Motoring
Smooth but rugged
Alan Judd
The sun retreated across the still-frost- ed lawns beyond the french windows, cast a careless splash of gold across the tennis court, then dipped below the pines and larches. Even the rooks fell silent as the frost resumed its secret ministry, and dusk was quietly reoccupied by the rippling Tay.
There was a beech-log fire in the pan- elled sitting-room and, remotely, sounds of tea. A little toast, perhaps; some short- bread certainly; maybe a morsel of fruit- cake — just enough, anyway, to see me safely through to dinner. I sat back and tried once again to analyse the delicate constituents of the wonderful feeling of bebing looked after. I was awoken by tea.
Had I at last attained the ultimate rest- home in the sky or was it a more earthly location, possibly a modest manor, belated gift of a grateful nation? No, no; I was there to drive a car and the organisers had wisely included time for meditation. Fol- lowing tea, bath and further meditation, there was a pipe band, a five-course dinner, unlimited drink, an exhibition of Scottish dancing by two kilted ladies and an enact- ment of ancient Scottish hospitality by three ferocious swordsmen and an axeman. A point of detail for historical novelists: when heavy swords clash vigorously, many sparks fly. A mediaeval scrap in the gloam- ing might have been rather pretty.
The car in question was the Mercedes M Class, the four-wheel drive offering reviewed in the last century in these pages (23 October 1999). This was the UK press launch of the £28,840 2.7-litre common rail diesel model, the version that Mercedes reckon will take 50 per cent of their esti- mated 6,600 annual UK sales.
We — 67 journalists spread over three days — picked up the cars at Edinburgh airport and drove northwards, arriving for lunch at the Glenturret Distillery after a modest and beautiful off-road section on moorland tracks that Mercedes think are about as rugged as most owners will ever venture. There was more scenic road driv- ing to the Stakis Hotel at Dunkeld, our destination for the night and possessor, among its many acres, of an enjoyably test- ing, vertiginous, tortuous and glutinous off- road course.
The danger for Mercedes is that the ML270 CDI is so good that it might eclipse at least one of its more expensive 320 and 430 stable-mates. The soundproofing is such that you really don't feel you're driv- ing a diesel, the road manners are the most impeccably car-like of any 4X4, comfort and trim levels are more than adequate and the performance of its very torquey five-cylinder engine is well up to whatever most drivers are going to ask of it. At around 30 mpg, it's half as good again on fuel as the petrols.
One of the paradoxes of this market is that, although most owners will never take their vehicles off-road, they like to feel that they could. Therefore the vehicle has to be capable of that which is rarely asked of it and, for many buyers, it has also to look the part. The ML's rather people-carrier looks may have accounted for early stories that it couldn't really hack it in the mud. Such stories can't have been based on test- ing because there's no doubt that this vehi- cle can do the business, particularly in diesel form where the low-down torque of the 270 makes for effortless mudplugging. And it does it all in road tyres. The base model comes with a six-speed manual gear- box but the five-speed tiptronic automatic is well worth the extra £1,450.
In the form of the Unimog, a kind of cross between lorry and tractor, Mercedes have been producing four-wheel drives since 1946 (two years longer than Land- Rover) and they know what they're about. The turning circle of the ML, its ability to do the business in road tyres and its obvi- ous construction strength make it a rugged contender despite its smooth looks. There have been mutterings that it might have been better still with the six-cylinder 320 CDI, as fitted to the E Class (the extra cylinder means it won't fit), but on the evi- dence I saw the purpose-built 270 is more than adequate. However, for those who want power and luxury at any price, there is to be an aggressive ML55 AMG, with five and a half litres of V8 and 0-60 time of just over six seconds.
Back on the empty Scottish roads, under the guidance of the likeable Klaus, the German engineer overseeing the project, I was encouraged to test the stability control and enhanced braking programmes. I always feel awkward about treating a car badly but eventually managed to be harsh enough, abrupt enough and inconsiderate enough to force it into controlling me, which it managed comfortably enough. It must be about as safe as cars get. The drive back the following morning was less leisurely and more than a trifle early, but there was still time to reflect upon the rigours of a motoring correspon- dent's life. I had missed a good launch in Marrakech, they told me. Apparently there are some 150 launches worldwide this year, so the poor correspondent might spend all his time travelling from one to the other with no time to write them up. Hoping to avoid that fate, I turned round and headed back to the hotel at Dunkeld, where I shall remain until the next launch comes this way. Is that tea I hear?
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