2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid Road Test and Review

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

In 2011, the first mass-market electric car hit the U.S. market. The 2011 Nissan Leaf was a 107-horsepower compact hatchback that could travel an EPA-estimated 73 miles before needing to recharge. While early Leaf models found their fans, even modern EVs – often traveling more than 300 miles per charge – have their doubters. 

But what if you could travel even more than 73 miles on electricity – and then never need to recharge until you want to? And what if instead of a tiny, underpowered hatchback, you could achieve this from a 313-horsepower Mercedes-Benz SUV? 

That’s our experience with the new 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e, a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the brand’s popular compact crossover. For this review, we recently spent a week testing the GLC 350e Hybrid to evaluate all its pros and cons. Keep reading to learn more about this economical luxury SUV, priced from $59,900, to see if it’s the right plug-in auto for you. 

The PHEV Promise

The GLC 350e isn’t the first PHEV on the market. Like other vehicles using similar technology, it has an electric battery that you can plug in to recharge using electricity from the grid. But it also has a gas engine, which kicks in when you run out of range or want to wring out maximum power. 

The idea is that you can take everyday drives using electricity, yet when you take a road trip, you just need to take a couple minutes to fill your gas tank every few hundred miles – not worrying about finding an EV charger. 

And as we’ll explain, the GLC 350e needs that gasoline less often than any other PHEV on the market. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Going the Distance

In EPA testing, the GLC 350e goes 54 miles on an electric charge. And in our hands, it blew past that estimate to deliver 75 fully electric miles at a time. That means nearly anyone’s commute could be handled using only electricity. In EPA testing and based on average U.S. gas prices and electricity rates, the GLC 350e costs $1.95 to drive 25 miles under electric power – versus $3.75 for a gas-only GLC 300. And it emits no tailpipe emissions in doing so. 

The GLC 350e isn’t an ultra-efficient car when you haven’t plugged it in. The EPA estimates it gets 25 mpg in mixed driving when operating as a standard, non-plug-in hybrid. We beat that estimate to average 28 mpg. That’s not bad for a 313-horsepower luxury SUV, but it’s not the fuel-sipping you might expect from a hybrid. Required premium-grade fuel drives up the running costs, too. But with 75 miles of electric range (depending on factors like the temperature and your driving style), you shouldn’t need to burn that premium fuel too often. 

Charging the GLC 350e takes about three hours using a 240-volt car charger, like you’d install in your garage or find in some public charging stations. Even a standard three-prong household outlet can fully recharge the SUV in about eight hours, so you’d be able to plug in overnight and be ready to go in the morning. It’s also capable of getting charged up in 30 minutes at a public DC charging station, though that’s often as expensive as gasoline. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Looks Like a Proper Benz

Mercedes has taken some flak for the design of its fully electric cars, which look like sleek pods rather than traditional Benzes. The GLC 350e, by contrast, is visually identical to the gas-only GLC. The hybrid version is new this year, joining the GLC generation that debuted in 2023. 

The GLC has soft edges – helping it stand out from aggressively edgy rivals. But its silhouette is more upright than most Mercedes EVs. The hood is distinct from the windshield. The headlights are distinct from the grille. This is the sort of luxury design that Mercedes fans have loved for years, and the GLC 350e doesn’t stray from it. Our test vehicle wears the AMG Line Package, meaning it has sportier wheels and less chrome trim than the standard GLC 350e. But this is a muted, restrained, genteel SUV. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Interior Flash

Inside, the GLC 350e isn’t quite so traditional – especially if you pick our test car’s AMG Power Red upholstery. Like many other current Mercedes models (electric and otherwise), you’ll find a flowing dashboard fitted with big digital screens. In the GLC’s case, these are rectangles that jut out from the dash – a 12.3-inch landscape-oriented gauge cluster and an 11.9-inch portrait-oriented central touchscreen. Aside from five round vents, an engine start/stop button, and a few small buttons at the base of the touchscreen, that’s the full extent of the dashboard. 

The dash’s gentle curves feel less cold and clinical to us than some rival luxury vehicles, and the cabin materials are generally excellent. You can choose among 64 colors of ambient lighting in the cabin. And optional gee-whiz tech includes augmented reality navigation, meaning the car’s screen can overlay GPS directions on a live image of the road ahead. We also appreciate that the Benz includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration. 

But many ordinary functions like the radio, cruise control, and climate control get lost behind the wizardry. Nearly every function requires either the touchscreen or touch-sensitive steering wheel controls. These all require careful attention from the driver – all while the driver should be carefully paying attention to the road. Also, Mercedes stowed its wireless smartphone charger away in the center console; this means you can’t see whether your phone is charging, and we also bumped our hand against roughly finished edges inside the console bin. 

Fussy ergonomics are nothing new for a luxury SUV. But a few rivals have an easier user experience. Still, the GLC 350e’s interior’s overall ambiance is appropriately posh and contemporary without being too sterile.

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Usefully Roomy Interior

The GLC 350e gives up only a little bit of cargo space to make room for its big electric battery. It has a useful 24.4 cubic feet of cargo room behind the rear seat, and a lot of that is useful floor space. Boxier rivals let you stack more luggage to the ceiling, but you have plenty of room to spread out your groceries. The rear seat folds down to offer 56.3 cubic feet of cargo space; that’s also on the low side for a compact crossover, but it’ll meet most people’s hauling needs. 

There’s also decent passenger space. The front seats are well-shaped and comfortable, and decent rear legroom means the GLC 350e is a family-friendly crossover. We were surprised that the rear seat doesn’t recline, though, a common feature even on mainstream-brand crossovers. This isn’t the Benz to buy for coddling folks in the backseat. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Doesn’t Drive Like a Dream

We love the technical wizardry that lets the GLC 350e operate as a fully electric car for up to 75 miles at a time (again, 54 miles in EPA testing) and then operate as a gas car in other conditions. But we didn’t actually love driving it. 

Here’s the good part: Unlike many PHEVs, the GLC 350e’s electric motor is powerful enough for you to get up to speed and cruise on the highway without the gas engine kicking in to provide more power Its electric motor makes 134 horsepower, so about as much as an economy car – and that’s the sort of acceleration that you get without the engine helping. It’s great for cruising around in near silence.

But sometimes you’ll want your Mercedes to be quicker than a Toyota Corolla. And that wakes up the gas engine. If you’ve been running in electric mode, you go from near silence to the sudden loud revving of an unhappy four-cylinder engine. Put your foot to the floor and it’ll reach a respectable 6.3 seconds. But it’s not a fun car to drive fast. (Again, we’re talking about acceleration; 134 horsepower is plenty to keep the GLC 350e cruising along on the freeway, just not to hustle on its way to 70 mph.) 

Similarly, once we used up the GLC 350e’s electric range, the gas engine feels more like an emergency fallback than a natural part of a delightful driving experience. And the GLC 350e’s heavy electric battery doesn’t help its ride quality or handling.

This isn’t a lousy car to drive. But other Mercedes vehicles drive better. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Priced From $59,900

The 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e starts at $59,900. It’s equipped equivalently to the four-cylinder gas-only GLC 300, except that all-wheel drive is optional on the 300 and standard on the 350e. The hybrid costs about $9,000 more than the gas-only AWD model, with mostly the same standard features. That means the GLC 350e isn’t sparsely equipped, but it’s easy to add further amenities that drive up its price further. 

Every GLC 350e already includes such niceties as heated leatherette front seats, a power driver’s seat with memory settings, rain-sensing windshield wipers, a hands-free power liftgate, and front and rear parking sensors. But you’ll pay extra for a moonroof, GPS navigation, adaptive cruise control, and genuine leather. Mercedes also gives you plenty of extra-cost appearance items, which lets you personalize your SUV – but may also drive up the price if you’re just looking to buy off the lot. In all, our test vehicle came to $73,700 including the mandatory $1,150 destination charge. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e ・ Photo by Brady Holt

GLC 350e vs. the Competition

The GLC 350e’s three closest rivals are fellow compact luxury crossovers with PHEV powertrains. They’re the Volvo XC60 Plug-In Hybrid, Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring, and Lexus NX 450h+. 

The Volvo is a spacious and beautifully finished luxury SUV with speedier, more refined acceleration than the Mercedes. The Lexus is a little smaller and more agile, it has a smoother ride, and it has more standard features at a similar price. The Lincoln costs a lot less and has some nice options that the Mercedes lacks, such as massaging seats and hands-free highway driving. 

But they don’t have the Benz’s range. The Lexus goes 37 miles per charge. The Volvo goes 35 miles. The Lincoln goes just 27 miles (and its gas engine kicks on more often than the other three). The Corsair and NX do get better gas mileage than the GLC (or XC60) once the electric range is used up, but the Mercedes lets you stay gas-free for longer. 

Note that Mercedes also sells a PHEV version of the bigger, fancier GLE SUV. If you like the GLC 350e but want more room and a cushier ride, compare it against the GLE 450e. It’s priced from $72,250. 

2025 Volvo XC60 PHEV Polestar Engineered ・ Photo by Brady Holt

For Just the Right Owner, It’s Just the Right Plug-In Car

Plenty of Mercedes owners are happy to pay for gasoline to get a great-driving, no-hassle luxury car. And though Mercedes EVs haven’t lit up the sales charts, their extra-quick, extra-silent acceleration has also won fans. 

The 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e can appeal to a more niche audience. It’s for someone who wants the look and feel of a Mercedes, is willing to pay extra to drive in EV mode, isn’t ready to go fully electric, and doesn’t mind a compromised driving experience. 

If that sounds like you, you’re in luck. The GLC 350e has class-leading EPA-estimated range, and it crushed that estimate during our test. And it pairs that electrification with many other classic Mercedes virtues. Just be sure to drive before you buy. 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt