2028 Mercedes-Benz VLE first drive: Your 8K living room on wheels has arrived

The concept of a living room on wheels is something of a modern cliché in the automotive world, a vision for a car so comfortable, well-appointed and ultimately luxurious that you'd be just as happy to spend hours there as you would lounging at home.

The problem is that most of those concepts, like the Cadillac InnerSpace or Mini Urbanaut, have depended on the availability of self-driving technology, something that still only exists in the limited circles of Waymo, Zoox and their ilk. We're still years away from you or I being able to buy a car that can drive itself unsupervised, but that isn't stopping Mercedes from releasing what could be the most compelling of the rolling living spaces.

It's called the VLE, and while it requires a human behind the wheel, passengers in the second row will be treated to reclining, massaging seats, a 22-speaker Dolby Atmos sound system and a 31.3-inch ultrawide 8K display. It's an amazing package, but is it enough to shrug off those minivan preconceptions?

Visually, the VLE fits the silhouette of countless family-friendly minivans that have been handling kid-hauling duties in the United States since the Dodge Caravan planted the seed way back in the early '80s. Ask Mercedes, though, and 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 perfectly appropriate. At 216 inches, the VLE is 10 inches longer than a GLS SUV. It also has an internal ceiling height of 49 inches, making it easy for me, at six feet tall, to move around.

And it is certainly at least as luxurious as your average limousine, with seating to match. The VLE can be configured with room for up to eight across three rows, but it's best with fewer, specifically configured 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 a dual-motor, all-wheel drive configuration with 416 hp. Both rely on the same, sizable, 115-kilowatt-hour usable battery pack that spans the floor of the van. Mercedes says it will provide enough range to cover 435 miles on the European WLTP test cycle. On our more challenging EPA test, expect a rating somewhere around 350 miles.It's an 800-volt system that charges at a maximum rate of 300 kilowatts. That means adding about 200 miles in 15 minutes.

As much as I love to drive, the best seats in the VLE are in the second row. From there, you can recline and gaze up through the glass ceiling, or deploy the 31.3-inch ultra-wide screen and whittle away at your YouTube queue.

You can also stream Disney+ directly on the display, but sadly those are the only two video streaming partners of note. Neither Chromecast nor AirPlay streaming are supported. There is an HDMI port if you want to BYO content, but running wires across the cabin doesn't feel particularly luxurious to me.

You can also pick from a few basic games to play on the system, and if you have two kids who can never agree on anything, you can split the TV into dual, 15-inch 4K displays. The 32:9 ratio means that after splitting, you're effectively getting a pair of 16:9 displays, which is honestly better for viewing most content anyway. A pair of Bluetooth headsets means a pair of passengers can also get their own dedicated audio.

Sitting up front? There's plenty of pixels there, too. Specifically, three dashboard-spanning units that make up Benz's MBUX Superscreen setup. There's 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 also stream videos and other media.

For the broader aural part of the media experience, you have 22 speakers from a Burmester 3D sound system. It handles Dolby Atmos, so you can be fully immersed in both music and more theatrical content. Interestingly, the system can also dynamically reconfigure itself based on who is sitting in the van and where.

Driving solo? The speakers automatically prioritize you. Have a full van? It'll fill it all with sound. And it's very capable of doing that. I cruised through a playlist of Atmos-optimized music, everything from Tay Tay to Axl Rose, and everything sounded fantastic.

Those two chairs in the middle are heated and ventilated and can sit you upright or slide you to a reasonable degree of recline. No, they don't go fully flat, but you probably wouldn't like what would happen to you in an accident if they did. They're honestly a bit narrow and awkward to get in and out of, but I could see myself spending hours back here without complaint.

I could stay productive, too, thanks to integrated USB-C power in all three rows, and a fold-out laptop tray that looks flimsy but was sturdy enough to handle my Lenovo X1 Carbon. A temperature-controlled compartment in the armrest can keep hot drinks hot and cold drinks cool, and there's a separate chiller towards the back for more.

RGB LEDs run throughout the entire cabin, so you can give your ride whatever hue you like, and there's even an integrated nebulizer, making for a bespoke scent, too.

Even the third row is comfortable. The middle seats swing themselves forward and out of the way, so entry is easy, and I had ample headroom back there.And then there's the driver's seat, which is also comfortable and accommodating should you have to drive this machine yourself.

With up to 416 horsepower delivered through all four wheels, the VLE can be properly quick when punched up to sport mode. It also rides on adaptive air suspension, which can firm up and make the VLE feel that much more responsive in the corners.

But in my time behind the wheel, it never felt comfortable when driven aggressively. I enjoyed piloting the VLE much more when I dialed it down to Comfort, took a deep breath and just cruised along my route.

In this mode, the air suspension is supple, and the throttle relaxed enough that you can ease your way forward without disturbing anyone in the rear seats. The steering has a slow ratio as well, but don't let that make you think this isn't a nimble van. With seven degrees of steering from the rear wheels, the VLE can turn its impressive bulk in a far tighter circle than you might expect.

Drivers get to take advantage of a suite of active safety systems as well, including active lane-keep assistance on the highway and a comprehensive automatic parking system that swings this big beast into tiny parking spots. It'll even automatically back itself out of a tight situation should you make a wrong turn down a narrow alley.

About the only thing the VLE is missing is full autonomy. It'd be awfully nice to get a machine like this and let it take you to work while you got in a few rounds of Fortnite on that 8K display. Alas, we're not there yet, but I have a feeling most people who experience the VLE will do so from the second row. This would be an epic airport and event shuttle, but it's going to be a little while before it enters service.

The VLE isn't due to hit the American market until late 2027, and while the price isn't set, Andreas Zygan, Head of Development at Mercedes-Benz Vans, told me this: "It will not be a cheap one, for sure."