I like to think of traffic as a great Petri dish of society. Thanks to humanity’s journey to accumulate wealth and the desire to spend it, we have to deal with the complex world of traffic.
A great highway billboard in the US once read: “You aren’t in traffic, you are the traffic.” Nowhere else is there such a mix of people of different races, creeds and levels of affluence as there is in traffic. A diamond mine owner, a game ranger and a soccer mom all lined up, sharing the road.
And in the Petri dish some cars are bigger than others and the bigger ones like to bully the smaller ones. Which brings me to the newly face-lifted Mercedes Benz M-Class. The three German heavyweights each have a contender in the luxury SUV market: Audi has the bulbous Q7, BMW has the somewhat vulgar X5 and the Mercedes Benz M-Class is superior to both because it is neither.
I don’t know how such a large, luxury SUV can come across as inoffensively as the M-Class does, but Mercedes Benz has pulled it off. Last time I saw a BMW X5, I found my middle finger bracing itself for activity well before its driver had a chance to disobey the laws of the Petri dish. In an X5 people tend to think you’re a lout, but in an M-Class you are an accumulator of wealth journeying off to enjoy your wealth.
This is because the M-Class is more elegant than its German competitors. First introduced to the world in Mercedes Benz’s tough old days of DaimlerChrysler, it was intended to entertain an American audience. This explains why it is so comfortable and it has all its engineering in order.
The face-lifted M-Class simply improves on the formula. You still get the permanent 4Matic all-wheel drive system, the same 7G automatic transmission and the same range of V6 and V8 engines. They are the ML320 CDI (165kW / 510Nm), the ML350 (200kW / 350Nm), the ML500 (295kW / 530Nm) and the ML63 AMG (375kW / 630Nm) that will make its appearance at the Johannesburg International Motor Show this week. Although the internals are the same, there is little to choose between previous generation M-Class models and the new one, but the main tweaks are to the aesthetics and a raft of interior appointments and luxuries.
The new front end gets a more pronounced radiator grille with more prominent headlamps and chromed louvres. Inset fog lamps and a new underguard give the front a more robust look. It’s much the same story at the rear with new integrated fog lamps and more attractive smoked- glass rear tail lights. Roof racks are standard on the M-Class for the first time as well.
On the inside the luxury continues with a new generation of Mercedes Benz’s telematics Universal Interface, a driver system that integrates your navigation, hands-free audio controls, a hands-free Bluetooth phone, an iPod connector and just about anything you could ever need to do behind the wheel of a car. Control is maximised through a new four-spoke multifunction button steering wheel. Optional interior features include a reverse camera, Mercedes Benz’s “Linguatronic” voice-activated controls, a rear passenger DVD system and a 610 watt Harman Kardon Logic7 sound system.
For those with a more pressing desire to go off-road the M-Class also offers an optional technical off-road package. This incorporates 100% differential locks on the centre and rear axle differentials, a low-range gear box with “shift-on-the-move” capability, ride height adjustment to between 81mm and 30mm and reinforced underguards.
The M-Class has serious off-road capabilities but approach and departure angles are always a limiting factor for bigger, luxury SUVs and the M-Class is no exception. It is debatable whether the intended buyer will ever be willing to explore its capability in his or her own vehicle.
All in all the subtle aesthetic tweaks and interior updates are seamlessly pulled off in the new Mercedes Benz M-Class. The internals are unchanged but facelifts are a necessary part of keeping a steadfast model, crisp and vibrant to its buyers.
It is still the refined choice among luxury, German SUVs and shows that even if you are a big player in the Petri dish, you don’t have to be the bully too.