At the end of this video we try one last very steep hill, but in normal "street" mode with all the nannies turned back on. The car didn't like that, and threw a code. We spoke with M-B who said it's for safety redundancies, it thinks someone is trying to do something that will end very badly. A restart of the car sorted it out and we continued on our way without issue. Moral: if you're going to do gnarly off-road stuff, put the truck in at least some sort of off-road mode.
hey matt/zack, do you guys have any plans/desire to do something similar if/when the hybrid wrangler comes out, i heard the new platform is nicer on the highway the marketing videos show it in ev mode offroad and i'm kinda curious if that will still go up the hills the g550 did in ev mode
I was sad you guys didn't go triple locked and try to make it through that rut when Zack was driving. Also I went to go build one of these on the MB site and they will option you an 18 inch wheel for $1000. Standard wheel seems to be 19", so they just gave you what they had with this thing on 20s.
Such great memories of the G Class and Puch from my military days. I really hate what AMG has done to one of my all time favourite vehicles. Good on you two to get a real G Class for this one!
@@guenthersteiner8163 Even the newer ones are still based on the old model. A bit like the Professional version they did a couple of years ago. I personally had used the old Puchs. Way underpowered but never let us down. Also very versatile! Basic and purpose build. The opposite of what they are now, sadly.
Jeeps and regular 4x4 trucks don't have a center diff. It's effectively always locked. Having a center diff let's you use the 4x4 in all weather/terrain conditions.
I know. I think they didnt put it into 1 low and the G wagon threw a code on the steep hill. I drove 6 hours of hard off roading and my Tacoma had not 1 problem.
If you think about it, this is actually the best Mercedes you can get right now. It’s the only one that’s actually durable, does what it promises, and improves upon the generation it’s replacing. Wastefulness aside (and a Range Rover is easily as wasteful as this), you can buy this and keep it running for decades and it will have served its purpose. Ironically, its only downside is that it’s not big enough for most people. It’s the same size as a 1990s Land Rover Discovery, and size matters to a lot of people… in America 😎 Is it as capable as a Land Cruiser? No. Is it almost at that level? Yeah. And that’s enough of a reason to buy it over a Range Rover lol. Maybe not at any markup, but I’m not offended that it’s $150k+ when range rovers are now $275k
@@Scubaskot That people that drive them are usually pretentious dicks, primarily. Thats especially true for NA, but also here in Germany. The days where these were driven by forest rangers and farmers are long gone, a G350d starts at just under 100k€. There‘s a much bigger offroad scene for the older ones here through, thats true, so among those they‘re still appreciated for their capability.
Expensive IS RELATIVE To people who can afford it in the first place its chump change to fix anything that breaks. Plus now a days you can put plastic padding on it so that it won't get scratched up so there is no excuse
@@eventusvantos2770 Correct expensive is relative. But in order to not even worry about breaking 120k cars or 15k transmissions your income would need to be multi-millions a year. Not everyone who owns a G Wagon makes millions a year. The guy who makes 700k a year who owns a G Wagon cares a lot about about a 15k transmission bill. Most G wagon owners arent rich enough to buy 5 of them.
@@SuperReviews4you not true. If you make 700k a year you can easily afford to fix anything without a sweat. And the transmission is reliable and won't break easily at all.
True, and we've gone up this trail in cheaper hardware. But the cheaper stuff did not do any of the difficult obstacles as effortlessly as the G-Wagen did, in our opinion, and obviously was not nearly as comfortable or awesome to drive on the street. Zack also did this trail in a $12,000 side by side like 15 minutes faster than we did it in the G. Is that a fair comparison?
@@luke_almquist nope, definitely not, and as they point out it certainly doesn't ride as well on the highway which is a fair point. However one scratch on that G wagon in off road conditions will surely produce some saltier tears! PS I love the G wagon.
@@TheSmokingTire We got side by sides here too, I didn't want to rub salt in the wound and no it's not a fair comparison at all. Like you said, G wag rides way better on the highway. They are bad ass and cozy off road too. Huge point about highway comfort even if it is much more expensive off the show room floor. Now, scratching it will be painful to the soul!
@@drewmorg. no it won't. When you are rich enough to afford a g wagon and scratches is chump change plus if you were really that scared you can cover it up with plastic padding to avoid scratch damage
I literally do 50 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine, six days a week. On the 7th day, we either hike up a mountain or play like 90 mins of paddle tennis. If you go back and watch older videos you can see that I've lost around 50 lbs since 2014.
Ok so on diff locks: most 4wd vehicles don't have 3 because part time 4wd vehicles : wranglers , most pickups, most 4wds in general, do not have a center diff, when you engage 4wd in those , its the same as locking the center diff in the G or a land cruiser or any "full time 4wd or awd" vehicle. For safety and traction you should lock the center when on a low traction surface but not on solid asphalt because you will bind the drivetrain. So the G or any other vehicle with center lock has no advantage technically speaking when its locked, but it does help when driving on wet, snowy roads, etc when its unlocked. Most all off road type vehicles have traction control and abs braking the spinning wheel for you making sort of an electronic limited slip. Im guessing that is what active brake assist is. Jeep calls it blsd I think. Center and rear lock their own axles respectively. At 26:30 you needed rear lock. You lifted the right rear tire, causing the rear right and front left to spin. At the end you should have been in low range and center lock at least. But uou were trying to see if it would do it without which is fine. And yes , the 1,2,3 (center, rear, front) on the locks is what most people would agree as being the right order to go on the locks If you guys wanted you're welcome to drive my 80 series and see all the diff locks and what they do in action.
Thanks for the good info! After we filmed I did more research on diffs and realized (as you said) that most 4WD systems basically lock the center diff. When we went up that little hill at the end we were curious if some kind of auto 4WD would kick on but it did not. It didn't look that steep or difficult but in hindsight, it probably was a bit more than an on-ramp.
@@zackklapman3569 you're welcome! I've been there those dirt hills can be very soft. Definitely nothing wrong with trying with open center. It seems these are more old school in a sense that they have the mechanical locks , but the driver decides what happens, which is fine by me definitely more robust than some brake lsd or clutch type diffs.
yes, the diff locks are in order of hardcore needs center diff locks make it an actual 4wd vehicle (when its open its just AWD) rear diff lock then front locker when you need it. when your front is locked its hard to turn
@@JezzaWezza You don't have to be an expert offroader to understand a differential. If you know how they work on pavement, and I think a motoring journalist should, you know how to use them here as well.
Right. If you really wanted an off road machine, you could get three of them for the price of this thing. This is a Beverly Hills show-off machine that you might occasionally take off road (but probably won't).
I do wish after having the G for a week in advance...legit more research into it BEFORE going off road would have been done. Kind of a waste of a full week of advance of use without having done more learning. The things mentioned that should’ve been looked into were the parts wanted to know exclusively.
Even around the city these are the best vehicle you can get. Ride height is unparalleled for even an SUV. SOLID. POWERFUL. And no one cuts you off when you change lanes 😅
It's a real shame because that is a great engine. They are even talking about the 400 Diesel engine with 325 bhp and 700 nm of torque. But unfortunately as no Mercedes with a diesel is available in North America to buy brand new the 550 V8 is the entry level into that car. Europe with its fuel prices you'd be off your nut to go for the 550 or AMG G63. But one thing we noticed with them here is they seriously hold onto their value better than say a Range Rover Sport SVR and the G63 AMG is also faster. If you look on CarWow you will see it in a drag race. There is also a video on carfection of the old Defender against the old G350 and the Merc destroyed it.
26:20 You shot yourself there. With center locker you have no traction control anymore. So you need the rear locker too and why not the front, you want that axle pulling you too. Front axle with one wheel in the air is pulling zero. With locker it's pulling as much as the wheel on the ground had grip
This sounds like the same conversation I would have with my family, cousins. We'd have fun with this. I guess I need to play the lottery. Thank you for the great video.
90% of the sales are AMG models because the price difference of the G550 and the AMG is VERY small less than $20,000! Why not spend the extra money and get a lot extra? Mercedes needs to lower the price of the G550 in order for it to sell, imo.
You gotta appreciate how the front gimbal-camera really shows how much the G-Wagon jumps around. I think this video will increase the sales for the G-Wagon.
FWIW low range for offroad is for more than just getting lots of torque right away. It saves your brakes and your transmission alot of stress. In high range and barely moving up a hill, for example, you are just slipping the torque converter constantly and dumping a ton of heat into the fluid. Also when going downhill, more an issue with high elevation mountain trails, low range greatly increases the ability to engine brake.
Center diff is basically a transfer case, which all 4wd trucks/SUV’s have. “Hardcore” order is the order they have them in: 4wd locked first, rear diff second, front diff last.
Not correct. The G is the only production vehicle with 3 separate locking diffs. It is important to lock them in order of center, rear, and then front to make sure you don’t damage your drivetrain. The buttons are actually numbered 1 (center) - 2 (rear) - 3 (front) in order of how you lock them. You also must be in low range in order to utilize them. It is also important to remember to unlock them once you get out of your jam because it is only meant for speeds below 10 miles per hour to get out of mud or snow. If you don’t unlock them, you will, again, damage your drivetrain.
Well you guys over in the USA never got the G Professional or some really base version of the G. You would have to come to Europe to drive the G Professional and see the diffence to the heavy luxury G500
Just a little correction. Magna Steyr was supposed to build Boxsters and Caymans, but that plan was cancelled. Also all the Fisker Karmas were produced in Finland at Valmet Automotive plant in Uusikaupunki. Also Valmet made Boxsters and Caymans between 1997 and 2011(and these days builds some Mercedes models). Magna Steyr does build the MK5 Supra amongst other cars.
Soooo frustrating to watch😂😂 You guys crack me up with your offroad "prowess". But it was a great review - you hit the nail on the head. This is a fantastic truck that unfortunately won't be used to its full capabilities. 👍👍👊
Had the car for a week before filming but felt it was "too nerdy" to educate themselves on some of the core functionality of the vehicle they're reviewing?? That's just negligent. They didn't know how/when to use any of the diffs; and were happy when something didn't go well, despite it only not going well because of USER ERROR! One can appreciate the longer off-road format as such content is not often made for this vehicle. So, thanks for that...but this was definitely a poor and disappointing showing of it's capabilites. Consider looking into how Mercedes themselves test this vehicle on their Schöckl mountain. And I'm not referring to their "tame" g-class experience. But I'm talking about bombing this truck over roads, like some patches of roads in this video, at 80km/h. I'm frustrated, cause I know this car can do more than they've shown. And it feels like a missed opportunity to showcase more given the long format Plus, the amg one is just as capable. Really the only difference is the power and only slightly reduced ground clearance due to the exhaust pipes (clearance that can be "corrected" with a lift). Everything else hardware wise is the same.
Looks way better than a Bentayga, Urus or Cullinan (which looks like a posh London taxi). Impressive machine but would still rather have the new Defender.
The part about Magna Steyr in Austria: Yes they build (and built) a lot of different things. Currently It's the G, BMW 5 series, BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra, Jaguar I Pace and either the F-Pace or the E-Pace. (i don't remember which one) But i am unaware that they built cars for Porsche. (whole cars, i would not exclude awd systems) But the first Aston Martin Rapide was built there, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chrysler Voyagers and E-Class Mercedes they did for a long time. (not currently anymore) They also do awd/4wd devellopment and build for lot's of manufacturers. The G is something special! (Here it is kind of a national treasure) Mercedes back at the end of the 70's started the cooperation with the guys in Graz (the city in Austria where they manufactur the cars) because they were famous for making military offroad vehicles. (like the Haflinger and the Pinzgauer. There are videos of them going offroad on YT). So Mercedes brought in the car stuff it needed while they did the offroad stuff. And to this day they build the G here. And they get constantly tested on the same trail since the 70's on a little mountain near the factory. (They got a special trail for them up the mountain. Anyone else allowed to drive up the mountain uses a different, way, way easier one. The hiking trail there crosses the G test trail a few times, and for anyone not used to offroading it seems impossible that they do drive there. So to me it looks way harder than what you encountered, but then again, the Magna test drivers sometimes have over 30 years of experience in offroading and know their own trail blind) The goal for the current version was that it had to outperform the old one on the street and for sure on their trail. And that after hard use of the vehile over 2000km on said trail, nothing must be loose, broken ect.
G550 standard wheels are 19” not 20”. The G has Always been built in the same factory in Austria, as it is today. Magna acquired it, but it was always a separate factory from other MB factories.
Okay I'm only 13 mins in but I have to mention that when Mercedes 1st brought the G wagon to Australia 2002 I think, they took a bunch of journo's out on a notorious outback track, all the cars with air suspension broke within 3 days & got stuck for a few weeks because parts weren't available yet, also engineers from Germany came out to find out what went wrong, lmfao, by the way I love the G wagon but the older ones drive like a truck, Rj in Oz
The only "off roading" that 99.9999999% of these owners will do is when they run into the neighbors mailbox coming home drunk. Actually it is lucky too as most of those vehicles are as reliable as a Yugo- spending most of their lives in the dealership garages while being fixed again and again and again for the same issues. GARBAGE.
After nearly 40 years in existence, Americans finally get that a G is a very, very good Offroader. Ever wondered why the big european countries uses Gs in their army and not Hummer?
GoPro Hero 8. Their new stabilization is very impressive. However, if you're doing high cornering speeds, I recommend turning it off. If you leave it on, it will digitally pan.
