2017 Mercedes GLC Coupe interior and exterior design features promotional video You won’t see it in showrooms until early 2017, which should be enough time to get used to calling this hatchback a coupe.
There is only one engine/transmission: a 241-hp turbo four with a nine-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. Standard equipment includes a sunroof, a power liftgate, keyless ignition, and a 7-inch infotainment display. Options include heated/cooled front seats, heated rear seats, and an air suspension. Safety tech includes collision prevention assist and stability control.2017 Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe Review
Hip new duds for MB's compact luxury crossover.
Remember when skinny jeans re-emerged a few years back? Largely out of vogue since their heyday of the ’80s era, when punk and metal scenesters adopted the calf-hugging denims as a reaction to the elephant-bell-bottom jeans of the 1970s, their home-crafted origins often resulted in what appeared to be a pair of rather sloppily tailored denim jodhpurs, comically undermining their objective as fashion statement. Twenty-first-century skinny jeans, on the other hand, are the product of mass-market demand. Offering stylish and comparatively conservative tailoring right off the rack, these duds offer buyers a painless way to get in on the latest trend while bolstering profits for their makers.
The 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLC coupe is largely a product of the same philosophy. Based on the popular GLC compact luxury crossover, the GLC coupe dials up the style and hipness factors directly from the factory, while attempting to adhere to its core utility mission of hauling people and their stuff. Rival BMW tested these waters with its larger X6 so-called four-door coupe back in 2008, and fashionable consumers dutifully fell in line with cash in hand; when the compact BMW X4 four-door coupe resonated similarly in 2014, it signaled that a genuine shift in consumer taste was at hand. Even better, from the manufacturer’s standpoint, is that most of the heavy development work for the coupe was already done; they could simply derive a second model from an existing architecture. No longer a quirky anomaly, the GLC coupe is just the latest model to get in on the four-door crossover-coupe action.A Little Sleeker
As often is the case with pants, the point of the GLC coupe is a stylish cut. Whereas the tall roofline of the GLC was designed to provide maximum headroom and cargo space, the GLC coupe cuts a more rakish profile that says to the world, “Hey, I’m a practical guy, but I haven’t entirely given up.” At 63.0 inches high and 186.2 inches long, it’s 1.6 inches lower and 3.1 inches longer than the regular GLC-class. Most of the extra length comes from the designers’ need to extend the gently sloping roofline into the rear haunches while maintaining proportions that avoid comparison with the Pontiac Aztek. It works here, looking better integrated than some of these styling exercises. The rear features a beefed-up bumper incorporating a pair of chrome exhaust tips (standard) that exit through a diffuser-like lower panel. Split taillamps and a sharp spoiler lip supposedly echo those of the S-class coupe; squint and you can see the resemblance, but the GLC version definitely resides in an entirely different tax bracket. The front lighting elements also toe the corporate styling line, while the A-pillars are slightly more upright than those on the standard GLC.Skinny-jean stylishness can result in an uncomfortably tight fit; similarly, the CUV coupe form is known to pare rear-seat headroom and cargo space. Unfortunately, we can’t tell you exactly how much rear headroom has been lost, since official interior dimensions have not yet been released and we neglected to pack laser-enabled yardsticks for this first drive of the GLC coupe in the mountains of Italy. It doesn’t seem excessively cramped, though. (We’ll have hard numbers as soon as we get one for a full test.) Preliminary European info pegs the cargo capacity at 18 cubic feet with rear seat up, which is only slightly less than the 19 cubes in the 2016 GLC300. That’s a small price to pay for looking good.
Interior appointments nearly duplicate those in the GLC. That means supportive seating and a large center console that stretches from the armrest to the dashboard, intersecting just behind the surface of the infotainment display (a 7.0-inch unit is standard; an 8.4-incher is optional), which stands proud atop the dash, above the circular HVAC vents. Standard equipment, as on the regular GLC300, includes power-operated sunroof, driver’s seat, tailgate and folding mirrors; collision prevention assist; and keyless start, among other minor niceties.
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