**A Comparative Analysis of Luxury Cars: BMW 540i vs Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Tesla Model X**

In this article, we'll delve into the world of luxury cars, comparing three high-end vehicles: the BMW 540i, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and Tesla Model X. Our test drive reveals that each car has its unique strengths and weaknesses, making it challenging to pick a clear winner.

**BMW 540i vs Mercedes-Benz E-Class**

Our first stop is the BMW 540i, which initially seems like a solid choice. However, as we take it on a twisty road, we're surprised by how well it handles. The car's responsiveness and stability make it an excellent option for families with multiple passengers on board. With six kids in tow, you'll want a car that can keep up with their energy levels – the BMW 540i is more than up to the task. Though it may not be a sports car by design, it won't topple over in the bends unless you're pushing it too hard.

In contrast, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class feels slightly smaller from the driver's seat, especially when looking back at the amount of car behind you. Our test drive reveals that both cars have similar comfort levels, with the BMW 540i being only marginally smoother over bumps and quieter in terms of engine noise. The difference lies in the petrol engine versus diesel; the diesel variant has a more powerful and refined sound.

One notable difference between the two is the gearbox – the BMW 540i's is super smooth and responsive, making it a joy to drive. When you engage sports mode, the car stiffens up slightly, but it doesn't exhibit that side-to-side shaky behavior some drivers might find off-putting. Ultimately, the decision between these two comes down to personal preference – if you prioritize luxury and don't mind sacrificing fuel efficiency, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class is an excellent choice.

**Tesla Model X: A Futuristic Driving Experience**

Next up is the Tesla Model X, which feels the most sporty of the three. Sitting lower in the car, the suspension is firmer, making it more responsive to bumps and corners. The steering is sharper, and the throttle response is instant – a result of the absence of a gearbox and turbochargers. This makes it perfect for nipping past other cars on the road or simply enjoying a thrilling drive.

One aspect that sets the Tesla Model X apart is its low center of gravity due to the battery placement. This results in better cornering capabilities than you might expect from a car with an electric powertrain. However, we do notice some compromises – the sound insulation isn't as good as in the German cars, and tyre noise becomes more noticeable when driving at higher speeds.

**Economic Considerations**

When it comes to fuel efficiency, none of these cars excel, but they're all better than their traditional petrol or diesel counterparts. The BMW 540i averages around 80 miles per gallon, while the Mercedes-Benz E-Class is slightly less efficient. The Tesla Model X, on the other hand, has an estimated 188 miles on a full charge, although this number can be improved with access to charging points.

**Tesla's Autopilot System: A Game-Changer**

One feature that truly sets the Tesla Model X apart is its automatic cruise control system. While all three cars have similar systems, the Tesla's is arguably better – it can spot road signs and conditions more accurately, making long drives much easier. However, this system does require some monitoring to avoid any issues.

**Picking a Winner: A Challenging Task**

After testing these three luxury cars, we're left with a difficult decision. Each vehicle has its unique strengths and weaknesses, making it challenging to declare a clear winner. The BMW 540i edges out the Mercedes-Benz E-Class in terms of comfort and handling, but the Tesla Model X takes the cake for its futuristic driving experience.

Ultimately, our recommendation depends on your specific needs – if you prioritize luxury and don't mind sacrificing fuel efficiency, the BMW 540i is an excellent choice. However, if you have access to charging points, the Tesla Model X is a better bet due to its impressive performance and innovative features like Autopilot.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enif you want a large luxury seven seater suv which you did choose between the new mercedes gls the bmw x7 or maybe you ditch the germans as their fossil fuels and go for something electric from america sorry about that in this video i'm going to tell you which of these three cars is best it's sort of like the back of the bulge quite literally they're huge let's start this group test by talking about the engines you can get these cars with starting with the gls so you can get it with a three liter straight six petrol two three liter straight six diesels or three four liter twin turbo v8s now i've just noticed something really weird for some reason there's this fake carbon fiber effect plastic in the engine bay why they done that the model x doesn't have an engine base so i'm showing you the badge which says dual motors because it has to do with them now you can have it in two flavors either a long range version or the performance model finally then we come to the bmw and it's available with three engines there's two three liter straight six diesels or a 4.4 liter twin turbo v8 i know which one i'd rather have and it's the one in this car the m50i so it's 4.4 liter twin turbo v8 puts out 530 horsepower the gls is actually the 400d so it's three liter straight six turbo diesel puts out 330 horsepower that tesla model x is the long range version and it produces 470 horsepower from its dual electric motors now they all weigh about the same two and a half tons they're all there about they all have all-wheel drive but this bmw has launch control the other two don't but let's have a drag race may seem odd because they're a bit mismatched but i just want to see what happens when you race a diesel suv against an electric suv and against a petrol suv so let's do it and of course i'll have a good drag race don't i three two one go all got off pretty much the same ah bmw power there we go pretty bye they smashed them good old fashioned v8 let's see what happens in a rolling race then let's have the cars in comfort mode and in automatic for the gearbox obviously doesn't matter with the tesla it's always automatic let's get up to 50 miles an hour and then i'll call it in three two one go oh my god look at that tesla go he just took off can the bmw catch it up before i run out of road can it can it can it no i'm having to break hard bloody hell that was close almost smashed into the barrier if that was on a road i needed to get past the tesla i just wouldn't not at legal speeds oh what happened that time then tesla no gearbox to trouble me just went how about you mercedes i'm just slower he is down on horsepower to be fair but diesel light for like he's not going to beat a petrol petrol just rev higher and neither are going to be an electric car like for light because they just have that instant response okay let's talk about prices so the bmw x7 starts from just over 70 000 pounds meanwhile the tesla model x cost from 86 000 pounds and finally the mercedes gls starts from 75 000 pounds now if you want to see how much money you can save on a new car click on the pop out button up there to download the new car wow app it's completely free and you can do things like compare offers from dealers but also read our reviews watch our videos and it also includes a special car valuation tool which you can use your phone's camera to read a costumer plate and it'll tell you exactly how much it's worth now i'm going to compare these cars design i'm going to come right out and say it i prefer the look of this mercedes gls for starters it is the biggest it just stands out so much more on the road than the other two i also like the roof rails the chrome trim the running boards alloy wheels up to 23 inches in size they are huge and of course you've got the big mercedes badge on the grill but there is one thing i don't like about it fake exhaust look what the heck is the point why do that mercedes why you don't need to it's enough just stop it i think the next best looking is the bmw despite its controversial grill i've actually spoken to quite a few people within bmw and they don't like this but i don't mind it at all i think it gives the car plenty of attitude but if you stare at it too long it does sort of look a little bit like bugs bunny from the front it's like that's a dag finally we come to the tesla and its design has basically been wholly influenced by the wind tunnel because it's been made to be as aerodynamic as possible to maximize the range the downside is it means it looks like a blob not an suv not that keen i'm also not keen on some of the panel gaps at the top of the door doesn't line up this doesn't line up there's huge gaps here there's absolutely no way any of that would pass quality control at mercedes or bmw and if it did get through whoever allowed it to would immediately be sacked however this model x has a feature the other two can't match it's falcon rear doors look at that look at that awesome here on the inside the tesla continues its high-tech theme mainly by the fact you've got a huge tablet for your infotainment screen and then there's this massive windscreen it's lovely at times the problem is if the sun's in a high position yep some blinds don't really do much now you do have leather pretty much everywhere which is nice not so convinced by this brown wood trim on this particular car but in places it doesn't feel quite as well put together as the two germans this bit doesn't even fit properly same store as the outside then really here inside the mercedes i do find the interior design just a little bit more interesting once again huge screen dominates the dash but this time it's lengthways rather than vertical and i have to say mercedes wood trim is better and the whole car just feels a bit more solidly put together the glse's steering wheel is loads nicer than the model x's as well it's not all perfect though i'm not a fan of these sharp edges around the wood trim here also why the heck we've got scratchy plastics down here on a supposedly premium car and then there's the leather now i like the leather air to get on the dash and here and on the door tops but the actual leather you got on the seats as standard has a weird texture to it it's like they've skinned a wrinkly old man who's been out in the sun too long what's that all about when you first climb inside the x7 it doesn't have the initial wow factor of the other two cars mainly because it has a more traditional two screen layout for its dials and its infotainment system but then when you spend a bit more time in it you realize this is actually the best interior especially in terms of the build quality everything just feels a little bit more solid and better put together than in the other two and the materials there's nothing cheap anywhere in this car anywhere it's all gorgeous all luxury now i should point out that this car does have the upgraded individual leather seats but even the standard ones are really nice and the leather is good quality and then there's other things you can add to the car such as the crystal gear lever the crystal starter button i drive controller and the little crystal there on the volume control plus the sky lounge panoramic glass roof which has these little elements in them that when you put the ambient lighting on they light up as well and at night that looks really really cool i like this interior now let's talk about the infotainment systems and bmw's idrive is very good it's quite easy to flip between different menus and stuff and you can operate it as a touch screen using the swivel wheel gesture controls all voice commands and let's just check out how good the voice commands are hey bmw hello what can i help you with take me to burger king which one of the destinations shall i select generally the system is pretty good sometimes it doesn't understand you but you can use it quite heavily when you're just driving along one thing i'm not so keen on though is a digital driver's display it's just a bit dark and dingy and it doesn't show all that much information i don't like the way the rev counter goes backwards either it's a good system it could be better by having android auto as standard you can't get it with this car at the moment but in future bmw will be adding it here in the mercedes glass you do get android auto as well as apple carplay yay also everywhere i think the infotainment system is slightly better than the bmw's part of the reason is the screen's just a bit shinier and clearer especially the digital dials they show more information and you can change the look of them as well which i like you also have similar input methods to the bmw apart from gesture controls it doesn't have that but you can still control it by the touchpad you can control it using the touch screen you can control it using the buttons on the wheel as well if you want to and of course it has voice commands so let's just see what they're like hey mercedes how may i help you take me to kfc select an entry please yeah that's fine cancel the tesla model x also has a voice command so you do have to press the button to activate them take me to a vegan restaurant let's come up with some there though i'm not sure that zizi is best known for being a vegan restaurant it's more pizzeria you can access games on this car so check this out if you're just stood waiting for someone you can do this look you can play different games but the best thing is the whoopee cushion you can actually have it so that when someone sits on one of the seats it makes a farty sound and you can actually change the noise of the farts for however oh however you want them i'm almost a bit tired what it doesn't have though is apple carplay nor android auto at all but it doesn't matter much because you've got this huge screen and it runs google maps so you just use google root guidance anyway this screen itself is lovely and you can control the car's functions through it the only problem with it is that it is rather distracting especially when you're having to look all the way down there to control certain things that's why i actually prefer screens that are lengthways rather than vertical like this but there you go while the tesla model x may have good in-car technology the off-road technology isn't quite so good sure it does have four-wheel drive because there's one motor at the front and one at the back and you have adjustable air suspension which allows you to increase the ride height but even then the ground clearance is pretty limited plus the car gets road tyres as standard which aren't great for off-roading i think if you went off the beaten track in this thing it could get stuck it's more for the school run really just like the tesla many x7s will be used for the school run but it's also more capable if you need to go off-road it has better ground clearance than the tesla like the tesla you can raise it up in fact you can raise it up by 40 millimeters over the standard height and it should be okay enough for most people's needs if you need even more off-road capability there is an off-road pack and that gives you special off-road driving modes a sump guard and a lockable differential if you want to go off-road then the gls is going to be the best bet for instance if you fit the optional off-road puck to this car you not only get an inter axle locking diff you also get a low range gearbox that means it is better for getting up steep inclines eventually though you will run out of grip depending on what dies you've got on it no no no no oh oh no but if you need to get down safely it also has hill descent control and it works even in reverse look oh there we go it'll just take me down smoothly i'm not even doing the brake it's doing it for me and that's not all you can actually get this car with a special suspension upgrade which effectively moves the wheels up and down so it can walk over bumps and ruts it's really cool plus you can use that feature to make the car get jiggy with it oh i almost forgot with the off-road package this gls has by far and away the best ground clearance as well the gls isn't only the best off-road it's also the best for towing it can actually tow up to three and a half tons which is a lot of tons believe me plus you get one of these as standard no an electrically operated tow bar or is the car just pleased to see me you can get an electrically operated tow bar with a bmw as well though it's not standard it'll cost you just over a grand and even then this cost 10 capability still isn't as good as the mercedes it can only tow 2.7 tonnes it's not all right though the tesla has the least hanging capacity at 2.2 tonnes and also if you fit 22 inches wheels that figure drops to one and a half tons i don't know why also it does come with a tow hitch but not an electrical one you have to fit it to yourself oh it's all rather of it obviously these cars are going to spend more time carrying people than they are towing stuff so how they fare in terms of passenger space is really key so let's start off with a tesla and as you can see it's very roomy back here i like the way that you've got glass in the roof you've got huge rear windows and you can recline the middle seats quite a lot if you need to you can there we go sliding forwards and backwards just as you like it trouble is when you're trying to have three in the middle row at once the body isn't the wider so you can feel a little bit cramped also the way the doors are mounted means this central section is quite low so the person in the middle seat doesn't have much headroom at least the completely flat floor means there's plenty of room for everyone's feet now here in the middle row of the x7 you probably notice that i've got two individual chairs that's an optional upgrade normally you would have a three seater bench it's a bit like the tesla you can have the same layout in that as well if you pay extra for it i do like it like this it just seems more roomy and you've got these individual proper chairs with armrests there i can't seem to operate i'm going to operate there we go i like the tesla standard you get electrically operated seats there's loads of adjustment in them and you sit a bit higher as well so you feel more supported in your seat i like the glass roof as well lets in lots of light and the rear windows are big yeah it's comfy it's big it's very spacious nothing to complain about really just like the other two cars you can get the gls as a six-seater version with captain chairs in this middle of row but not in the uk it's the seven seater version only i can't complain about the space though this feels like the biggest car there is just so much knee room and headroom it's really really spacious one thing i'm not so keen on those the fact that the chairs do feel a little bit firmer than in the super plush bmw also i still can't get over this look especially the middle c it's just this big expanse of that weird textured leather why'd they do that better to have someone sat there in fact if someone sits there they will be quite comfy actually because it sits quite low the central seat and the car's wide enough that you don't feel too squished in yeah it's really really roomy and of course you can move the seats forwards and backwards and recline them by controlling them electrically and i prefer the location of the electrical controls here on the door rather than having to reach down by the side of the seat here in the very back of the gls it feels quite roomy as seven seaters ago and the seats are quite high so you're a natural position i like it in fact even with people sat in each row there's enough room even for adults in the very back here my only complaint is the fact that the glass roof doesn't extend all the way to the back so it can feel a bit dark back here but it's not too bad it's a bit quicker getting into the back of the bmw because the back rest is operated manually and then the seat starts to move forward and in the meantime you can be working your way in also the mercedes you have to hold your finger on the button to bring the seat back into place with the bmw you just slot this back down and it will steadily work its way back into position now it does feel a bit more luxurious back here than in the mercedes and the fact that you get separately or sunroof here in the very rear does help it doesn't feel quite as roomy though knee room is a touch tighter so is head room the seats aren't quite so hard the floor but it's not too bad and i could go quite a fair distance in the very back of this car even with people in the other two rows it's nice it's definitely easiest getting to the back of the model x because the seat mechanism is just simply just press button there then you manually slide it forward and these huge openings makes it super easy to climb in pull this back come on come on oh shoot this is this is all gone awry right that's not great so i'm gonna have to oh i'll just hit my ass on that how do i do this where is it sorry about all that now here in the very back of the tesla it feels the most cramped it's livable even with someone sat in each row knee room is okay the biggest problem is headroom so you can't sit forward because then you bang your head on this part if you go over a bump you're gonna end up out banging your head there isn't much headroom at all kids will be okay though i should point that out but adults not so much another problem is the fact that these seats aren't that high off the ground whereas in the other cars when the rear most seats are actually higher than the other so you do get a good view out in this one you just sit low down and it's all a bit enclosed this is the one i would like to go the least distance in the back of how about when it comes to fit in a child seat though well all cars come with four isofix anchor points so two in the middle row two in the very back row and they're all very big so they're quite easy to fit and install seats without having to move seats forwards or backwards this car is actually the best though these falcon doors yet again paying dividends making it very easy to get the seat in and into place see they don't only look good they are very very practical as well another cool feature about the tesla model x is the fact that because you haven't got an engine underneath the bonnet is some storage space which i seem to have just cracked oh dear hopefully no one from tesla will be watching this video anyway if you'd like to see my full in-depth video review of a tesla model x i haven't just broken click on the pop out banner up there to go watch the vid obviously in seven seater mode the boot space isn't all that big but you can fit this much in however if you fold down the rear most seats then you can carry this much in the tesla model x that's not too bad one of the key features about the x7 is that look it gets a split folding tailgate i really like that and in seven seater mode you can fit this much in fold down the remote seats then the amount you can fit in is this much now the jls might not have a split folding tailgate or a front boot and what it does have is the biggest low capacity in seven seater mode in fact you can fit all this stuff into it with the rear seats folded down you can fit in pretty much the same as the other cars however there is room to just squeeze in a set of golf clubs too finally let's see how these big suvs compare to drive starting with the mercedes gls now if you like your suvs to be big chunky feel reassuringly heavy and built like a tank this is your car so that doesn't mean it's difficult to drive it just feels solid and you get a real good view down on other road users needless to say being a mercedes it's very comfy and it's quiet now the engine in this car is pretty impressive it's the one most people go for it's a diesel in fact it's the only one you can get in the uk so you put your foot down and it pulls hard and it's smooth for a diesel very smooth and reasonably quiet as well and it works really nicely with the nine-speed automatic gearbox let's check out the economy though that's what diesels are good for right this is only averaging just over 24 miles per gallon which isn't great but it could be worse i suppose if you had one of the v8s definitely would be worse it sort of does that thing that old school off-roaders do where it rocks you from side to side over undulations a bit like a ship on a gentle sea now i don't know that confusing to thinking that this car handles really badly it doesn't you take it down a twisty road it's more than up to the job it's obviously no sports car but it won't topple over in the bends unless you're going really crazy but you're not going to go really crazy because you're going to have six passengers on board many of which will be kids and they'll just be sick all over the interior jumping in the bmw after the mercedes it feels like a slightly smaller car from the driver's seat at least when you look in the mirror and see how much car is actually behind you you realize it's pretty much the same size told how it does that though i think it's the way it all wraps around you now in terms of comfort it was really very little energy between the two cars maybe maybe maybe this is slightly smoother over bumps and maybe this is a bit quieter i'm absolutely splitting hairs one thing you do notice is the difference between the petrol engine and the diesel and this has got a load of pulley power and it's smooth and it's lovely and it sounds good it's not particularly good for the planet though because it's doing less than 80 miles per gallon i can't fault the gearbox though it's super smooth and responsive it's lovely to drive now when you put it into sports mode it does stiffen things up a bit and once again it's maybe a little bit sharper than the mercedes through the twisty bits it doesn't seem to do that side to side shaky thing like the mercedes you're not going to be pushing these cars particularly hard anyway so do you care if you do then this is probably a slightly better bet if you don't flip a coin finally then onto the tesla model x it feels the most sporty of the three you sit lower in it the suspension is firmer so you feel bumps a bit more the steering is a touch sharper and then you've got that throttle response because there's no gearbox to kick down and no turbos to spool up when you accelerate it responds immediately makes it brilliant for just nipping past other cars on the road really really quick and it makes it fun as well also because the batteries are mounted low down in the car it has a low centre of gravity so it actually goes through corners better than you may expect a car looking like this could one thing i do notice about it though is that even though there's no engine rattling away the sound insulation isn't as good as in the german so you hear more tyre noise and a bit more wind noise as well when you're going quicker as for the economy well being an electric car i've got different readings so it's saying it's doing 532 watt hours per mile now it doesn't matter about the cost of that because you can charge this thing for free at tesla superchargers what does matter though is the range so tesla says it's called do 314 miles on a full charge but based on that amount of energy consumption i'm only going to get about 188 miles i haven't done very well in terms of economy in all three cars i've been driving to tell you the truth one thing that i really do like about this tesla though is the automatic cruise control system they all have them and they're all very good but the tesla is just that little bit better it can really spot when you're in weird conditions such as going past road works or the lines are a bit faded it just seems a little bit better than those in the other two cars it's not completely infallible though you can't just switch off let it do its own thing you do still need to monitor it it does definitely help take the strain out of driving long distances an upgrade worth having picking a winner from these three cars is actually very difficult because they're all very very good now if you don't have access to charging points you're going to need one of these too and between the mercedes and the bmw i think the bmw just edges it it feels a bit more luxurious and it's slightly nicer to drive but if you do have access to charging points i would ditch these two and go with a tesla model x simply because it feels more like you're driving into the future hey bmw hello what can i help you with i'm bored i can't imagine that you're bored maybe you haven't yet had the chance to try sport mode very very good cancel hey mercedes how may i help you what's the meaning of life well try and be nice to people avoid eating fatty foods and read a good book every now and then get some walking in and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all races and nationalities kind of reminds me of mum you know just going on a little bitif you want a large luxury seven seater suv which you did choose between the new mercedes gls the bmw x7 or maybe you ditch the germans as their fossil fuels and go for something electric from america sorry about that in this video i'm going to tell you which of these three cars is best it's sort of like the back of the bulge quite literally they're huge let's start this group test by talking about the engines you can get these cars with starting with the gls so you can get it with a three liter straight six petrol two three liter straight six diesels or three four liter twin turbo v8s now i've just noticed something really weird for some reason there's this fake carbon fiber effect plastic in the engine bay why they done that the model x doesn't have an engine base so i'm showing you the badge which says dual motors because it has to do with them now you can have it in two flavors either a long range version or the performance model finally then we come to the bmw and it's available with three engines there's two three liter straight six diesels or a 4.4 liter twin turbo v8 i know which one i'd rather have and it's the one in this car the m50i so it's 4.4 liter twin turbo v8 puts out 530 horsepower the gls is actually the 400d so it's three liter straight six turbo diesel puts out 330 horsepower that tesla model x is the long range version and it produces 470 horsepower from its dual electric motors now they all weigh about the same two and a half tons they're all there about they all have all-wheel drive but this bmw has launch control the other two don't but let's have a drag race may seem odd because they're a bit mismatched but i just want to see what happens when you race a diesel suv against an electric suv and against a petrol suv so let's do it and of course i'll have a good drag race don't i three two one go all got off pretty much the same ah bmw power there we go pretty bye they smashed them good old fashioned v8 let's see what happens in a rolling race then let's have the cars in comfort mode and in automatic for the gearbox obviously doesn't matter with the tesla it's always automatic let's get up to 50 miles an hour and then i'll call it in three two one go oh my god look at that tesla go he just took off can the bmw catch it up before i run out of road can it can it can it no i'm having to break hard bloody hell that was close almost smashed into the barrier if that was on a road i needed to get past the tesla i just wouldn't not at legal speeds oh what happened that time then tesla no gearbox to trouble me just went how about you mercedes i'm just slower he is down on horsepower to be fair but diesel light for like he's not going to beat a petrol petrol just rev higher and neither are going to be an electric car like for light because they just have that instant response okay let's talk about prices so the bmw x7 starts from just over 70 000 pounds meanwhile the tesla model x cost from 86 000 pounds and finally the mercedes gls starts from 75 000 pounds now if you want to see how much money you can save on a new car click on the pop out button up there to download the new car wow app it's completely free and you can do things like compare offers from dealers but also read our reviews watch our videos and it also includes a special car valuation tool which you can use your phone's camera to read a costumer plate and it'll tell you exactly how much it's worth now i'm going to compare these cars design i'm going to come right out and say it i prefer the look of this mercedes gls for starters it is the biggest it just stands out so much more on the road than the other two i also like the roof rails the chrome trim the running boards alloy wheels up to 23 inches in size they are huge and of course you've got the big mercedes badge on the grill but there is one thing i don't like about it fake exhaust look what the heck is the point why do that mercedes why you don't need to it's enough just stop it i think the next best looking is the bmw despite its controversial grill i've actually spoken to quite a few people within bmw and they don't like this but i don't mind it at all i think it gives the car plenty of attitude but if you stare at it too long it does sort of look a little bit like bugs bunny from the front it's like that's a dag finally we come to the tesla and its design has basically been wholly influenced by the wind tunnel because it's been made to be as aerodynamic as possible to maximize the range the downside is it means it looks like a blob not an suv not that keen i'm also not keen on some of the panel gaps at the top of the door doesn't line up this doesn't line up there's huge gaps here there's absolutely no way any of that would pass quality control at mercedes or bmw and if it did get through whoever allowed it to would immediately be sacked however this model x has a feature the other two can't match it's falcon rear doors look at that look at that awesome here on the inside the tesla continues its high-tech theme mainly by the fact you've got a huge tablet for your infotainment screen and then there's this massive windscreen it's lovely at times the problem is if the sun's in a high position yep some blinds don't really do much now you do have leather pretty much everywhere which is nice not so convinced by this brown wood trim on this particular car but in places it doesn't feel quite as well put together as the two germans this bit doesn't even fit properly same store as the outside then really here inside the mercedes i do find the interior design just a little bit more interesting once again huge screen dominates the dash but this time it's lengthways rather than vertical and i have to say mercedes wood trim is better and the whole car just feels a bit more solidly put together the glse's steering wheel is loads nicer than the model x's as well it's not all perfect though i'm not a fan of these sharp edges around the wood trim here also why the heck we've got scratchy plastics down here on a supposedly premium car and then there's the leather now i like the leather air to get on the dash and here and on the door tops but the actual leather you got on the seats as standard has a weird texture to it it's like they've skinned a wrinkly old man who's been out in the sun too long what's that all about when you first climb inside the x7 it doesn't have the initial wow factor of the other two cars mainly because it has a more traditional two screen layout for its dials and its infotainment system but then when you spend a bit more time in it you realize this is actually the best interior especially in terms of the build quality everything just feels a little bit more solid and better put together than in the other two and the materials there's nothing cheap anywhere in this car anywhere it's all gorgeous all luxury now i should point out that this car does have the upgraded individual leather seats but even the standard ones are really nice and the leather is good quality and then there's other things you can add to the car such as the crystal gear lever the crystal starter button i drive controller and the little crystal there on the volume control plus the sky lounge panoramic glass roof which has these little elements in them that when you put the ambient lighting on they light up as well and at night that looks really really cool i like this interior now let's talk about the infotainment systems and bmw's idrive is very good it's quite easy to flip between different menus and stuff and you can operate it as a touch screen using the swivel wheel gesture controls all voice commands and let's just check out how good the voice commands are hey bmw hello what can i help you with take me to burger king which one of the destinations shall i select generally the system is pretty good sometimes it doesn't understand you but you can use it quite heavily when you're just driving along one thing i'm not so keen on though is a digital driver's display it's just a bit dark and dingy and it doesn't show all that much information i don't like the way the rev counter goes backwards either it's a good system it could be better by having android auto as standard you can't get it with this car at the moment but in future bmw will be adding it here in the mercedes glass you do get android auto as well as apple carplay yay also everywhere i think the infotainment system is slightly better than the bmw's part of the reason is the screen's just a bit shinier and clearer especially the digital dials they show more information and you can change the look of them as well which i like you also have similar input methods to the bmw apart from gesture controls it doesn't have that but you can still control it by the touchpad you can control it using the touch screen you can control it using the buttons on the wheel as well if you want to and of course it has voice commands so let's just see what they're like hey mercedes how may i help you take me to kfc select an entry please yeah that's fine cancel the tesla model x also has a voice command so you do have to press the button to activate them take me to a vegan restaurant let's come up with some there though i'm not sure that zizi is best known for being a vegan restaurant it's more pizzeria you can access games on this car so check this out if you're just stood waiting for someone you can do this look you can play different games but the best thing is the whoopee cushion you can actually have it so that when someone sits on one of the seats it makes a farty sound and you can actually change the noise of the farts for however oh however you want them i'm almost a bit tired what it doesn't have though is apple carplay nor android auto at all but it doesn't matter much because you've got this huge screen and it runs google maps so you just use google root guidance anyway this screen itself is lovely and you can control the car's functions through it the only problem with it is that it is rather distracting especially when you're having to look all the way down there to control certain things that's why i actually prefer screens that are lengthways rather than vertical like this but there you go while the tesla model x may have good in-car technology the off-road technology isn't quite so good sure it does have four-wheel drive because there's one motor at the front and one at the back and you have adjustable air suspension which allows you to increase the ride height but even then the ground clearance is pretty limited plus the car gets road tyres as standard which aren't great for off-roading i think if you went off the beaten track in this thing it could get stuck it's more for the school run really just like the tesla many x7s will be used for the school run but it's also more capable if you need to go off-road it has better ground clearance than the tesla like the tesla you can raise it up in fact you can raise it up by 40 millimeters over the standard height and it should be okay enough for most people's needs if you need even more off-road capability there is an off-road pack and that gives you special off-road driving modes a sump guard and a lockable differential if you want to go off-road then the gls is going to be the best bet for instance if you fit the optional off-road puck to this car you not only get an inter axle locking diff you also get a low range gearbox that means it is better for getting up steep inclines eventually though you will run out of grip depending on what dies you've got on it no no no no oh oh no but if you need to get down safely it also has hill descent control and it works even in reverse look oh there we go it'll just take me down smoothly i'm not even doing the brake it's doing it for me and that's not all you can actually get this car with a special suspension upgrade which effectively moves the wheels up and down so it can walk over bumps and ruts it's really cool plus you can use that feature to make the car get jiggy with it oh i almost forgot with the off-road package this gls has by far and away the best ground clearance as well the gls isn't only the best off-road it's also the best for towing it can actually tow up to three and a half tons which is a lot of tons believe me plus you get one of these as standard no an electrically operated tow bar or is the car just pleased to see me you can get an electrically operated tow bar with a bmw as well though it's not standard it'll cost you just over a grand and even then this cost 10 capability still isn't as good as the mercedes it can only tow 2.7 tonnes it's not all right though the tesla has the least hanging capacity at 2.2 tonnes and also if you fit 22 inches wheels that figure drops to one and a half tons i don't know why also it does come with a tow hitch but not an electrical one you have to fit it to yourself oh it's all rather of it obviously these cars are going to spend more time carrying people than they are towing stuff so how they fare in terms of passenger space is really key so let's start off with a tesla and as you can see it's very roomy back here i like the way that you've got glass in the roof you've got huge rear windows and you can recline the middle seats quite a lot if you need to you can there we go sliding forwards and backwards just as you like it trouble is when you're trying to have three in the middle row at once the body isn't the wider so you can feel a little bit cramped also the way the doors are mounted means this central section is quite low so the person in the middle seat doesn't have much headroom at least the completely flat floor means there's plenty of room for everyone's feet now here in the middle row of the x7 you probably notice that i've got two individual chairs that's an optional upgrade normally you would have a three seater bench it's a bit like the tesla you can have the same layout in that as well if you pay extra for it i do like it like this it just seems more roomy and you've got these individual proper chairs with armrests there i can't seem to operate i'm going to operate there we go i like the tesla standard you get electrically operated seats there's loads of adjustment in them and you sit a bit higher as well so you feel more supported in your seat i like the glass roof as well lets in lots of light and the rear windows are big yeah it's comfy it's big it's very spacious nothing to complain about really just like the other two cars you can get the gls as a six-seater version with captain chairs in this middle of row but not in the uk it's the seven seater version only i can't complain about the space though this feels like the biggest car there is just so much knee room and headroom it's really really spacious one thing i'm not so keen on those the fact that the chairs do feel a little bit firmer than in the super plush bmw also i still can't get over this look especially the middle c it's just this big expanse of that weird textured leather why'd they do that better to have someone sat there in fact if someone sits there they will be quite comfy actually because it sits quite low the central seat and the car's wide enough that you don't feel too squished in yeah it's really really roomy and of course you can move the seats forwards and backwards and recline them by controlling them electrically and i prefer the location of the electrical controls here on the door rather than having to reach down by the side of the seat here in the very back of the gls it feels quite roomy as seven seaters ago and the seats are quite high so you're a natural position i like it in fact even with people sat in each row there's enough room even for adults in the very back here my only complaint is the fact that the glass roof doesn't extend all the way to the back so it can feel a bit dark back here but it's not too bad it's a bit quicker getting into the back of the bmw because the back rest is operated manually and then the seat starts to move forward and in the meantime you can be working your way in also the mercedes you have to hold your finger on the button to bring the seat back into place with the bmw you just slot this back down and it will steadily work its way back into position now it does feel a bit more luxurious back here than in the mercedes and the fact that you get separately or sunroof here in the very rear does help it doesn't feel quite as roomy though knee room is a touch tighter so is head room the seats aren't quite so hard the floor but it's not too bad and i could go quite a fair distance in the very back of this car even with people in the other two rows it's nice it's definitely easiest getting to the back of the model x because the seat mechanism is just simply just press button there then you manually slide it forward and these huge openings makes it super easy to climb in pull this back come on come on oh shoot this is this is all gone awry right that's not great so i'm gonna have to oh i'll just hit my ass on that how do i do this where is it sorry about all that now here in the very back of the tesla it feels the most cramped it's livable even with someone sat in each row knee room is okay the biggest problem is headroom so you can't sit forward because then you bang your head on this part if you go over a bump you're gonna end up out banging your head there isn't much headroom at all kids will be okay though i should point that out but adults not so much another problem is the fact that these seats aren't that high off the ground whereas in the other cars when the rear most seats are actually higher than the other so you do get a good view out in this one you just sit low down and it's all a bit enclosed this is the one i would like to go the least distance in the back of how about when it comes to fit in a child seat though well all cars come with four isofix anchor points so two in the middle row two in the very back row and they're all very big so they're quite easy to fit and install seats without having to move seats forwards or backwards this car is actually the best though these falcon doors yet again paying dividends making it very easy to get the seat in and into place see they don't only look good they are very very practical as well another cool feature about the tesla model x is the fact that because you haven't got an engine underneath the bonnet is some storage space which i seem to have just cracked oh dear hopefully no one from tesla will be watching this video anyway if you'd like to see my full in-depth video review of a tesla model x i haven't just broken click on the pop out banner up there to go watch the vid obviously in seven seater mode the boot space isn't all that big but you can fit this much in however if you fold down the rear most seats then you can carry this much in the tesla model x that's not too bad one of the key features about the x7 is that look it gets a split folding tailgate i really like that and in seven seater mode you can fit this much in fold down the remote seats then the amount you can fit in is this much now the jls might not have a split folding tailgate or a front boot and what it does have is the biggest low capacity in seven seater mode in fact you can fit all this stuff into it with the rear seats folded down you can fit in pretty much the same as the other cars however there is room to just squeeze in a set of golf clubs too finally let's see how these big suvs compare to drive starting with the mercedes gls now if you like your suvs to be big chunky feel reassuringly heavy and built like a tank this is your car so that doesn't mean it's difficult to drive it just feels solid and you get a real good view down on other road users needless to say being a mercedes it's very comfy and it's quiet now the engine in this car is pretty impressive it's the one most people go for it's a diesel in fact it's the only one you can get in the uk so you put your foot down and it pulls hard and it's smooth for a diesel very smooth and reasonably quiet as well and it works really nicely with the nine-speed automatic gearbox let's check out the economy though that's what diesels are good for right this is only averaging just over 24 miles per gallon which isn't great but it could be worse i suppose if you had one of the v8s definitely would be worse it sort of does that thing that old school off-roaders do where it rocks you from side to side over undulations a bit like a ship on a gentle sea now i don't know that confusing to thinking that this car handles really badly it doesn't you take it down a twisty road it's more than up to the job it's obviously no sports car but it won't topple over in the bends unless you're going really crazy but you're not going to go really crazy because you're going to have six passengers on board many of which will be kids and they'll just be sick all over the interior jumping in the bmw after the mercedes it feels like a slightly smaller car from the driver's seat at least when you look in the mirror and see how much car is actually behind you you realize it's pretty much the same size told how it does that though i think it's the way it all wraps around you now in terms of comfort it was really very little energy between the two cars maybe maybe maybe this is slightly smoother over bumps and maybe this is a bit quieter i'm absolutely splitting hairs one thing you do notice is the difference between the petrol engine and the diesel and this has got a load of pulley power and it's smooth and it's lovely and it sounds good it's not particularly good for the planet though because it's doing less than 80 miles per gallon i can't fault the gearbox though it's super smooth and responsive it's lovely to drive now when you put it into sports mode it does stiffen things up a bit and once again it's maybe a little bit sharper than the mercedes through the twisty bits it doesn't seem to do that side to side shaky thing like the mercedes you're not going to be pushing these cars particularly hard anyway so do you care if you do then this is probably a slightly better bet if you don't flip a coin finally then onto the tesla model x it feels the most sporty of the three you sit lower in it the suspension is firmer so you feel bumps a bit more the steering is a touch sharper and then you've got that throttle response because there's no gearbox to kick down and no turbos to spool up when you accelerate it responds immediately makes it brilliant for just nipping past other cars on the road really really quick and it makes it fun as well also because the batteries are mounted low down in the car it has a low centre of gravity so it actually goes through corners better than you may expect a car looking like this could one thing i do notice about it though is that even though there's no engine rattling away the sound insulation isn't as good as in the german so you hear more tyre noise and a bit more wind noise as well when you're going quicker as for the economy well being an electric car i've got different readings so it's saying it's doing 532 watt hours per mile now it doesn't matter about the cost of that because you can charge this thing for free at tesla superchargers what does matter though is the range so tesla says it's called do 314 miles on a full charge but based on that amount of energy consumption i'm only going to get about 188 miles i haven't done very well in terms of economy in all three cars i've been driving to tell you the truth one thing that i really do like about this tesla though is the automatic cruise control system they all have them and they're all very good but the tesla is just that little bit better it can really spot when you're in weird conditions such as going past road works or the lines are a bit faded it just seems a little bit better than those in the other two cars it's not completely infallible though you can't just switch off let it do its own thing you do still need to monitor it it does definitely help take the strain out of driving long distances an upgrade worth having picking a winner from these three cars is actually very difficult because they're all very very good now if you don't have access to charging points you're going to need one of these too and between the mercedes and the bmw i think the bmw just edges it it feels a bit more luxurious and it's slightly nicer to drive but if you do have access to charging points i would ditch these two and go with a tesla model x simply because it feels more like you're driving into the future hey bmw hello what can i help you with i'm bored i can't imagine that you're bored maybe you haven't yet had the chance to try sport mode very very good cancel hey mercedes how may i help you what's the meaning of life well try and be nice to people avoid eating fatty foods and read a good book every now and then get some walking in and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all races and nationalities kind of reminds me of mum you know just going on a little bit\n"