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But the GL’s piece de resistance is not the V6 motor, the clever transmission or the fuel efficiency bits. It’s the way that huge bulk shrinks when you’re behind the wheel. Here’s a full-blown 7-seater Mercedes and it thinks it’s a BMW when the twisties come up. The GL wears its weight gracefully and its unitary construction and the underpinnings come together to make the SUV remarkably nimble. In other words, there’s a happy mismatch between what you’d expect from a car of this size to behave and how it actually behaves. It sticks to its line and offers you the confidence to take corners at a higher speed than you’d intended.
The steering feedback is also unusual for a Mercedes — it’s not soft and easy like in the sedans; it is perfectly weighted, the way it should be in an SUV. The best part is that the GL is equally adept on tarmac as well as on the rough stretches. Unlike many other SUVs, the GL is a true offroader, with ride height control, manually engage-able diff locks and other bits like downhill descent control or hill start assist. Not just that — even the ABS system is tuned for braking on gravel. Usually, ABS is not exactly helpful over poor surfaces, but the engineers at Mercedes have ensured that the wheels actually lock depending on the surface, speeds and other inputs. Then there are the ride settings on offer — comfort, sport or automatic. Whichever you choose, the car cossets you well. And when you go thumping all over the landscape, all you hear are muffled thuds inside the car, like distant thunder.
When we were testing and driving the GL, it attracted lots of stares. I am sure the revised front-end with daytime running lights and dashes of brightwork did their job. And it quite impressed this burly goggles-wearing, bejewelled, white shirt-pant-sandals politician lookalike from interior Maharashtra, who jumped out of his Innova to look at our car right in the middle of the highway. And he didn’t blink when I told him it would cost upwards of Rs 70 lakh (it’s Rs 64.9 lakh ex-showroom Delhi). Still, that shouldn’t stop you from getting yourself one — just don’t get one in white, that’s all. And given a chance, even if you don’t drive it in Australia, do go on a 2,700 km round trip inside India with it. It will be a terrific trip, I promise.
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