2027 Mercedes-Benz VLE First Drive Review: A Luxury Minivan? It's Not as Wacky as It Sounds

• What's new: The Mercedes-Benz VLE is a luxury minivan — no foolin'.
• Why it matters: The VLE is less about child seats and vacuum cleaners and more about ultra-luxury accommodations for three rows of passengers. Think Toyota Sienna, but by Lexus.
• Edmunds says: Will a $100,000 ultra-luxe minivan find homes in the States? We sure hope so.

The VLE continues this tradition of experimentation. It's a fully electric model, with a big 115-kWh battery and fast-charging 800-volt architecture. EPA testing has not yet been completed, but with its slippery aerodynamics (it boasts a 0.25 coefficient of drag), it's slated to achieve 700 kilometers in the European WLTP certification process, so I imagine it will achieve around 350 miles of range on the U.S.' EPA cycle. Mercedes-Benz also says a gas version is coming — probably, maybe — for those not yet ready to make the EV jump.

The VLE has a novel and compact computer-controlled air suspension that simultaneously allows a fully flat load floor, an absorbent ride, and the ability to raise and lower the vehicle — via touchscreen or voice commands — through a 3-inch range, deflating to make it easier to get in and out, or erecting to ford shallow parking lot puddles. It has four heart and breath monitors to detect kids or pets left on board, and if it finds any (bad parent!), it will automatically heat or cool the cabin to a comfortable 72 degrees. It even has an onboard ultraviolet air purification system. It doesn't sport an onboard vacuum, like Chrysler's family haulers have, but were they available with 22-inch Monoblock wheels like a Maybach? I don't think so.

Like many minivans, the VLE saves its greatest ingenuity for its seats. A core mission here was to create parity between occupants of all three rows, so that those in the way-back don't feel like they're stuck in Coach. To this end, every stitched and perforated leather seat is available with power manipulation, heating and plenty of USB-C outlets. Still, only the front two rows are endowed with cooling and massaging options. And with the Exclusive package, only the second row rises to true Business Class status, featuring headrest pillows, significant power recline-ability, a refrigerated center console, dedicated dual climate zones, and armrest-integrated wireless cellphone chargers, collapsible cupholders and tray tables. The third row is roomy, posh, and comfy but doesn’t really exceed Premium Economy.

The two rear rows of seats can also perform what Mercedes refers to as a "ballet," handily power-pirouetting forward and backward along their in-floor tracks (when empty) to conform to four standard configurations, favoring more room for second- or third-row passengers, or cargo. These movements can be commanded, like a reality-show dance mom shouting from the sidelines, from the central touchscreen or Mercedes Me app. I spent an embarrassing amount of time watching the chairs boogie.

If outfitted with the Cinema Display system, the van is also equipped with a 31-inch screen that ejects from the headliner above the driver and folds down 90 degrees for the viewing pleasure of the rear occupants. Laden with video and music streaming apps, an 8-megapixel camera, an HDMI cable to attach a laptop or gaming controller, power-operated glare-reducing shades on the rear windows and giant overhead sunroof, as well as wireless headphones, it can perform entertainment or work duties. With a vertical left/right split, it can even do both simultaneously, with one person discussing a soul-crushing PowerPoint on Microsoft Teams and the other catching up on their metastasizing Star Wars derivatives. Weirdly, wireless phone mirroring and laptop casting are not available back here, a significant omission. Also, when lowered, the giant screen completely blocks the driver's rearward vision, so a video-fed rearview mirror can be engaged, though it's as nauseating to me as these systems always are.

Decidedly non-nauseating are the VLE's accelerative abilities. Even in the higher-output 409-horsepower, all-wheel-drive-equipped VLE 400 form that will likely grace our shores, this is no 'bahn burner. The 3-ton-plus van gets out of its own way and keeps up with highway traffic, but don't expect anything resembling sportiness in acceleration or handling, even in Sport mode, and even in the available AMG Line version. Not that you'd be wise to expect or even desire that in something shaped like a giant chest freezer.

The VLE's mission is smooth and silent executive and family transport. Like S-Classes of yore, it seems focused on providing a stolid, coddling and unperturbable experience, where occupants can vaguely sense adequate acceleration, but nothing jarring intrudes on their self-important serenity. The steering and brakes are equally insulated, though not exactly imprecise. In tight spaces, the van — which, at 209 inches, is 4 inches longer than Benz's GLS large three-row SUV — is aided by a four-wheel steering system, as well as a trick automatic parking feature that recalls where you've just been and can back you out, steering robotically and with remarkable precision, from the last 150 meters you've traveled, even if they're through a maze-like slalom you've executed in an empty parking lot (ask me how I know).

One thing that did seem a bit disappointing to me, especially given their buildup, was the executive seats in the second row. I just spent some time in the back of Benz's new S-Class, and the comfort and recline level back there were truly cocooning. The VLE's seats felt narrow in contrast, hemmed in by high armrests that worked against easy ingress and egress. And even at their steepest "zero gravity" rake, they felt more like an abdominal workout than an inducement to nap. Maybe I was just full from lunch. Or perhaps further over-the-air updates will provide more obtuse angles of recumbency?

I'm also not quite sure what to make of the exterior. It's almost impossible to create a mono-volume vehicle that is both aerodynamic and attractive, but the VLE's fascia combines some of the most unfortunate piscine and canine features, giving it an astounding resemblance to an extinct aqueous predator. With its three-pointed headlamps, it also puts me in mind of one of those dead-eyed, intentionally hideous KAWS Companions, the ones with the X'd out eyes.

It's not alone. In our uncertain times, the entire minivan category is giving up its friendly demeanor. The new Chrysler Pacifica scans the world with an aggro Cylon-like lightbar, the Toyota Sienna has spouted bumpily protuberant armor and a thresher grille, the Kia Carnival attempts to ape a military-inspired SUV and even the formerly smiley Honda Odyssey has developed a menacing sneer. Perhaps, in this ruined world, everyone is just trying to send a message that they’re driving a hardened bank vault and are out to protect their own. 

That said, a blunt-nosed van is definitely less attention-grabbing and ostentatious than a blingy sedan or SUV, diminishing awareness of its VIP occupants among paparazzi and other potential predators. Of course, that incognito quality will be obviated by the further upmarket VLS and VLS-Maybach iterations of this globular box that Mercedes intends to send our way, which will no doubt up the flash significantly.

It seems perhaps Benz is just betting that forthcoming generations of family/executive vehicle buyers may soon (praise Carrus!) reject the SUV, just as their forebears rejected wagons, sedans and other more sensible vehicles — including minivans. Given my aforementioned affection for vans, and the dwindling category of oddball weirdo car forms overall, I hope that this thing succeeds enough to prove them right.