A Dozen Mercedes Go Off-Roading Across Beautiful Britain, Fail to Impress
In case you weren’t aware, Mercedes-Benz has a storied history with making incredible off-road vehicles. In the U.K., the traditional go-to for a capable, luxury SUV may be the Land Rover, but the Germans wanted to remind people that they also make some pretty great 4x4s. To demonstrate as much, they took a dozen different SUVs from the classic G-Wagen down to the new GLE, and then put them through “a journey that has never been done before.” A two-day trek across the entire width of Britain without using any public roads.
Sounds exciting as hell, doesn’t it?!
Unfortunately, I can’t get excited, or even be half bothered to care about the video below. Their trek “across Britain” is actually across Scotland, where the island nation narrows. That means that the total trip length was just over 60 miles. Seriously guys? It took you two days to make it across 65 miles of sheep pasture in Scotland, and that is some sort of incredible journey?
I will admit that some of the trip looks pretty wild, with rutted and muddy paths, snowy passes, and more than a few water crosses, but there is just as much use of well-trodden dirt roads in the video too. It may not be a “public” road, but is using a flat gravel trail much different? The video is full of amazing scenery, and awesome slow-mo shots of muddy G-Wagens, but it doesn’t really drive home the decades-long legacy of top-tier, off-road technology hiding under the beautiful sheet metal.
Try again Mercedes.