Image via Mercedes-Benz.

You may remember the boxy M-Class as one of the first luxury SUVs to hit the market back in 1997. Both auto journalists and consumers alike found themselves a bit confused, with reactions ranging from “That’s not a Mercedes-Benz!” to “Why would anyone want a luxury SUV?”

Funny how naive the past can be. We now have SUVs that are like rolling living rooms with full home-entertainment centers. Luxury SUVs have come such a long way that even the pope rides around in one—a modified Mercedes-Benz ML, in fact.

For more on my take on the Mercedes-Benz GLE see my story at Yahoo! Autos.