Mercedes-Benz SUV Range

The law in Queensland suggests (because it’s not totally clear from the website) that you can fit larger wheels, although I couldn’t find a definitive limit to how much bigger you could go. But, the rules also state that the overall diameter of a replacement tyre on a car like the GLC 220d can be no more than 15mm more than the tyres fitted as standard to that car. So, while that suggest you could go up to 22-inch wheels (from the standard 20-inch wheels) the tyres fitted to them would have to be a much lower profile to keep within that 15mm diameter increase requirement.

This would have a fairly big impact on the cost of the tyres when you need to replace them, but also on ride quality as you’d be sacrificing a lot of sidewall flex with the lower-profile rubber. And there are other considerations: The replacement tyres can not be more than 1.3 times as wide as the standard tyres, must not protrude from the wheel arch at the straight-ahead and must maintain speedometer accuracy.

The best advice is to buy the new wheels and tyres through a proper tyre specialist who will be able to give you the full story on what’s legal, what’s not and what’s advisable. Plenty of car owners have discovered the hard way that the wrong replacement wheels and tyres can ruin the driving experience.

This is an interesting one, because the actual battery on an ML350 is under the driver’s front seat, beneath the carpet in a little cubby hole under the floor. This is partly for better weight distribution but also for under-bonnet packaging, but it makes jump-starting or charging the battery a little bit more complex.

But Mercedes-Benz has thought this through and has provided one negative and one positive jump-point under the bonnet. You can locate them precisely by looking in the owner’s manual. By hooking a jump starter to these easily accessible posts, you can jump-start the vehicle without removing the carpet, floor and battery. As such, the same jump-points should also work as charge points for recharging the battery.

The good news for you, Jenny, is that there isn’t really a mainstream car-maker anywhere in the world that doesn’t offer a range of SUVs in various sizes and price points. The SUV has literally taken over the world, so it comes down to finding a brand you like with a model that’s right for you at a price you can live with. You’ll be offered all sorts of options, too, including petrol or diesel engines, two or four-wheel-drive layouts and in many cases the offer of a hybrid drivetrain.

If you only do the occasional country drive, I’d stick with either a petrol engine or hybrid powertrain as a modern diesel engine doesn’t like a full-time life in the suburbs where the engine and exhaust system never get hot enough to purge the emissions filter (the DPF). Beyond that, however, you’re sure to find something that suits you to a tee. Lexus SUVs are built to a very high standard and the brand has lots of experience with hybrids, so I’d definitely short-list Lexus based on your question.