Mercedes is very well known for its luxury vehicles and also wellrespected for its production of vans and heavy commercial vehicles. So the fact that it has gone down the route of producing a pickup that fits snuggly in the middle of its current product offering is no surprise. The X-Class comes in three main specification levels – Pure, Progressive and Power. The Pure level is the basic spec with very few of the Mercedes-type luxuries included, but still with a very decent build quality. The Irish Farmers Journal brought one of these off-road and it felt like the sensible option, rather than bring the lush leather seats and deep carpet to play in the muck. The Progressive is expected to be the big seller of the range with lots of nice touches to make it seem a little more special than your everyday pickup. The Power spec gives you all the gadgetry that you expect from a top-of-the-range luxury vehicle. The X-Class is based on the Nissan Navara and is produced in Spain under licence at the same factory. Mercedes has made changes to every single body panel and the chassis has been upgraded with some Mercedes pieces to make the driving experience very much on the luxury end of the market.

On the road

When climbing into the driver’s seat of the X-Class it feels like something a little more special than your run-of-the-mill pickup. The dash is uncluttered and feels very well finished. It is 100% Mercedes. The vehicle I drove on the road was a Progressive, with the single-turbo engine producing 163bhp linked to the wheels using the standard manual six-speed box. Pulling away is very smooth and the engine pulls very well up through the gears. On the driveway out of the launch location, there were some particularly nasty sleeping policemen, which were navigated in a refined and almost unnoticeable way by the X-Class. The suspension work undertaken by the Germans has done the world of good to this chassis.

Out on the road the Mercedes gets along very comfortably. On the short run, I found some proper twisty stuff the pickup was very sure-footed and a match for any of the competitors in the class. Body roll was an issue but it never felt uncomfortable or dangerous. Once out on the motorway the big Mercedes came into its own. It was very quiet and got up to the national limit effortlessly. Once at cruising speed, it showed amazing poise for what is essentially a work-type vehicle. It would be a very enjoyable way of covering lots and lots of kilometres, either on the motorway or on the byways.

Off-road

The X-Class is a vehicle that will probably never go more off-road than climbing a high kerb or maybe a slippery grass verge. But the Irish Farmers Journal got the chance to do some proper off-roading and found the Mercedes to be a very capable companion in the muck.

It easily managed to scrabble up serious inclines. It leaned over at a 32° angle with no sign of panic from the jeep (or passengers) and waded through a river with consummate ease.

Talking to the instructors at the off-road centre, they suggested that the Mercedes had surprised them and out shone some of the more seasoned off-road brands machines.