How much Navara is in the X-class?
We get underneath Mercedes-benz’s new pickup - and grab a lift in the grunty V6 version, writes Damien O’carroll.
It was painfully obvious at the international launch of the X-class pickup truck in Chile that no one at Mercedes-benz likes saying the N-word.
The N-word I am referring to is, of course, Navara.
While it is hardly a secret that the Mercedes-benz X-class is based on the Nissan Navara chassis, M-B people far prefer to refer to the Japanese company as a ‘‘commercial partner’’.
Here’s the thing: the X-class really is much more than just a Nissan.
In fact, aside from the chassis, the X-class shares the Renaultderived 2.3-litre engine and manual and automatic transmissions with the Navara (albeit tweaked by Mercedes). And that’s about it.
Even that rear door/window shape that many point out as giving the game away is actually different – the Mercedes window has a shallower angle that straightens out further into the door than the Navara and is, in fact, a totally different panel.
Why Mercedes-benz didn’t make it even more different, to avoid this issue, is a mystery.
The X-class’ body is 70mm wider than the Navara (no, it hasn’t been done by just flaring the wheel arches) and no external body panels are shared.
The track is also 70 millimetre metres wider and Mercedes has extensively tuned the suspension, using different springs and dampers, for a more Mercedes-like ride and handling experience.
Even that platform has been tinkered with, with Mercedes engineers adding extra reinforcement and an additional cross member.
Of course, the underpinnings of a ute really only need to be rugged and capable – it is how well that Mercedes has, well, Mercedes-ised it that really matters in this case.
Rather obviously the X-class is at its most ‘‘N-wordy’’ at the lower end of its specification levels, with the Power model doing its damnedest to eliminate that influence altogether.
The king hit, however, will come later next year when the fullforce Mercedes experience is unleashed in the ute segment, courtesy of the V6 version.
The 190kw/550nm V6 diesel engine comes straight out of the passenger car range (although it does also feature across the light commercial range) and will be hooked up to a proper Mercedesbenz transmission as well – the excellent but stupidly named 7G-tronic Plus.
The V6 will also get the full Dynamic Select system from Mercedes’ SUV offerings with Comfort, Eco, Sport, manual and off-road settings and, for the first time in a Daimler product, a lowratio transmission that can be changed while on the move.
You only have to be travelling less than 30kmh, drop the transmission into neutral and twist the rotary dial. Doing the reverse at under 70kmh will drop it back into high again.
During the launch event we were taken for a high-speed ride in the passenger seat of a V6 prototype. These vehicles were standard four-cylinder Power models, but running the V6 drivetrain.
To say it was impressive would be a massive understatement.
The V6 engine was fantastically powerful and remarkably smooth, while the transmission was easily the most refined we have ever experienced in a ute.
Shifts were imperceptible, even in low ratio, with only a slight change in the distant engine note giving you a clue.
From the passenger’s seat, the level of refinement and handling was light years beyond what we think of as good in a ute at the moment, with the X-class V6 feeling every bit like a very wellsorted SUV.
The production version of the V6 will get even more sound insulation and have further revisions done to the suspension which will no doubt make it even more impressively refined and Suv-like.
While it will no doubt be pricey as pickups go, the V6 X-class will also drag the handling, ride and refinement of the genre closer to the premium SUV sector than ever before.
But if that isn’t quite enough for you, here’s another possibility: at the media presentation, product marketing and management chief Christian Pohl told journos yet again (we always ask) that there was no V8 AMG version planned.
Of course, there are now AMG models with a thoroughly excellent twin-turbo petrol V6, and while later he refused to comment on that, he did admit that he had been very specific about mentioning the V8 engine only. And he was smiling quite a lot too.