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My vacation home has a steep gravel circular drive that goes down steeply to the house and then back up steeply to the parking lot. Going up the rear wheel on the inside radius slips and digs up the gravel, leaving deep ruts. My son's Subaru Outlander does not slip at all.
I have turned off the ESP and that helps a little, but still not as good as other vehicles I have owned.
The GLE, especially the "e" version is way heavier than the Outback, likely by 1 ton or so. Additionally, Subarus are 60:40 and 50:50 (front:rear) power distribution ratio in my understanding, while the GLE is more dynamic and rear biased by default, explaining why you see a slip of that rear wheel first. Once the slip is detected, some of the power gets reallocated to the front wheels. As mentioned above, try playing with drive modes.
On W166 there are gravel and snow drive modes, give those a try. I scaled very steep, rutted and rocky trailhead roads in Colorado in the W166 with no problems using regular 4MATIC.
Others have already hinted in the direction of the differences in AWD systems. Subaru's symmetrical AWD system has a few things going for itself when it comes to traction. For starters it uses equal length half shafts so front and rear axles are powered symmetrically. The weight is also much more balanced compared to the nose heavy Mercedes, further improving traction from a dig as the rear isn't lighter than the front. Additionally, similar to Audi's longitudinal quattro system, the Subaru system powers both axles from 0 mph. Favoring the front as said with 60% going to the front and 40% to rear adjustable in real time to 50/50. Quattro is the opposite sending 60% to the rear and 40% to the front, adjustable to up to 70% to the front and 85% to the rear w/o the help of ESP.
4Matic on the other hand at least the modern versions favors the rear axle. Essentially sending almost all the power to the rear wheels first. Then when it detects slip it starts sending some of the power to the front using a multi plate clutch in the transfer case. This will always result in a delay and the rear wheels in adverse conditions will end up slipping. Worst case this can even get you stuck if the rear wheels manage to dig themselves in before enough power is diverted to the front wheels.
There are plenty of YouTube videos you can watch of 4Matic in the snow vs quattro for example. Both 4Matic and BMW's Xdrive tend to struggle if there's little traction. The electronics scramble to send power to the wheels with traction, whereas quattro and Subaru's system don't have that issue, because all 4 wheels receive power out of the gate. 4-Matic and Xdrive focus more on driving dynamics under normal traction by making it feel close to RWD, but have the ability to send some power to the front when needed. Quattro and Subaru's system are more utilitarian.
The one exception is the G wagon, where you can manually lock all three differentials to instantly send power to all the wheels that have traction from a dig. The regular GLE on the other hand has no locking differentials whatsoever, so it tries to use the brakes to manage slip on the rear wheels as it's trying to send power forward. The AMG 63 at least has an electronic limited-slip locking differential on the rear axle allowing for actively managing traction between the rear wheels and sending the torque to the wheel that has most traction instead of spinning the one that doesn't. The open differential in the regular GLE will struggle in the same situation and as said the brakes have to be used to redirect the torque, but engaging the brakes is much slower to manage the spin of one wheel vs the ability of the clutch pack in the LSD to lock up and redirect the torque to the other wheel. This is essentially when you find out that the U in most SUVs is more marketing than reality. You need locking differentials or at least an LSD in situations like this, or at a minimum a more offroad suited AWD system like Audi quattro or Subaru's symmetrical AWD.
On W166 there are gravel and snow drive modes, give those a try. I scaled very steep, rutted and rocky trailhead roads in Colorado in the W166 with no problems using regular 4MATIC.
The GLE, especially the "e" version is way heavier than the Outback, likely by 1 ton or so. Additionally, Subarus are 60:40 and 50:50 (front:rear) power distribution ratio in my understanding, while the GLE is more dynamic and rear biased by default, explaining why you see a slip of that rear wheel first. Once the slip is detected, some of the power gets reallocated to the front wheels. As mentioned above, try playing with drive modes.
Thanks. Have tried all modes including manual shift starting in 2nd gear. The best result was from turning off ESP.
As @superpop mentions, quattro is a good system. Depending on the quattro flavor, there are many, a torsen device is positioned between front and rear axles which gives near instant torque transfer. I had a gen 2 Touareg with a torsen center coupling and it was a great system.
MB's 4ETS is excellent and nearly perfectly simulates a locking differential between a pair of wheels. 4ETS individually actuates brakes which sends torque to the opposite wheel on the same axle.
Because 4ETS is standard, any traction shortcomings on the V167 GLE are related to the fore-aft wet plate clutch variable torque coupling which replaced the traditional chain-type transfer case on W163, W164 and W166. Cayenne uses a nearly identical fore-aft wet plate clutch device, departing from the chain-type transfer case in 955/957 and 958. Why did MB and Porsche change t/case designs? Cost.
Others have already hinted in the direction of the differences in AWD systems. Subaru's symmetrical AWD system has a few things going for itself when it comes to traction. For starters it uses equal length half shafts so front and rear axles are powered symmetrically. The weight is also much more balanced compared to the nose heavy Mercedes, further improving traction from a dig as the rear isn't lighter than the front. Additionally, similar to Audi's longitudinal quattro system, the Subaru system powers both axles from 0 mph. Favoring the front as said with 60% going to the front and 40% to rear adjustable in real time to 50/50. Quattro is the opposite sending 60% to the rear and 40% to the front, adjustable to up to 70% to the front and 85% to the rear w/o the help of ESP.
4Matic on the other hand at least the modern versions favors the rear axle. Essentially sending almost all the power to the rear wheels first. Then when it detects slip it starts sending some of the power to the front using a multi plate clutch in the transfer case. This will always result in a delay and the rear wheels in adverse conditions will end up slipping. Worst case this can even get you stuck if the rear wheels manage to dig themselves in before enough power is diverted to the front wheels.
There are plenty of YouTube videos you can watch of 4Matic in the snow vs quattro for example. Both 4Matic and BMW's Xdrive tend to struggle if there's little traction. The electronics scramble to send power to the wheels with traction, whereas quattro and Subaru's system don't have that issue, because all 4 wheels receive power out of the gate. 4-Matic and Xdrive focus more on driving dynamics under normal traction by making it feel close to RWD, but have the ability to send some power to the front when needed. Quattro and Subaru's system are more utilitarian.
The one exception is the G wagon, where you can manually lock all three differentials to instantly send power to all the wheels that have traction from a dig. The regular GLE on the other hand has no locking differentials whatsoever, so it tries to use the brakes to manage slip on the rear wheels as it's trying to send power forward. The AMG 63 at least has an electronic limited-slip locking differential on the rear axle allowing for actively managing traction between the rear wheels and sending the torque to the wheel that has most traction instead of spinning the one that doesn't. The open differential in the regular GLE will struggle in the same situation and as said the brakes have to be used to redirect the torque, but engaging the brakes is much slower to manage the spin of one wheel vs the ability of the clutch pack in the LSD to lock up and redirect the torque to the other wheel. This is essentially when you find out that the U in most SUVs is more marketing than reality. You need locking differentials or at least an LSD in situations like this, or at a minimum a more offroad suited AWD system like Audi quattro or Subaru's symmetrical AWD.
All well and good but doesn't give me a solution for the GLE.
All well and good but doesn't give me a solution for the GLE.
Correct, it doesn't. There is no solution, other than replacing it with one that is more offroad capable w/o digging itself a hole in your gravel driveway. The AWD system is what it is. Use the right tool for the job as they say. The GLE is more at home in your local strip mall parking lot.
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