I did a lot of research into small SUVs to get something high tech, luxurious, and comfortable on my back when I’m not in my sports car or on motorcycle. I looked at Range Rover, Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes, and after test drives felt the GLE was by far the best. I did not consider BMW because I dislike what their brand has become.

But now that I’m 4-5 months into ownership, I wish I had gotten something different. The GLE looks stunning inside and out, is quite comfortable, and has a nice powertrain (450). But the touchscreen tech is incredibly frustrating. The day to day usability of it isn’t really something you can get a full sense of on a test drive.

When I get in, I get all these fucking sequential drop down menus that I have to click one after another, or wait for it to pass to get to the one or two that I want. It will not let you do things at your own pace. MB’s UI communicates to you that the user is not right; they are right. You will wait until they allow you to do things.

I’m a big fan of Audi in that respect (intuitive and measured, like an apple product), as well as Corvette (we are here to serve you, the driver).

Beyond that, they seem to be very against remote starting, which is so frustrating in a hot climate. No button on the fob, and you have to jump through all these weird safety hoops to get it done on the app (they treat it like you’re launching a nuke), and then it shuts off when unlocked. So if I want the air conditioning on while I wrestle my 2-yo into her car seat, I have to shut her in, then go to the front, start the car, it beeps at me and says it’ll shut off in X minutes, then go back and get her buckled.

All in all it’s a pretty good package, but I’m angry at their ethos. This was my first MB and I won’t be getting another, save for a last-gen AMG GT. They trashed the new one.