Hi everyone and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy Channel. Today we have a Mercedes Benz GLE 400, one of the most popular luxury SUVs on the market. This impressive vehicle has many cool features you’d expect from a Mercedes; like the bi-turbo V6 engine, 9 speed automatic transmission, cross stitched leather dashboard and steering wheel, adjustable suspension and excellent steering and handling characteristics, but this video will be simpler. We won’t even talk about the blind spot monitoring, the heated steering wheel, keyless entry, power rear hatch, tons of storage, towing ability or even a full spare tire in the back. What we WILL talk about is some hidden features, tips and tricks and things you may not have known about the Mercedes-Benz GLE 400. We’ll even check out a hidden menu towards the end of the video.
This video should apply to both GLE350 and GLE400 from 2016-2019 model years as the main difference there is mostly just the engine, you get a bi-turbo V6 engine producing 330 horsepower and 354 lb ft of torque in this GLE 400, and before it was discontinued in 2018, you could have had a 300 horse power V6 in the GLE350.
Mercedes GLE400 is considered one of the best highway cruisers based on great comfort, good handling, responsiveness and many different driving modes, but there is one features you probably haven’t realized this car has.
Pre-Safe
Have you even wondered why does the seat belt tighten up a little when you get in and put it on? Well, this is a feature called Pre-Safe and what it does is basically pretension the seat belt and figures out the weight of the occupant inside the car and in an even of an accident, the car knows how tight to pull the seatbelt to keep you as safe as possible. This is what fancy racing cars do!
Crosswind Assist
Another safety item that works in the background is Crosswind Assist, this hidden feature intervenes automatically if the direction and intensity of the crosswind affects your vehicle and stabilizes it by lightly braking one side of the car and making sure you are going straight ahead. This function turns on above 50 mph and can only be turned off by turning off ESP completely which also disabled driving stability, allows your tires to spin freely and active brake assist is no longer available.
EDR
Just like Pre-Safe and Crosswind Assist is calculating all this stuff in the background, this car has a black box of sorts called the Event Data Recorder or EDR that records vehicle dynamics and safety systems in an event of a crash or crash like situation. It will also record whether the seatbelts have been fastened, how fast the vehicle was traveling and what driver inputs were present prior to the event.
Key Fob
Enough about the safety stuff, let’s take a look at some fun ones. We use our key fobs less and less, especially with comfort access, but THIS key fob can do much more than you think. For starters, you can roll down windows and open the sunroof by holding the unlock button and even close them with the lock button as well. Don’t want to take the key fob out? You don’t have to, simple hold the door handle on the sensor like this and it will do the same functions.
Want to check if the battery in the key fob is working properly but you’re not next to the car? Simply hold Lock or Unlock button and the little LED will light up. If it does not, you may need to replace your battery, which can be done by using the mechanical key and popping off the back cover.
Physical Key
Speaking of physical key, this little guy has many functions on its own. Not only can you unlock the front doors, you can also lock the glovebox and cargo compartment when valeting your car and even use it to release the tailgate in an emergency or if the battery is dead.
Tailgate limit
Do you park your car in a garage but afraid that the tailgate will hit the garage door when opening? Well, you can limit the opening angle of the tailgate. To do so, pull the handle on the tailgate to open it and stop it at desired position by pressing the close button on the tailgate or pull the handle on the outside one more time. Then to save this position, press and hold the closing button on the tailgate until you hear two beeps. The tailgate will stop at this position from now on. Very useful!
Fuel Filler Cap Holder
While we are here at the back, let’s check out a feature I wish more people would use. I’ve seen way too many drivers let the fuel filler cap just hang there on the paint work. On this car and many others, you have a little fuel filler cap holder just for this purpose. Nice piece of useful engineering.
Fake Exhaust Tips
What isn’t a useful piece of engineering is fake exhaust tips, I’ve seen it on many inexpensive cars and I can’t stand it and I was hoping Mercedes would be better, but no, it’s the same here.
Before we check out hidden items inside the car, you may be wondering why you have seen other Mercedes SUVs that look very similar but sport the ML badging. Well, this general body style has been in productions between 2012 and 2019, but it only became a GLE from 2016 model year. Prior to this, the car was known as the M-Class or ML400 in this case. Now, let’s jump inside and see what kind of hidden features we can find there.
Hidden Power Socket
We’ll start with a very simple one, there is a hidden 115-volt power socket under the rear seat that can supply up to 150 watts of power. It’s not very easy to see, but definitely useful.
Air vent in the glove box
You know what else is useful? Heated and cooled cup holders, but I’m sure you already knew that one, but did you know that the glove box is also ventilated and will keep your contents cool? Fancy!
Sunblind Reversing Feature
Similarly, out of sight, but very useful if you have kids is the sunblind reversing feature. Some cars now have windows that will stop and reserve if someone’s hand is in the way, but this car will even do so for the sunblind and the sunroof! Safety first!
Extendable sun visors
While we are in this area, *not only do you have 2 sun visors but*(if has 2) these sun visors can be extended to block the sun or prevent glare and improve visibility while on the side of the vehicle.
Conclusion:
As you can see, this seemingly standard SUV hides many interesting facts including some of the ones I have talked about today. If you’d like to see more videos on this car, leave a comment down below as I haven’t even started talking about the air suspension and the versatility it gives you as far as driving dynamics or how you have many different ways of doing most functions without a touchscreen in sight. Anyway, that’s all I have for you guys today, I hope you have learned something new or interesting, like the video for more car content and I’ll see you in the next one!