Mercedes-Benz X-Class Xperience

When you think of the bucket list of countries that offer the top level of off-road experience – the Meccas of four-wheel driving, if you will – a few spring to mind: South Africa with its safaris, the Australian Outback, the Sahara desert, the USA with the famed Rubicon Trail, but Albania?

However, that’s where Mercedes-Benz invited us for the 2019 X-Class Xperience. And as it turns out Albania is one of the final frontiers of off-roading in Europe.

Albania’s vast and untamed interior with its towering mountains, accessible national parks, stunning lakes and scenery make it an off-road experience par excellence.

And that was what we were looking forward to on this three-day X-Class drive program – a program that we were promised would encompass all of the above and more in this untamed wilderness.

Day One was supposed to be an easy off-road drive past a stunning dam and lake system that feeds water to the capital of Tirana. A drive through picturesque valleys with stark towering mountains and cliffs to an overnight stay in tents after enjoying a sumptuous out-door dinner.

Day Two was to be a more difficult and technical off-road adventure highlighting the off-road attributes of the V6 X-Class and showing us just what this ute could do.

Day Three would be another easy day taking us back through the city of Tirana and to our respective flights home.

At the start of the adventure, our trusty steeds were waiting for us all agleam and fuelled, with extra spare tyres and with a guide and two technicians should we come to any grief. Our five vehicles were all top-of-the-range Mercedes-Benz X350d models in what we in Australia would call Power trim.

The Mercedes-Benz X350d is powered by a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 diesel with outputs of 190kW and 550Nm driving through a seven-speed automatic gearbox and with permanent four-wheel drive with high and low range.

We left the bustling city of Tirana – a feat in itself with its narrow crowded streets, trucks, the ubiquitous motor scooters, even the odd cow to contend with – and headed for the Shkreli National Park high in the surrounding hills.

As we climbed past quarries and tunnelling works for the dam that feeds the city, the road narrowed and soon we were climbing a circuitous switch-back road leading up a seemingly sheer cliff. Low range was certainly the order of the day and, as we climbed, the clouds rolled in and the first spits of rain heralded what was to come.

Cresting the mountain, we could see what we were in for. Dark storm clouds flecked with lightning greeted us and soon the spits of rain turned to torrents as our track quickly became a creek. As the thunder and lightning increased, so did the rain until we could barely see the vehicle ahead even with the wipers on flat-out.

On we pressed though the storm. Our guides had told us we only had a three-hour drive of fairly easy off-roading, but the driving was becoming increasingly treacherous on the skinny mountain tracks. Rivers of water now flowed across the road and created wash-aways on the downside and mud slides on the high side of the road.

Surely we haven't got far to go. We came across a little bridge with a really tricky approach given that the water had washed away part of the track but we all got across safely and the instruction came across the radio to hold up here while the guide went ahead to check the track.

On his return we found that the track had become impassable up ahead and there was nothing for it but to turn around and return to the city from whence we came. And still the rain kept pouring down like a tropical storm – and it was getting dark.

Our three-hour tour was turning into a real adventure and the theme to Gilligan’s Island got stuck in my head.

We managed to turn our five vehicles around with some difficulty and I was thankful for the very useful low-range gearing and, at times, the rear diff lock.

Our LED lights tried in vain to penetrate the deluge… then the hail kicked in. A voice crackled over the radio: “We’ve been hit by a rock.” The guide chirped in immediately: “Don’t work about the cars, just keep moving. Don’t stop there.”

We continued on and as I came across the scene I noted that it wasn’t a rock, it was a boulder, and there were more coming. As I took evasive action, I thought it looked like a home-made chicane with boulders strewn across the track.

Then it was our turn as a small(ish) tree crashed across the roof of the Mercedes-Benz's X350d. The SS Minnow could be lost…

I had to get help from the vehicle behind to get the offending tree off the roof in the pouring rain, but we were soon back on our way. I later found out that the roof rails on this spec of X-Class saved to ute's roof from damage.

With almost constant lightning illuminating the road ahead we ploughed on. I was thankful at times of the X350’s 600mm wading depth as the rivers crossed the roads and water came up to the bumper bar.

Eventually we got back to the switch-backs leading down the dam. Some of the hairpins were that severe it took us a three-point turn to get around.

Once down the mountain, we knew the going would be a little easier and we were soon back to more normal tracks. Along the way, our hosts had organised rooms for us in the comfortable hotel we’d stayed at the night before; this was no time to be taking shelter in a tent...

The storm was still raging and we were to later find out that at one stage 290 lightning strikes had been recorded in a ten-minute period, and over 50mm of rain had fallen in an hour and a half. It was the worst storm the area had seen in 60 years.

In the morning we went to survey the damage and apart from the ute that had been belted by the boulder, no other damage was sustained. I was surprised that our truck hadn’t been dented by the tree, and found myself thinking that these are pretty tough trucks… and that roof rails do have their uses.

Our objective for the day was to get to Shkreli Resort – the place we were supposed to get to the previous day (I later found out that when we turned around we were only about 1.5km from the resort).

There was no way we could take the route we took yesterday as it was still impassable, so we opted for a more leisurely drive through the mountains on made roads rather than tracks.

The Shkreli Resort is a lovely place in the old oak and pine forests of the Shkreli National Park. We were supposed to have been camping out the back of the resort and really appreciating the park but it wasn’t to be.

Our next adventure would be down the King’s Road which, as the name suggests, was built in the 1920s so the King of Albania could get to and from his mountain lodge where he liked to take in the cool air and the mountain spring water

Although the King’s residence is now in ruins, today the road is a reasonably well maintained track where you can still see the intricate stone work that went into its construction. How long it took to build, we don’t know, but in those days the stone masons must have spent years shoring up the steep and circuitous track.

In these serious off-road sections of our tour, we really got to test the ability and sturdiness of the X-class – probably a bit more than the organisers had banked on. The X350d really is a capable and powerful ute and apart from the damage caused by the falling rock we didn’t have any problems with the vehicles at all.

Despite the road-pattern Continental tyres we were using, we didn’t so much as get a puncture, and the grip was surprisingly good under the conditions.

Ground clearance is quoted as 222mm with an approach angle of ‘up to’ 30 degrees and a departure angle of 25 degrees. Our test vehicles were fitted with substantial bash plates which impinged on these figures somewhat; we did touch down a few times but with no real problems.

Coming down the mountains back onto the flat country, we took a detour to the beautiful coastline of the Adriatic Sea where we got to appreciate the cruising ability of the X-Class.

It really is a smooth and efficient tourer with one of the best technology packages on the market.

The seven-speed auto works seamlessly with lovely smooth shifts and a great kickdown for overtaking or hill climbing.

The suspension is very well sorted for a four-wheel drive ute. The double-wishbone front and rear coil suspension seems to be balanced and not too stiff in the rear for highway and dirt-road touring. The compromise is that it droops a little under load as we found out in our mega ute comparison earlier this year.

As our X-Class Xperience came to end after a lovely night spent in a beautiful hotel and vineyard outside Tirana, I came away with a new-found interest and admiration for the X350d.

The V6 version of the X-Class is a far cry from the rattly and somewhat asthmatic four-cylinder X-Class that I drove last year. I didn’t really dislike the four-cylinder version but I found it to be not too different from the rest of the dual-cab utes that crowd the Australian market.

The V6 X350d, on the other hand, is different. It is far more refined, more powerful, more competent and really goes a long way to justifying its price. And to justifying the fact that it wears the three-pointed star.

How much does the 2019 Mercedes-Benz X-Class X350d Power cost?
Price: $79,415 (as tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Output: 190kW/550Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel: 8.8L/100km (ADR Combined); 8.1L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 230g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP (2018)