Mercedes-Benz has as soon as once more up to date its most gloriously impractical automobile: the G-Class. The 2025 mannequin sees refined evolutionary modifications, however the true eyebrow-raiser this 12 months is the all-new G 580 – the primary totally electrical G-Wagen. Sure, Mercedes put batteries in a barn door and in some way made it work.
At a Look
- Nostalgic touches with fashionable tech
- Gasoline model off-roads like its legend guarantees
- EV mannequin is smoother than anticipated
- If you need to ask concerning the price ticket, you’ll be able to’t afford it
The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen is the SUV equal of giving a Viking a smartwatch. But in some way it’s extremely interesting and makes good sense when you expertise it.
Let’s begin with what hasn’t modified: the G-Class nonetheless appears like a fridge on wheels. It nonetheless rides on a ladder body, nonetheless options bolt-upright styling that laughs within the face of aerodynamics, and nonetheless retains the off-road gear-head cred that made it a legend within the dust lengthy earlier than it grew to become a valet fleet mainstay in Beverly Hills.
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
The old fashioned thumb-button door handles on doorways that require a superb slam to correctly shut is a nostalgic contact that takes the G-Wagen from “luxurious automobile” to “powerful luxurious” in a single easy design selection. The upright posture, excessive climb-in top, and heavy low-speed dealing with top-off that impression. However every little thing else is 100% fashionable. Know-how is high-end and even innovative, comforts are plentiful, and highway noise is nearly non-existent. It’s a fantastic mixture of previous and new.
Even higher, the gasoline G 550 I drove had all-terrain tires on it, which meant I obtained to take it into the wilderness a bit – one thing most G-Wagens virtually by no means do in actual life. So for every week, I drove it round city like my final title is Schwarzenegger and infrequently took it into the Wyoming bushlands for some dust and dirt time. It was superior.
For 2025, the gas-powered G 550 will get a 3.0-liter inline-six with a gentle hybrid help and 443 horsepower (326 kW). This makes it easy, competent, and extra environment friendly than earlier than; although “environment friendly” right here is relative. And sure, the AMG G63 is again with its fire-breathing twin-turbo V8 and a license to shred each tires and logic. Car Stability Management can be your good friend with that one.
However for me, the G 580 is the place issues obtained attention-grabbing.
On paper, an electrical G-Class appears like a contradiction in phrases. This is able to be including an electrical drivetrain to what’s mainly a brick on wheels. Now it’s a heavy brick on wheels. That doesn’t look like an environment friendly mixture. And it’s not. That wasn’t Mercedes’ purpose. It aimed for one thing else.
The G 580 retains the standard G-Wagen physique and ladder body however swaps in 4 electrical motors (one at every wheel) for true torque-vectoring and a rated 579 horsepower (426 kW) with 859 lb-ft (1,165 Nm) of twist. This makes the G 580 the smoothest, most comfy, and most power-delivery-predictable of the Gs. And it’s superb.
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
It weighs practically 7,300 kilos (3,311 kg), after all, however the G-Wagen EV nonetheless hits 60 mph (96.5 km/h) in underneath 5 seconds. As a result of why not?
The G 580’s 116-kWh battery is built-in right into a strengthened underbody designed to take off-road punishment, and Mercedes says it delivers about 240-ish miles (386 km) of vary, per the EPA. And, like most EVs, a bit much less in the true world. It helps quick charging as much as 200 kW, so juice-ups aren’t horrible … except you are in a spot like Moab, the place a charger is tougher to search out than a Starbucks in Loss of life Valley.
Right here’s the place the electrical G goes full sci-fi: due to these 4 unbiased motors, it might actually rotate in place. Mercedes calls it the “G-Flip”, and it is like a tank spin for the TikTok crowd. It is absurd, pointless, and hilarious. So it’s good.
There’s additionally a “Creeping Mode” for low-speed off-roading and software-based path helpers that simulate locking differentials with out the mechanical complexity. Mix that with its 33.5-inch (85-cm) water fording depth and steep method angles, and the G 580 is a severe off-roader, only one that runs on electrons as an alternative of dinosaur juice. Sadly, the one I drove for every week had bland summer season tires as an alternative of A/Ts, so it was an off-road no person in consequence. Nevertheless it was enjoyable spinning it round in circles on a mud highway.
No matter powertrain, the 2025 G-Class has a correctly luxurious inside. You get Mercedes’ newest MBUX infotainment system with twin 12.3-inch screens, a digital off-road show suite, and the form of ambient lighting that makes it really feel like a gaming PC on the Ritz. Add within the Burmester 3D encompass system and a few Ozzy’s Boneyard and issues are fairly nice contained in the G-Wagen.
The 2025 Mercedes-Benz G-Class lineup walks the road between outrageous and oddly sensible. Assuming your definition of “sensible” consists of clearing boulders and scaring sports activities vehicles in a straight line. The combustion fashions stay unapologetically brash, whereas the brand new G 580 affords a surprisingly genuine G-Wagen expertise with out liquid gas.
It’s nonetheless extra of a press release than a good selection – however that’s the purpose. The G-Class was by no means about mixing in. It’s about commanding consideration.
Electrical or in any other case, the G-Wagen is a flex. It is simply that now, a type of flexes comes with no tailpipe and a rotating celebration trick. And the value? Nothing under six figures, so if you need to ask, you in all probability can’t afford one.
Aaron Turpen / New Atlas
Product Web page: 2025 Mercedes-Benz G-Class
