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MOORESVILLE, Ala.—I walked through the front doors of the plantation house. When I left, my hosts handed me a miniature, commemorative bale of cotton I didn’t have to pick.

I kept it in honor of my deceased parents, the great-grandchildren of slaves. But I should’ve cut it and sent the halves to Detroit and Japan. That tiny bale is a symbol of a new spirit of cooperation and commerce that is turning this Rebel state into a rebel of a different sort — the staging ground for an attack on the lucrative upper-middle segment of the U.S. and Japanese sport-utility business.

It is a rebellion led by Germans from Stuttgart, who have set up a sparkling, $300 million Mercedes-Benz assembly plant about two hours southwest of here.

The product of that Tuscaloosa-based venture is the 1998 Mercedes-Benz ML320, which goes on sale this fall.

A group of us automotive scribes brutalized several samples of the ML320 on drives through the valleys and foothills of northern Alabama. Our unanimous verdict: The South is definitely rising again, and this time, it has a winner.

Background: Mercedes-Benz could’ve taken the easy route and turned its estimable Gelandewagen into a U.S.-market sport-ute. Its American and Japanese rivals did that with a variety of vehicles, such as the Lexus LX 450, which is a spiffed-up Toyota Land Cruiser, and the new Lincoln Navigator, which is a super-spiffed Ford Expedition.

But that copycat strategy would not have given us the ML320, a sport-ute that fits physically between the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee and matches the upper-class versions of those vehicles in price. This new Mercedes-Benz is bound to stir things up. It’s just that different.

For example, look at the ML320’s suspension system, which is independent front and rear. Double-wishbones are mated to upper and lower control arms up front; double-wishbones are used in conjunction with coil springs, shock absorbers and control arms in the back. The resultis a truck that runs like a sedan on the open highway and climbs like a mountain goat in the rocks.

Compare the ML320’s ride to those of the more conventional sport-utes, which often are equipped with independent front suspensions and rigid, bumpity-bump axles in the rear.

And then there’s the ML320’s four-wheel-drive, electronic traction system. Nothing else, at the moment, matches it. The Mercedes system differs from its competitors in that it does not lock its axles to maintain traction on slip-and-slide surfaces. Instead, sensors in the ML320’s wheels electronically detect wheel slip, brake the spinning wheels and send the saved power to the wheels that have the most grip.

The system worked perfectly in the muddy foothills and rain-washed valleys along the 200-mile test-drive route. But there is a caveat! Don’t touch the brake pedal while the traction-control system is doing its thing. Stepping on the brakes disengages the system and causes you to slip all over the place .

The ML320 has other distinguishing virtues, including a new, lightweight 3.2-liter V6 engine rated 215 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, with max torque rated 232 pound-feet at 3,000 rpm.

Standard stuff includes a five-speed automatic transmission; power rack-and-pinion steering; power, vented front disc/solid rear disc brakes with four-wheel, anti-lock backup; and rugged body-on-frame construction.

The vehicle sits five well-fed adults comfortably, and it has enough cargo space (85.4 cubic feet with rear seats up) to carry lots of stuff. There are four air bags — dual fronts and two side bags that deploy between the passengers and the front doors. It also comes with nifty seat belts and shoulder harnesses. Use them.

Mercedes-Benz ML320

Complaints: Hazard warning light in the wrong place, on top of steering column, which means you’ve gotta reach through the steering wheel to use it. Flimsy cup holders and glove compartment cover.

Praise: Probably will em erge as the best sport-ute in the upper-middle segment, and deservedly so.

Head-turning quotient: A rather odd shape. But the only thing most people noticed was that brilliant Mercedes-Benz star.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Triple aces. Excellent braking.

Sound system: Premium Bose system with six speakers and subwoofer. Six-disc CD changer in cargo area. Boss boogie. How could you not like Bose?

Mileage: An average 17.2 miles per gallon, based on onboard electronic monitoring system. Gasoline tank holds 19.2 gallons of premium unleaded. Estimated 318-mile range on usable fuel volume, combined highway and off-road, running with two occupants and light cargo.

Trailering capacity: Can be equipped to pull as much as 5,000 pounds.

Price: Prices not firm at this writing. Expect to pay from $35,000 to $40,000.

Purse-strings note: Compare with Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford Explorer, Land Rover Discovery, Nissan Pathfinder, Mitsubishi Montero, GMC Jimmy.