It's always been great to be rich, but perhaps there's never been a better time to be rich and a Mercedes-Maybach shopper. The ultra-luxury brand has embarked on something of a renaissance, and its three-vehicle lineup is proof that Maybach's comeback is fully underway.
Maybach's spin on traditional Mercedes-Benz opulence comes in distinctive flavors. The S580 and S680 sedans represent a more conventional approach to luxury automaking within the Mercedes-Maybach profile, while the whisper-quiet EQS680 is a modern electrified take on the flagship SUV. The 2024 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 falls somewhere in the middle. This lavish model elevates Benz's GLS-Class SUV with richer materials, advanced suspension componentry, and modern tech to pamper passengers.
As an ultra-luxury vehicle, the Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 dazzles with theatricality and eye-popping prices. Its exterior is covered in Maybach badges and glittering chrome trim. Our car came painted in two-tone Obsidian Black and Rubellite Red paint for an additional $18,500 and ultra-cool 23-inch Maybach Forged Monoblock wheels, which are optioned for $6,000. The model-specific grille has Maybach badging, as does the tailgate, which keeps the GLS600 looking distinct from its Benz-branded or AMG-tuned GLS-Class siblings.
Step up to the gargantuan SUV, and it greets you with an animated projection of the Mercedes-Maybach logo. Opening the door reveals a second set of puddle lights displayed in a repeating pattern. Automatic running boards, which tuck into the underside of the GLS600 when the doors are closed, deploy for ease of ingress and egress. The act of approaching this Mercedes-Maybach alone makes you feel like a million bucks.
If the outside of the 2024 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 is a performance, the interior is like expensive box seating. Once you slide into the well-bolstered driver's seat, there are tons of comfort and entertainment features at your fingertips. While you're getting settled in the car for the first time, Mercedes-Maybach offers a choice to automatically position your seat based on your height. It works to mixed results depending on your preferences, but it's still a creative way to tailor the interior's ergonomics to the individual.
Our car is outfitted with a pair of reclining executive rear seats, so once everyone is buckled up, they're able to treat themselves to a massage in the heated and ventilated chairs. Other non-standard swanky amenities (and their prices) include a beautifully crafted two-tone leather steering wheel with a wooden rim ($600), a Champagne fridge ($1,100), and folding tray tables for the rear seats ($1,800). A standard 27-speaker Burmester 3D surround-sound audio arrangement provides the quality and fullness your favorite tunes deserve.
It's hard to complain about such a lavish cabin that's covered from the floor to ceiling with leather and trimmed with stunning natural-grain brown walnut wood panels. But if we must, one gripe (which is common to other Mercedes products) is the infotainment system isn't quite as intuitive to operate as we'd like, and flicking through the various menus with the thumb pads on the steering wheel or the trackpad on the center console can be frustrating. Using the touchscreen is the best way to go, but that involves leaning forward and getting fingerprints on the screen. It's a small nitpick of an otherwise outstanding interior.
The cabin wasn't just ultra plush—it also did a great job shutting out noise from outside. Before driving the Maybach, this author had been spending a lot of time in our long-term Polestar 2, which turns off automatically when you shift into park, exit the vehicle, and close the door. The Maybach's engine was so quiet that we kept forgetting to turn it off, as its idling was only noticeable from the outside of the vehicle. The only unpleasant sounds that managed to pierce the SUV's aura of silence were those of the tires when traversing particularly harsh pavement or if we dug into the throttle, though the latter noise wasn't such a bad thing.
Most cars with multiple drive modes typically only have one comfort setting, but the Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 has three profiles that prioritize supple conveyance. On startup, the GLS defaults to Comfort mode that sets the engine, transmission, traction control, and steering feel to a relaxed calibration. This setup delivers the softness Maybach intenders hope to find in their mega luxury SUV. The steering feels light but immediate, and the GLS600 oozes around town with tidy body control that belies its dimensions.
We prefer the Maybach setting, however, which is tuned for chauffeuring passengers with maximum serenity. To start, this ultra-luxe setting flattens out the accelerator curve for smoother takeoffs so those sitting in the executive seats don't spill the Perrier (or Perignon) in their Champagne flutes. The transmission programming prioritizes second-gear takeoffs and reduces the frequency of gear shifts, all for the sake of reducing noise and vibration. For the same reasons, the automatic engine stop/start system is disabled in Maybach mode. The GLS600 feels muscular and refined when it drives in this model-specific state, and passengers that rode in the back seats say it didn't even feel like they were in motion. In that regard, Mercedes-Maybach has accomplished its mission with the GLS600.
Color us surprised, but there's some AMG-type performance hidden under this SUV's flashy sheetmetal. Its 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 engine develops 550 hp and 538 lb-ft of torque—more than the 510-hp Mercedes-Benz GLS580 but less than the 603-hp Mercedes-AMG GLS63. It's enough muscle for the Maybach to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.2 seconds. The GLS600 we tested tips the scales at 6,220 pounds, and we can attest the sensation of launching so much mass forward is exhilarating. Stopping power is remarkable, too. Stomp on the Maybach-specific brake pedal, and this Mercedes comes to a halt from 60 mph in 115 feet with remarkable body control.
When the road gets twisty, you can set the GLS600 to Sport mode for heightened responsiveness, but Curve mode provides an alternative to more relaxed drives on our favorite roads, like Angeles Crest Highway. All of Mercedes-Maybach's technical wizardry comes together in this profile, combining the automaker's road surface scanning, predictive adaptive suspension, and E-Active Body Control 48-volt surface-leveling to lean the GLS600's body up to three degrees into a corner to reduce lateral forces on the vehicle's occupants while damping out road imperfections. At first, Curve mode feels a little uncanny, but as you get used to the GLS600's machinations, it's easy to settle into the big SUV's gentle rhythm. Rear passengers also liked Curve mode through town and during a lot of 90-degree turns, especially because they were reclined as far back as the executive seat lounge chairs would go.
Overall, the 2024 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 is an impressive beast by nearly every metric. We have a couple of small criticisms, however, that if addressed could make this the ultimate luxury SUV. For one, its twin-turbo V-8 engine is burly and gutsy, but it's noticeably less refined than a Rolls Royce's V-12 or the Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV's electric motors. We're grateful there's still a gasoline-powered Maybach SUV, and its engine is near-silent at idle, but this GLS600 would benefit from more stately motivation.
It pains us to mention this final quibble, but we'd wager that the GLS600 would ride better if it wasn't on those awesome 23-inch monoblock wheels. Despite all of the fancy suspension tech equipped on our test car, medium-sized road imperfections noticeably impacted the cabin. The GLS600 tended to skitter and feel unsettled over pockmarked surfaces. It pains us to call this out because the massive dishes make this enormous SUV look incredible. However, if a smooth ride is a higher priority than style, Mercedes-Maybach offers a 22-inch wheel that's bound to be lighter and come with a taller sidewall.
As you may have surmised, the Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 doesn't come cheap, at a starting price of $175,500 and an as-tested sum of $204,300. It is, however, a lot of vehicle for the money. Mercedes throws nearly everything in its arsenal at its top-flight gasoline SUV and asks about half what Rolls-Royce asks for the Maybach GLS600's closest rival, the Cullinan. Buyers in this segment aren't exactly counting pennies, but they should feel confident they're getting what they're paying for.
The Maybach name is one of the oldest in the ultra-luxury world, but our time with the GLS600 proved that Mercedes has demonstrated an ability to put a modern spin on exclusivity. We felt cool walking up, driving, and stepping away from this baller SUV, and that's basically all that matters for a vehicle with such superlative specs and appointments.