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Vehicle Tests > Mass Transit
Mass Transit
Airmatic air suspension is standard on both GL variants. It has three offroad height settings giving 227, 277 and at full height a massive 307mm of ground clearance. Standard ride height gives 197mm while at high speed the suspension drops 15mm to 182mm above the deck. At full height the GL has 33, 23, 27-degrees approach, ramp and departure angles and wading depth is quoted at 600mm.
Airmatic also has adjustable dampening with standard, comfort and sport settings. For Australian roads the sport setting is very firm and not always comfortable. In comfort setting it allows the big Benz to sway and roll on tight curves and roundabouts yet despite this it still hangs onto the road well when pushed hard. The GL isn't a vehicle that will reward the driver on tight, twisting mountain roads.
Road manners
For our Fraser Island drive we spent most of the time with the suspension in the offroad-2 setting. As we've found before when driving MLs offroad the air struts clunk over bumps as if topping out. This is worse the higher you set the suspension and very disconcerting on trail-work. The offroad-3 height setting can realistically only be used for getting over an obstacle before dropping it back down again as it as good as removes all suspension travel for a rock solid ride. Overall, the offroad ride in the GL is not great and is bettered by some of its competition. It would become a real annoyance for longer trail drives.
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Standard wheels and tyres on a five-seat GL320 are 265/60R18. Equip the vehicle with the third row option and the 320 gets larger, ventilated rear brake discs necessitating 19-inch alloys wearing 275/55R19 rubber. All GL 500s are fitted with the 19s. While generally wheel rims as large as 19 inch wear low profile tyres, the huge 275 width of the Michelins on the GL mean that the 55 aspect tyres still have a reasonable sidewall height, which is good for offroad use. The spare is a temporary use space-saver but there is a rear wheel carrier option coming soon.
The engine is the GL320CDI is the 3.0L common-rail turbodiesel we're familiar with from the ML320 and Jeep vehicles, and it still produces 165kW at 3800rpm and 510Nm between 1600 and 2800 rpm. The petrol V8 however is a new 5.5L four-valves-per-cylinder DOHC unit and not the old three-valver from the ML500. The new V8 is already found in other MB passenger cars and will find its way into ML at a later stage. In the GL500 it puts out 285kW at 6000rpm and 530Nm between 2800 and 4800rpm.
Both engines are backed by the seven-speed automatic that has its Park - Neutral - Drive - Reverse shift activated by a wand on the steering column and shifting between the forward ratios by buttons behind the steering wheel. There is no shift lever in the usual console position.
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Airmatic also has adjustable dampening with standard, comfort and sport settings. For Australian roads the sport setting is very firm and not always comfortable. In comfort setting it allows the big Benz to sway and roll on tight curves and roundabouts yet despite this it still hangs onto the road well when pushed hard. The GL isn't a vehicle that will reward the driver on tight, twisting mountain roads.
Road manners
For our Fraser Island drive we spent most of the time with the suspension in the offroad-2 setting. As we've found before when driving MLs offroad the air struts clunk over bumps as if topping out. This is worse the higher you set the suspension and very disconcerting on trail-work. The offroad-3 height setting can realistically only be used for getting over an obstacle before dropping it back down again as it as good as removes all suspension travel for a rock solid ride. Overall, the offroad ride in the GL is not great and is bettered by some of its competition. It would become a real annoyance for longer trail drives.
read on below advertisement
Standard wheels and tyres on a five-seat GL320 are 265/60R18. Equip the vehicle with the third row option and the 320 gets larger, ventilated rear brake discs necessitating 19-inch alloys wearing 275/55R19 rubber. All GL 500s are fitted with the 19s. While generally wheel rims as large as 19 inch wear low profile tyres, the huge 275 width of the Michelins on the GL mean that the 55 aspect tyres still have a reasonable sidewall height, which is good for offroad use. The spare is a temporary use space-saver but there is a rear wheel carrier option coming soon.
The engine is the GL320CDI is the 3.0L common-rail turbodiesel we're familiar with from the ML320 and Jeep vehicles, and it still produces 165kW at 3800rpm and 510Nm between 1600 and 2800 rpm. The petrol V8 however is a new 5.5L four-valves-per-cylinder DOHC unit and not the old three-valver from the ML500. The new V8 is already found in other MB passenger cars and will find its way into ML at a later stage. In the GL500 it puts out 285kW at 6000rpm and 530Nm between 2800 and 4800rpm.
Both engines are backed by the seven-speed automatic that has its Park - Neutral - Drive - Reverse shift activated by a wand on the steering column and shifting between the forward ratios by buttons behind the steering wheel. There is no shift lever in the usual console position.
next page »
