Our favourite cars of 2024: Mercedes-Benz G-Class Electric

To drive the Mercedes-AMG G63 is to make quite the statement.

It costs £180k, puts out 603bhp and makes enough noise to get you kicked out of the cul-de-sac WhatsApp group. It’s an exercise in excess, a wilful dismssal of the concepts of etiquette and good grace.

There are those who will decry the G-Class going electric and sacrificing some of that shoutiness, but the truth of the matter is that the new G580 with EQ Technology is the unstoppable 4x4’s most extreme and capable iteration yet.

With 579bhp and torque at 859lb ft, it is only marginally less potent than the V8-powered G63. It weighs three tonnes. It will only do around 2.0mpKwh. It is absolutely ludicrous in a number of ways, but it drives supremely, it’s even better off-road than a G63 and it has one thing that the AMG doesn’t: a sense of humour.

It can turn on the spot like a tank, for one, and it can brake just the inside wheels in a turn to help you whip round tight hairpins in the most challenging of environments - or the Westfield car park. It works a bit like a really techie handbrake turn.

The electric G-Class is also roughly the same price as its shoutier sibling, and it justifies that parity by being less practical but more whimsical.

Murray Scullion

Title: Digital editor

Murray has been a journalist for more than a decade. During that time he’s written for magazines, newspapers and websites, but he now finds himself as Autocar’s digital editor.

He leads the output of the website and contributes to all other digital aspects, including the social media channels, podcasts and videos. During his time he has reviewed cars ranging from £50 - £500,000, including Austin Allegros and Ferrari 812 Superfasts. He has also interviewed F1 megastars, knows his PCPs from his HPs and has written, researched and experimented with behavioural surplus and driverless technology.

Murray graduated from the University of Derby with a BA in Journalism in 2014 and has previously written for Classic Car Weekly, Modern Classics Magazine, buyacar.co.uk, parkers.co.uk and CAR Magazine, as well as carmagazine.co.uk.