Filed under: Mercedes-Benz, Latest News
Should you have a mere £123,115 burning a hole in your pocket plus the determination to buy a cramped, uncomfortable and vastly overpowered 4x4, Mercedes has just the thing for you.
We have covered the latest 536 bhp G63 AMG before - and had our knuckles rapped for showing insufficient respect to this icon of idiocy (oops, there we go again). Visitors have told us that Mercedes has the right to make anything that earns it a profit, a sentiment we completely agree with. We don't want the G-Class banned, not least because it is a source of endless amusement, in the same way as giving Hummer owners a look of utter derision is one of life's little pleasures.
At least the G63 AMG has the virtue of being amusungly absurd. Probably more contemptible is the £82,945 G350 diesel. The G-Wagen (as it was originally called) was designed as a German equivalent to the Land Rover Defender, albeit with vastly better build quality. So buyers are basically paying over £80K for a slightly more modern (it dates from 1979) Defender competitor with a 208 bhp engine. It might be a bit more civilised than a Defender, but it is not over £50K more civilised.
At 295 g/km of CO2, and just 25.2 mpg, it must also be one of the thirstiest diesel cars you can currently choose, presumably because it has the aerodynamics of the Matterhorn. Even a 308 bhp diesel Range Rover is around 20% better than that - and the vastly more sophisticated Range Rover costs less to buy.