General information
Read this section carefully before driving your vehicle off-road. Practice by driving over more gentle off-road terrain first.
Familiarize yourself with the characteristics of your vehicle and the gear shift operation before driving through difficult terrain.
The following driving systems are specially adapted to off-road driving:
• off-road drive program (for vehicles
without Off-Road Pro engineering package)
• LOW RANGE off-road gear
• off-road ABS
• off-road 4ETS
• off-road ESP®()
• hill start assist
• differential locks
• DSR (Downhill Speed Regulation)
Observe the following notes:
• Stop your vehicle and, if necessary,
select
the off-road drive program or
the LOW RANGE off-road gear before driving off-road.
• Select a vehicle level suitable for the
offroad
terrain. Make sure there is always
sufficient ground clearance to prevent
damage to the vehicle.
• Activate the differential locks.
• Check that items of luggage and loads are
stowed safely and are well secured.
• Always keep the engine running and in gear
when driving on a downhill gradient.
Activate DSR.
• Always keep the doors, tailgate, windows
and sliding sunroof closed while driving.
• Adapt your speed to the terrain. The
rougher, steeper or more ruts on the
terrain, the slower your speed should be.
• Drive slowly and at an even speed through
the water. Ensure that a bow wave does not
form as you drive.
• Drive with extreme care on unknown offroad
routes where visibility is poor. For
safety reasons, get out of the vehicle first
and survey the off-road route.
• Look out for obstacles such as rocks,
holes,
tree stumps and furrows.
• Check the depth of water before fording
rivers and streams.
• When fording, do not stop and do not
switch off the engine.
• On sand, drive quickly to overcome the
rolling resistance. Otherwise, the vehicle
could dig itself into the sand.
• Do not jump with the vehicle as this will
interrupt the vehicle's propulsion.
• Always keep the engine running and in gear
when driving on a slope.
• Do not shift the automatic transmission to
transmission position N.
See also:
Important safety notes
Cruise control maintains a constant road
speed for you. It brakes automatically in order
to avoid exceeding the set speed. On long and
steep downhill gradients, especially if the
vehicle is la ...
Setting the air distribution
You can set the air distribution separately for
the driver’s and front-passenger side.
Select left air distribution 2 or right air
distribution 6 by turning the
COMAND controller and press t ...
Precise wheel location: the front axle with McPherson struts
At the front axle a three-link construction with McPherson struts is used.
The lower link level consists of two separate elements which act as torque and
cross struts and which are both forged fro ...