Big on fuel savings

Full-size SUV shoppers, rejoice! Gas prices are still rising!

Okay, that sentence may seem just a little bit ridiculous, but honestly, if there is a positive that can be taken out of skyrocketing gas prices, it’s that automakers are making some serious strides when it comes to improving the fuel efficiency of full-size SUVs.

It’s an undeniable fact that many car buyers are moving away from large SUVs in droves, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are still people who need these giants of the auto industry, whether it’s because of large families to chauffeur around, active lifestyles that require lots of room to carry things, or any other combination of legit reasons.

So we see things like cylinder deactivation, hybrid Cadillac Escalades, Flex Fuel compatibility, and in the case of Mercedes-Benz, BLUETEC diesel technology that vastly improves the fuel economy of some of its vehicles, both large and small.

After the critical success of the E320 BLUETEC diesel sedan that was introduced in North America for the 2007 model year, Mercedes’ has added a BLUETEC engine to the ML-, R- and GL-Class vehicles for 2008.

And after testing the GL320 CDI, there’s no doubt it’s yet another winner in Mercedes’ diesel family, and more importantly, it’s another reason why diesels should be all over the roads of North America sooner rather than later.

The GL320 CDI is the larger and more luxurious of the Mercedes ‘G’ SUVs. The boxy G-Class is more about heritage and the new GLK is more about trendiness (that’s not to say it’s a bad vehicle!). The big and stylish GL meanwhile manages to serve large families - it’s safe to say North American families more than anything else - while still upholding all the values of every Mercedes when considering luxury.

And you can be certain that the GL320 is a capable of hauling all kinds of people and cargo, though ‘haul’ seems like such a crass word for this beautiful machine ... maybe ‘schlep’, is a better word? Whatever you want to call it, the GL320 does it, and does it well.

If you’re moving people, you have three rows of seating, with power folding third row seats, reclining second row seats, leather on just about everything, and all kinds of head room and leg room. Even the two occupants at the very back of this SUV have a decent amount of space. The really good stuff unfortunately is optional, such as two rear LCD screens that play DVDs or video games, heated second row seats, and separate rear audio controls. It’s also a bit of pain getting to the third row as it’s only accessible from one side of the car.

As for moving lots of stuff, the GL320 can do that too. The two back rows of seats fold flat (the second row splits 60/40, the third row 50/50) for a large, versatile cargo space, though I can only imagine how much more room there would be without the full size spare tire hogging so much space under the floor.

Keep in mind that whether you have a packed ride, or you’re driving solo, the GL320 doesn’t skimp at all in the luxury and comfort department. It floats over just about any road imperfection and the 7G-TRONIC automatic transmission that’s currently being used in more and more Mercedes-Benz vehicles makes for nearly imperceptible shifts.

There’s no point naming off every luxury and technological feature in the GL320 because A) there’s way too many to name off here and B) the first thing most people think of when they hear ‘Mercedes-Benz’ is ‘luxury’ anyways. Suffice it to say, the interior is magnificent, if a tad bewildering since you can put the word ‘power’ in just about every feature: power-windows, 10-way power front seats, power headrests, etc.

As more and more people understand, diesels of today aren’t even close to those of yesteryear. Current diesels - BLUETEC ones especially - are clean and quiet, and won’t make you scrunch your nose up when the smell of the exhaust hits. But despite a ton of torque produced by the 3.0-litre V6, the GL320 still feels somewhat underpowered. Even when it has no one and nothing in it, the vehicle weighs well over 5,000 lbs. Add a few passengers and some coolers full of ice and six-packs of bee-... er, soda, and you have yourself a bulging mass of vehicle that needs a ton of power to really get it going.

But the best thing about this big SUV is that you can get very good fuel economy numbers without having to really work for it. I averaged 12.0 L/100 km. in a GMC Yukon hybrid recently, for example, but that only came after a lot of restraint while driving.

The GL320 doesn’t really make the driver work for anything, whether it’s fuel efficiency, comfort, safety or anything else that makes a vehicle great.