Anyone have experience with the 320 CDIs?
 

A friend wants to replace his 06 Yukon XL Denali with an 09-ish GL320 CDI....

Anyone have experience with either this chassis or motor?

It will be his wifes daily driver (she currently dailies the Yukon), but will also have to tow his toy hauler once a month. Everything I've read online about these is good, and he's currently in a W211 E500, so he knows the whole "Benz can be money pits" thing really well... :D

Thoughts? The Yukon does a great job, and he doesn't mind the fuel bill, but he's thinking a nice little upgrade wouldn't hurt. :)

Skid Row Joe, JimFreeh, grease lightnig (yes, spelled like that), TylerH860 and 65aircooled are forum names that I can think of that own them...

GL-class. Does it come with a free banjo and Coors cans in the door panels? :D

I know a couple people with them and they hardly seem to complain.

A guy two boats down from me just got one of those Porsche SUV diesels that seems nicer, don't know if those have made their way onto the used market yet.

A word to the wise:
 

Wondering if this change is being contemplated to please the spousal unit....


If yes, here are two points to ponder.

1. For women, all gifts count "ONE" point. doesn't matter if it's a card, flowers, chocolates, a car, house, anything.

*ALL* equals ONE point. All the time, every time.


2. They think differently from us. The typical male might upgrade her to a nice Mercedes-Benz or whatever.

But: This is better, and maybe even cheaper.

Taken from an actual advertisement, in a 1x a week newspaper out of Gridley, California: (it's a little town below Chico on the Interstate. With one jewelry store):


As we get older, our eyesight diminishes.


This requires BIGGER DIAMONDS

The air ride on the GLs used to be horrible to deal with because of no aftermarket support and a huge back order from Mercedes. Trucks would sit at MB for a month waiting for a part.

Now there's some aftermarket support and I think production of OEM parts have caught up to demand.

I wouldn't put up with it, personally, and go for a GLK250 diesel for the little extra coin.

Do they all have air ride?

My brother's wife drives a GL320 CDI. I recall it's an 09.
The engine is a V-6, not the inline six that I have.

My brother originally bought it for himself, his wife had an 09(?) Tahoe hybrid at the time. She 'opined' that she wanted his GL. So he traded the Tahoe in on an E350 for himself.

Bottom line, she loves the GL. Gets decent mileage, loads of room, very easy to drive. When I was out in Tucson last year, I bought a couch for one of my daughters and we were able to haul it home in the GL. My brother, his wife and I all like the truck, it's a very pleasant driver.

Jim

I have an 09 E320 Bluetec. The E class that year did not have AdBlue, the GL probably did. Not a big issue, just something else to service every 10k miles.

I can't comment on towing capacity although a GL is going to be a fairly short wheelbase which has inherent issues......hard to beat a full size truck for towing.

The OM642 V6 engine is a LOW rpm engine unlike the 617 to 648's before it. Is more like a 454 V8, lugs around town at 1100rpm in 6th or 7th gear, cruises the freeway around 2500 rpm. Plenty of torque, have no doubt it can pull a trailer and when you put your foot down it gets up and gets going in a hurry. Turbo is more responsive that models before it.

Starting in model year 2009, they changed from CDI to Bluetec. That means dealing with adding the AddBlue every 10K or so. That is a relatively minor and inexpensive annoyance, however, they put the AddBlue tank where the spare tire used to be, so that means dealing with the $$$ run-flat tires and wheels.

Not sure, but I think maybe in the more recent model years they might have relocated the AddBlue tank and gone back to conventional tires.

Also, the earlier model years seem to be prone to oil cooler and turbocharger oil leaks which are $$$$ to fix, so either make sure those have been fixed, or get a good aftermarket warranty.