MERCEDES G63 AMG

Specifications

Mercedes hasn’t facelifted the G for a while. It’s so old, nobody’s quite sure how many facelifts it’s had: like the Land Rover Defender, this is a bygone era 4×4 designed when SUVs were built to go off-road. And indeed it does that rather well.

With the most recent facelift, Merc tempered the the on-road compromises somewhat, but it’s still jostly and tip-toey. The steering needs a lot of lock before the G starts to track, at which point it weights up considerably, and soon after the nose gets rather vague as the front tyres yield to physics – often before the stability control has got a sniff of what’s going on. But even so, it does speed and grip in a way that lets it keep pace with modern stuff without too much effort.

Around town, the G feels firm, but beyond city limits, it’s properly hard. You can see why this is – Merc has sought to improve body control by fitting stronger springs to limit roll and improve cornering ability. They work alright, but the trade-off is that the G hops and skips where say, a Range Rover wouldn’t.

The auto gearbox may have seven speeds, but it’s slower to choose between them, plus the engine is more raucous and less keen to respond quickly and accurately.