Not Sorry, MB Fans

I had my car in the shop to get my offroa-cough cough pothole accident fixed up. My insurance rented me a '21 Mercedes GLC 300 which is very comparable to my car. I was going to try being unbiased, as I've always been of the opinion German makes are overpriced and don't offer any more than American or Japanese makes. However, that opinion has gotten even stronger after 2 weeks of driving this Benz.

Some Paper Stats:

Back in 2020 my car was $35k brand new and had peak power output of 260 hp, 277 lb-ft from it's 2.4L boxer turbo. It has a CVT and is AWD. Curb weight is 3,885 lbs.

In '21, base GLC 300 were going for $43k with peak power being 255 hp, 273 lb-ft from a 2L I4 turbo. RWD (would never have guessed from a little crossover) with a 9 speed automatic, as configured on my rental, AWD was an option. Curb weight is nearly the same at 3,889 lbs. That is for the RWD version, AWD you're looking at just over 4,000 lbs

To make things a touch more fair, Subaru did up the price for my car as configured in 2021 to $36k and some change. Still, if brand doesn't matter to you, you're almost looking at $7k difference for the same horse power between these two 5 seat crossovers.

Exterior Styling:

The Outback really sets itself apart from other cars in it's class (technically should be a class of it's own) by having the appearance of a wagon, but with almost 8" of ground clearance. Unlike most other cars of the last few years, they keep it fairly simple. They didn't try making the headlamps or taillamps some complex shape stuffed with LED DRLs. Instead, they're a simple shape with the DRL just outlining the edges. The grill doesn't take up 75% of the front end, it doesn't have a massive light bar spanning the width of the tailgate. Mine in particular has a blacked out grill and mirrors as part of the Onyx trim. The only thing I'd mock the exterior for is the use of incandescent turn signal bulbs.

The Benz looks like any other CUV.

Interior:

Subaru aimed more for a "clean" look with few buttons on the dash. I only hate it when the screen lags, aside from that I don't mind it. But that is a problem with the infotainment system, it has it's moments when it'll lag beyond usability or even crash. That's a shame because the UI looks good imo and it's very configurable. Fortunately they have launched updates that have helped it dramatically, and new '23 models almost have no issues. Under the screen is a wireless charging pad. The cluster has analog speedometer, tach, fuel gauge, and coolant temp gauge, with a small but informative full color screen in the middle. Mine is equipped with heated but not ventilated seats all around and full power controls. It's nothing fancy with seat adjustments, but I find it very comfortable. I do have 2 different interior rattles, but they aren't obnoxious, and the car does have nearly 50,000 miles.

The Benz interior is sleek and "clean" without doing away with buttons. Instead of a full screen, they a pretty standard touchscreen that has the option to be operated by a touchpad. I do like that they give you the choice now, rather than forcing people to use the touchpad. The climate control buttons are neatly placed in a line giving it a "clean" look without putting every control into the screen. The seats are heated only, and are full power adjustable including the headrest. I also like the little seat extender they put at the front of the seat, it makes longer drives more comfortable. The cluster has an analog tach and speedo, as well as fuel and coolant temp gauges that are displayed by LED lights. The screen between the speedo and tach is decently larger than the one on my car. Despite this, it seems like you can only display so many things at once. We'll circle back to that later. The steering wheel controls for the infotainment systen and cluster screen are these god awful touchpads. I say they are awful because half the times when I adjusted my cruise control speed, my thumb would barely skim across the pad which would change the cluster screen away from the digital speedo, the very screen I need to look at to see my cruise speed!

   

I will give them props for digitally loading a copy of the owners manual in the infotainment system, this needs to be an industry standard.

Alright, no more holding punches. Here are all the things my car has that the Benz doesn't at $7,000 less:

-Wireless charge pad

-Com (far as I can tell)

-Heated seats in the rear

-Latches to fold down the rear seats from the enger compartment (meaning the only way to fold the seats is to pull some switches inside the cargo area)

-Usb ports in the rear

-Full size spare

-Sunroof

-Adaptive cruise

-Lane keep assist

-A far superior collision warning and prevention system

-Front facing camera

-AWD as standard

You can debate the importance of some of these things, but there is no excuse for not having adaptive cruise, usb ports in the back, and heated seats in the back, not for that much more money, and it's supposedly a "luxury" car! There are many cars beyond my own, that have these things and costs much less!

Lets get back to the cluster screen! Again, it's larger in the Benz, but for no reason at all, you can't have much displayed on there! You can't have your speed and navigation directions at the same time. You can't see your fuel consumption and your speed and a com at the same time! I'm not even sure if the car has a com, if it does they hid it. My car has one on the rearview, the option to have one on the middle screen, and the option to have one on the cluster screen. Here are both clusters, each displaying the max number of items they let me see at one time:

   

Those are only a few ways you can configure the display. If I go into the settings for it thru the center screen, I can also change around the very top of the display. Bottom line is the Benz makes me choose what single item I want to view, my car gives me several things at once.

Then there's acceleration. No, neither of them were built with speed in mind, however both ended up being 5 second sleepers (mid to high 5's given ideal conditions, I didn't see that number from either car). The Benz, in Sport+ traction control off, accelerates nearly the same as my car without any sports mode. I got both cars to do 6.99 my car got 6.98 one time. Same roads, nearly the same conditions. The kicker in this is that my car runs 87 octane, the Benz runs 91! Why pay more for gas just to be little to no faster than a Subaru on 87?! And you have to fill it with 91, that's how they tune it, and it runs like garbage without it. I know because the previous renter had most definitely filled it with 87, damn thing rattles and ticks like a diesel, I almost thought it was one when I picked it up. And let's not forget my car is on A/T tires now. I didn't pay much attention to the Benzs tires, but I know they're Pirelli and were very much not A/Ts.

When I was told I was getting a Benz for 2 weeks, I thought it would be my chance to see eye to eye with Benz owners, German owners as a whole. But no, now I can't understand the point of owning a Benz aside from if it's an AMG model. And even then, you can find that level of performance much cheaper elsewhere.