Mercedes-Benz G-Class review

Despite improvements and a trick electromechanical setup, the G-Class is still not quite car-like to drive. 

You can drive it exactly as you would any large 4x4 on the road though: fairly quickly and easily from A to B as and when you need to, but otherwise in a relaxed but secure mode that makes the best of its luxurious character and lets you enjoy the view from that first-storey vantage point.

Useful pace and predictable positivity make the steering superbly easy to get on with – and that, in turn, makes what has now become a car even wider than it is tall feel reassuringly precise when being guided along a narrow lane.

It rolls progressively but sticks to a chosen cornering line very faithfully, has handling response and outright grip as strong as any big SUV with a genuine dual-purpose brief, and feels agile and manoeuvrable enough around junctions and car parks but for a turning circle that could do with being tighter.

That the car makes absolutely no attempt at handling dynamism, and it doesn’t love to be hustled down a set of S bends. Instead it communicates its preference for an unhurried pace over anything else, which feels entirely in keeping with the character of the G-Class.

The engines are mostly quiet and reserved, but the shape of the G-Class’s body and the size of its door mirrors make at least some wind noise at motorway speeds inevitable. The ride, meanwhile, is perhaps more cushioned, quiet and cultured than you would ever believe a car with a rigid rear axle could be. But let’s not beat around the bush, it’s really no Range Rover at motorway speeds.