Counting the cost of pricey pickup

Mercedes’ big beast shows that if you want the best you will have to pay for it , writes Julie Marshall

Not too many years ago pickups were the sole province of farmers and other tradesmen. Quality and comfort were poor, it was all about load-lugging ability and a reasonable purchase price.

Then came the ‘lifestyle’ vehicles that promised a new way of transporting tools and bales of hay during the week and the family at weekends. Aimed at anyone with an active lifestyle, they became extremely popular the world over.

More versatile than the SUVs they were competing against, pick-up manufacturers strove to outdo each other with levels of comfort and refinement. They are also cheaper than SUV’s to buy as those eligible can claim the VAT back.

Most pick-ups are offered in various guises with the most basic and utilitarian having one row of seats and an open load bay. The most popular, and the most useful, have a four-door passenger cab with five seats and a lockable load cover.

The Mercedes X 350d we are testing here is as luxurious as they get as well as being stacked with extremely high levels of equipment and offering superb off-road ability.

The demo car didn’t have the load cover (a £1,477 plus vat extra cost). Other examples of X-Class I’ve driven have and although it’s not waterproof it does make the vehicle more useful for everyday life.

The interior is on a par with Mercedes cars and anyone familiar with the marque will have no trouble getting to grips with the controls. Except for the gear change which on cars is on the steering column and in the X-Class is in the central tunnel. There’s also a manual handbrake in the X-Class rather than an electronic one.

The X 350d only comes in top-spec Power trim which includes heated and eight-way adjustable front seats, heated screen washer bottle and push-button start. These are in addition to comprehensive standard equipment levels including seven airbags, lane keeping, traffic sign and hill start assist, semi-automatic air conditioning and a seveninch, high definition screen.

The front end is impressive with a large Mercedes roundel dominating the grille. It looks like it means business and has a real on-road presence.

I’ve driven the majority of pick-ups on the market over the past few years and I’ve been impressed by most of them. The X-Class knocks them all into touch for its levels of comfort and kit, but then again it is more expensive than the rest. The range starts at £32,772 (£27,310 ex vat) our top of the range 350d is £46,020 (£38,350 ex-vat) plus the £6,000-worth of extras included for evaluation.

Powered by 254bhp three-litre Mercedes V6 diesel engine and paired with a seven-speed G-Tronic Plus it ate up the miles.

Drive ratio is 40/60 front to rear with selectable all-wheel drive and low range and a drive selection mode.

Road manners are superb and, even unloaded, as ours was most of the time, it didn’t shimmy and bounce around.

At 5.3 metres it is a very long vehicle and the parking sensors and 360-degree camera (£915) were a useful and very welcome addition to the package.

Verdict: the best of the bunch but it doesn’t come cheap.