Mercedes-Benz X-Class Tow Test 2018 Review

Big attraction

One of the big attractions of one-tonne utes (for most of them, at least) is their 3500kg towing capacity. That’s as good as it gets for heavy-duty towing, unless you buy a bigger, much more expensive American pick-up like the RAM 2500 -- or a truck.

The new Mercedes-Benz X-Class joins the 3500kg towing class and, given it’s based on the Nissan Navara, you’d imagine it would be much the same to tow with.

Then again, perhaps not. Mercedes-Benz claims it has done a lot of work to differentiate its product from Nissan’s.

Same, but different

So while the powertrain is the same as the Navara’s, changes like a wider track, different suspension tune, NVH improvements and additional safety features such as trailer sway control could make the X-Class a better towing proposition than its Japanese cousin.

We tow-tested the flagship of the X-Class range (for now), the Mercedes-Benz X 250d POWER, which comes with 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and electrically-adjustable front seats.

It also comes standard with man-made leather/microfibre seat trim, a leather-look dash top and door caps, climate-control, keyless entry/start, 8.4-inch COMAND multimedia system with digital radio, navigation and touchpad, a 360-degree camera and PARKTRONIC parking assistant.

X 250d POWER pricing starts at a cool $61,600 (six-speed manual, plus on-road costs), but this wouldn’t be a Mercedes-Benz if it didn’t have a long options list.

So the vehicle we tested was fitted with the optional seven-speed auto ($2900), metallic paint ($950), Style Bar ($1551), towbar ($836), seven-pin towbar wiring ($462) and electric brake controller ($765).

The test vehicle was also fitted with the $2490 Style Pack, which includes privacy glass on rear windows, electric rear window, side steps, roof rails and 19-inch six-twin-spoke alloy wheels.

All up the X-Class we tested would set you back $67,940 (plus on-road costs).

Even though the X-Class has important safety features such as autonomous emergency braking and trailer sway control, it lacks lane-keeping assist and active cruise control, both of which are available in the Ford Ranger.

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Brake controller option

Mercedes-Benz has made life easier for owners who want to tow heavy trailers. It has followed Mazda’s lead by offering a remote-head electric brake controller as a factory-approved accessory.

There might be cheaper options, but the Benz EBC makes the ordering process and any warranty claims (on the EBC) simpler.

The X-Class interior is at first glance very upmarket for a ute; it looks more like a luxury car interior with the satin silver air-vents and stitching on the door cards and dash, which is capped off with a large COMAND infotainment screen and centre console controller.

Look a little closer though, at the lower dash for example, and you’ll notice shiny brittle plastics that cheapen the look and feel of the cabin.

Despite this it all works well. The infotainment screen menu is easy to navigate and none of the main controls are hard to find or use.

The front occupants get plenty of room and comfortable, supportive seats for those long transport stages when touring out in the bush.

Back-seat passengers don’t get such a good deal; the seat is a little too upright and for tall adults there’s not a lot of head or leg room.

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Time to get hitched up

Aside from the requisite 3500kg (braked) towing capacity (750kg unbraked), the X-Class has a 350kg towball download limit (up 50kg on the Navara).

As tested, the X 250d has a 979kg payload limit (with a kerb weight of 2271kg and a Gross Vehicle Mass of 3250kg).

In an ideal world, you would be able to tow the maximum allowed 3500kg while also having the X-Class fully laden at 3250kg (making for a total of 6750kg).

However, the X 250d’s Gross Combined Mass (GCM) is 6200kg, which means you’re going to have to reduce payload in the vehicle and/or trailer by 550kg.

It’s surprisingly difficult to find a 3000kg-plus caravan for tow-testing (they are mostly made-to-order top-shelf off-road vans), but we came up with something close – a 2740kg (180kg towball download) Atlantic Hi-Terrain, which we borrowed from Parravans in Windsor, NSW.

Backing up to the van was made easier with the X-Class reversing camera with overlay lines on the screen that accurately help you centre the towball with the coupling (not all cameras do that).

The curved shape of the X-Class’s side mirrors don’t make them ideal for attaching towing mirrors but they didn’t come adrift on test.

The X 250d didn’t move much with the caravan attached – it dropped 25mm at the back and lifted 5mm at the front.

If there’s much more than 25mm difference from unladen height (particularly a height increase at the front), it needs to be fixed by either shifting the load in the trailer or using a weight distribution hitch.

The X-Class didn’t suffer from much turbo lag unladen and with the van behind it also felt responsive off the mark. Getting up to touring speed and staying there with 2800kg behind it wasn’t quite as easy. The X-Class struggles.

On the test hillclimb, the Benz was down to 68km/h after starting the climb at 90km/h. Any significant incline knocked the wind out of it, speed often dropping below 80km/h (from a touring speed of 100km/h) on the freeway climbs.

Engine braking was poor as well, made worse by the fact that the auto transmission’s manual mode doesn’t hold gears. Once you reach about 3800rpm (400rpm short of redline) it’ll upshift.

The X-Class seems to tow the best when in fifth gear (in manual mode), where the engine is spinning at 2500rpm at 100km/h. While it’ll cruise with about 2100rpm on board in sixth gear (and 1900rpm in seventh) at 100km/h, that’s only on level ground or descents.

The slightest incline sees you having to drop the throttle to the floor so the auto can wake up the engine with a kickdown.

While the engine seems to work hard when towing, at least the noise is muted. Mercedes-Benz’s efforts to improve X-Class NVH levels over the donor Navara has paid off.

Fuel consumption on test over 100km of easy touring at mostly 80km/h with short stints at 100km/h saw an average of 16.7L/100km.

While this might seem thirsty, any of the X-Class’s competitors would return similar figures. It’s the price you pay for towing a heavy trailer.

Using our fuel consumption figure, the X-Class would have a 430km touring range (with a 50km safety margin) when towing.

Ride quality when unladen was not bad at all (for a ute), and so it was when towing -- on smooth roads at least. Get onto a rippled or patchy road surface and the X-Class becomes uncomfortable – the rear constantly moves in short, sharp oscillations.

Some vehicles are towing naturals, seeming to remain stable almost regardless of what you hitch up to them. The X-Class isn’t one of those. It starts to yaw without a great deal of provocation at speeds above about 80km/h.

Sometimes sway can be blamed on poor caravan balance, but after towing three different caravans (varying between seven and ten per cent TBM) with the X-Class, it seems that this is not a stable tow vehicle out of the box.

This could probably be fixed with an anti-sway coupling or a weight distribution hitch (although in theory a WDH shouldn’t be necessary because the X-Class didn’t lift much with a van behind it), but as it stands the X-Class we drove didn’t feel planted to the road when towing faster than 80km/h.

The final word

This test was never going to be easy for the X-Class. Having towed a similar weight behind all of the utes in this category, it’s safe to say none would make light work of it and this raises the question of whether 3500kg is a realistic towing figure for any of them.

However, it’s pretty clear the X-Class does not provide better performance or return better fuel consumption than the Navara on which it is based and its towing stability is certainly no better.

As it stands, the X 250d POWER is not an ideal heavy-duty tow vehicle.

How much does the 2018 Mercedes-Benz X 250d POWER cost?
Price: $67,940 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.3-litre twin-turbo four-cylinder diesel
Output: 140kW/450Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 207g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP