Motoring

Press, 4 September 1980, Page 19

Motoring

Most attention was focused on the powerful rally cars when the Mer-cedes-Benz rally team arrived in Christchurch last week, but there were also some very: interesting support vehicles, two of which have never before been seen in this country. They are the TD3OO turbo-diesel waggon (above, left) and the four-wheel-drive Gelandewagen (right). Two TD3OOs and one soft-top Gelandewagen have been brought to New Zealand to support the Mercedes effort in the

1980 Motogard Rally, which starts in Nelson on Saturday week. The waggons are powered by five-cylinder turbocharged diesel motors which produce 125 b.h.p. and Mr John Woods, service -manager of Cable Price in Christchurch, was impressed with the one he drove to Nelson last week. The Garrett Air Research turbocharger reaches its peak as low in the rev range as 2000 r.p.m. and Mr Woods said that this locked, on the move if necessary, which gives it

a remarkable ability to traverse difficult terrain, gives the car good lowdown torque. With a taller final drive and standard fourspeed automatic transmission the TD3OO has proved more economical than the normally aspirated 300 diesel- and is also less thirsty than the four-cylinder TD24O. The waggon’s maximum speed is up 16 kmh to 165 kmh over the TD24O and its 0 to 100 kmh time has dramatically improved from 20.4 to 15.0 seconds. The Gelandewagen is Mercedes’ answer to the Land-Rover and RangeRover and has been enthusiastically received in Europe. The one brought to New Zealand has a 2300 cu cm petrol motor which develops 102 b.h.p. in high-compression form and it has a short-wheel-base body. The Gelandewagen is also available in long-wheelbase form with a variety of body shapes and motors, and the top-of-the-line model, which should rival the

Range-Rover, has a fivedoor body and a fuel-in-jected 2.8 litre . 150 b.h.p. petrol motor. Many-of the technical details of the new Mercedes off-road vehicles are similar to those of the British Leyland range, but one significant difference is in its four-wheel-drive arrangement. One major advantage is that its transfer box incorporates synchromesh so that all changes can be made on the move. A second important point is that its front and rear differentials can be positively and fully A British motoring writer reported last year when the Gelandewagen was launched that he felt it should prove to be one of the world’s finest small off-rpad vehicles, adding that even in its cheapest forms it is markedly superior to the Land-Rover.