+ Click to Enlarge THE ROUGH? IT'S READY! Big wheels, excellent ground clearance and - in this case - fitted with a front skid plate and roof rack - nobody can call the GL a "soft-roader" any more (there's a profile picture at the bottom of the story).

December 10, 2005
By Les Stephenson

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a seven-seat, 4x4 addition to its range of sport utility vehicles - a GL-Class – that, effectively, is a longer version of the current five-seat M-Class range already available in South Africa.

Daimler-Chrysler SA spokesman Richard Sloman told motoring.co.za that the on/off-roader was still being considered for sale in South Africa but, if it does come, it is unlikely to arrive until late 2006 or even early 2007.

While trading on the legendary ruggedness and capabilities of the tough G-Class (formerly the Gelandewagen which Mercedes recently announced would continue in production for the foreseeable future) the GL will share much of the running gear and features of the M-Class.

Mercedes describes the GL as "a seven-seat premium off-roader with excellent handling on and off-road that will pamper its occupants with extremely spacious accommodation with the comfort of a luxury sedan"

The shell is big – just over five metres long, 1.92m wide and 1.84m high with a wheelbase of just over three metres – and has a 2-3-2 seating layout with automatic, press-button power retraction into the floor of the full-size, individual rearmost pair that will leave a large, flat luggage volume of 1240 litres.

In place, their occupants will have 815mm of space to the centre row of seats and 979mm of headroom.

If the second row of seats is also folded load capacity will increase to 2300 litres with a floor length of 2.13 metres.

The GL's engine line-up, Mercedes says, "provides superlative drive comfort and compelling performance, along with fuel consumption figures superior to those of its competitors".

Sloman said DCSA was considering only the 165kW V6 320 CDI, the 5.5-litre, 285kW petrol unit already in the S-Class and probably the upcoming 6.3-litre AMG conversion.

Each engine will be hooked to Mercedes' 7G-Tronic seven-speed auto/manual sequential transmission.

Mercedes says the GL has the rugged genes of its G-Class vehicles – now in their 26th year of production - but overlaid with luxury. That includes Mercedes full-time 4Matic all-wheel drive and Airmatic auto air-suspension that comes with automatic shock-absorber adjustment to increase ground clearance to a maximum of 307mm and wading depth to 600mm and to keep the vehicle level despite awkward load weights.

Trailer sway control is also standard and among the options are automatic downhill braking, hill-start control, a two-speed transfer case with low range ratio and a 100 percent differential lock on both the transfer case and the rear axle (the last a standard feature on models to be sold in Europe).

The GL, Mercedes says, is the first in its class to be fitted with crash pre-emptive systems – Mercedes calls it Pre-Safe – that uses the ABS and other traction control equipment to "foresee" a collision or total loss of control and tighten seat belts, pump up brake-fluid pressure and move head restraints to their most effective position.

Other safety stuff includes:

Adaptive, two-stage crash bags for the driver and front passenger.

Bags in the front and in the middle row of seats as an option.

Window bags across all three rows of seats.

Crash-responsive head restraints for the driver and front passenger.

Three-point seatbelts on each of the seven seats.

Seat-belt tensioners and adaptive belt-force limiters for the driver and front passenger and for the outer two of the middle row of seats.

Pre-Safe preventive occupant protection which, Mercedes says, is a world first in

The GL also softens the blow for jaywalkers: the nose has a crumple space between the body and the major assemblies beneath it.

The GL's world premiere will be at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January and first sales will be on to the American market. Left-hand drive units will reach Continental Europe in September 2006 and right-hand drive units for Britain (and, let's hope, South Africa) will be leaving the production lines closer to the end of 2006.

Motoring.co.za will be at the Detroit show and we'll tell you more from there in January.

For lots more Detroit auto show stories, check out of special 2006 Detroit Show section.

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+ Click to Enlarge

'L' IS FOR 'LONG': The GL stretches the familiar M-Class to just over five metres with a wheelbase of more than three metres and rides on height-adjustable shock-absorbers.