Mercedes GL - big and speedy almost SUV

In the 70s of the last century, one of the major shareholders of Mercedes-Benz was the Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. He ordered a cross-country vehicle for the Iranian army and special forces. The company Daimler AG commissioned the development of such a car to its Austrian unit, the company Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and in fact - to the Austrian arms firm Steyr, famous for its sniper rifles and army trucks. When the development of the car of the 460 series called Geländewagen (literally almost a "mud car") was coming to an end, the Shah of Iran was shifted by the Iranian revolution. Since 1979, the machine was still released, and it turned out that it is sold well not only by military organizations, but also by civilians. True off-road qualities and ascetic design have come to taste to many owners.

Despite the release in the late 90's of comfortable cars of high M-class patency, production of Geländewagen continued. In 2000, they decided to replace the extended seven - seat SUV frame construction, which was attributed to the new GL-class and began to produce in North America since 2006. The body form of these cars was influenced by representatives of large sports and tourist minivans of the R-class.

In 2009 Mercedes GL was subjected to the first and the last restyling to date. The new Mercedes GL is 100 kg lighter. Its hood, front fenders and suspension levers are now made of aluminum, new lightweight materials are used in glazing, the engine supports are made of plastic . The new Mercedes GL is stuffed with cameras that allow you to control the lateral blind visibility zones, the parking space and, even without leaving the car, to inspect how you got stuck or hanging off-road. Especially cameras help when reversing.

Mercedes GL, despite the lightness of the body - a large car with a powerful engine, and to achieve profitability from it is extremely difficult. This despite the fact that the owners of the "Mers" like to "give gas" in any convenient case. A real opportunity to save fuel on long trips is the use of advanced tempomat functions (a new Mercedes-Benz cruise control system) with operational steering on the steering wheel. Together with tempomatom it is offered to use the system of recognition of road marking. But it does not work by steering the steering mechanism, but by the short brake impulses of those wheels that stopped at the marking, and if you do not operate the car at the time, it's a rather strange sensation.

With regard to the use in domestic conditions of Mercedes GL, the feedback from owners from Russia and the CIS countries is praised for excellent handling and worthy for all participants of long family trips. They abuse the oil "eating up" with diesel engines at high mileage, the lack of preheating of the nozzles on the windshield washers, the operation of the washers themselves and the inconvenience of the third row of children's seats. If you get into serious off-road conditions, the automation does not always save, and without the experience and sensible sequence of actions of the driver, getting out without a cable and a tug often does not come out.

Mercedes GL is primarily a car for long-distance family travel. In the case of exporting binge companies to places inaccessible to someone else's eye, the car can seriously interfere with the sullen owner.