"all season" - also known as "All Compromise." certainly absolutely fine for some regions. also definitely not okay for other regions.

 

Also known as "no-season". I have 32 wheels and tires for my fleet of cars.

 

Well then, what is the point of having AWD 4Matic? Doesn’t 4Matic improve mobility in ice and snow?

 

It improves the ability to get moving and stay moving in low traction situations. It does not improve braking or steering. It can give a sense of false security and get you going faster than you should be for the conditions.
I read once, 4 wheel drive just gets you farther into the trees when you lose control and crash.

 

Absolutely valid point. The ultimate configuration for the original posters inquiry would be a 350 4Matic with dedicated snow tires. That would be the ultimate setup to increase your "safety buffer" on snow/slush/ice. However, some people will immediately decrease the size of the buffer they gained by driving faster, paying less attention, leaving less gap to the next vehicle, using more aggressive driving inputs with the steering, brakes etc. etc. A nervous/wary person in a rear-wheel drive GLK with All Compromise tires may end up being the safer driver and the one NOT getting into an accident. Many factors at play here...

Something many people are unaware of, it seems, is that dedicated snow tires are made with a different tire compound. When the temperature gets below around 45 degrees Fahrenheit the rubber compound of the snow tires stays more pliable/grippy/soft giving you better braking, acceleration and steering. So it's not even a matter of whether there is snow on the ground or not or even if it's not close to freezing. Dedicated snow tires give you the bigger safety buffer when temps. drop. Again that buffer can be quickly compromised by the driver. A downside is that the dedicated snow tires will also wear faster on dry roads due to the softer compound. Everything's a compromise of some sort.

 

4 matic works , don’t believe the naysayers , they don’t know how mb system was designed.

 

In other words AWL or 4Matic improves traction when it comes to getting engine torque to the ground. And yes, as another contributor
so aptly noted, AWL does not improve braking or steering. I can add another important point: The wheels must be spinning for any effective
steering. If the driver locks up the wheels with aggressive braking, the steering is zip, zero, nothing, go into the trees. Heh!

 

AWD helps both accel and decel, only if you're "gentle on the throttle and especially the brakes," as I said before. The GLK is excellent at providing engine braking, especially the diesel engine. Using the paddle shifters alone, with no brakes input, you can essentially slow down to 5-7mph in a reasonable distance.

Trouble is, most people are going too fast then they panic and stomp on the brakes; even though ABS usually helps here too, on snow and ice it's a lot trickier.
Good tires help, not panicking helps, engine braking helps, and AWD certainly helps. But they're only as useful as the driver's ability to make use of them.

 

Michelin CrossClimate. Live in Manitoba, we know ice, snow and bloody cold.