A car's driving comfort is best experienced in challenging driving scenarios – on a steep off-road descent, for example. In the M-Class you don't just have to rely on finely balanced brakes, transmission and acceleration control in order to negotiate the slope safely. Downhill Speed Regulation (DSR) takes care of that for you. At the touch of a button, the M-Class maintains the required downhill speed (depending on roadholding and the angle of the slope). And if you are starting off on an upward incline, the hill-start assist function is there to help. When you touch the accelerator, the brakes are released with a slight delay to prevent the vehicle from rolling back unintentionally.

Sporty driving just got easier thanks to standard-specification steering-wheel gearshift paddles, which allow fingertip gear changes. Furthermore, with the AIRMATIC package (standard on the ML 500 4MATIC, available as an optional extra on all other models), which comprises air suspension and the ADS Adaptive Damping System, bumpy roads become almost as comfortable as a motorway.