Who is the king of off-road? The new Mercedes GLE face to face with rivals Lexus RX350, BMW X5 / X6, Volvo XC90, Range Rover Sport 5.0 SC, Audi Q8 and Jeep Grand Cherokee.
As expected, the Lexus RX350 obtained the poorest result, its 4×4 system being the weakest performance in the test as in all Toyota and Lexus models produced until 2019.
Also, Range Rover Sport has proven its excellent off-road skills in addition to those of luxury SUVs. Jeep Grand Cherokee also obtained very good results, but it is difficult to issue a final conclusion because Jeep Grand Cherokee did not participate in the second attempt.
From now on, the development of the test proved a lack of professionalism. The Mercedes GLE 450 was driven only in Comfort mode and we don’t understand why the Off-road mode that exists optionally on thetest car was not switched.
The Off-road package is available as an option on the Mercedes GLE (2,204 euros) and also includes a two-speed reductor. With the off-road mode coupled, it is obvious that the Mercedes GLE would have obtained results similar to those of the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Then, we must mention that the Mercedes GLE is the only one that can be optionally equipped with the revolutionary E-Active Body Control suspension (7,735 euros) which has the Free riding function that allows the control of the individual damping on each wheel.
At the same time, the author mentions that some cars had winter tires but does not specify very clearly which of them were equipped with winter tires. There are also quite big differences between the test pilots because some models that obtained good results in the first test did not do as well on the second test on the same route but with another test pilot.
As an entertainment film, the test is interesting but from a technical point of view the conclusions leave room for many question marks.
