The brochure says this GL63 has lots of
electronics to make it a better handler than the regular GL. It’s got active
Damping, it’s got active curve System, it’s got a complex traction control bit,
it’s got every other electronic aid that the guys at AMG could find. But on the
road, you immediately sense this GL is not a corner-lover. The electronics try
really hard to keep things tidy, but they don’t do the job with finesse. It
doesn’t have the charm of a natural handler; you know the ones and zeroes are actively
in play inside the on-board computers.
And all the electronics doesn’t do much to
keep body roll in check. There’s plenty of it. The steering isn’t too involving
either. It’s light and very, very low on feedback, at least by AMG standards.
Well-appointed
but docile interior. Cabin isn’t in sync with the madness happening under the
hood
The ride, though, hasn’t been sacrificed
much. Yes, German roads are not the best place to test ride, but a bit of
soft-roading was enough to tell us the ride isn’t bad.
It’s very rare that a car with an AMG badge
is not a corner-lover. It’s also very rare that the styling on an AMG doesn’t
stand out. But in this case, apart from the slightly flared wheel arches and
microscopic changes on the face, there’s nothing else in the car that shouts
out “AMG” loud and clear. It looks very much like the first lot of AMG GLs that
Merc got to India.
Two
Bang & Olufsen audio systems are available from the options list
The interior stays almost unaltered
compared to the regular GL. In fact, the similarities go so deep that it’s
almost impossible to tell the two apart. Minus one for the GL63, then. For
sure, the interior is plush and sophisticated, but if you’re sitting in a
hopped up SUV, you want the designers to have gone a bit crazy on the interior
too, no?
Okay, so a gigantic V8 that gulps tankfuls
of petrol very quickly isn’t the most practical one for most of us, but apart
from that, the GL63 has a few things that make life really easy. For instance,
it’s got massage seats as standard, and the feature list says active Park
assist is standard too. Plus the GL can seat seven adults comfortably –
something that most other super-SUVs will fail to do.
The
mighty bi-turbo 5.5-litre V8 has been developed specifically for larger Mercedes
models
It takes effort and intelligence to turn an
SUV into a driver’s car – merely plonking a hyper-powerful engine isn’t enough.
There’s some serious physics looking down at you. The height is against you.
The weight is against you. The aerodynamics is against you. In this case, even
major alterations to the suspension and a whole lot of electronics aren’t
enough to make this a driver’s SUV.
It’s probably best to keep the monsters and
the giants in the sci-fi movies, then. For SUV kicks, you’ll be better off with
the regular GL. As will your accountant.
