Your 8K living room on wheels has arrived

The concept of a lounge on wheels is a modern thing in the automotive world, the idea of ​​a comfortable, well-appointed and ultimately luxurious car that you would be as happy to spend hours in as you would sitting at home.

The problem is that most of those concepts, like the Cadillac InnerSpace or the Mini Urbanaut, depend on the availability of self-driving technology, something that still exists only in the limited circles of Waymo, Zoox and their ilk. It’s still years before you or I can buy a car that can drive itself without supervision, but that’s not stopping Mercedes from rolling out what could be some tough seats.

It’s called the VLE, ​​and although it does require a person behind the wheel, passengers in the second row will be offered reclining, massaging seats, a Dolby Atmos sound system with 22 speakers and a 31.3-inch ultrawide 8K display. It’s an impressive package, but is it enough to dissuade those minivan ideas?

Visually, the VLE lives up to the reputation of the family-friendly minivans that have been doing kid-hauling duties in the United States since the Dodge Caravan planted the seed in the early ’80s. Ask Mercedes, they’ll tell you this is a different beast.

The VLE is what the company calls a Grand Limousine, and while that sounds pretentious, it’s actually totally appropriate. At 216 inches, the VLE is 10 inches longer than the GLS SUV. It also has an interior ceiling height of 49 inches, which makes it easy for me, at six feet tall, to move around.

And it’s certainly as luxurious as your average limousine, with seats to match. The VLE can be configured with space for up to eight in three rows, but it’s best with a few, especially set up with the two-seat captain’s chair arrangement you see here.

Two powertrains will be available. The VLE 300 offers front-wheel drive and 272 horsepower, while the VLE 400 4MATIC steps up to two motors, all-wheel drive and 416 hp. Both rely on the same, large, 115-hour usable battery pack that goes through the bottom of the van. Mercedes says it will provide enough range to cover 435 miles on the European WLTP test cycle. In our most challenging EPA test, expect to average somewhere around 350 miles. It is an 800 volt system that charges at a peak rate of 300 kilowatts. That means adding about 200 miles in 15 minutes.

As I like to drive, the best seats in the VLE are in the second row. From there, you can always look up at the glass ceiling, or use the extra-wide 31.3-inch screen and survive your YouTube streak.

You can also stream Disney+ directly to the screen, but sadly those are the only two important video streaming partners. Chromecast or AirPlay streaming is not supported. There’s an HDMI port if you want to BYO content, but cables running across the cabinet don’t feel fancy to me.

You can also choose from a few basic games to play on the system, and if you have two kids who won’t agree on anything, you can split the TV with two, 15-inch 4K displays. The 32:9 aspect ratio means that after splitting, you effectively get a pair of 16:9 displays, which is honestly better for viewing a lot of content anyway. Bluetooth headsets mean passengers can get their own dedicated audio.

Are you sitting in the front? There are a lot of pixels there, too. Specifically, the three units that make up the dashboard make up Benz’s MBUX Superscreen setup. There is a 10.25-inch gauge cluster on the left, a 14-inch main infotainment screen in the middle and a 14-inch passenger display on the right that can stream videos and more.

For a wide range of media experience, you have 22 speakers from the Burmester 3D sound system. It supports Dolby Atmos, so you can be fully immersed in both music and extra theater content. Interestingly, the system can also adjust itself based on who is sitting in the van and where.

Driving alone? Speakers prioritize you automatically. Got a full van? It will fill it all with sound. And it’s very capable of doing that. I ran a playlist of Atmos-ready music, everything from Tay Tay to Axl Rose, and everything sounded great.

Those two seats in the center are heated and ventilated and can seat you upright or slide you to the right recline position. No, they don’t go away completely, but you probably wouldn’t like what could happen to you in an accident if it did. Honestly they are small and not easy to get in and out of, but I could see myself spending hours coming back here without complaining.

I can stay productive, too, thanks to integrated USB-C power on all three lines, and a foldable laptop tray that looks fragile but is strong enough to hold my Lenovo X1 Carbon. A temperature-controlled compartment in the lounge can keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cool, and there’s a cooler in the back for more.

RGB LEDs work throughout the cabin, so you can give your ride any color you like, and there’s even an integrated nebulizer, which creates a nice scent, too.

Even the third row is comfortable. The middle seats swing forward and out of the way, so getting in is easy, and I had plenty of headroom back there. Then there is the driver’s seat, which is comfortable and suitable for you if you have to drive this machine yourself.

With up to 416 horsepower delivered to all four wheels, the VLE can be reasonably quick when kicked into sport mode. It also rides on adaptive air suspension, which can be firmer and make the VLE feel more responsive in corners.

But during my time behind the wheel, it didn’t feel comfortable when driven hard. I enjoyed driving the VLE a lot when I dialed it down to Comfort, took a deep breath and just cruised along my route.

In this mode, the air suspension is soft, and the throttle is relaxed enough that you can easily move forward without disturbing anyone in the back seats. The steering is a tad slow as well, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this isn’t a small van. With seven degrees of steering from the rear wheels, the VLE can turn its mass into a tighter circle than you’d expect.

Drivers have the opportunity to use a system of active safety systems, including active lane keeping assistance on the highway and a comprehensive automatic parking system that transforms this big beast into small parking spaces. It will automatically pull itself out of a tight fit if you turn it down the wrong way.

About the only thing the VLE lacks is full autonomy. It would be great to get a machine like this and let it take it to work while you get in a few rounds of Fortnite on that 8K display. Alas, we are not there yet, but I have a feeling that most people who experience the VLE will do so from the second line. This could be a popular airport and event shuttle, but it will be a while before it enters service.

The VLE isn’t due to hit the US market until late 2027, and while the price hasn’t been set, Andreas Zygan, Head of Development at Mercedes-Benz Vans, told me: “It won’t be cheap, for sure.”