Mercedes GLE or Range Rover Vogue: Which is better for a road trip?

IIf you are planning to do a road trip with your children and want to choose between a Mercedes GLE 350d and a 2010 Range Rover Vogue Autobiography for the trip, then you must consider the following factors.
Safety
We will use Euro NCAP standings since these are Euro trucks. The Range Rover gets a score of four out five stars for adult occupant protection, which does not sound half bad, but woe unto any jaywalkers who stumble into the path of the L322 for they shall be introduced brutally to the full implication of a one-star pedestrian safety rating.

It is so shameful that the full Euro NCAP safety report includes phrases such as “… but, unfortunately, the level of protection given to pedestrians proved to be dire” or “… three sites out of 18 tested on the vehicle’s front gave any protection. This is dire, and Land Rover needs to improve matters …” Now, it is not a good look when your vehicle is described as “dire” twice in the same report.

The GLE is more commendable. For one, it was tested more thoroughly and trounced the L322 in both adult protection (a near-perfect score of 96 per cent) and pedestrian safety (60 per cent).

Child occupant safety, which should be of particular interest to you, stands at 75 per cent while safety assistance is at 86 per cent.

Comfort
Range Rovers are known for their dominance of the luxury SUV market and with a good reason. They are extremely comfortable owing to extensive use of air suspension.

Well, the GLE too packs air suspension, and it may be smoother than the Range Rover, more so given their age difference. But what the Range Rover does to stay ahead is wage psychological warfare in the form of style. The L322’s interior is a timeless classic.

It was upstaged by the less fussy and more luxurious accoutrements (or lack thereof since restraint is the epitome of class) in the L405 (the current successor), but while the L405 is classy, the L322 is classic.

There is a difference. In the L405, you could be in any of JLR’s myriad presentations, an affliction that also extends to the GLE — you could be in a B Class for all you know.

In the L322, there is no mistaking that you are in a Range Rover. The GLE is a lot newer and will therefore pack a lot more tech in it.

While the Range Rover may have a more commanding driving position, it may not necessarily be a better drive.

Weight
The L322 has a problem with its weight and height, which means cornering is a bit of an adventure.

Body roll is a clear and present challenge once a corner appears. It also feels good driving a Range Rover because it is a Range Rover, not because the driving dynamics are any good.

[The 5.0 supercharged V8 version is especially fearsome to helm. Too much power, too much weight, too much roll, too much roar; it is a car of superlatives not all of which are good. What is good is the 44 litre diesel V8. However, the GLE is good enough.

It is why it is made anyway, for tarmac, while the Range Rover is designed to crash through briar and traverse meadows with ease. It is thus overqualified for a simple road trip.

Diesel
I am not sure you want a diesel Merc. Sure, there is torque aplenty and fuel economy is excellent, but all it takes is the smallest impurity in the fuel going into the tank — and there will be plenty of this if you are planning to do a 4,000km journey — to turn your road trip into a flatbed-infested nightmare.

The diesel Range Rover seems more suited on this end, but there is still a catch in there somewhere.

The article was originally published in Daily Nation