Overview

If you’re looking at family-sized SUVs with an upmarket badge on their nose, the Mercedes GLC certainly gives you plenty of choice. It’s available with traditional diesel engines, punchy petrols and a pair of plug-in hybrid options. There’s also a couple of fast AMG versions including the bonkers V8-powered GLC 63.

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Regardless of what engine you select, you’ll find it’s connected to a smooth nine-speed automatic gearbox as standard – you wouldn’t want to shift your own gears, would you? To hammer home the GLC’s SUV credentials, you also get all-wheel drive on all variants. Think of this as something to help you out of a slippery grass carpark rather than scale mountains, though.

Although its smaller sibling the GLB comes with seven seats as standard, the GLC seats a maximum of five. Should you need to prioritise luggage space, all GLCs get a three-way split folding rear seat that’s operated by some handily sited switches in the boot. If you’re hoping for rear pews that slide, recline and do other clever stuff, we’d point you towards rivals. 

They include the Audi Q5 and its impressively versatile interior, the keener-handling BMW X3 and Land Rover Discovery Sport that combines seven seat practicality with decent ability off-road. However, at this price you could also afford a larger but less plush SUV such as the Hyundai Santa Fe, award-winning Kia Sorento or Peugeot 5008 should maximum space be more important than image.

To find out how the GLC compares to rivals, keep reading over the next few pages. We’ll cover off interior quality and toys, practicality, what it’s like to drive, what it’ll cost you and which version we’d recommend. If you decide you do want a Mercedes but fancy something smaller, there’s the GLA and GLB, while the GLE is a bigger seven-seater if your family are growing up.

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