Excellent handling on any surface – thanks to 4MATIC permanent all-wheel drive in combination with ABS, ESP® and the 4ETS Electronic Traction System. Off-road or on-road, in rain, ice or snow, the traction, driving dynamics and driving stability are boosted.

And the all-wheel drive system does it without recourse to conventional differential locks. The wheels with insufficient grip are braked in a targeted manner and the drive torque transferred to the wheels with sufficient traction is increased. With these rapid, automatic braking impulses virtually the same effect can be achieved as that of three differential locks.

At the heart of the 4MATIC system is a single-stage transfer case with an open planetary gear central differential that ensures rotational speed compensation between the axles. The force distribution of 50 : 50 between front and rear axle guarantees superbly confident, always predictable, handling characteristics.

Moving off or accelerating on snow, wet roads or loose ground – under these conditions ASR acceleration skid control reduces wheel slip to prevent the vehicle from skidding.

The system uses speed sensors to monitor wheel slip. If the Acceleration Skid Control system detects that a wheel is starting to spin, it corrects the wheel speed by braking and intervening in the engine management system. This reduces wheel slip and minimises wheel spin. 

Safe and relaxed downhill driving: this system allows a speed to be set between 2 and 18 km/h for steep descents, which is then maintained - within the limits of physics - with the help of the engine management system, transmission control and brake interventions. 

In critical handling situations the Electronic Stability Program ESP® can keep the vehicle from skidding. With targeted brake interventions on individual wheels ESP® reduces oversteer or understeer tendencies and thus increases handling safety.

This automatic and autonomous system can, within a given speed range, use brake interventions to keep individual drive wheels from spinning when starting off or accelerating or both drive wheels from momentarily spinning on bends.

The off-road transmission mode offers even better off-road capability at the push of a button. Modified settings for the engine power, automatic transmission, ABS, ESP®  and the  4ETS Electronic Traction System  improve traction, particularly on a loose track surface.

Only available for the GLE 400 4MATIC and GLE 500 4MATIC.