2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e vs. 2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring PHEV Review

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Electric cars eliminate tailpipe emissions and cut most folks’ fuel costs, but charging on the go during long trips can be inconvenient. Gas-powered cars – even gas-electric hybrids – never need to be plugged in, but their fuel savings are less dramatic. 

That’s where plug-in hybrids come in. When it’s executed right, these PHEVs let you charge up a battery for a few dozen miles of all-electric range in everyday driving. But you can also just fill up their gas tanks when you just want to spend five minutes for enough fuel to travel several hundred miles.

For this review, we tested PHEV versions of two popular compact luxury SUVs: the 2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring and the newly introduced 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e. Each takes its own approach to the assignment of combining luxury, functionality, and electrified efficiency. Keep reading as we compare these two economical SUVs in 10 different categories, including our overall summary, to see which one is the best fit for you. 

Pricing and Features

As you’d expect from their luxury badges, neither the Corsair nor the GLC are cheap hybrids. The Lincoln starts at $54,365, and the Mercedes starts at $59,900. At those prices, the Corsair Grand Touring tends to come with more features – including adaptive cruise control, a panoramic moonroof, genuine leather upholstery, and GPS navigation. Despite a higher starting price, the GLC 350e charges extra for all of those. 

The Lincoln also has a couple of exclusive extra-cost options that the Mercedes doesn’t offer at any price. One is its “Perfect Position” front seats with 24-way adjustability and a choice of massage settings. Another is its BlueCruise hands-free driving system, which invites the driver to leave their hands in their lap (but their eyes on the road) on more than 130,000 miles of highways. 

Only the GLC 350e is available with “augmented reality” navigation. That means it can superimpose arrows showing your turn onto a live video of the roadway. But overall, the Corsair wins for both value and gee-whiz decadence. 

Winner: Lincoln Corsair

2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Exterior Design

Mechanically speaking, the Corsair is the luxury version of the humdrum Ford Escape crossover. But visually, it looks the part of a luxury vehicle. The Corsair is a gentle, genteel SUV with rounded edges, a gracefully tapering windowline, a forward-leaning rear windshield, blacked-out roof pillars, and a classically Lincoln rear lightbar. It doesn’t try to look imposing or aggressive, but nor does it look small, cheap, or generic. The design hasn’t changed much since the Corsair debuted in 2020, except for adding a bigger grille a couple years ago. But we still like how it looks. 

The current-generation GLC debuted in 2023 (the hybrid is all-new this year). It’s another small luxury SUV that’s more about luxury than sporty-looking design. Our test vehicle featured AMG-inspired styling with reduced chrome trim, but the GLC doesn’t look angry or cluttered, unlike some performance-focused luxury SUVs. Compared with the Lincoln, the Mercedes’ rear-wheel-drive-based architecture gives it a longer nose with a shorter overhang over the front wheels. Those are more traditional luxury-car proportions. The GLC is also a few inches longer than the Corsair overall. 

But we won’t name a winner between these two quietly classy crossovers. It’s a wholly subjective choice. 

Winner: Tie 

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Interior Design

Inside, these two SUVs take different styling approaches. The Corsair’s dashboard is a modernized take on a Lincoln from 40 years ago – an upright rectangular vibe, though with rounded-off edges and much higher-grade materials. You won’t find any woodgrain trim like in the old days, though not everyone will prefer its smatterings of piano-black shiny plastic, either. A 13.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system sits at the center of the dash, landscape oriented. 

The GLC has a more rounded, flowing dashboard. An 11.9-inch portrait-orientation touchscreen goes up the center. The biggest piece of the dash isn’t leather like the Corsair’s, but comes in a choice of four woods or (like our test vehicle) of two metallic patterns. Some GLC interior color schemes also have their own piano black, but less conspicuously than the Lincoln. 

As with exterior designs, we won’t name an aesthetic winner between the two SUVs. And both are nicely finished. But the Lincoln pulls ahead for its simpler controls. We still wish it had more physical buttons; adjusting many climate functions required multiple careful steps. But the Mercedes system was designed for flashiness first, functionality second. Also, while both SUVs support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone integration, the Lincoln gives you more space to see your Google Maps or other mobile apps. Or you can split the big screen between your phone’s view and some of the car’s own controls, like the radio or trip data. 

Winner: Lincoln Corsair 

2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Passenger and Cargo Accommodations

Both the GLC 350e and the Corsair Grand Touring are comfortable compact SUVs with plenty of room in the front seats, OK rear seat space, and decent-sized cargo holds. But the Lincoln has some clear advantages. 

First off is those optional “Perfect Position” seats we mentioned. You can adjust everything from the length of the cushion to the width of the bolsters. Then you can choose among five massage styles, each with a choice of intensities. We made great use of that feature during long drives in our tested Corsair. 

Second is the Corsair’s fore-aft adjustable rear seat. You can slide one or both sections of the Lincoln’s back seat forward 6 inches to trade some rear legroom for additional cargo space. We took advantage of this feature to lie flat a roller suitcase whose wheels would otherwise have made it just barely too long. The Corsair Grand Touring also has a little more total space than the GLC 350e. The Lincoln provides 26.9 cubic feet behind its rear seat and 56.2 cubic feet with the rear seat folded; the Mercedes has 24.4 and 56.3 cubic feet, respectively. 

Winner: Lincoln Corsair

2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Electric Range

Now we come to the GLC 350e’s most compelling feature: It has the longest all-electric battery range of any PHEV sold in the U.S. In EPA testing, it goes up to 54 miles on a charge. And our test vehicle blew past that to an incredible 75 miles per charge. With 75 miles, the GLC 350e can travel farther on electricity than some pure EVs sold within the past decade – more than enough for many people’s everyday commutes. And unlike those early EVs, the Mercedes also has a 12.9-gallon fuel tank that can add another 320-plus miles of range during a five-minute stop at the gas station. 

The Corsair Grand Touring’s range is only half the GLC 350e’s in EPA testing: up to 27 miles. And in our hands, the Lincoln didn’t beat its range estimate like the Benz did. The conditions weren’t an exact match, but it covered 27 miles on electric power – but that was spread across 36 miles of driving. In other words, you can’t necessarily count on true gas-free EV range. The Mercedes’ gas engine will wake up as well if you floor the accelerator, but you’d rarely need to.

Winner: Mercedes-Benz GLC

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Gas Mileage

The GLC 350e is great at saving you money on fuel while its battery is fully charged. And thanks to its long range and its ability to stay in electric mode, you can make great use of that. But when the gas engine is needed, the Corsair becomes the big winner. 

When running on gasoline after the plug-in range is gone, the Corsair Grand Touring gets an EPA-estimated 33 mpg in mixed driving. The GLC 350e manages just 25 mpg. In our hands, the Mercedes closed the gap a bit, managing 28 mpg versus 34 mpg in the Lincoln. But the GLC 350e wants premium fuel, while the Corsair runs on much cheaper regular-grade gas. If you need to take your plug-in SUV on a long road trip without charging stops, the Lincoln will cost you much less to run. 

Winner: Lincoln Corsair 

2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Acceleration

One reason the Corsair Grand Touring is so much more economical than the GLC 350e is that it’s a lot less powerful. 

The GLC 350e has a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that pairs with electric motors to make 313 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque. Mercedes says it can reach 60 mph in a lively 6.3 seconds when you’ve floored the accelerator and woken up the gas engine. The Corsair Grand Touring has a non-turbocharged four-cylinder gas engine that works with electric motors to generate 266 hp and an unspecified but certainly less hearty amount of torque. Expect needing an extra second to reach 60 mph. 

Neither of these SUVs loves going fast. The GLC 350e’s gas engine is abruptly loud and strained when it has to wake up from electric mode, and the Corsair’s emits a budget-grade droning hum. But the Benz is faster when you need it. And when you want to use only electricity, the GLC 350e also lets you accelerate harder than the Lincoln (though still not heartily).

Winner: Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Ride and Handling

The trouble with the GLC 350e’s big range is its big battery. This little SUV weighs a whopping 5,500 pounds. That’s 1,500 pounds more than a gas-only GLC 300 and 1,000 more than the Corsair Grand Touring. That weight puts stress on the GLC’s suspension, giving it a stiffer ride over bumps. It’s decently agile, but the quick steering doesn’t feel natural, so we wouldn’t call it as fun to drive as the best small luxury SUVs. 

The Corsair Grand Touring has a smoother ride and easy, low-effort steering. It’s not clumsy like a giant old Lincoln sedan, but it’s built for taking it easy. Some engine noise invades the serenity, but its overall experience comes together better than the Benz’s. 

Winner: Lincoln Corsair

2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Safety

The Corsair shows its age on one front: crash-test performance. It earned a weak score of Marginal – the second lowest of four grades – in an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety test that simulates a side impact from a big SUV at 37 mph. And the IIHS hasn’t subjected it to its tough new evaluation of rear-seat safety in a frontal impact. The Corsair did earn five out of five stars from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

The GLC, meanwhile, earned the highest possible designation of Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS. The Mercedes hasn’t been tested by NHTSA, and both SUVs are quite safe, but the Benz should hold up even better in a crash. 

Winner: Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e

2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Final Thoughts

The 2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring is a pleasant, comfortable, feature-packed luxury SUV with competitive pricing and low operating costs – especially if you’re able to keep it charged up. The 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC 350e is more expensive and less decadently comfortable. Its controls are more frustrating, it doesn’t offer hands-free driving, and it doesn’t have as much room. And yet we’ll call this comparison an overall tie. 

The GLC 350e’s long electric range means it can fulfill the true promise of a PHEV. Most people can drive it gas-free nearly all of the time, yet you can also fill its gas tank to keep on going. The Corsair lacks the electric range to cover as many people’s commutes, and it lacks the electric power to necessarily keep the gas engine off even on shorter drives. 

If you’re willing to pay extra to cut out a lot more of your gasoline usage, the Mercedes blows away the Lincoln. It’s the better PHEV. But with its massaging seats and smoother ride, the Lincoln is the better luxury SUV. And its lower price and lower gasoline costs (when you need gas) will seal the deal for some buyers. So think hard about the length of your typical daily commute and how attached you are to reducing gasoline usage. That’s not a decision we’ll make for you. 

Winner: Tie 

2025 Lincoln Corsair Grand Touring Hybrid ・ Photo by Brady Holt