Equipped with its standard-specification Off-Road package the GL can always find a way – even when there is none: take, for instance, the Hill-Start Assist, which helps you to make progress on an incline, or the off-road ABS, which reduces braking distances on downhill gradients, particularly when driving on loose surfaces.

The double-wishbone suspension at the front and the four-link rear suspension, both of which come with self-supporting subframes, are ideally suited to the challenges of off-road driving. The isolated design of the subframes in terms of vibration ensures that very few jolts are transferred to the vehicle’s body.

The electronic driving dynamics system ESP®/4ETS adapts itself to meet the particular challenges it encounters in difficult terrain, for instance by reprogramming the timing for brake actuations at the wheels and raising the 7G-TRONIC’s shift points, seeing to it that the GL-Class positively glides up and down hill with consummate effortlessness.