New Mercedes ML350 — the first high ride (video)
At new car launches, journalists usually receive a booklet with the exact route to be driven, as well as marked places where photos can be taken. When the organizer doesn't mind, some film crews try to take a different route in order to "take a photo different from everyone else." So it was this time.
It all started when Mercedes-Benz Polska handed over eight GLK 220 CDI 4MATIC vehicles to the Mountain Volunteer Service last Thursday in Krynica. These vehicles will run in seven branches and the GOPR Board. The choice of model was, of course, not accidental - for the difficult winter conditions of the south of the country, the best choice would be a combination of 4Matic all-wheel drive and an economical 170-horsepower diesel engine.
Lottery
The day after the ceremony, the journalists gathered on this occasion were given test drives of several all-wheel drive Mercedes models. There was even a GL model designed for Justina Kowalczyk - of course, in gold. After a quick draw, I received the keys to an M-class Mercedes with a 258 hp diesel under the hood. and air suspension, which soon came in handy ...
After a while, the parking lot was empty, and my colleague Piotr Migas and I headed to the nearby Polish-Slovak border to take some (different from all) photos of the luxurious Mercedes SUV. During the photo shoot, I was wondering why the next novelty of the market would debut with such legless headlights. They are correct, not bad headlights, but when I close my eyes, I do not remember their shape. I remember the grille, the silhouette too, but the headlights ... are gone. So it was with the new BMW 5 Series, which has the same stolid streak of headlights - what's worse, I've been looking at them for a year and still don't like them. Let's see how it will be with the M-class.
The new M-Class - first impressions
We moved on to photos in motion, which allowed us to make the first assessment of the car. Despite the considerable external dimensions (4.8 m long and 2.15 m wide), the car is extremely comfortable. Thanks to the small turning radius characteristic of Mercedes (and this is the result of 11,8 m - let's not forget that we are dealing with a colossus with an almost 3-meter wheelbase), the car either deftly turns on a narrow road, or quickly and smoothly accelerates and passes in front of camera, taking several photos per second. With such maneuvers, it is easy to appreciate the control of the automatic transmission with a joystick located under the steering wheel - changing the direction of movement is simple and instant, and the joystick is always at hand. However, I suggest future buyers to invest in a rear view camera because the rear view leaves a lot to be desired in this big car (trunk volume exceeds 2 cubic meters).
The air suspension is great for cornering with a nearly 2,2-ton car, allowing you to drive on the verge of skidding to the accompaniment of screeching four tires at once. However, this car is best driven straight. Drive? It's levitation! I didn't get the chance to fly a hovercraft, but it should be a similar experience. The car is just starting to move, and the fact that the wheels are just rolling is not transferred to the salon unnecessarily. This does not mean that the chassis is for itself and the driver is for himself - thanks to the 4Matic drive, the car behaves like a chore in corners. This is how comfort mode works. However, it is enough to change the mode to Sport and the suspension becomes stiff and informative, and turns can be attacked at a much higher speed.
And all this in almost complete silence - some minimal background noise coming from the tires, the engine, or maybe the mufflers? This silence, combined with a comfortable suspension, is confusing to the driver, who does not notice when the car accelerates to a speed at which the speed cameras begin to flash ...
Race against time
After the photo session, we were so close to the nearest store with healthy and cheap Slovak food that we could not refuse small purchases. After a moment, we looked at the clock and realized that according to the plan, in 40 minutes we should be at lunch in Wysow-Zdrój. It is only 15 km in a straight line from Krynica, and the navigation calculated as much as ... 60. Fortunately, in the morning we drew not the S-class, but the M-class - which meant that we could take a shortcut. We did just that.
The navigation in the M-class must have been set up to take into account the capabilities of the car, because a moment after turning onto the side of the road, albeit still paved, she quickly understood our intentions and calculated a new route to our destination. , just 10 kilometers. To our surprise, the asphalt quickly ended and the road began through the forest on concrete slabs, leading to a brigade of lumberjacks and further into the forest. Still not believing that the German navigation could know such routes, we turned back, asked the computer for an alternative and received it - but this alternative ended 500 meters in someone's backyard.
Start of trouble
Time has passed. We had to return to the concrete road. The first 3 kilometers were easy, but then the concrete also ended and the dirt road began. A few moments later the first stream ran across the road. Of course, this could not stop us, because there were only 6 kilometers and 20 minutes left to the meeting point, and this is not the distance and time to turn around. Google maps said that this road did not lead anywhere, but the German navigator strongly advised us to go forward. Easy to say... From time to time I had to get out of the car to deflect branches and move fallen trees that could scratch the paint on a car worth more than 300.000 zlotys. The next two streams were not a problem, but to force the third we had to stop and lift the body first so as not to leave the bumper in the water - the AIRMATIC system saved us and the car in the field.
It’s 5 kilometers and 10 minutes to the destination, we slowly realize that we won’t make it in time, and another stream appears in front of us, but different from the previous ones, because this time we have to go along it, and not through it. Ice crunches under the wheels, water spurts in all directions, and the car moves forward and it does not bother him at all that it is just uphill. Fortunately, after a moment the water turns left and we go straight ahead. I nervously look at the google map, which invariably says that this road is about to break into the forest, but the navigator still commands to go forward, although it gets worse and worse, the ruts are getting deeper and the sun, although invisible because of the clouds , heats the forest to a temperature at which the frozen mud will “release” and completely drag us along this forgotten road.
And finally, the dilemma is over. Google was right. Mercedes navigation tells us to turn left here and now. It’s just that we have a stream on the right, a forest wall on the left, there is no way to turn back behind us, and in front of us are ruts pierced by the T-34 tank, because no one has probably driven like that since the war. It becomes clear that it is time for us to return. The clock is 14:05, which means we are already late for lunch, and navigation shows 4,7 km to our destination. So, we need to go back 5,3 km along a road that we at least know. It's a good news. The bad news is that none of the organizers call us. Have they forgotten about us? We look at the honeycombs - well, this was to be expected ... a complete lack of coverage.
I start using words that are considered obscene, but Piotr keeps his cool and starts a lecture on "positive thinking", taking pictures of the whole situation and the car, covered in dirt, soaked with wheels.
Flee
We start moving backwards, looking for an opportunity to turn back. I run around the car, securing it so that the posh SUV doesn't land on the roof in the traffic, and Piotr maneuvers with masterful precision (and probably thinking the same thing I did an hour earlier - why there's no rearview camera here). I stop worrying about time. In fact, I'm not hungry anymore, I'm tired of the fear that they will only find us when the lumberjacks cut down this forest to the rest.
In the end, we manage to turn back and start walking in our tracks. Finally, we catch the range, cell phones begin to ring and explain the whole situation: “We are all right, the car is also tasty, we will come later - we are not hungry.” We return in 10 minutes to the asphalt, where the German woman offers two more alternatives - the road we already know is several tens of kilometers long or ... another cut a few kilometers away.
Next try
What do you think we chose? They trusted the machine - they chose a different path. After a nice conversation with the forester, logs thrown across the road by another brigade of lumberjacks and crossing a closed barrier, we arrived at the site with a 40-minute delay.
At this point, I want to thank the organizers for not making a scandal and Mercedes engineers, who created a continuous boulevard not only on the boulevard. And I promise that I will drive according to the road book. At least for the time being...
PS: We filmed all the adventures on a camera mounted on the hood of a Mercedes, I invite you to watch the film.
