The latest line-up of G-Wagens, tested on home turf, prove why the G-Class is a byword for off-roading luxury.
About 15 km south of the Austrian town of Graz lies an air base that shares its skies with the Mercedes-Benz G-Class Experience Centre. Survey the otherwise unremarkable, pastoral landscape and you'll hardly believe that one of the greatest, most enduring automotive icons in the world, a symbol of engineering excess and old money, calls this place home. The G-Class Experience Centre was built in 2018, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class - the now iconic, box-shaped, ladder-frame SUV that has evolved from a Military icon to a lifestyle symbol. Built exclusively at the Magna Steyr factory near the Experience Centre, the G-Class has evolved to take on a variety of forms, the latest of which is an electrified, 3-tonne version of the iconic SUV.
Surrounded by flatlands as far as the eye can see, the G-Class Experience Centre makes for a truly surreal sight. Ramps featuring 100% inclines are placed right next to a tight-knit ribbon of butter-smooth tarmac. Tucked away behind a large hangar in which all manner of G-Wagon memorabilia is on display, including a 40-tonne square block of resin within which the first-gen G-Class lies frozen in amber, impervious to the ravages of time, is a small forest section with all manner of troughs and crests. It's an off-roader's fever dream, complete with a wide selection brightly coloured of G-Wagons peppered across the landscape like square-shaped skittles. From the G 450d, the G500, the G63 AMG and of course, the immensely capable electric-G, all manner of driving requirements are tended to. The G-Class isn't just a luxury SUV - it is a monolith. It has been built since 1979, at this facility in Graz, making it a pilgrimage of sorts. Here, and only here is the full extent of its various abilities put to the ultimate test.
The formidable G580
"It shouldn't be this easy", I tell myself as the G580 I'm driving approaches the sky. Crawling on a near vertical surface has never been this easy. The G580 allows you to engage low range with the press of a button. Doing so allows you to modulate incline acceleration using the paddle shifters which would otherwise be used to modulate regenerative braking. Except here you just pick a setting and sit back and relax. No throttle input needed. The electric G, a 3-tonne behemoth, casually saunters its way up. Pressing another button on the dash engages "G-Steering" which, in tight, gravelly corners allows it to make a sharp 90 degree turn by simply turning the steering to a full lock. And the G-turn? Even simpler. Simply restart the vehicle, press a button, slam the brakes and then tap either of the paddles to pick a direction and the G performs multiple 360-degree turns, rendering every billionaire's turntable redundant. There is no vehicle on the planet that is capable of doing so much while requiring so little in terms of input.
G63 AMG
The G-Wagon was never a corner carver. Be it in G63 guise, which features a twin-turbo V8 (now with a 48V mild-hybrid starter motor) or in electric guise, featuring a 116 kWh battery, it's still based on a ladder-frame chassis so it's more about straight-line speed. But the test centre had a few slalom sections where both the G580 and the G63 proved to be fairly nimble. You can't take too many liberties though, as specified by the track instructor. "Even the best racer can take it around a slalom course at about 90kph" he said, attesting to the vehicle's top-heavy nature. Three differential locks, high ground clearance and a boxy-shape that's loved by both children and adults, the G-Class, in all its iterations has limitless appeal. In the G63, is a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 powered fever dream. The way it squats on its haunches and takes off towards the horizon is both hilarious and impressive.Conclusion
The G-Class is a novelty item. It's like owning a Rolex Deepsea - you're never going to explore the depths of the ocean, but it helps to have a wristwatch that can. The G-Class is in essence, overengineered to perform tasks that no one will subject it to. Having served in 63 different national armies, it has provenance like no other vehicle, not even the bare bones Willys Jeep. It doesn't just buy you comfort, it buys you invincibility. The doors thud with a finality, the driving position is intoxicatingly imperiously upright. The sheer ballistic power is godly and the number of party tricks - bonkers. Wild, ballistic, timeless and yet subject to continuous evolution, the G-Class is only growing in popularity and they can't make them fast enough. In fact demand is so high, Merc deliberately limits the production to 10% less than the overall demand as the G-Class tribe grows.