► We drive the all-new Mercedes G63
► 5.4-litre V8 comes with 563bhp
► 0-62mph is over in 5.4sec!
After its comprehensive updating in 2012, the Mercedes G-class gets a gentle tickle for 2015: revised suspension and stability control, extra power, better efficiency for the G350d, mildly tweaked exteriors and interiors. A new range of ‘Crazy Colours’ are reminiscent of Mopar’s 1970s Go-Mango, Sublime et al, minus the so-bad-it’s-good punnery.
We’re driving the G63, its 5.5-litre bi-turbo engine boosted by 17bhp to 563bhp. The sledgehammer motor dominates the experience. It sounds muscle-car fantastic – AMG has nailed the downsized, forced-induction thing – and slings the G down the road like scheiße off a shovel. Unsurprisingly, the ladder-frame dynamics can’t keep up: there’s pronounced body roll, early understeer, a lumpy ride and sticky steering that you use to make vague suggestions as to your direction of travel.
It feels like this 36-year-old hand-built icon wants to go off-road even when you don’t, but when you do, the payback – as a switch into a G500 proved – is the ability to select low range, lock the front, centre and rear diff, and stoically, comfortably shrug off the kind of terrain you’d struggle to walk over.
A relic from another age the G may be, but Mercedes’ range would be far duller without it. I’ll have mine in Galactic Beam.
**The specs: Mercedes-Benz G63
Price: £131,675
Engine: 5461cc 32v V8 bi-turbo, 563bhp @ 5500rpm, 561lb ft @ 1750-5000rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Performance: 5.4sec 0-62mph, 131mph, 20mpg, 322g/km CO2
Weight From: 2550kg
Rating: ****
Verdoct: Born in the ’70s. How is it still cool?