We all know that electricity is the future, but some cars deserve to be preserved in their primitive state. The Mercedes G-Class is a legend, a pure off-road vehicle that does not seem to have a hole in an emission-free horizon.
I am a firm defender that some of those dark and polluting cars are worth saving from this particular burning that has been undertaken against them. The Mercedes G-Class has earned the right to be kept in its original condition. He is a myth, a living legend with more than four decades of service behind him. In full quarantine, he is in a sweet moment of his existence, as young as a lettuce, capable of standing up to everything that comes his way.
The G-Class is like a headlamp in the middle of the night. It is that reference that well applied changes, everything can be better. It is a constant in the automotive world. As long as the years go by, there he is, undaunted, unshakable, impressive. You may or may not like cars, but when you come across a G its gravitation pulls you in strongly. It is so large that it is impossible to go unnoticed. And I like it.
In the midst of the SUV and electric era, the Mercedes G-Class promises to endure before a world that does not want it. Only a handful of units are sold a year in the world, much damage cannot be done to the ecosystem, and that is why it seems unfair to me that there is that kind of open war against him. I will not be the one to defend the honor of three-cylinder engines or old diesel engines, but in this case the benefit is not worth the disaster.
Mercedes already proposes 100% electric alternatives, we recently learned of the existence of the Mercedes EQG, but I do not think they are the same. That menacing presence will not be the same with one, two or four electric motors. A G must be disproportionate, disproportionate. That is what we like about him, that it is so unnecessary that it is essential. A world without the G-Class would not be the same, or not at least for those of us who love this four-wheel drive.
Over the years the giant of the house has been civilizing. It has gone from being a purely military model to an SUV for the city, almost a fashion accessory. That transformation must also be saved or at least worthy of study. When you imagine a G you do it crossing complicated tracks, deep rivers or huge deserts, but that was before. Now when you imagine it or, rather, you see it, it is parked in front of the most fashionable place in your city.
Despite this reconversion, the G has not mutated any of its other aspects. Neither design, nor offroad capabilities nor exaggeration. Physics tells us that something in the style of the Suzuki Jimny or the FIAT Panda is better for the field, but his thing is to navigate potholes and roads on the back of an unstoppable beast. If the G can’t handle an obstacle, he knocks it down. And period.
Their forms are what they are because they were required by the German army. when he asked Mercedes for development. And they have remained so because the simple lines are easy to understand and remember. The G could have been cluttered or twisted in its design, but no, it stands firm to its square and bevel. The only curves are found in the wheels, the only thing that has to turn in this world.
Despite preserving the traditional exterior line, little or nothing maintains the interior. Opening the doors is something worthy of another era or another world. These doors do not open or close with a light touch, they have to be closed because they do not allow fussiness. The G does not want indulgence, it is not designed or conceived for a kind treatment, and if you pamper it it does not feel at ease.. Getting on their back requires a transformation. You have to be rude.
In this process of adapting to new requests, the G-Class has had to change its way of expressing itself inside. We are possibly talking about one of the best finished and highest quality Mercedes currently in the range. On the Internet, infinite preparations circulate, each one more expensive than the previous one, which clearly show that fewer and fewer people take the G where it belongs.
Leather, wood or carbon fiber do not combine very well with mud, but they do combine with the sophistication of the most expensive restaurant. Neither does a technology proven to be very sensitive to aggressive environments. Nonetheless you have to show off your palm, and if you put two huge screens, better than just one. Look what has changed the thing that the G-Class sports the same system as the previous generation Mercedes S-Class. You would have seen something like this by the town goatherd who bought the G in the 80s and barely arrived with the ashtray.
In none of its formats the Mercedes G-Class can be considered a family vehicle, not even in its excessive 4×4 squared or 6×6 versions. The G family is like the multiplication table, although the result does not always match the arithmetic. The same people enter a five-door G as a three-door, even the space offered is the same. This is one of its drawbacks: for how big it is, it is very small inside.
Better to go to war with little company and many supplies. If the doors are hard, it is better not to talk about the gate. With its hanging wheel, the boot lid appears to be carved in stone. You have to take a run to close it, and once again you must proceed with a sharp, strong and forceful blow. The engineers could have changed the hinges or the door latch, but they preferred to keep it that way just because, because they wanted to. Good for them.
Much of the two and a half tons of this automotive dinosaur comes from its body and the platform that supports it. The G has been throwing a tummy over the years, gaining weight and more weight as it has added details and comfort technologies. Nor is it that nothing happens because Mercedes has been compensating with more and more powerful engines. A beast circulates around with the four-liter V8 engine and two turbos of the Mercedes-AMG GT with 585 horses. Cover your ears, gentlemen of Greenpeace.
He alone is capable of polluting the same as five conventional cars, but since only a handful of units are sold a year, where is the problem? Let’s say that is the extreme of the extreme, the non plus ultra of off-road radicalism with a factory stamp. In more conventional horizons I cannot speak of it in ecological terms either, because there is no engine in the range that is not excessive.. Access diesel is more than enough, but of course; It is not the same to present itself with an imposing V8 of almost 600 pencos than with a “humble” diesel of 330 horses and 700 Nm of torque.
Some will call it posture, others prefer to call it necessity. Power should never be lacking, and to move the fat ass of the G you need a lot of power. Today not even the three differentials are necessary, I repeat that few of its current buyers take it off the asphalt, I am no longer talking about cold mountain asphalt, but about urban asphalt. But there they are, three blocks like three suns to be able to play with the distribution of power and force at our whim.
You have to get into very complicated situations to have to act with them, but very complicated. As a general rule, the G-Class will solve the situation with such amazing ease that it will encourage you to go further, and that’s where you’ll find yourself in trouble if you don’t know what you’re doing. But think about it this way. If you get stuck in the middle of the mountain you can have television, air conditioning and even massage in the seats. Now that I think about it, it’s not such a bad idea either.
The G is a farm animal, although it feels comfortable wherever you plant it. It is not the same case as a Jeep Wrangler, which is terrible on the highway at high speeds. With the G-Class you can go very fast and at the same time take you down a stony, broken and complicated road that does not care. He is unperturbed. No matter how difficult the off-road route is, you hit the asphalt and there is not a single creak, not a cricket, or an annoyance. So it could be day after day.
Of course, the stages, let’s call them sports, are not his thing. Inertia and center of gravity struggle with physics at every turn. The usual thing, the normal thing, is that the laws of conservation of linear momentum come out triumphant, but if one is encouraged excessively, the line of failure is very subtle. Containing this beast in a curve is worth four hours of hard gym. You have to have a lot of knowledge of what you do to explore the limits.
Talking about body balancing is possibly an understatement. The suspension is thought, developed and designed to withstand axle crossings, potholes, rocks and the toughest things on this planet, but not to take a corner at the pace of scandal. The longitudinal movement is so great that even passengers most sensitive to motion sickness may end up decorating the car upholstery. Of course, once the curve turns straight, it is to step on the accelerator and jump off.
It’s like driving a minibus with a lot of power. The height gives you a greater sense of speed. The weight transfer causes the rear axle to sag and the nose to point to a sky that you can visit too soon If you don’t take it easy I don’t want to be the one who wants to have this beast behind my rear view mirror. If you see it, take off and do not underestimate it, because the most normal thing is that you get scalded. You are going to win battles, you win.
There is nothing comparable to the Mercedes G-Class, nothing that comes off an official assembly line. It is one of a kind for many reasons, its shapes, its size, its capabilities, its presence and even its quality. Only the Range Rover can be placed in the same orbit as him, but not even with those is it presented in the same format. While English is refined, elegant, and sophisticated English, German is at the other end of the spectrum.
And that we are talking about a car that is not anywhere near cheap. That’s the part I like least about him, although everything has an explanation. Mercedes asks no less than 126,138 euros for the cheapest of the G. If we plant ourselves in the beloved and radical G 63 the minimum price shoots up to 188,311 euros. A large part of those euros are used to pay the large fines that the European Union requires for being a very harmful, deadly car for the environment. Obviously Mercedes is not going to pay those fines, so we have to take it.
I am one of those who want to have a G-Class in their garage. Having seen what you’ve seen, you never know when a pandemic or plague can end life as we know it. Even when that deadly virus arrives and wipes out civilization, the G will still be there. But since that is not going to happen, God forbid, our leaders, driven by their interests and ignorance, are already in charge of erasing it from the map. From Mercedes they assure that the G-Class is more alive than ever, but I do not have them all with me.
There will be an electric, yes, but it will not be the same. Even if they copy the body, it will only be a replica, not cheap, of what was once one of the most fantastic cars in the world. The Mercedes G-Class deserves to be saved from environmental burning, it deserves to be kept as a reference to a past that was not always worse. The few units that are sold per year make its elimination unjustifiable, and from here I pay a heartfelt tribute. Hopefully in the future I can provide another, although I do not know.