Style usually comes at the expense of practicality. Take two-door coupes, for instance; they look great but have back seats that are hard to get into ... and out of. Especially if the driver and front seat passenger haven't gotten out first.
Mercedes' solution? Add a pair of doors.
Then chop the roof — but without haircutting the headroom.
What you end up with is The GLC 300 "Coupe" — in spite of it having four doors.
What It Is
The GLC 300 Coupe — as Mercedes styles it — is a Mercedes GLC SUV with a lower and sleeker roofline, more head-turning quotient and almost an inch more ground clearance — with only slightly less head clearance.
So, what's the catch?
A much higher price.
The GLC 300 Coupe stickers for $50,000 to start, versus $42,500 for the same thing in a ... less stylish package.
What's New
The GLC gets a few exterior styling tweaks and some significant functional upgrades for the new model year, including more standard horsepower and slightly better gas mileage.
A larger, 10-inch LCD touch screen for the secondary systems is now standard as well.
Also added to the enticements is the Mercedes Benz User Experience voice-control system. It premiered in top-of-the-line Benz Models like the S-Class sedan a couple of years ago. You can use it to have a conversation with your GLC — almost like Captain Kirk did in Star Trek.
The difference is Mercedes' user experience system isn't science fiction — and does more than just look stuff up. You can tell your GLC to change the radio station, make a phone call, turn up the air conditioning or find the closest Chinese restaurant.
It does almost everything except make you General Tso's chicken.
What's Good
It's an interesting — and almost as practical — alternative to just another SUV.
It's more practical in at least one way.
It has multiple tactile controls.
What's Not So Good
A rear-drive (and lower-priced) version isn't available.
It has a modest tow rating of 3,500 pounds.
It has tunnel vision to the rear.
Under the Hood
The GLC's standard engine is still a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine, but it's now a more powerful engine. Output increases to 255 horsepower versus 241 last year — sufficient to get the 4,028-pound Mercedes to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds.
Usually, when power (and performance) goes up, gas mileage goes down. In this case, it goes up slightly — to 21 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, versus 21mpg city, 27 mpg highway last year. It's probably not a noticeable difference in real-world driving.
But the additional 14 horsepower is.
A nine-speed automatic transmission with driver-selectable programs (and steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters for manual gear-change control) is standard, as is Mercedes' 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. The regular GLC comes standard with rear-drive; all-wheel drive is optional — which partially accounts for the regular GLC's much lower-to-start price.
Also standard in the Coupe is about an inch more ground clearance. It sits 5.9 inches off the ground, versus 5 for the not-as-swoopy — and taller overall — regular GLC 300.
On the Road
This "coupe" drives like the luxury sport sedan it practically is — just higher up.
And lower down.
The combination of its lower roofline — 64.5 inches versus 65.5 for the regular GLC — and its higher ground clearance is an interesting stylistic and functional juxtaposition. It looks radical, but it's actually more practical. Being higher up from the pavement is an advantage when there's snow on the pavement.
And being lower down overall is an aerodynamic and stability advantage at high speeds.
At the Curb
A low roofline often means much reduced headroom — but that's not the case here. The Coupe has 38.9 inches of headroom up front and 38.3 inches of headroom in its second row. This is more headroom than you'll find in a midsized (and conservatively styled) family sedan like a new Toyota Camry — which has 38.3 and 38 inches of headroom, respectively — and only slightly reduced versus the regular GLC, which has 39.6 inches of headroom in both of its rows.
There's also more room for cargo than in a Camry, or any other midsized sedan, and nearly as much room as in the regular, less-interesting-to-view GLC: 17.7 cubic feet behind the Coupe's second row and 49.4 cubic feet with the second row folded flat, versus 19.4 and 56.5, respectively, in the regular GLC.
Though it has all the latest electronic controls — including the Mercedes Benz User Experience voice-activated controls — you can still control many of the GLC's systems via simple, tactile mechanical controls, such as the thumbwheel for the audio system's volume on the center console (there's a redundant second thumbwheel on the steering wheel, too).
The Rest
The Coupe's main detractions are its much higher price — and its much poorer rearward visibility.
The sleek roofline looks great but makes it harder to look. This is counteracted to a great extent by an excellent surround-view camera system, highly adjustable side mirrors and a back-up buzzer that will buzz if you're about to back into something.
The Bottom Line
Style may cost you more — in terms of dollars. But there's less to pay otherwise than you might expect.
Eric's new book, "Don't Get Taken for a Ride!" is available now. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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