with a pop out device holder and two small cup holders. But it is worth pointing out that the rear seats do not recline back like what they can do in an X3. And what about child seats? The two outboard seats are ISOIX compatible. And right behind me, there are free top tether points. All versions of the GLC come with a power operated electric tailgate, which you can activate with the key fob or swiping your foot underneath the rear bar. And a normal GLC has 620 L of cargo volume along with a space over spare wheel. But of course, this being a plug-in hybrid, you do have a big large battery sitting underneath that floor and therefore boot space is compromised at 470 L of cargo volume. You do get some underfloor storage. However, no spare wheel, just run flat tires. But if we take a look at the boot space, you can still fit a large suitcase, two carry-on suitcases, and like the normal GLC, you’ve got some cutaway sections, netted storage, LED lighting, shopping bag hooks, tie- down points to keep items in place. You can also fold down the middle section carrying a set of skis whilst carrying two people in the back. And the seats can also electronically fold down, increasing your boot volume. Without sounding too technical, let me run you through this powertrain. Like a normal GLC, there’s a 2 L 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine, and it is paired to a N-Speed torque converter automatic and an all-wheel drive system, which is rear wheel drive based sending power to the front when it requires traction. And over on the driver’s side, a fuel filler cap to fill up with either 95 or 98 petrol and to charge up that 31.2 kWh battery. Over on the passenger side, 11 kW of AC charging, which takes around two hours to power up, giving this car a claimed driving range of 132 km. And if you compare this to the plug-in hybrid version of the X3, which only has 91 km, the BMW is not available with DC fast charging. Whereas on the GLC, you can get 55 kW of DC charging as an option. And that is going to give you the ability to fast charge within 20 minutes. And the whole benefit of a plug-in hybrid setup, you can either drive it using only the battery pack like an EV, but if you do maintain charge together, you can run this system like a hybrid and it is going to be pretty efficient. Okay, driving impressions inside the GLC 350E. Over the bonnet, there’s decent forward visibility, good side vision, wing mirrors are a good size, and at the back, rear vision is also good. The camera definition also looks good. And compared to a normal GLC, this doesn’t feel all that different to drive. Nice sharp electric steering with a sharp turning circle radius. And when you put it into sport, it does feel quite dynamic. The throttle response is nice and smooth, and when you apply brakes, it does have regen braking, but it doesn’t feel lurchy or spongy like most plug-in hybrids. This also gets adaptive suspension and self-leveling at the rear. Like I said earlier, the N-speed torque converter also feels responsive but silky smooth at the same time. It cycles through ratios very nicely. What about driver assistance? Everything works fine. There are no annoying beeps and bongs like what you do get on a lot of cars these days. My only gripe is setting the adaptive cruise control because you have the touch buttons and sometimes you can push the wrong function which can be a bit annoying. Let’s talk about the drive modes. So in battery that is driving around an EV only using the battery pack and this is great for driving around the city local driving anything to not pay for fuel because it is getting expensive. It also feels very quick and it drives like an EV in this drive mode. But if you have fully depleted the battery, it isn’t going to feel as responsive and that is why that battery hold feature is a good function. It is good that you can option for DC fast charging because not only you have more choice of power stations, but you can also quick charge it within 20 minutes. And when you let off the accelerator pedal or apply brakes, it regens energy back into the battery. And in terms of fuel consumption, plug-in hybrids aren’t as efficient as what they claim. But driving around in hybrid mode, I got 6 L per 100. and I thought that was a fantastic figure. So, with driving impressions out of the way, let’s wrap up with a verdict. So, a conclusion on the GLC 350e. I was pretty surprised on how well this drove. The plug-in hybrid drivetrain is smooth, efficient, and in my opinion, it is also a better looking car compared to the X3. But tell me, would you pick this over a normal GLC 200 or 300? Let me know your thoughts and don’t forget to like, share, subscribe, hit the bell and I’ll see you next time.
Sanderson Rushcutters Bay Mercedes-Benz
Website: https://www.mbsandersons.com.au
Telephone : (02) 8354 5200
Address: 82 McLachlan Ave, Rushcutters Bay NSW 2011
Skip Ahead / Time Codes
Intro: 00:00
Overview, Model Range, Options & Rivals: 00:46
Sandersons Rushutters Bay: 01:37
Exterior: 01:51
Interior: 03:10
Infotainment: 04:12
Safety: 05:44
Drive Modes & Digital Drivers Display: 06:48
Storage & Rear Seats: 07:53
Rear seats: 07:52
Boot: 08:43
Engine: 09:46
Driving: 10:57
Fuel consumption: 12:20
Verdict: 13:26
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