2019 Mercedes-AMG G63: The Ultimate Muscle Truck

MotorTrend

MotorTrend’s Jonny Lieberman takes the latest muscled G-Wagen through L.A.’s currently snowy Angeles Crest Highway

Transcript

00:00 Hi there!

00:01 Welcome to another episode of Behind the Wheel.

00:04 I'm Johnny Lieberman and this is the all new

00:07 2019 Mercedes AMG G63.

00:12 How all new you ask?

00:13 Well, there's only three carryover parts from the last one.

00:17 The door handles, the spare tire covers,

00:19 and these little guys right here, the headlight washers.

00:22 Other than that, every single part on this truck is new.

00:26 Come take a ride with me in the all new G.

00:30 (upbeat music)

00:32 You wanna hear something crazy?

00:40 There's a year long waiting list for a car

00:42 that no one's seen or driven.

00:44 So why?

00:45 What do people love about this thing so much?

00:47 Well, I mean, there's the obvious stuff

00:49 like the sound of the door locks.

00:51 It's just, it's awesome.

00:53 It's like five rifle bolts clicking in unison.

00:56 And when they redesigned the car,

00:57 they made sure they kept the stuff like that.

00:59 Now, they got rid of the stuff that people didn't like.

01:02 It used to be that it didn't have great brakes.

01:05 This G63, there are massive Brembos,

01:07 10 piston calipers up front.

01:09 People also weren't huge fans of the steering.

01:12 Remember, it used to have two solid axles.

01:14 So whenever you have a solid front axle,

01:17 it steers like a Jeep.

01:19 So the biggest change to the G has to be

01:23 the elimination of the stick axle up front.

01:25 However, it still has a solid rear axle,

01:28 independent front, just like some very capable vehicles

01:32 from Toyota.

01:33 Talking about the 4Runner, the Land Cruiser.

01:35 They've increased the capabilities across the board.

01:37 Now it's got a little bit more ground clearance,

01:40 the approach and departure angles are better.

01:42 It has more fording depth.

01:43 The second big thing they changed was the size.

01:51 This SUV is now almost five inches wider,

01:55 almost six inches longer,

01:56 and most of that increase in length is in the wheelbase.

02:00 So it really shows up in the rear seat,

02:02 which used to be very tight, very cramped, and now isn't.

02:05 You know, massaging seats, heated seats, cooled seats,

02:09 all the amenities you expect from a Mercedes-Benz.

02:12 The other big change is gone is the old 5.5 liter

02:16 twin turbo V8.

02:17 Now it's got the M178, they call it.

02:20 It's a four liter twin turbo, well, shrink in size,

02:23 powers up, 577 horsepower, 627 pound feet of torque,

02:28 meaning that we were able to get this thing

02:31 to 60 miles an hour in 4.1 seconds, which is nuts.

02:36 And because it has an independent front end,

02:40 the steering is much better.

02:42 It's gone from recirculating ball

02:44 to a proper rack and pinion.

02:45 It drives wonderfully.

02:48 And there's just this feeling you get from a G.

02:52 Hard to explain, but you feel indomitable.

02:56 You shut the door, you're in your own private world,

02:59 and that, I think, is what people love.

03:01 Yes, it still has three locked diffs, super capable,

03:05 but it's the feeling.

03:07 I mean, this is just, this is it.

03:11 This is the ultimate SUV, as far as I'm concerned.

03:14 (rock music)

03:16 (upbeat music)

03:19 (upbeat music)

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