RAISING STANDARDS

X-class adds luxury to pick-up market, writes Alan Anderson

As manufacturers try to produce and perfect the perfect pick-up, Mercedes has upped the ante with its X-class.

The German manufacturer says it is the most premium protagonist around, surpassingits closest rival volkswagen’ s refreshed Amorak.

Like the forthcoming renault Alaskan the Mercedes uses the excellent Nissan Navara as its base.

However, as we’ve seen with the Mercedes Citan light van (based upon the Renault Kangoo), the X-class is no rebadged marketing ploy and the German has also rebodied and reengineered this impressive light truck making it larger.

As expected, mercedes insisted on it being more up market than the Nissan, and this includes the interior and trim

levels which consist of Pure, Progressive and Power –in that order – all coming with safety features such as lane assist, trafficsign assist, active brake assist and hill start assist as standard together with electrically poweredseats and windows, including the rear screen for added ventilation or longer loads. In fact, the only option we thought well worth having, due to tall load deck, was the superb 360 degreecamera that’ s part of the Parking Package; cheap insurance even at £915.

Power comes from the gutsy Nissan 2.3-litre diesels in 163bhp (X220) and the much superior 187bhp for the X250 of our test vehicle.

Mercedes has also just added its own meaty 258bhp 3.0-litre to the range.

All drive through a six or seven-speed automatic transmission feeding the 4 Matic selectable all-wheel drive system, although the Mercedes motored model features permanent four-wheel drive.

The suspension is pure Navara complete with (for a pickup) its sophisticated multi-link rear suspension. The track of the X-class is extended by 70mm which must go some way towards making the Mercedes significantly smoother and better riding than the cheaper Nissan. On-road handling is about the best you’re going to get in the pick-up world, too.

And there lies the rub: That the X-class was recently road tested and highly acclaimed by Motor Sport magazine, shows you where this lifestyle pick-up is more aimed at, confirmed by its price and trim levels.

Prices start £27,910, which, on some models, can equate to as much as £6,000 over the rival Nissan – easily more once extras a redialled in. our heavily equipped X250d Power model cost £34,100 but with the extras pushed towel lover £40,000 for instance.

What you get for a significantly extra outlay, apart from a more prestigious badge, is a much better developed, more refined vehicle that’s already selling like hot cakes and this includes to non-business users simply after the coolest set of wheels around.

Sold via the company’s 64-strong commercial dealer network, whether you think that the X-class is too good to put to hard graft is a personal thing but Mercedes isn’t marketing the X Class as a normal working tool but instead a premium pick-up par excellence as well as a viable alternative to the German’s cheapest conventional SUV, the GLA.