Mercedes on all fours with X-class
We drive the brand’s pickuptruck on NZ roads.
Kiwis, sometimes it’s not so bad being lumped in with the Australians. Being considered a single entity with our strange-talking trans-Tasman cousins makes us a key market for the new MercedesBenz X-class pickup truck. One of the big three in fact, alongside South Africa and South America.
The X-class goes on sale in New Zealand this month. It’s a been a bit of a wait.
Believe it or not, the ThreePointed Star’s new truck was a direct response to the Global Financial Crisis of a decade ago. When things fell apart, MercedesBenz Vans realised it was vulnerable to economic shock by being so Europe-centric: nearly 70 per cent of its light commercial volume was sold at home.
The mission was to create a new Vans model line with global potential to help future-proof the company. It looked at a full-size pickup, but that was ruled out because the market was heavily reliant on North America and very hard to break into, with the ‘‘big three’’ (that’s another big three) domestic brands having 90 per cent of the business.
A so-called small ‘‘half-tonne’’ truck was also considered, but ruled out for similar reasons: too reliant on South America and not very profitable.
That left the ‘‘one tonne’’ pickup truck we Kiwis know and love. It’s a genre with a global footprint: currently two million units, but projected to rise to three million in the next 10 years. Profitable, too: buyers are happy to pay luxury-car money for topend versions of these traditional ladder-frame machines.
Maximising profitability and minimising development time led Mercedes-Benz to Nissan - already a partner in commercial-vehicle projects and some road-car stuff. Creating the X-class on the Navara platform saved three years in development time, says the company, and has allowed it to get to market and ride the one-tonne wave right now.
Speaking of which: the X-class is on sale in NZ as you read this, with a couple of caveats. The first is that only the 2.3-litre fourcylinder variants are available, all with powertrains borrowed from Navara: a single-turbo 120kW (X 220d) and a twin-turbo with 140kW (X 250d).
The much-talked-about Mercedes Benz-powered 3.0-litre V6 with 190kW/550Nm and fulltime 4WD will arrive later this year. Benz says it has ‘‘classleading’’ power but unfortunately that won’t be true any more at launch – not since Volkswagen announced the forthcoming 200kW/580Nm Amarok V6. Oh well.
The second issue is that X-class will only be sold in 11 of the marque’s 26 NZ dealers to start with – all also outlets for the Mercedes-Benz Vans range. The upshot of that is many showrooms in posh city areas won’t carry the new truck, which seems like madness given urban buyers’ enthusiasm for silly-expensive double-cab one-tonners. It’s a reflection of the fact that Mercedes-Benz Vans is a completely different entity to the passenger-car business. The company says it’ll work on the network as time goes on, but for now, infrastructure requirements will limit the number of X-class outlets.
We’ve covered local pricing and specification too many times to count. The short version: Pure, Progressive and Power versions, prices from $53,300 to $69,000 and a number of option ‘‘packages’’ just they like do on M-B cars. Not to mention the expected array of (factory-developed) individual truck-tastic accessories.
Let’s not dwell on that stuff then. The big news is that we’ve had a go in the X 250d Power on NZ roads for the first time, plus a little bit of off-roading as well. Mercedes is adamant that X-class is much more than a rebadged Navara, sharing its platform and powertrain but little else. No body panels are shared (no, really), the X-class is 50mm wider in the body and rides on a 70mm-wider track than its Nissan sibling.
The posh badge on the bonnet will hold much allure for urban buyers, but the X-class is still very much a one-tonne pickup as we know them. The diesel engine is muted but can feel a bit shortwinded during brisk acceleration. Ride and handling are still more truck-like than car-like, but they’re certainly towards the top of the one-tonne class in terms of responsiveness and composure.
The low-speed ride doesn’t match the Volkswagen Amarok for smoothness and control, but the X-class will certainly give its arch-rival a run for its money in the corners.
The interior picks up many design cues from Mercedes-Benz passenger cars and looks amazing in photographs. But get up close and personal and you’ll find the materials are just as hard and durable as any other one-tonner, which is to be expected. Just don’t roll up with expectations of E-class quality.
The Benz still provides a great driving environment, thanks to the large information screen (sadly still not touch-operated) and excellent seats, which are trimmed in ‘‘Dinamica’’ microfibre (kind of a fake Alcantara) and ‘‘man-made leather’’ in the Power. So no, not quite the real thing. But comfy all the same.
The biggest letdown is the lack of storage space: there’s only one place to put your phone for example, and that’s to lock it away in the centre-console cubby (the cupholders are too teeny-tiny). And perhaps also the scattered placement of some 4WD-related switchgear, which might be a legacy of the Navara donor vehicle.
It goes without saying that the X-class is a proper off-road vehicle. The powertrain can be switched into 4WD-high on the move and retains a low-range transfer case, with a locking rear differential as standard on the 4WD models.
The 4WD system is a part-time affair in the four-pot X-class, meaning that it’s still just RWD for road driving (like most pickups in the class, apart from the Amarok and some Mitsubishi Triton models). The forthcoming X-class V6 is full-time 4WD.
It’s very strong on safety, with Active Brake Assist (autonomous emergency braking to you and I), Lane Keeping Assist and tyre pressure monitoring standard across the range.
It’s likely many will come to the X-class expecting MercedesBenz passenger-car performance and refinement in a pickup-truck package. It’s likely those people will be disappointed. But think of the X-class as a new take on the very familiar one-tonne theme, from a company that has vast experience in light commercials, and the X-class is a fascinating new entrant in a growing genre.
The company won’t talk expected sales volumes at this stage, except to say that supply is not an issue. If you want a fourcylinder X-class, Mercedes-Benz can definitely get you one. That’s the benefit of being a key market. Feels good, right?