2009 Mercedes-Benz GL320 BlueTEC (photos)

We recently took the 2009 Mercedes-Benz GL320 BlueTEC from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back to see just how green the BlueTEC can be.

The GL320 is powered by a 3-liter turbodiesel V-6 which outputs 210 horsepower and generates 398 pound-feet of torque. That's more torque than the GL550's 5.4-liter gasoline V-8!

While acceleration from a stop suffered slightly, the GL320 BlueTEC was able to top the EPA fuel economy estimate of 23 highway mpg.

The BlueTEC diesel engine is approved for use with B5 biodiesel fuel.

Up to 80 percent of NOx emissions are scrubbed thanks to the BlueTEC's AdBlue exhaust injection system.

An optional power liftgate opens and closes at the touch of a button.

A third row of seats folds flat to increase storage space when carrying less than seven passengers.

Rear seat entertainment in handled by two seatback-mounted LCD screens.

The GL's leather trimmed interior isolates passengers from the outside world. The high seating position made us feel that we were sitting on top of a car, rather than inside of an SUV.

The power adjustable steering wheel features redundant controls for audio, helping users keep their attention on the road.

This monochrome LCD shows useful information such as current song, turn-by-turn directions, and fuel economy.

At the base of the center stack sit the controls for the Adaptive Damping system, the Airmatic suspension (which increases ground clearance by 3 inches), and hill descent and off-road program modes.

The hard-drive based navigation system is quick and responsive, but the graphics pale in comparison to systems we've seen from Lexus. Additionally, the d-pad based COMAND system is a pain to use.

Traffic data is beamed into the GL's navigation system, which shows incidents and congestion along your chosen route.

The GPS system can display advanced information such as heading and latitude/longitude, but hides more basic information, such as time or distance to destination, under submenus.

The Harmon/Kardon audio system sounds fantastic in the GL's quiet cabin. Over the air audio sources include HD Radio and Sirius satellite radio, along with standard AM/FM tuning.

Users have multiple options for playing back their digital audio, including a six disc DVD/CD changer with MP3 playback, an SD card slot, 4GB of Music Register storage, plus USB/iPod connectivity.

Tucked in the glove compartment is the optional iPod interface cable, which shares a connection with the analog aux-input.

The Logic7 audio processing outputs sound in Dolby digital 5.1 surround.

The GL's Bluetooth hands-free system is easy to setup. We particularly like that it will automatically pull in your contacts.