Whatever else you might say about Mercedes Benz, you can’t accuse it of doing half a job. Where Fiat spent a couple of quid on a new grille and some badges in coopting Mitsubishi’s L200, Mercedes put big money into bringing a Nissan Navara into the fold. Body panels, dash, steering wheel, chassis, brakes, even track width have changed to make the X-Class. All that, plus the three-pointed star up front, reflects in the price. But we’ll set cost aside for a while and see if what emerged from the chrysalis is a game-changer. Some kind soul damaged the Navara we’d booked for comparison — but luckily Ford could rustle up a Ranger Wildtrak at very short notice, so with mainstream competition in place we could go. Thanks, Henry.