Mercedes GL350 Wins At Texas Truck Rodeo

OK, let me get this straight: A Mercedes SUV has won at the Texas Truck Rodeo? In Texas? Texas in America Texas? Whoa, I guess the times, they are a'changin. This is the same state that produced two president Bushes and has "Don't Mess With Texas" on their license plates? And out of all the trucks in the competition (not just a competition, but a rodeo) they said that best one was a German truck?

Look, I'm not saying that the truck in questions, a Mercedes-Benz GL350 Bluetec, is a bad ride, actually it's quite a god ride. What amazes me is that the Texans picked it over a Ford or a Chevy or a Dodge.

The Texas Auto Writers Association holds a two-day truck rodeo every autumn to find out the best in class across the whole spectrum of the truck market. And in this year's SUV division, the auto writers chose the updated Mercedes-Benz GL350 Bluetec. So, no, it wasn't really up against more Texas-like trucks like Ford F-250s and what not, but still ...

The GL350 competed against 16 other SUVs. They were put to the test by the 41 journalists (go ahead, insert joke here about Texas and the number of functional literates in the state if you must) and the GL350 was the first European model to ever win the category.

Helping the Merc get to the top of the heap was its 210 hp and 400 pound-feet of torque, along with its 7,500 pound tow rating. The EPA says the GL350 gets 17 mpg city and 23 mpg on the highway, but when AutoBlogGreen recently tested the GL, they averaged just over 23 mpg combined, which easily beats their results with any of the GM hybrid SUVs. So even though the Mercedes GL350 BlueTec is big, heavy, aerodynamic as the crate it came in, (relatively) powerful and torquey, it's actually fairly efficient too.

Source: AutoBlogGreen