Words by: Adam Allen
There’s a bit of anxiety creeping in at Mercedes Benz headquarters.
Yes, the stoic façade of the brand hailing from Stuttgart has begun to waver recently. Mercedes was amongst the roster of brands who made a big bet on electric vehicles some years ago. It’s poured an ocean of money into developing their EQ sub brand and allocated huge engineering resources to ensure that they’re good enough to wear the three-pointed star. The strategy, while well intentioned, has not gone according to plan; electric cars are having a moment right now, and it ain’t good. At this juncture, amidst plummeting sales numbers, Mercedes misfortunes are two-fold. One is beyond their control- a softening market attributed to many factors, most of which is the lack of consumer demand. Marketing types call this phenomenon ‘headwinds’, but the lack of charging infrastructure and high cost of entry are barriers that are keeping shoppers away, at least in the numbers that were projected. The second slap in the face is a bit more of a concern- Mercedes builds good electric cars but certainly not great ones; they are just OK. We didn’t expect that from the folks behind excellent products like the S-Class and AMG GT, but here we are.
Mercedes should find solace in the fact that while their EV program isn’t a home run, their plug-in hybrid game most definitely is. This is our second go-around in a Benz with just such a drivetrain- we drove the GLE 450e about a year ago and came away suitably impressed, so much so that we said “Clearly, it was worth the wait for Mercedes’ PHEV technology…the GLE 450e is a compelling, in-the-moment SUV.” After spending some time in the best-selling GLC 350e, we can tell you that that tradition continues.
Both the GLC and larger sibling GLE use very similar mechanical templates- battery size and associated electronics are virtually identical. Our tester makes do with a less powerful version of the turbocharged four-cylinder engine they share which makes sure Benz’s hierarchical model remains intact, at least from a horsepower standpoint. Mercedes says the GLC 350e is good for an all-electric range of 87 kilometers, but we were skeptical; skeptical because we always do better than their quoted range, and this time was no different. On one longer trip we squeezed 92 kilometers out of a charge and likely could have done a smidge better were it not for frigid temperatures outside. Like the one-size bigger GLE, the GLC is great to drive once the battery is drained. It feels, well, normal. When there’s still juice to be had, the harmony between the engine and battery pack work in perfect accord, the transmission shifts imperceptibly and even the brakes, long a sore spot for their mushiness and lack of feel seem better realized in the 350e. Heck, you can even have a little fun here and there thanks to a willing chassis and generously sized winter rubber- just don’t push too hard and you’re good.
For those long, mind-numbing commutes, the interior does its best to keep occupants fresh and sanguine with an attractive colour scheme- but we’d never order the same white leather hides as our tester which was just starting to show the dye migration from many a denim clad bum sliding across its bottom cushion. The sprinkling of carbon fiber and brushed metal throughout is pleasing to the eye; begone piano black accents with your scratches and smudges! The GLC is the recipient of Mercedes Benz’s MBUX voice activated user interface, but we spent more time trying to get it to be quiet (“CANCEL!”) then asking it for help. At least the build quality and attention to detail are still up to snuff and the GLC now enjoys a wide delta of quality over the BMW X3 and head-and-shoulders above the milquetoast Audi Q5.
The GLC 350e is most at home doing regular car stuff- mixed driving on highways and on city streets, runs to the hockey rink, that kind of thing. As we touched on earlier, it excels in that role as long as you don’t push it too hard outside its comfort zone. Part of the GLC’s reticence to dance the tarmac jig is attributable to the hybrid components and the onboard battery along for the ride. These gubbins contribute to an increase in weight over the conventional GLC 300 by 318 kilos which, as you can imagine, doesn’t do driving dynamics any favors. Mercedes realized that and saw fit to give the GLC 350e with a self-leveling rear suspension. It does a lot of heavy lifting in making sure the Benz doesn’t fall apart when you’re driving it with a fully depleted battery, helping to compensate for the extra heft.
But to do that means you’ll miss the opportunity to enjoy some truly significant frugality and the ability to take advantage of the silence and instant torque of electric only propulsion. Like we said, the GLC carries itself just fine down the road when you’ve exhausted the battery’s charge, but who wants to spend their driving shlepping around 2,334 kilos of dead weight? You can install a charger at your home or office, but we found that plugging it into a regular 120V outlet gave us just enough juice to get to work and back if we charged overnight. Not the fastest way to juice up but it does work. Experimenting as we did throughout our week spent in the GLC 350e, we arrived at an unsurprising conclusion: the PHEVs Mercedes is cranking out represent, in our opinion, are the best you can currently buy and offer a much-needed intermediate step for those thinking of adopting full electrification for their vehicle needs.
2025 Mercedes Benz GLC 350e 4MATIC - Specifications
- Price as tested: $81,250
- Body Type: 4-door, 5 passenger SUV
- Powertrain Layout: Front engine/all-wheel drive
- Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged inline-4, DOHC, 16 valves
- Electrification: 23.3 kWh Lithium-Ion battery
- Total System Horsepower: 313
- Torque (lb-ft.): 406
- Transmission: 9-speed automatic
- Curb weight: 2,334 kg (5,146 lbs)
- Observed Fuel Economy: 11/100km (21 mpg)