2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupé: first ride and new teaser video

The familiarity continues as we climb inside. The cabin and all its various trims are brought over from the GLC SUV without any obvious change. It is a stylish driving environment, boasting heavy stylistic links with that of the latest Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Yet despite the shared interior, there is a more sporting feel to the GLC Coupé thanks to a 40mm reduction in front headroom.

The plunging roofline has meant changes to the rear quarters in a bid to provide sufficient rear seat headroom and boot space. “We’ve lowered the seat squab by 10mm and the back rest is set at a more upright angle than it is in the GLC SUV,” says Mercedes-Benz chief engineer Michael Kelz. Boot space has also suffered in the transformation, although Mercedes-Benz is yet to reveal by how much.  

Three different chassis options 

Heading out of Mercedes-Benz vast Stuttgart factory on to public roads for the first time, Kelz reveals the GLC Coupé will come with three different chassis options. “There is a basic steel spring variant and an optional air body control variant with dual chamber air springs – both of which are shared with the GLC SUV but with unique tuning. To this, we’ve added a steel spring variant with variable damping control that we call dynamic body control,” he says.

This latter set-up is included on the prototype we’re riding in. Set to be introduced as a running change on the GLC SUV later this year, it provides the choice between three different levels of damper stiffness via Mercedes-Benz’s Drive Select system: comfort, sport and sport plus.

Switching between the three modes, the GLC Coupé feels more firmly underpinned than the GLC SUV. Given the generous ride height, body control is very tidy. It feels nicely tied down when loaded up in corners and resists float over undulating section of black top with impressive composure.

The ride quality is also very good with commendable absorption properties and excellent refinement, although the German roads we encountered were typically smoothed surfaced, so definitive conclusions will have to wait until we get to drive it in the UK later in the year.

Further changes have been focused on the steering. In keeping with efforts to provide it with a more sporting feel than its recently introduced sister model, the GLC Coupé’s electro-mechanical set-up receives a more direct ratio than the GLC SUV at 16.2:1 versus 15.1:1. Kelz insists there is added response and greater agility in keeping with the new model’s sporting brief.  

We’ll have to take the Mercedes-Benz chief engineer’s word on the handling for now, although the GLC Coupé prototype managed to dismiss some of the more challenging roads on our run through the Black Forest with striking nimbleness. There’s plenty of grip mid-corner and the inherent properties of its four-wheel drive system provide it with outstanding traction when powering out of bends.  

Same choice of engines as GLC 

The GLC Coupé will be available from the start of UK sales with the same choice of longitudinally mounted engines as the recently launched GLC. Included is a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol unit with 201bhp in the GLC 250 Coupe as well as a turbocharged 2.2-litre diesel that develops 168bhp in the GLC 220 d Coupé and a gutsier 201bhp in the GLC 250 d Coupe.

Both engines come mated to Mercedes-Benz’s excellent nine-speed 9G-Tronic automatic gearbox featuring a column mounted shift lever and 4Matic four-wheel drive system as standard – a move that reflects the sales strategy already taken with the GLC.

Shortly after launch during the fourth quarter of 2016, a further four engines will join the line-up. Among them is more highly tuned version of the turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 242bhp, as used by the GLC 300 Coupé prototype, we rode in.

It will be joined by a turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 diesel with 254bhp in the GLC 350 d Coupé and twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol unit with 362bhp in a range-topping GLC 43 Coupe developed by Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance car division.

Continuing the German car maker’s alternative engine, the new high riding four-door liftback will also be available with a plug in petrol-electric hybrid system. Similar to that unveiled in the E 350 e, it combines a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor for a total system output of 275bhp in the GLC 350 e Coupé.