Is the new V6 X-class a pickup to be treasured or just a piece of fools gold?
From your childhood, you’d remember the conquests of Pirates and their infamous treasure maps where ‘X’ marked a spot where treasure was kept or you’d know about this from the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie franchise.
Well there is a big X on this Mercedes but is it a thing to be treasured or is it just a piece of fools gold?
Imposing on the Outside
I know I know, to the trained eye there are some similarities with the Navara but through the use of some plastic surgery, Merc have covered them up pretty well. It had that big Merc grille, lots of chrome bits here and there and you get a pleasing ‘thunk’ when you shut the doors or the bonnet which weighs about a tonne by the way! It certainly is imposing and every other pickup truck driver gives you a stare either out of spite or curiosity, who knows?!
Whatever you do, do not take it off road!
Well we did anyway but our misfortune is to your benefit! Sure, the road is a rough one but we took the Amarok V6 down the same road and it handled it far far better than the Merc. The X class has four wheel drive, adjustable off road modes and all that jazz but it just isn’t an off road vehicle. On the road it is very comfortable, the engine pull superbly and the cabin is extremely quiet but off-road, all the bumps in the road are sent into the cabin which makes it very rattly and unpleasant.
The interior is un-Merc like.
There’s the Merc infotainment screen, signature Merc air vents and the dials are all from a normal Merc everything that is plastic is very hard and scratchy. Yes it is a ute after all so it has to be rough but this ute is nearly $100,000 NZD so surely you’d want some leather seats and soft plastics if you were paying that much for a car no matter what it was. Though I’ll give it this, the interior is a very comfortable place to be in while on the road and that is generally where it belongs. It’s 580Nm of torque is enough to to anything and enough to climb many hills but it just doesn’t feel at home off-road.
THE VERDICT
It’s brilliant on road but a ute is supposed to be at home off-road and that is certainly something that the Merc is not comfortable with. Merc make trucks and other off-road vehicles so they could have really made something brilliant here but it’s more like a missed opportunity. The steep price really doesn’t make this a justifiable purchase. If you want a luxury ute, get the Amarok V6 Aventura and save 10k, it does everything the Merc can do except better.
