The newest member of the Maybach clan benefits from the upgrades to the regular GLS-Class, and a few all its own. When someone drops six figures on a Mercedes-Benz SUV, they typically have a G-Class in mind. The irrepressible G-Wagen enjoyed another 23-percent sales jump in 2025, to a record 49,700 global sales. The Mercedes-Maybach GLS can’t touch the G-Class for cultural clout or popularity, but Mercedes hopes a decisive mid-cycle upgrade will give the 2027 GLS680 a bit more juice among the status-conscious.
Like the facelifted Maybach S-Class, this SUV looks to be more of an attention-getter than its predecessor. A new illuminated rim surrounds its hefty radiator grille. The grille’s etched Maybach script is also lit from within, and its standing Mercedes star ornament can be lit the same as an option. Enormous headlamp lenses flash glowing rose gold accents like designer sunglasses, with integrated star elements. Front air inlets are adorned with the double-M Maybach pattern in chrome, with more brightwork on a new bumper underguard. Do skip the standard 22-inch wheels in favor of the 23-inch Maybach forged options whose center caps, mounted on ball bearings, keep their Mercedes star standing upright at all times.
View Price on AmazonAnodized aluminum running boards power from the sides in less than one second, lit by an LED strip. A reworked tailgate helps visually marry the new taillights, also filled with three-dimensional crimson stars. An expanded paint palette extends to Maybach’s signature two-tone paints; Mercedes showed off a sharp Dark Petrol/Verde Silver Metallic combo at a private home overlooking France’s Cote d’Azur during our first drive of the Maybach S580 sedan.
An uprated version of Mercedes’s new M177 Evo V-8 boosts power by nearly 10 percent; the flat-crank twin-turbo 4.0-liter generates 603 horsepower and 627-pound feet of torque, an increase of 53 hp and 89 lb.-ft. A 48-volt mild hybrid system contributes up to 23 hp of boost, along with energy recuperation and engine start-stop functions.
Mercedes says a quicker steering ratio will boost agility and response when the Maybach goes on sale in the fourth quarter. Familiar E-Active Body Control, part of a standard Airmatic suspension, can adjust road-sensing dampers 1000 times per second to counteract body roll, dive or lift, and a new feature can adjust dampers based on Car-to-X data beamed from Mercedes vehicles driving ahead. As on the reworked S-Class, a “Maybach” driving mode promises a new level of magic-carpet comfort on the road.
Naturally, it’s the stuff inside that sells Maybachs, including this exclusively two-row version of a three-row GLS. Among its Bentley-esque options, a popular Manufaktur headliner combines up to 20 pieces of leather, hand-stitched and signed by a single craftsperson. Newly expressive design choices include a handsome blend of Nappa leather in Beech Brown and Macchiato Beige, and a pair of trim finishes: a natural-grain brown walnut wood and high-gloss silver metallic fabric.
Again mimicking the Maybach S-Class, the latest Superscreen arrays three 12.3-inch displays under a seamless sweep of glass, with rose gold 3D dials for driver’s instruments. A "Zero Layer" design keeps the most-relevant info and recently used apps a single touch away. That’s all powered by the newest MB.OS operating system, MBUX Infotainment and a virtual assistant that takes cues from ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing and Google Gemini.
Style aside, this Maybach’s most contentious issue may be space. The Maybach S-Class sedan benefits from a 7.1-inch wheelbase stretch that grants nearly 50 inches of rear legroom, and passengers are beckoned into that airy atelier via fully motorized doors. The GLS680 ditches a standard GLS’s third row to maximize second-row space, but the gains feel more negligible. (Plus, without the optional motorized portals, there’s less sense of occasion.) The GLS680 gains just 1.5 inches of rear legroom, to 43.4. That’s a healthy amount, but a Ram 1500
Source: roadandtrack.com
