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The best SUV all-rounder? The Mercedes GLC

If you must drive an SUV then you could do a lot worse than the Mercedes GLC. Sure, it’s not the cheapest model on the block but the mid-size GLC is the best all-rounder in this sector.

And I would try and stretch your budget to the 250D – an engine that’s a step above the 2.0D in the Jaguar F-Pace. The Mercedes doesn’t feel stretched when pushed hard.

Combined with a classy interior (apart from the carbuncle infotainment screen!), cool looks and decent handling, the GLC is a match for any other premium brand offering.

Just remember that you need extra long legs to avoid those annoying and rather pointless side steps…

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The carbuncle that is a dashboard screen – Mercedes GLC

Mercedes won’t like me for pointing this out but the infotainment screen on the GLC is an absolute eyesore.

Somebody has gone to great effort to ensure the centre console is slick and smooth – somebody else decided to stick an ugly screen in the middle.

It’s like sitting in a beautiful lounge, with every seat facing an ugly black TV screen. What’s that all about?

I recently visited a hotel in Scotland with a large, gilt edged mirror in the bedroom. Turned out to be a TV when you found the on/off button. Brilliant.

It’s not just Mercedes, many cars have the carbuncle problem. Perhaps a unit that simply disappears into the top of the dash when not needed is the answer?

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Step One – how to get out of a Mercedes GLC

You might think that after 50 odd years I would have mastered the art of stepping out of a car.

In the sixties, debutants were taught how to step in to a car in the most demure way possible. Not easy in a skirt and high heels I imagine.

Now it seems I need to retrain myself for cars like the Mercedes GLC, which have side steps. For every time I leave the driver’s seat, I can’t stretch beyond the edge of the step itself.

This results in a dirty line down the calf of my trousers – and no end of dirty words coming from my mouth.

So who decided we need steps to get in and out of an SUV? Land Rover nailed it with retractable side steps on the Range Rover but personally, I can;t see the point.

If you can step into a car, you probably shouldn’t be driving it…

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The Mercedes GLC – even gives a proper Merc ‘clunk’ when you shut the doors

I think I might have found an SUV that I actually want to buy. Perhaps because the GLC shares its platform with the excellent C-Class – this is the best mid-size SUV I’ve driven in ages.

The GLC isn’t going to set your pulses racing but as an all-rounder it ticks many boxes. Great looks, sensational interior and a very decent engine that pulls well.

It’s also refined and built like a proper Merc – a decent clunk when you shut the doors and oozing quality.

For performance, you need to move up the range but with simple off-road driving aids and enough ground clearance for light off-road use, the GLC is a serious contender…

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Mercedes’ first premium compact SUV – the GLC

It’s been a bit of a SUV-fest on Car Couture of late. All that will change shortly but in the mean time, the Mercedes GLC is one of the newest models in this expanding sector of the car market.

And it’s a beauty. Mercedes has been generous by lavishing the GLC with a fantastic, premium interior and good looks. It’s a cut about the blandness of several key rivals – although the rear end is less exciting.

Ignoring the ridiculously quick AMG GLC 43 and the 3.0 V6 350d, the more powerful model most buyers will opt for is our 250d.With 204bhp it is the perfect all-rounder for real-world driving.

For now, I just have to get my head around the workings of the infotainment system. The screen sits like a carbuncle on the dash and there’s a crazy mouse for the left hand. Interesting…

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The Jaguar F-Pace 2.0d – a sheep in wolf’s clothing

If I read another review of the Jaguar F-Pace that calls it a ‘sporty’ SUV I may just self combust. Pick one of the 3.0 diesel or petrol versions and maybe so – the 2.0 diesel (which most people will buy in the UK) is a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Tomorrow we have a Mercedes GLC arriving on test and imagine the slightly larger diesel engine will be considerably more refined than the Jaguar unit.

There’s nothing wrong with the Jaguar four-cylinder – except it should be fitted to a hatchback rather than a chunky SUV called F-Pace.

On the plus side, as Jaguar’s first attempt at an SUV, the F-Pace is roomy, well-built and easy on the eye…

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My perfect SUV has the body of a Jaguar F-Pace

My perfect SUV? Well, it would have the body of a Jaguar F-Pace, the engine of a Porsche Macan and the interior of a Mercedes GLC (which we will have on test from this coming Thursday).

I’m still baffled by Jaguar’s 2.0 diesel, which is just so noisy under harsh acceleration – something one is surely expected to do in a vehicle called F-Pace?

Yet I can’t deny it isn’t pretty. Everywhere I drive it, there are admiring glances. F-Pace so much prettier than a BMW X3, or the Audi Q5, although the dark blue paintwork on our test car doesn’t really work for me.

I just wish I had driven the 300PS V6 diesel, or the 3.0-litre supercharged petrol model because I suspect, both those engines will have what the 2.0-litre models lacks – F-PACE!

 

 

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Jaguar F-Pace – as mean looking as an Audi Q7?

I’m starting to wish I’d borrowed the 3.0-litre V6 F-Pace. Apart from the yawn-inspiring diesel engine in this week’s test car the first Jaguar SUV is otherwise rather good.

A shame really as this 2.0 diesel is the one most buyers will opt for, to benefit from tax breaks and the fine fuel economy. If only it churned out a bit more grunt and sounded like a ‘proper’ sporty SUV.

At least there’s no doubt the F-Pace turns heads, it’s rather like a mini Maserati Levante, thanks to that gaping from grille and compact, curvy shape. I love it – although I don’t think our dark blue test car really shows the F-Pace off to the max.

Perhaps only the Audi Q7 has a more aggressive look. As Clarkson once said, you could ‘nail it to a church door to fend off the devil’. The Jaguar looks like it means business, which is good enough for me. Amen.

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Jaguar F-Pace – another car that squeals when you push it hard

We are moving towards a world where cars have smaller, more frugal and efficient engines that help to save the polar bears.

This is a good thing – except for one fact. Small engines have to be revved harder to perform and consequently sound like they are being wrung by the neck.

That’s right, just like last week’s 2.0-litre diesel Volvo, the F-Pace 2.0 diesel is not a relaxing cabin for point and shoot drivers who prefer an A-road to a motorway.

It’s quite depressing. I can’t say bad things about either car but having to thrash a 2.0 derv to enjoy yourself is not what I expected from two otherwise thoroughly modern machines.

Hmmm…

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Jaguar F-Pace – blurring the line between SUV and sports car?

 

Jaguar’s first SUV is infused with more than a dash of Land Rover DNA. You’d expect that with two such bedfellows.

Yet the F-Pace isn’t really designed to crash through the jungle or pull a heavy load. It’s really a bit of a softie – with part-time four-wheel drive and very pretty styling.

The line between SUV and proper 4×4 has been blurred for a long time. The F-Pace errs on the side of the former. It’s not a sporty beast like the Porsche Macan either – whatever the advertising tries to tell you.

Sure the supercharged V6 version is tasty but really the F-Pace will be mostly consumed as a 2.0-litre diesel, like our test car this week.

Let’s see how it goes…