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Long'ish road trip...

5K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Tagman 
#1 ·
Just back after a long'ish road trip over the weekend in my GLA 200... the car handled really well and proved to be very comfortable. It was a run up from Brussels (Belgium) to Hull (England) via the sea ferry at Calais, around 1900km's in a return trip (I know this isn't long compared to US road trips but it is by european standards)...

We were dropping our daughter off at her grandparents for a couple of weeks so the car had a full boot/trunk (bike, toys, books, etc). It was the first long run I've done in the car as it's mainly been used for city driving so I wasn't sure how the trip would be. I was also comparing it to my last car (Lexus GS 300) which was bigger and had a larger engine.

Overall I was very impressed, the car performed well and was really smooth on the motorways. Top cruising speeds were around 130-150km's (about 95 mph), with plenty of extra power to nip past trucks okay on country roads. The suspension really holds the road well, no drift or heavy rolling that you normally get with SUV's.

Fuel economy was also very good, I managed to hit 40mpg as an average, the 6th gear really drops the revs to around 2200rpm. It was also a very quiet drive with little wind noise, although this was only noticeable in between the changes of Scooby Doo on the DVD system in the back seats.

I've also got the comfort seats, which were just as comfortable as the Lexus GS, especially with the lumbar support. The blind spot assist was also great at finding cars that had sneaked into the blind spot of the GLA, well worth the investment. The attention assist kicked in at one point when I started to get drowsy, so a pit stop for a double expresso helped.

As the GLA is still fairly new to europe I didn't see another one on the road during the trip, but got plenty of looks at the service stations. The trip was actually quicker than previous ones in the GS, but the roads were quiet so we didn't have too many delays...

I'm impressed by the GLA for long drives.
 
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#2 ·
Thanks for the positive report especially compared to the GS 300, as I have been mildly concerned about the seating comfort (not been able to sit in one yet). I am envious about your cruising speeds as getting nabbed on the highways here at 150 kph is a huge fine, seizure of the vehicle for a week, and lots of demit points. There is a move to increase the speed limits here but the politicians and police are stuck in the 70's. The limit is 1000 but typical speed is 119.

The attention assist and collision avoidance are good selling points.
 
#3 ·
As a follow up to my recent road trip, yesterday I drove to Holland on business from Brussels. About a 600km round trip in a day, smooth drive on the motorways at around 120-130kmh (about 75-80+ mph). Fuel economy was very good at high speed, impressed by the handling and flexibility of the car on the road (especially with three adults onboard).

Permanent drive lights also helped with keep my car in the attention of other drivers, plus the blind spot assist is a 'must have' for the 6 lanes sections around Antwerpen (too many cars swapping lanes at 100kmh).

Still loving the GLA (except my noisy engine - see the technical section for more info)...
 
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