2024 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 Review: Wealth Hiding In Plain Sight

True luxury may be the freedom not to sweat the details, but a whole load of leather upholstery, gadgets, and horsepower doesn't hurt either. Take, as a fine example of that combination, the 2024 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, the flagship spec of Mercedes' hardly-lacking SUV line-up.

It's not a new idea, of course, and in recent years, we've seen plush SUVs progressively take the place of high-end sedans. Maybach's rear-seat-centric offering finds itself up against German rivals like the controversial BMW XM, along with stately British royalty from Bentley and Range Rover.

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The Maybach GLS 600's competition isn't just external, however: it's also coming from inside the house (or, well, the dealership). The Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV follows the same strategy as its gasoline counterpart, giving a lavish glow-up to an already-fancy existing model. It just happens to be entirely electric, unarguably an advantage when it comes to refinement. Can the GLS 600 make a case regardless?

In the world of super-expensive SUVs, the Maybach GLS 600 is — it almost sounds perverse to suggest — fairly subtle. Certainly, it's not a small vehicle: the 23-inch multi-spoke forged alloy wheels that contribute $5,500 to the options list don't exactly look unwieldy here, and the standard fixed (Maybach-branded, naturally) running boards are useful for shorter passengers, even if they also manage to be annoyingly positioned to smear mud on your legs as you exit.

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Overall, though, compared to the head-turning aesthetics of rivals like the Range Rover and Bentley Bentayga (and the ocular profligacy of the twice-as-expensive Rolls-Royce Cullinan), the Mercedes is positively low-key. There's a Maybach badge on the rear pillars, along with some clever front air intake grille patterning also based on that logo, but nothing here screams mega-opulence. 

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Parked up next to a row of other large Mercedes SUVs, the Maybach GLS 600 could blend in fairly easily, assuming you've not picked one of the four duo-tone paint finishes. Don't confuse all that with actual affordability, however: while the starting price may be $174,350 (plus $1,150 destination), with options, this particular example hits $201,400 all-in.

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Given current attitudes toward putting your wealth on display, the idea of a luxe truck that doesn't yell about its excesses undoubtedly has some appeal. All the same, if you're hoping for melodrama, the Maybach makes you wait until you're inside for it.

With the non-Maybach GLS usually offering seating for seven, it's no surprise that the GLS 600 is mighty spacious when its cabin is only expected to accommodate four or five. It's a no-cost option to switch from the default rear bench to a pair of individual back seats.

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As standard, those seats have power-adjustment, heating, ventilation, and massage. The armrests are heated, while the cupholders offer both heating and cooling. Push a button and the front passenger seat slides and tilts forward, while the rear seat behind it eases down for a lounger-style experience.

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A wireless phone charging pad and a pop-out 7-inch control tablet are in the center console between the rear seats, while $1,100 adds a refrigerated compartment (and $800 more gets you silver champagne flute holders). 

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A further $1,800 unfurls folding tables, should you need somewhere for your laptop or an impromptu game of Jenga; a $3,400 Rear Seat Entertainment Package adds dual displays and two pairs of wireless headphones. All that's missing is a partition between you and the driver.

Those in the front aren't exactly relegated to purgatory, mind. They, too, get heating, ventilation, and massage; their armrests are heated, as is the steering wheel; they benefit from the quad-zone climate control with optional fragrance. A 12.3-inch driver display sits alongside a 12.3-inch touchscreen for the MBUX infotainment, which has surprisingly capable voice recognition along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support.

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Much of what's optional on the lesser GLS comes standard here. That includes a head-up display, augmented reality navigation, Burmester 3D surround sound audio with Dolby Atmos support, and 64-color ambient lighting. If the Manufaktur Crystal White/Silver Grey Pearl Exclusive Nappa Leather of this particular car takes your fancy, though, expect to pay a further $13,500 (and then $850 more for the Maybach Black Piano Lacquer Flowing Lines Trim).

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Pop the power trunk, and there's 18.4 cubic-feet of space to play with. Well, assuming you've not filled some of it with the rear seat refrigerator option, which juts amply into the cargo area. You can unlatch and remove it should you want maximum capacity, but the rear seats don't fold as in a regular GLS.

Few cars epitomize the potential advantages of full electrification like big, luxury SUVs. The Maybach GLS 600's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 is a mild hybrid, gathering power that would otherwise be wasted during braking and similar and using that to give the gas engine a temporary, contributory shove. It's dubbed EQ Boost, and it works well, but there's always the sense that Mercedes' engineers are striving for a pure EV experience that internal combustion simply can't reach.

The result is hushed, smooth, and refined, with the 550 horsepower and 538 lb-ft of torque arriving in a steady whoosh of acceleration and no sense at all of the V8 ever falling short. The syrupy, barely noticeable slurring of the excellent 9G-TRONIC automatic transmission plays a role, too. Then, the Maybach engineers added extra sound and vibration insulation to further hide the messy mechanical parts from those inside.

It's astonishingly quiet for a gas car but still louder than an EV a quarter of the price might be. Clearly, Maybach isn't unaware of that potential: witness, as evidence of that, the 2024 Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV with its entirely electric drivetrain.

In the default Comfort drive mode, the GLS 600 rides much like its non-Maybach siblings. The standard air suspension, E-Active Body Control system, and 4MATIC permanent all-wheel drive leave the big SUV poised, though the focus on cushy smoothness can lead to that "bobbing yacht on waves" sense that large cars on air springs often exhibit. Not uncomfortable, no, but you still get a strange feeling of delayed reaction from the undulations of the road.

Sport mode encourages a little more raucousness from the drivetrain, though you'll not confuse the Maybach with anything from its cousins at AMG. Better, in fact, to ignore any impetus to hurry and switch instead to either the special Maybach mode or the Curve setting.

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Maybach mode is, as the name suggests, the luxe-lovers' vision of how the GLS 600 should drive. Its focus is on those in the rear and preferably divorcing them as much as possible from the rudeness of the rest of the world. Pickup from a standing start is lugubrious; gearshifts are as delicate as a soufflé; and if Comfort mode is a yacht, then Maybach mode is a private jet murmuring through friendly skies.

Curve mode, in contrast, is an acknowledgment that not every road is Autobahn-straight. It actually has a noticeable impact on cornering stability, ousting any sign of wallowing without leaving things insufferably firm.

If the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 has a flaw, it's that its polish could be viewed as a lack of personality. There's none of the brash ostentation of a Bentayga Long Wheelbase; it doesn't feel as singular as a Range Rover Autobiography. In many ways, the Maybach is a better luxury SUV than either of those rivals. Yet, the proximity of other lavish Mercedes SUVs — even if they're not quite as excessive — only serves to highlight how similar this one is to them.

Whether that's a dealbreaker or an advantage depends on what you want from your ride. If rear seat accommodation and the luxury of quiet are the key, then the Maybach's polish and refinement — with more than a splash of gadgetry — certainly fits the bill. Just don't expect to necessarily get noticed as you pull up at the curb.

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It makes you wonder just what Maybach could achieve if let off the reins completely: lean into the offbeat exclusivity of the Project Maybach Off-Roader, for instance, and price tag be damned. For now, while the GLS 600 is undoubtedly a swell way to ride, there's a sense that its all-electric EQS SUV counterpart will just do refinement better. Sibling rivalry never felt so luxurious.