2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 450e 4MATIC Review: PHEV SUV Trades 7 Seat Option For EV Range

To adapt a saying my mom often uses, "Mercedes knows which side its bread is buttered on." Over the past century or so, Mercedes-Benz has been able to market exactly the cars its customer base wants, and has arguably remained the de facto standard for European Luxury brands for longer than anyone reading this has been alive. As such, it has a built-in ownership base which is probably going to buy or lease a new Mercedes every few years regardless of what else is happening in the automotive industry.

If you are already a diehard Mercedes fan, whatever I'm going to say about the 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 450e might fall on deaf ears. All you want to know is if Todd at the local Mercedes dealership is in today so he can get the lease papers worked up before you get there. For everyone else who wants to take an in depth look at what a $90,000+ Mercedes drives like before you drop the cash, I can hopefully fulfill that role.

Here's a fun fact about my automotive career: the first car I ever drove as a journalist was a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class when I interned for Autoweek magazine all the way back in 2017. It had an MSRP somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000 and it terrified me to drive. Fast forward to 2025, and I'm staring at a "Cote d' Azur Light Blue Metallic" Mercedes SUV sitting in the driveway. I'm not afraid to drive it, but seeing the big Mercedes badge on the grille still gives me pause. The brand definitely means something and that "something" is expensive.

As the lowercase "e" denotes in the name, this GLE is a plug-in hybrid. The fender badges even borrow the "EQ" branding from Mercedes' electric vehicles. Unlike a fully-electric EQE SUV, however, it has an EV-only range of a pretty stout 50 miles from a 23.3 kilowatt-hour battery. Mechanically, the electric motor and turbocharged 2.0-liter four cylinder generate 381 horsepower when working together, with the EV motor taking up 134 horsepower of slack. Despite the hybridized drivetrain and beefy battery, the regular fuel economy is still rated at a merely adequate 23 miles per gallon. Over the course of the week, I found that estimate to be, unfortunately, right on the money.

The mechanical bits of the GLE serve a purpose, sure, but the real intention of a vehicle like the GLE is to be a comfortable commuter for you and your family and/or you and whoever you golf with, and to carry a lot of stuff. The GLE sits right in the middle of the Mercedes lineup, meaning it's bigger than compact crossovers like the GLA, yet still not a veritable military vehicle like the G-Class. It's just a five-seater SUV and it doesn't present itself as anything more complicated than that. 

A third row is optional on every trim level except the plug-in hybrid version. For interior space, you get 74.9 cubic feet with all of the seats folded down, and 31.5 cubic feet with all five of the seats in place. Mercedes says it'll tow a fairly beefy 7,700 pounds. 

As one would expect from a Mercedes, the interior was about as luxe as can be. Every inch was covered in leather or wood accents (in this case walnut). While it's not the fastest SUV in the Stuttgart stable, it's not slow with a 0-60 time of 5.8 seconds. On the highway, it does a fairly convincing imitation of sitting on a swanky yacht, or gently cruising private jet. I drove around a few friends and their toddler for a day, and the toddler — already obsessed with anything that has wheels — was enamored with the GLE's interior niceties, even if he wasn't quite sure how to say "Mercedes-Benz."

The ride quality is, of course, very smooth and refined. However, the optional air suspension fitted on this particular car could stand to be a little more floaty, if I had any complaints. The suspension and steering, while predictable and moderately agile, was a little stiff when the road conditions weren't great. It wasn't jarring, but maybe not as cloud-like as you would expect from a non-AMG Mercedes (it's worth mentioning that the AMG-ified GLE 63 S has 603 horsepower and a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds). It was a little too sporty feeling. 

Still, I'm hard pressed to find any substantive qualms I had over the course of my road test. It's competent, quiet, and mostly very plush. Fortunately for me, the Mercedes MBUX infotainment system was straightforward and never tried to fight me when I wanted to tweak settings or mess around with the radio. For that I am thankful.

It's all around a breeze to drive and transport people and/or things. It does exactly what a Mercedes SUV should do, so the little bit of EV driving I got in was a bonus. If you wanted to use the EV capabilities to its fullest, it's rated to DC fast charge at public stations at up to 60 kW. Slower than an EQE SUV's 170 kW but, since there's a much smaller battery in the PHEV, Mercedes says it will take 20 minutes to go from 10% to 80%, or two hours and 45 minutes to charge from empty to full. 

The base model 2025 Mercedes GLE 350 starts at $61,850. The GLE 450e that I drove starts at $71,350. For the near-$10,000 extra, you get all-wheel drive and the hybrid drivetrain. This specific 'Benz was painted in the aforementioned Cote d' Azur paint color, part of Mercedes' own "MANUFAKTUR" line of bespoke finishes. As such, it adds $6,500 to the price tag and was the most expensive single option on this car. It has $1,100 AMG 21-inch wheels, and Mercedes' windshield wiper spray system — dubbed "MAGIC VISION CONTROL" — is a $350 option.

Inside, the "Bahia Brown" leather adds on another $1,620 and the walnut wood trim is $160. Mercedes "MB-Tex" upholstery adds $350, and the panoramic sunroof will set you back an even $1,000. Four-zone climate control is $860, and the driver assistance package will set you back $1,950. 

The "acoustic comfort package" which purports to reduce road noise is $1,100. The GLE was also equipped with the "AIRMATIC" package which allows you to raise and lower the ride height as you wish; it's $1,710. The sporty AMG Line Exterior package — which gets you extra trim pieces and better brakes — is $3,150. Lastly, the $1,300 Exclusive trim gives you a Burmester sound system and ventilated front seats. The $1,150 destination charge brings us to the final price of $93,650 for the privilege of a high-tech hybrid German yacht of an SUV.

The 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLE 450e isn't a pulse-pounding car by most stretches of the imagination. The plug-in hybrid drivetrain gives it a nice technological edge, but nothing about the SUV could accurately be considered "in your face" (apart from the price tag). It's simply a very nice car that's frankly a joy to live with, even if the suspension could be tuned a little bit differently and the gas mileage could be a little bit better.

Certainly that price hurts, but it's not all that surprising, and the big star badge on the front should tell you all you need to know. That said, it's probably worth cross shopping with the $73,800 BMW X5 xDrive50e hybrid: that's more powerful, at 483 horsepower, though has less room with a maximum 60.7 cubic feet for cargo. The BMW's EV range is also a little less at 38 miles. 

Or there's the plug-in hybrid Lexus TX 550h+, more of a bargain at "just" $78,660 yet with significantly fewer color choices, not to mention less in the way of (option) interior extras. Plus, its EV range is just 33 miles. I liked the GLE 450e. It's a fantastic SUV that is easy and effortless to be around, but the price might be too much to swallow with other options on the menu.