Dune driving with Mercedes-Benz as it tests off-road systems
The reason Mercedes’ engineers were driving up and down and across the dunes was to work on the car’s brake control systems. As you slow with the brake pedal, the car’s electronic brain juggles the input of the traction control, electronic stability control, antilock brakes, and a downhill speed governor that keep you going where you want, as opposed to careening down a slope at speed.
After a passenger ride through a particularly tricky section, it was my turn to have a go. It was a more surreal experience than messing around in an all-wheel drive car on fresh snow—that might involve low traction surfaces and some sliding around, but the horizon tends to remain in the same place.
As I climbed a dune, my view was nothing but sand, then the deep blue sky. Despite the steep slope and the fact that the car was shod with regular street tires, the wheels found traction where needed, “churning” where necessary. Under braking, the ABS allows the front wheels to remain more controllable, taking into consideration any steering angle you have.
And that may be a lot, because as Lightning McQueen learned in Cars, to go left, sometimes you have to turn right. At times, crabbing up the side of a dune involved making progress with a fair amount of opposite steering lock.
Just think, the wind deposited all this sand here. Note the return of a maximalist Mercedes front “grille.” Mercedes-Benz
Driving on a loose surface like sand, similar to driving on snow, requires a fair bit of torque, and the GLC’s 596 lb-ft (808 Nm) was more than enough to throw a rooster tail or two as the speed picked up and propelled us along. And the low center of gravity that results from the 94 kWh battery pack between the axles no doubt helped keep the car planted even while driving sideways along the dune.
My experience was much less repetitive than that of the Mercedes engineers, whose job it is to go out and drive a route, come back to the trailer, download the data, and upload a new configuration to the car. Then go out and drive the route again and repeat the whole process before driving two hours back to Las Vegas at the end of each day. But the result should be an electric SUV with the kind of mountain goat ability that belies its posh badge and looks.
The new GLC with EQ Technology goes on sale in the US late next year.
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