Width: 205 | G-Wagen

Mercedes G-Wagen

The Geländewagen began life as a Mercedes civilian 4x4 vehicle in 1979, but its development had been as a military vehicle, and this certainly showed in its original form. It's a proper working off-roader, tough and capable, as well as reasonably comfortable and well-built. It was very austere for its high price though, no luxuries and very 'wipe-clean' inside, so it's best compared to a Land Rover, rather than a luxury off-roader. Towards the end of the life of the original model, the G had become much more of a status symbol, and could by specified with big engines and luxury features - which is how the new model is marketed. It still looks like the old one though, that's what the market wanted.

The standard tyre for the original G-Wagen remained a mud and snow (M+S) 205R16 for many years. Later high-performance models, such as the AMG versions, had more extreme road-focused 265/60R18 tyres.