With exceptional powertrains and even more impressive off-road hardware, the 2019 Mercedes G-Class only can get better in performance in impossible ways. It’d have to be much smaller, much shorter, and much less an SUV.
It’s worth a 7 here to us. We give it extra points for its exceptional powertrains and off-road ability, and dock it one for handling that’s tall-box great and street-car subpar. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
The base G-Class for 2019 is the G550. Installed under its hood is Mercedes’ 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, tuned to generate 416 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque. It’s teamed to a 9-speed automatic with performance shift modes that include a manual-paddle shift mode. A 0-60 mph time of 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 130 mph are Mercedes’ official company line.
With the same engine and a few twists to the turbo-boost screw, the Mercedes-AMG G63 belts out 577 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque. It can spool up and reel off a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds, and crest to a top speed of 149 mph. It all happens despite a 5,700-pound curb weight.
Driver-selectable modes graft on to either powertrain. They offer Comfort, Sport, Eco, and Individual programs on the G550; and Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport+ and Individual on the G63. Sport modes work well in city and highway driving for either engine. In Sport+ on the AMG G63, flying passes blink by as quickly as the gearbox cracks off a downshift.
The new G-Class has a wider track, electric power steering, and available adaptive shocks. The systems shave years off its visual age, and hone down its most trucklike tendencies. Rather than fit the G-Class with air springs, engineers kept coils and dampers to ensure lots of suspension travel. G550s have adaptive dampers on the options list; they’re standard on the G63.
On both G-Class SUVs, the new hardware delivers a dramatic uptick in stability. Compared to the steel-suspension G-Class from any year before this one, the new G has a creamy ride, in part because of the available suspension and its rationally sized tires, 265/60s on the G550, 275/50s on the G63. Most Gs will get upfitted with huge wheels in the U.S. because markup and image, so we’re curious to drive on on the worse interstates in areas with more lax maintenance.
Hydraulic steering is out; the G-Class’ steering’s gone electric across the board. Particularly on the G63, the steering’s been mapped with such strong centering force, it requires frequent correction, at least on France’s autoroute. Switch into G Mode, and it’s all remapped again, with lots of on-center latitude.
Off-road grit
The G-Class’ new body structure has the grit to perform on nearly any solid surface on this planet. A Panhard rod locates and sings backup to the rear axle; a stouter ladder frame and a huge tower brace let the suspension do its best work.
In addition, every G-Class has 9.5 inches of ground clearance at the rear differential, three locking differentials, and four-wheel drive.
G550 SUVs get a dedicated off-pavement G Mode, which engages when any lock or when Low range’s low 2.93 crawl ratio is selected. G Mode tailors steering, damping, and throttle uptake to enable more deliberate and more precise inputs. No one wants or needs an upshift, or a zap of throttle when descending a hill.
The G Mode widens into a trio of programs on the AMG G63: Sand, Trail, and Rock each remap shift, throttle, and steering programs to help the G-Class cope better with its copious power.
Finally, the spec sheet reveals better approach and departure angles for the 2019 G-Class. It leans into angled paths at a 35-degree tilt. It’s blessed with 27.6 inches fording depth, a breakover angle of 26 degrees, and 30- and 31-degree front and rear departure angles.
The combination gives any G-Class the talent to wade through more than two feet of water, blast through mud bogs, paddle through sandy dunes, or crawl around on craggy rocks with a better, more planted feel than the taller, narrower O.G. It’s ludicrous, in a way, that the more complex the G-Class gets, the easier it is to point and shoot off-road. See an obstacle, aim for the obstacle, set all three locks and choose Low, and keep a light but steady foot on the gas. The G-Class just executes, in its own drama-free, angular bubble.
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