Just how capable is the Mercedes Benz GL(S)?

This past June I was sent to Birmingham, Alabama to spend 3 days with Mercedes Benz at their facility. One of the things that we did while there was get driven through an off-road course that showcases just how capable the GL (now the GLS) actually is. The course was broken up into two separate segments. The first was a typical ORV path complete with steps, puddles, rocky climbs, and sharp bends. The second part was more of a mountain trail with steep inclines that wove themselves through thick forest while traversing over slippery roots, mud, and rocks. The whole course culminated in a 75% downhill slope on a gravel covered trail.

To start we went up a small hill with steps carved into it and while it was (obviously) bumpy, the GL had no issue climbing itself up the steps. After that we went onto the offset trail that is designed to make sure that at all times the vehicle is only on 3 wheels. This is to show exactly how rigid the unibody design of the GL is. At one point, with one wheel high up in the air, our driver stopped the vehicle and opened his door to show that there is no body torque or other pressure twisting the vehicle.

The next part of the first segment was all slippery slopes covered in rocks, muddy inclines, a quick jaunt through a simulated water crossing, and a rather tight rock covered U-bend. I have to admit that the turning radius of that U-bend was pretty small and my old Jeep Cherokee XJ would have had a hard time cutting through it. The GL, however, had zero issues making that turn.

The second part of the course was, as stated above, just a twisty hill climb through thick forest, the end of which was a very steep downhill slope. Check out the video below of our descent.

While I wouldn't expect anyone to be doing any rock crawling in their GL450 it is still an extremely capable off-road vehicle. I most definitely was surprised at what it was able to do. To be fair 99.9% of GL owners would never even consider going anywhere that wasn't paved, it is nice to know that they could if they wanted to.