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I have not seen one yet, as I am whittling down my list of cars to look at based upon available information (brochures, reviews etc).
The currently available GLA car seems to have a lot of equipment, but I am struggling as to what is included or is an extra.If anybody has already compared this automatic plug in hybrid SUV against other auto PHEV SUVs regarding the included equipment levels and would like to share your thoughts, I would be very grateful to hear them.
Many thanks,
Ian
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It’s been a few years since I last looked in detail at the GLAs standard spec Ian but, from memory, it didn’t compare favourably back then and extras were very expensive. I had a GLB on loan for a week and wasn’t impressed with it so, in the end, I didn’t look at the GLA, but it never appears as a class leader in reviews and is a bit smaller than its peers.
Keeping in mind that with the addition of your sacrificed benefits, an £8k car costs you over £20k for a leased car that you will hand back with nothing to show for it, it needs very careful consideration, unless you have always wanted a Merc and this is your only route (£20k would get you a significantly better Merc that’s a few years old that you’d own)
Then there’s the whole PHEV thing. I know that a lot of people on here like them, but I have a PHEV at present (my first – Tucson Ultimate) and am not convinced by them. Having to plug it in after every journey is a faff that I’ve never had with my previous ICE cars and once the modest EV range is depleted the mpg is poor due to the weight of the car. Their main appeal is for company car users who benefit from their lower benefit in kind taxation, but as we don’t have to worry about that the key is the type of driving that you do. If virtually every journey that you do is within the EV range (knock a third off the claimed range to allow for winter driving) and you are happy having to plug it in after every single time that you use it, then they can work out to be quite economical. However, if, like me, you do regular journeys that are above the EV range, the benefits fall away quite quickly, especially if you’ve paid a large advance payment in order to get one.
We had to change cars as we needed a new adaptation, but I’d swap back to my petrol BMW X1 in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, decent petrol SUVs are as rare as hens teeth on Motability now, so this might push us away from the scheme next time, unless I can convince myself that I’m happy to move to a full EV, in which case I’d get one through Motability as the risks as a private buyer are too great.
I genuinely expected to see a lot of replies all stating that spending £8,000 on a car you have for 3 year is anything between silly and insane.
I’ve not been in the GLA but all reviews I’ve seen for that class of car haven’t included Mercedes as a class option, let alone leader. If it were me, I’d be looking to spend less and have some money ready for my next car and not get a prestige badge. What you should be looking at, I’m afraid, I can’t help as I’ve not kept track of non BEVs for a while.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Standard equipment
18” 5-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels, painted in tremolite grey
Sport body styling
Parking Package with reversing camera
EASYPACK tailgate
Adaptive Highbeam Assist
GUARD 360° Vehicle protection
LED High Performance headlamps
Mirror PackageAMG Line Executive:
19” AMG 5-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels
AMG bodystyling
KEYLESS-GO
HANDS-FREE ACCESS
Sports brake system
Heat-insulating dark-tinted glass/ Blind spot assist.AMG Line Premium:
In addition / replacement to AMG Line Executive:
20” AMG 10-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels
AMG Line Premium Plus
In addition / replacement to AMG Line Premium:20” AMG multi-spoke light-alloy wheels – Black
MULTIBEAM LED headlamps Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus
Parking Package with 360 degree camera15,6kWh useable battery with a WLTP range of 45 miles (expect 39/40 in real world). Powered by a 1.3l petrol engine, producing a combined 215bhp (not sure if the 250e uses Renault engine) but, i’d imagine once the battery has run out or on a longer journey, it might struggle with a 1.3 engine given the weight of the car.
i am one of those @MFillingham, if i had 8k available i would leave mota and get a decent 2nd hand car.
It’s been a few years since I last looked in detail at the GLAs standard spec Ian but, from memory, it didn’t compare favourably back then and extras were very expensive. I had a GLB on loan for a week and wasn’t impressed with it so, in the end, I didn’t look at the GLA, but it never appears as a class leader in reviews and is a bit smaller than its peers. Keeping in mind that with the addition of your sacrificed benefits, an £8k car costs you over £20k for a leased car that you will hand back with nothing to show for it, it needs very careful consideration, unless you have always wanted a Merc and this is your only route (£20k would get you a significantly better Merc that’s a few years old that you’d own) Then there’s the whole PHEV thing. I know that a lot of people on here like them, but I have a PHEV at present (my first – Tucson Ultimate) and am not convinced by them. Having to plug it in after every journey is a faff that I’ve never had with my previous ICE cars and once the modest EV range is depleted the mpg is poor due to the weight of the car. Their main appeal is for company car users who benefit from their lower benefit in kind taxation, but as we don’t have to worry about that the key is the type of driving that you do. If virtually every journey that you do is within the EV range (knock a third off the claimed range to allow for winter driving) and you are happy having to plug it in after every single time that you use it, then they can work out to be quite economical. However, if, like me, you do regular journeys that are above the EV range, the benefits fall away quite quickly, especially if you’ve paid a large advance payment in order to get one. We had to change cars as we needed a new adaptation, but I’d swap back to my petrol BMW X1 in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, decent petrol SUVs are as rare as hens teeth on Motability now, so this might push us away from the scheme next time, unless I can convince myself that I’m happy to move to a full EV, in which case I’d get one through Motability as the risks as a private buyer are too great.
It is interesting that it doesn’t appear as a class leader. I wonder if that is because it costs more than the alternatives, or whether it isn’t actually as good in standard trim.
Looking at autotrader for 3 year old £20k Suvs of the size I need brings up plenty X1 and X2 cars. Mercs available at that price point aren’t the right size for me. But some of the tech that I’ve become accustomed to in my Qashqai is likely fitted to the BMWs. I would not buy a PHEV though.
I have read through yours and Kezos thread on the Tucson. I found it incredibly useful, so thanks to you both for that information.
Majority journeys for me are below 30 miles, hence considering the PHEV through Motability.
I genuinely expected to see a lot of replies all stating that spending £8,000 on a car you have for 3 year is anything between silly and insane. I’ve not been in the GLA but all reviews I’ve seen for that class of car haven’t included Mercedes as a class option, let alone leader. If it were me, I’d be looking to spend less and have some money ready for my next car and not get a prestige badge. What you should be looking at, I’m afraid, I can’t help as I’ve not kept track of non BEVs for a while.
Given the GLA costs approximately £50000, Im looking at the level of equipment provided on the car, so I can compare if it is available for less on other cars. My circumstances dictate that I would rather pay the 8k advanced payment and not £8300 vat for the government to waste were I to buy the car myself.
Standard equipment 18” 5-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels, painted in tremolite grey Sport body styling Parking Package with reversing camera EASYPACK tailgate Adaptive Highbeam Assist GUARD 360° Vehicle protection LED High Performance headlamps Mirror Package AMG Line Executive: 19” AMG 5-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels AMG bodystyling KEYLESS-GO HANDS-FREE ACCESS Sports brake system Heat-insulating dark-tinted glass/ Blind spot assist. AMG Line Premium: In addition / replacement to AMG Line Executive: 20” AMG 10-twin-spoke light-alloy wheels AMG Line Premium Plus In addition / replacement to AMG Line Premium: 20” AMG multi-spoke light-alloy wheels – Black MULTIBEAM LED headlamps Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus Parking Package with 360 degree camera 15,6kWh useable battery with a WLTP range of 45 miles (expect 39/40 in real world). Powered by a 1.3l petrol engine, producing a combined 215bhp (not sure if the 250e uses Renault engine) but, i’d imagine once the battery has run out or on a longer journey, it might struggle with a 1.3 engine given the weight of the car.
Cheers for this. I am interested in a myriad other things as well such as memory seats, HUD, electric boot, physical buttons in lieu of the touchscreen on Cupras, bright interiors etc.
I continue to look through the various alternatives, but knew there would be useful replies to my post.
i am one of those @MFillingham, if i had 8k available i would leave mota and get a decent 2nd hand car.
Do you mean a decent car for 8k, or put the 8k towards a larger amount?
@Ian I agree that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to buy a brand new car privately that you can otherwise get through the scheme. Although the GLA will cost you over £20k through the scheme, it would cost you more than that to buy and run a new one privately.
However, I never really understand why people always compare Motability with buying a brand new car. There’s no law that says that people have to buy brand new cars and, in fact, in most cases it’s extremely unwise to do so, that’s why the average age of cars on U.K. roads is currently over 9 years old!
If we leave the scheme next time I will buy something like a 3 or 4 year old car that is several classes above what you can get through the scheme. Something like a BMW X5. The current shape X5, which most people spec new to around £80k, can be picked up from a main BMW dealer for around £40k. Whilst that car would have another 15 plus years plus left in it, I’d probably only keep it for about 3 years. The total running costs over those 3 years (depreciation, insurance, servicing, tyres etc) would be no more than running a far lesser car through Motability and could well be even less. I appreciate that not everyone has the finances to do that, but the “worry free motoring’ of a Motability car now comes at an enormous cost – and the AP is only a part of it!
I’ve just remembered another reason why I was put off the GLA. Unlike BMW and Audi, Mercedes now have a policy where very few optional extras can be added, so if the model that you are interested in doesn’t have a particular feature that you want as standard, you may not be able to get it – even if willing to pay for it!
@ian, 8k would get me a 2017 ish yeti or countryman that would probabley see me out and i would be pocketing my wpms which would easily cover any running costs. i dont want all the bings and bongs and stuff they put in cars these days. i am happy with a decent sat nav and something to play my music. i dont want radars that brake when a leaf falls off a tree around here.
or use it as deposit for hp or loan for something newer either way the badge isnt important in fact if there was a suzuki jimny available i would jump at it. just the right size for me even if i end up in a chair.
or a swb landrover would be right up my street but a decent early one will cost a bit more than 8k.lol
@mitch Your post made me smile as I am starting to feel the same way! I am sick and fed up with all the bings and bongs in our current car (Hyundai Tucson) and whilst you can mute some of them you have to do it every ruddy time that you start the car and, even then, it only stops some of them.
Also, a few cars back we had a VW Tiguan that made several emergency braking manoeuvres that could have resulted in very serious accidents. One time it braked sharply as the result of the shadow of a bridge that we went under on the motorway and another time it was falling leaves. I’m a very confident driver but it caused me to be quite anxious unless I had disabled the system.
Finally, I’m a great fan of technology, but today’s cars have so much in them that, especially with touch screen controls, they are incredibly distracting to use whilst driving. Back to the subject of the thread and Mercedes, the GLB that we had for a week had major issues with its technology in that on two occasions the entire dashboard went black and I had absolutely no idea whatsoever what speed I was doing, which was a deeply unsettling experience. Progress? I think not!
I was an idiot, I paid £6999 AP less the £750 and £250 for the Suzuki Across, next moth it dropped to £5499 and then £4999, I was bit bit miffed, to be honest I still would have been an idiot to pay a £4999, especially now that Motability has clapped down on 5 year extensions.
The Suzuki Across is a fantastic vehicle outside the scheme it is far beyond my fiancial means, running cost around 5 pence per mile and that includes towing. Would I pay £7999 for a Mercedes GLA PHEV, no chance even if they put my meds, our neighbour Paul who was an AA guy brought one new and got shot of it after a couple on months, he found Mercedes a nightmare to deal with all the issues.
If Motability refuse our lease extension in August 2026 we will either buy secondhand or limit our AP to £1500/£2000 maximum if the new long range KIA/Hyundia EV3 came on the scheme
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
as far as i am concerned theres a lot to be said about analouge cars especially that if something went wrong you just swapped it out just the thing that went wrong not the entire electrical system.
i had a citroen c4 grand piccasso and i lost some of the speedo, due to some pixels failing, it was in for 3 days as they had to take the entire dashboard out and swap the entire display as it was all connected they couldnt just swap out that part of the screen. ok it was under warrenty and all that so it cost me nowt apart from embugarance. but thats crazy what must that have cost?????
@Gloss-Guy turn the sensitivity down or turn off, along with everthing that can be turned off and stay off.
I’m contemplating buying a 52 plate Rover 75 Connoisseur V6 (150hp😂) in Bentley red. Full Rover/specialist service history, garaged, 40,750 miles from new and in showroom condition. Its a friends dad’s car who recently passed away and cherished it! He wants a hefty sum £2000. Oh cream leather seats that are ohhh so comfy, just like a armchair.
@kezo As far as I know I have got everything turned down to minimum. What can be turned off permanently? I don’t think I’ve found anything. As well as the four (why four?) bings every time I exceed the speed limit by just 1 mph (which I know you can turn off but you have to do it EVERY time and in doing so 50% of the time it mutes the radio 🤬), I get bings if I deviate from the route in the sat nav, bings for speed cameras (that’s the one that I don’t mind 😂) and bings and bings for other things that frankly I cannot work out what they are binging or bonging for! For me, it’s the biggest negative of the car (plus the fact that I find it boring to drive compared to the BMW which was far more engaging).
I’d snap up that Rover 75. I remember sitting in one at the Motorshow when they first came out and thinking that the interior was the closest thing to a Bentley that I’d seen in a mass produced family car! A bit of me is thinking about buying an old (but decent) second car without all the nanny state bings and bongs and no sign of a touchscreen just for my use. I have a garage space for one but can’t help but feel that it might just be an indulgence and once the novelty wears off I’d regret it. Besides, my wife says I’m too old for a ‘mid life crisis car’ 🙄😂
I have learnt and now just ignore all the bings and bongs which defeats the object of having them in the first place.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
i am one of those @MFillingham, if i had 8k available i would leave mota and get a decent 2nd hand car.
I’m with Mitch and did exactly that. Run it for couple of years and even with servicing I will still get over half of what I paid for it back.
@kezo As far as I know I have got everything turned down to minimum. What can be turned off permanently? I don’t think I’ve found anything. As well as the four (why four?) bings every time I exceed the speed limit by just 1 mph (which I know you can turn off but you have to do it EVERY time and in doing so 50% of the time it mutes the radio
), I get bings if I deviate from the route in the sat nav, bings for speed cameras (that’s the one that I don’t mind 
) and bings and bings for other things that frankly I cannot work out what they are binging or bonging for! For me, it’s the biggest negative of the car (plus the fact that I find it boring to drive compared to the BMW which was far more engaging). I’d snap up that Rover 75. I remember sitting in one at the Motorshow when they first came out and thinking that the interior was the closest thing to a Bentley that I’d seen in a mass produced family car! A bit of me is thinking about buying an old (but decent) second car without all the nanny state bings and bongs and no sign of a touchscreen just for my use. I have a garage space for one but can’t help but feel that it might just be an indulgence and once the novelty wears off I’d regret it. Besides, my wife says I’m too old for a ‘mid life crisis car’ 
I’ll look later when I go out!
Always liked the look of the sporty ZT version, especially the V8 with the 4.6 mustang engine 😂 but, it’ll be a done deal at £1750 cash 😉
Two, well kind of 3 British cars that served me well were a Triumph Dolamite Sprint, Rover SD(1)3500 and a Triumph Acclaim (Honda Ballade), I went on my honeymoon in (in hindsight wish I’d left the ex their 😂)
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