​​Edmunds.com found the 2027 Mercedes-Benz GLS Seriously Impressive Off-Road​ 

The GLS is the most luxurious crossover SUV from the world’s most preeminent luxury automaker. Mercedes-Benz itself calls the GLS the S-Class of SUVs, so it is easy to think of it as a wagon-shaped S-Class that sits a little higher off the ground. Its priorities are a luxurious cabin, a smooth highway ride, and all the features and technology expected of a Mercedes-Benz flagship model. Off-road use would not seem high on the list of expectations. But Edmunds.com decided to ride along with Mercedes-Benz test drivers in a GLS far off the pavement, where few of its owners ever will, just to see if the model still has any off-road chops. Mercedes-Benz of Plano tells you what they found. 

To build its first general-market SUV (as opposed to the specialty G-Wagon), the M-Class, Mercedes built a plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and, from the beginning, the plant was accompanied by a challenging off-road course. The M-Class eventually became the GLE, and both it and the GLS are built at the plant, where their designs are tested on this course. The course is genuinely challenging, as Edmunds describes it: 

“This off-road course has everything from your run-of-the-mill dirt trail through the woods to giant ruts specifically designed to test maximum suspension articulation and put an SUV up on three wheels. There’s a wading pool full of disgusting standing water and a steel incline with staggered rollers on both sides so you can see how an SUV fares when only one wheel has grip. There are logs, simulated train tracks, and a gnarly rock climb. One engineer even told me they used to drive SUVs straight into the pond, which is full of snakes!” 

The snakes probably weren’t Mercedes-Benz’s idea; they found the pond on their own, but you get the idea that this course was designed for models to fail so they could be improved. That may have led to the Off-road Package included on Edmunds’ tester. It uses the standard air suspension to raise the body by three inches, adds skid plates to protect vulnerable areas when the extra three inches aren’t enough, and includes a revised stability control system, which, as Edmunds explains, “allows for occasional wheelspin, which is helpful in mucky terrain.” Also included is Recovery mode, which uses the air suspension to bounce the vehicle up and down, which can help if it’s stuck in the mud.  

Uncommon among crossovers, the standard GLS 4MOTION® system includes a low-range gear that increases torque for slow, steady progress over very rough terrain. The front and rear axles are also lockable to move in unison, and the hill descent control acts as a super low-speed cruise control to keep you traveling slowly and steadily on steep declines, such as a 60% grade on the course. 

While the test driver did activate the off-road mode, little else was done to get the GLS through the course, such as locking the differentials or shifting the transmission manually. The vehicle was also equipped with 22-inch all-season tires rather than all-terrain tires.  

They describe the GLS’s performance this way: “Driving over jagged boulders? Piece of cake. Traversing a pile of logs? Easy peasy. The GLS can ford 22 inches of water, so getting through that wading pool was a cinch, as was crossing a murky, muddy creek.” 

Serious off-roading will inevitably lead to dents and scratches, which may be easier to accept – a badge of honor, even – on a 20-year-old Toyota 4Runner than on a high-end luxury SUV that can easily top six figures. So it’s no surprise that most GLS owners will never take their vehicles onto this kind of terrain. But if you opt for the off-road package, it is there just in case, because Mercedes-Benz is not about making poseurs.  

We don’t have an off-road course at Mercedes-Benz of Plano, but we invite you to visit the number one Mercedes-Benz dealer in Texas to see what a GLS can do for you. If you like what you experience, we have almost 50 GLS models in stock to choose from.