Compare the2025 Rolls-Royce CullinanVS 2025 Mercedes GLE

Both the Cullinan and GLE have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Cullinan has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The GLE’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan has standard driver and front passenger side knee airbags mounted low on the dashboard. These airbags helps prevent the driver and front passenger from sliding under their seatbelts or the main frontal airbags; this keeps them better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. Knee airbags also help keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The GLE doesn’t offer a front passenger side knee airbag.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Cullinan. But it costs extra on the GLE.

A passive infrared night vision system optional on the Cullinan helps the driver to more easily detect people, animals or other objects in front of the vehicle at night. Using an infrared camera to detect heat, the system then displays the image on a monitor in the dashboard. The GLE doesn’t offer a night vision system.

The Cullinan’s standard lane departure warning system alerts a temporarily inattentive driver when the vehicle begins to leave its lane. A lane departure warning system costs extra on the GLE.

Both the Cullinan and the GLE have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, blind spot warning systems, around view monitors, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.

The Cullinan comes with a full 4-year/unlimited-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The GLE’s 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty expires sooner.

Rolls-Royce pays for scheduled maintenance on the Cullinan for 4 years and unlimited miles. Rolls-Royce will pay for oil changes, air filter replacements, cabin filter replacement, brake fluid replacement, inspections, and any other required maintenance. Mercedes doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the GLE.

The Cullinan has more powerful engines than the GLE:

As tested in Car and Driver the Rolls-Royce Cullinan (base engine) is faster than the Mercedes GLE:

The Cullinan has 6.6 gallons more fuel capacity than the GLE 450e’s standard fuel tank (23.8 vs. 17.2 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Cullinan has 1.3 gallons more fuel capacity than the GLE’s standard fuel tank (23.8 vs. 22.5 gallons).

For better stopping power the Cullinan’s brake rotors are larger than those on the GLE:

The Cullinan stops much shorter than the GLE:

For better traction and acceleration, the Cullinan has larger standard rear tires than the GLE (285/40R22 vs. 255/50R19).

The Cullinan’s standard 255/45R22 front and 285/40R22 rear tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series front and 40 series rear profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the GLE’s standard 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Cullinan has standard 22-inch wheels. Smaller 19-inch wheels are standard on the GLE. The Cullinan’s optional 23-inch wheels are larger than the 22-inch wheels optional on the GLE 580.

The Cullinan has active sway bars, which help keep it flat and controlled during cornering, but disconnect at lower speeds to smooth the ride and offer greater off-road suspension articulation. This helps keep the tires glued to the road on-road and off. The GLE doesn’t offer an active sway bar system.

The front and rear suspension of the Cullinan uses air springs for a smoother, controlled ride than the GLE, which uses coil springs. Air springs maintain proper ride height and ride more smoothly.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Cullinan’s wheelbase is 11.8 inches longer than on the GLE (129.7 inches vs. 117.9 inches).

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the Cullinan is 1.4 inches wider in the front than on the GLE.

The Cullinan’s front to rear weight distribution is more even (49% to 51%) than the GLE’s (53.5% to 46.5%). This gives the Cullinan more stable handling and braking.

The Cullinan Black Badge handles at .82 G’s, while the GLE 350 4MATIC pulls only .78 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Cullinan Black Badge executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.6 seconds quicker than the GLE 350 4MATIC (26.6 seconds @ .68 average G’s vs. 28.2 seconds @ .62 average G’s).

As tested by Car and Driver while cruising at 70 MPH, the interior of the Cullinan is quieter than the GLE 450 (60 vs. 63 dB).

The Cullinan has 1.4 inches more front headroom, 3.5 inches more rear headroom and 2 inches more rear legroom than the GLE.

Flexibility is maximized at the game, campground or a drive-in theatre in the Cullinan when its optional tailgating rear seats are deployed, allowing people to sit facing out of the tailgate. (Do not use while vehicle is in motion.) The GLE doesn’t offer tailgating seats.

The Cullinan’s rear cargo window opens separately from the rest of the tailgate door to allow quicker loading of small packages. The GLE’s rear cargo window doesn’t open.

The Cullinan’s power side reverse swing out doors make it much easier to load and unload kids and cargo. One touch opens the door, before you even get to the sport utility. The GLE doesn’t offer a power rear door.

Optional air conditioned front and rear seats keep the Cullinan’s passengers comfortable and take the sting out of hot leather in summer. The GLE doesn’t offer air-conditioned seats for the second row.

The Cullinan 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 GLE.

The Cullinan has standard massaging front seats. Massaging front seats cost extra on the GLE. The Cullinan also offers optional massaging rear seats in order to maximize comfort and eliminate fatigue on long trips. Massaging second row seats aren’t available in the GLE.