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FIRST DRIVES.Dune buddiesSouth Africa finally gets a mid-sized Mercedes SUV,and Stuttgart wants to sell a lot of them. Stand backAudi Q5 and BMW X3. ByPeter FrostMERCEDES-BENZHASlearnt two important lessons inrecent times – don’t mess withride comfort is the mostimportant one (A-Class taug htthem that) and; South Africa loves a mid-si zedSUV. Mix the two epiphanies and you havethe company’s latest offering, the GLC, afloat ing, supremely comfortable soft-roaderwith moreability than the GLA, less than theGLE (formerly the M-Class) and great dollopsof Lifestyle cred, capital L. To highlight itsabilities Me rc chose the du nes and ro ckscapesof the Namib. The result was a curate’s egg;GLC aced the blacktop and outcrops, but hadto work hard in the sand, admittedly du emostly to tyre choices and variable driver skills.GLC repres ents arguably Mercedes’ most``````GLCride height adjustable,optional air suspension keepsthings imperious. NicefeelingMERCEDES-BENZ GLC 250D 4MATICHIGHS``````Ideal size, real dirtroadability, greatprice``````LOWSEveryonewill haveone soon``````VERDICTMerc’s mostimportant newmodel, shouldselllike hot cakes``````important model after the C-Class, in that itwill appeal to all; it is the ideal size for theschool run, certainly capable and toughenough for the ba ck roads end-of-yearholiday, good looking enough to appeal tothe urban stylemei sters and,most importantly of all,aspira tional thanks of the three-pointed star. The good news isthat the car that took onNamibia and – mostly – won,will satisfy all of them. On theback roads it is what the GLAshould always have been ,confidenc e-inspirin g, tractable,high-riding, comfortable andyes, rugged. Frankly there seemslittle point to -the lo wer, slower,``````less interesting sister now, especially given theGLC’s competitive pricing which sets it as onlymarginal ly moreexpensive thanthe GLA.All models come withDynamic Select and Me rc’s4Matic all-wheel drive system,which as the name suggests islargely autonomous, and can beleft to decide for itself what theroad requires in terms of traction.Drivers ca n get involved via theusual drive modes – Eco,Comfort, Sport, Sport+ andIndividual. There’s an optionalOff-Road package as well, a