Merc's bread-and-butter SUV was last revamped in 2012, and this redesign essentially grafts the company's new corporate face and tail onto the vehicle formerly known as ML. A two-bar grille runs the expanse between stretched headlights. Above them sits a more sculpted hood with dual power lines. Below all that is a bumper with three large intakes, similar to Mercedes' sedans. The sides are untouched, but in back you'll find a new LED taillight design and trapezoidal tailpipe finishers. On the AMG Line trim pictured here, the elements rendered in chrome on the base model – like the central guard in front and diffuser panel in back – are done in black.

The interior changes start with the driver staring at a new three-spoke steering wheel front-and-center, and a larger, eight-inch infotainment display on the right. That screen stands proud of the instrument panel, with two vents flanking it to remind you this isn't a clean redesign. Compare that to the freestanding tablet look, like on the C-Class, and you'll get what we're talking about.

The center stack newness ends there. Below the big screen are the infotainment and HVAC controls that we've been looking at since 2012. They feel really old now – perhaps because these same dials and buttons were in the E-Class sedan in mid-2009.

The controls on the console, however, are overhauled, with the glossy, swoosh-shaped COMAND controller taking up residence next to the driver's arm. Beside that are a few buttons controlling functions like ride height and hill descent control, as well as the new Dynamic Select knob. This dial controls up to six driving modes. There's Comfort, Sport, Slippery, Off-Road Light, and Individual. Buyers who opt for the Off-Road Package will get a sixth mode, Off-Road+. Mercedes expects only 10 percent of GLE customers will want that capability.

Every GLE comes with the basic five-setting Dynamic Select knob, no matter which of the five engines are under the hood. Here's where things get tricky, so we'll list the details for the sake of clarity. All non-AMG trims use Mercedes' 7G-Tronic Plus seven-speed automatic transmission. The GLE63 gets the AMG Speedshift seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Diesel models not sold in the United States can be had with the company's 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic.

After a drive in the GLE400 4Matic, we agree with Brandon Turkus' thoughts of the 2015 ML400: peppy enough, planted, and capable. Comfort mode reminds us of the dynamics of classic Mercedes-Benz cars, like light steering, almost binary response from the accelerator and brake pedals, and noticeable squat when you ask for passing acceleration. Sport mode tightens things up, but the dynamic attitude is largely unchanged.

The GLE550e plug-in hybrid had us most intrigued, but our seat time was limited. The 85-kilowatt electric motor is good for about 18 miles of electric driving and speeds of up to 81 miles per hour, although a careful right foot and clever toggling of the hybrid drive modes – separate from the dynamic controls mentioned earlier – can stretch that range.

The hybrid GLE starts up in Hybrid mode, naturally. There's a detent in the accelerator travel to let you know when you're about to engage the gas engine, but it's very subtle. E-Mode runs the GLE as an EV until the 8.7-kWh battery power drops to about 11 percent, then the system reverts to Hybrid. E-Save maintains the current level of battery charge no matter what that level is. The point is to be able to save battery power for later on, like when driving through a city center. But if you set E-Save when the battery is nearly dead, the battery will stay nearly dead. Charge mode uses the engine to fill the battery, with a noticeable drain on power and fuel economy. Deep down in the driving menu settings is Eco mode (a sub-setting of all the other modes), which uses front-mounted radar to improve electric energy usage. When a car in front is detected, the hybrid will use engine braking to reduce speed and gather energy for the battery, the driver applying additional braking through the pedal if necessary.

The GLE550e is a smooth operator, with lively acceleration under all-electric power, a coasting function that felt like we'd roll forever, and a generous run of all-electric motoring when using a light foot. You do give up some cargo room for this. The normally flat load floor is 4.7 inches higher to make space for the battery.