Best Car Models & All About Cars: 2013 Mercedes Benz G Class

2013 Mercedes Benz G Class

Whether you think that "gangsta" or "Gelaendewagen" when you hear the letter "G," the Mercedes-Benz G Class most likely fits your visual definition. It's boxy, brash, blingy, thus out of date it's hopelessly hip. It's an Instagram version of the past, like enjoying Atari 2600 games on an iPad.

Best of all, the G Class is authentically an SUV--not a curvy crossover, not a management freak that strips the fun of challenging off-roading out of your hands. Based on a design said to own been engineered for the Shah of Iran's military, back within the late Seventies, the G-Class has evolved solely when it had to, meeting safety and emissions regulations and the posh needs of the day as they popped up in its more than 33 years on sale. It's an automotive piece of amber jewellery, preserved in one kind, recast as a fairly bauble for one more purpose entirely.

It's one in all the foremost capable sport-utes on the earth-and one among the most expensive. With a base price of a lot of than $100,000, the G Class could be a cult object and a star magnet, with its solely real competition being the Land Rover Range Rover or, possibly, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Lexus LX 570 twins. Even in that very tiny competitive set, it stands out in sharp relief. The sides are flat, the roofline high and horizontal, the outline relentlessly rectilinear. It's been softened inside, though, with a new set of gauges this year, a big LCD screen for infotainment features,

and through the years, layer upon layer of leather, wood, and chrome to disguise its origins.

The 2013 G Class is carried over in base form as the G550, powered by a 5.5-liter V-eight with 388 horsepower, coupled to a seven-speed automatic, with power channeled through its four-wheel-drive system, high and low ranges, and three locking differentials. The twin-turbocharged version of the same V-8 nets out at 544 hp within the G63 AMG, shaving virtually a second from the G550's 0-60 mph time of 6.0 seconds--down to 5.3 seconds--though they share a restricted high speed of 130 mph and abysmal gas mileage of 12/15 mpg, and presumably less.

On-road performance is about what you'd think. The top-heavy feel and hefty controls demand attention, though electric steering feels lighter than the former recirculating-ball setup. Astonishing ultimate grip gets tempered typically by aggressive traction and stability control--and it has to, to manage the G's plentiful body roll. Ride quality's managed well enough for such a rugged ute, though noise levels climb on textured pavement and gravel paths. The G's appeal is all about the latter, and once it's off any reasonably graded path, it shines. Locking any or all of the differentials exposes the real SUV beneath the layers of refinement, and it just keeps clawing its manner over rocky methods and plugging through muddy bogs, places where you'll only realize Defenders and alternative endangered species.

Within, the G-Class impresses with all the headroom you are seemingly to want. It is somewhat slim, though, and front-seat passengers can notice the width the foremost since the middle console is fairly tall and hulking. The seats themselves are sometimes firm and power-adjustable, with multicontour changes. The second-row bench has some bottom-cushion tilt to soften the flat cushion. It's a 5-seat SUV with masses of cargo area, however passengers can notice it takes a sensible climb to urge into the G-Class, and cargo loading through the side-hinged rear door takes a better raise than in nowadays's crossovers. High-quality materials and an glorious finish mark the cabin.

Neither the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) nor the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has crash-tested the G-Class. Anti-lock brakes with brake assist and electronic brake force distribution together with stability control are commonplace within the 2013 Mercedes-Benz G Class, as are facet-seat and curtain airbags. A rearview camera is customary, and it's helpful since visibility is constrained at the rear, where a large frame surrounding the rear window blocks out most of the read. A lane-departure warning system and blind-spot monitors are new additions to the protection list.

Those upgrades are joined by more infotainment features than ever. Each G Class has Bluetooth connectivity, a sunroof, a navigation system with 40GB of hard drive area for maps and music, a 6-DVD audio system, satellite and HD radio, real-time traffic, an iPod interface, a wood-and-leather heated steering wheel, and heated and cooled leather seats in front, with heated second-row seats commonplace in addition. Now, both the G550 and G63 AMG also have mbrace2--a mobile-app connectivity suite that permits apps like Yelp and Facebook through the G's COMAND controller.

The G550 is predicted to be priced from a lot of than $107,000 when it goes on sale in August 2012; costs haven't been mooted for the G63 AMG, however it arrives in showrooms at the identical time.

2013 Mercedes Benz G Class