Equipped with its standard-specification Off-Road-Pro Engineering package the GL can always find a way – even when there is none: take, for instance, the Hill-Start Assist, which helps you to make progress on an incline, or the off-road ABS, which reduces braking distances on downhill gradients, particularly when driving on loose surfaces.

The GL-Class is equipped with a six-piece underbody panelling made of high-strength plastic which offers extra protection for driving off-road. The standard-fit Off-Road Pro engineering package supplements this with a stainless steel reinforced underguard at the front. The modified AIRMATIC system with level control and Adaptive Damping System (ADS) enables a maximum ground clearance of 307 mm and a maximum fording depth of 600 mm in the highest Off-road setting, so that rocky stretches and stream crossings no longer represent an obstacle.

The double-wishbone suspension at the front and the four-link rear suspension, both of which come with self-supporting subframes, are ideally suited to the challenges of off-road driving. The isolated design of the subframes in terms of vibration ensures that very few jolts are transferred to the vehicle’s body.

The electronic driving dynamics system ESP®/4ETS adapts itself to meet the particular challenges it encounters in difficult terrain, for instance by reprogramming the timing for brake actuations at the wheels and raising the 7G-TRONIC’s shift points, seeing to it that the GL-Class positively glides up hill and down dale with consummate effortlessness.