Compare the2024 Buick EnclaveVS 2023 Mercedes GLS

For enhanced safety, the Buick Enclave’s middle seat shoulder belts have child comfort guides to move the belt to properly fit children. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages children to buckle up. The Mercedes GLS doesn’t offer comfort guides on its middle seat belts.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Enclave are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The GLS doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

The Enclave has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The GLS doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Enclave offers optional Reverse Automatic Braking that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The GLS doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.

The Enclave’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane and gently nudges the vehicle back towards its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the GLS.

Both the Enclave and the GLS have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

Buick’s powertrain warranty covers the Enclave 1 year and 10,000 miles longer than Mercedes covers the GLS. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 5 years or 60,000 miles. Coverage on the GLS ends after only 4 years or 50,000 miles.

The Enclave’s corrosion warranty is 1 year longer than the GLS’ (6 vs. 5 years).

There are over 5 times as many Buick dealers as there are Mercedes dealers, which makes it much easier should you ever need service under the Enclave’s warranty.

A reliable vehicle saves its owner time, money and trouble. Nobody wants to be stranded or have to be without a vehicle while it’s being repaired. Consumer Reports rates the Enclave’s reliability 22 points higher than the GLS.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2023 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Buick vehicles are better in initial quality than Mercedes vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Buick fourth in initial quality, above the industry average. With 39 more problems per 100 vehicles, Mercedes is ranked 23rd, below the industry average.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Buick vehicles are more reliable than Mercedes vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Buick second in reliability, above the industry average. With 48 more problems per 100 vehicles, Mercedes is ranked 18th.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2023 Auto Issue reports that Buick vehicles are more reliable than Mercedes vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Buick 13 places higher in reliability than Mercedes.

On the EPA test cycle the Enclave gets better mileage than the GLS:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Buick Enclave uses regular unleaded gasoline. The GLS requires premium, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The Enclave has a standard cap-less fueling system. The fuel filler is automatically opened when the fuel nozzle is inserted and automatically closed when it’s removed. This eliminates the need to unscrew and replace the cap and it reduces fuel evaporation, which causes pollution. The GLS doesn’t offer a cap-less fueling system.

The Enclave stops shorter than the GLS:

The Buick Enclave’s wheels have 6 lugs for longer wheel bearing life, less chance of rotor warping and greater strength. The Mercedes GLS only has 5 wheel lugs per wheel.

The Enclave has a standard easy tire fill system. When inflating the tires, the vehicle’s integrated tire pressure sensors keep track of the pressure as the tires fill and tell the driver when the tires are inflated to the proper pressure. The GLS doesn’t offer vehicle monitored tire inflation.

The Buick Enclave may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 1100 to 1400 pounds less than the Mercedes GLS.

The front grille of the Enclave uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The GLS doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The Enclave uses computer-generated active noise cancellation to help remove annoying noise and vibration from the passenger compartment, especially at low frequencies. The GLS doesn’t offer active noise cancellation.

The Enclave has 3.2 inches more front headroom, .9 inches more front legroom, 2.9 inches more front shoulder room, 3.1 inches more rear shoulder room and 7 inches more third row shoulder room than the GLS.

The Enclave’s cargo area provides more volume than the GLS.

A low lift-over cargo hatch design makes loading and unloading the Enclave easier. The Enclave’s cargo hatch lift-over height is 30.5 inches, while the GLS’ liftover is 31.8 inches.

The Enclave’s cargo area is larger than the GLS’ in almost every dimension:

J.D. Power and Associates surveys of service recipients show that Buick service is better than Mercedes. J.D. Power ranks Buick fifth in service department satisfaction. With a 23% lower rating, Mercedes is ranked 18th.

In case you lock your keys in your vehicle, or don’t have them with you, you can let yourself in using the Enclave’s available exterior PIN entry system. The GLS doesn’t offer an exterior PIN entry system, and its Mercedes-Benz Emergency Call can’t unlock the doors if the vehicle doesn’t have cell phone reception or the driver can’t contact the service.

To improve rear visibility by keeping the rear window clear, the Enclave has a standard rear fixed intermittent wiper with a full on position. The rear wiper standard on the GLS only has an intermittent setting, so in a hard rain visibility isn’t as good.

Consumer Reports rated the Enclave’s headlight performance “Very Good,” a higher rating than the GLS’ headlights, which were rated “Good.”

The Enclave has a standard heated steering wheel to take the chill out of steering on extremely cold winter days before the vehicle heater warms up. A heated steering wheel costs extra on the GLS.

The Enclave is available in both front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive configurations. The GLS doesn’t offer a two-wheel drive configuration.

According to The Car Book by Jack Gillis, the Enclave is less expensive to operate than the GLS because typical repairs cost much less on the Enclave than the GLS, including $131 less for a water pump, $164 less for a muffler, $24 less for front brake pads, $303 less for a starter, $158 less for fuel injection, $331 less for front struts and $12 less for a power steering pump.

Consumer Reports® recommends the Buick Enclave, based on reliability, safety and performance. The Mercedes GLS isn't recommended.

The Buick Enclave outsold the Mercedes GLS by 46% during 2022.