Mercedes G-Class finally makes it

The army tried it years ago, decided it wanted Humvees, so bought Pinzgauers instead. Meanwhile, the Aussie army liked it enough to buy 1200. If you pestered a Mercedes dealer he may or may not have been prepared to bring one in for you. A few others arrived with immigrants. But now, you can go down to your Mercedes dealer and a mere $179,900 later, drive home in your brand new G 350 diesel long wheelbase G-Class.

Whether or not you like its mid-1970s looks, the G-Glass is a magnificently- built and -engineered vehicle, but it has far too much luxury stuff on it, and is far too expensive to be a practical proposition even for rich enthusiasts. And to help justify that point of view, here are other things not to like: there isn't a lot of wheel travel; the turning circle, at 13.6m, is almost as bad as a Defender 110's; approach and departure angles are a fairly modest 37deg/26deg; ground clearance is just 210mm.

But there are plenty of things to like: Front and rear diff locks – look at how accessible their switches are, right between the central dashboard air vents; a great seven-speed Tiptronic auto; permanent four-wheel-drive; beam axles front and back; a gorgeous 3.0 V6 turbodiesel with 155kW of power and 540Nm of torque from 1600rpm; the most rugged chassis in the business; wonderful build quality; the ability to order 16-inch rims rather than stock 18s to access a decent range of tyres; its ability to idle down steep slopes in low first; and yes, it might be overkill, but that interior sure is nice.

Then there's the AMG version

Of course, if you have more money than sense there's the G 55 AMG for $10 short of a quarter-million. The 5.5 litre V8 offers 373kW and 700Nm for an 0-100km/h time of 5.5 seconds. Why oh why would someone buy this thing? Evidently, it's the preferred model in Australia; please don't let it be so here! It's neither a good off-roader nor a good performance car; it's just an exercise to see how far the engineers could push a vehicle on a heavy ladder chassis with beam axles and suffering from a high centre of gravity. As Alistair Sloane said in the NZ Herald: "Misjudge even moderate speeds into a corner and the G55 gets top heavy, pushing on and fighting turn-in until you hastily scrub off speed. Big vehicle, big engine, big wheels, big foot can add up to big mistake."  Apart from its 19-inch rims and badges, the other quick giveaway that it's an AMG is the exhaust that comes out the side (below).

The travel page

Go whizzing up the ramp on your mountain bike, or test the G-Class's lousy turning circle going around it. There's something for everyone in this northern Tasmania state forest.

4wdNewz has had the good fortune to go off-roading in Tasmania twice this year. What a charming place, and what great off-roading opportunities. Both trips were out of Launceston and, an hour out of town, we were on tracks that many access-starved New Zealanders – especially North Islanders – could only dream about. They ranged from easy to don't-even-try-without-diff-locks-engaged. Both trips took us to state forests, where access is free and easy. According to local 4WD folk, it seems the island is awash with off-road opportunities. Here's a link to whet the appetite. If real estate prices hadn't gone through the roof over there, it might not have been long before this site morphed from 4wdNewz to 4wdTaz!

What Top Gear thinks about 4WDs

Not exactly known for holding back on its opinions, Top Gear each month rates current vehicles out of a possible top score of 20. Nothing has a perfect score. The top mark, currently 18, is enjoyed by the Nissan GT-R and the Ferrari 599. Yeah, well that's the car stuff. Below are the scores of all the "proper" 4WDs rated by Top Gear that range from 5 for the SsangYong Kyron to 15 for the Range Rover Vogue. I can't agree with all of Top Gear's ratings; they've got some of it wrong. So look for a TGiW (They've Got it Wrong) warning followed by my score.
Marks out of 20
5    SsangYong Kyron
7    Nissan Navara DX
8    Holden Colorado
8    Nissan Navara STX TGiW promote to 13
8    Suzuki Jimny
8    Suzuki Grand Vitara TGiW promote to 12
9    Nissan Pathfinder TGiW promote to 11
9    Nissan Patrol TGiW promote to 13
9    SsangYong Rexton TGiW demote to 7
10  Toyota Prado
11  Jeep Cherokee
11  Jeep Grand Cherokee TGiW promote to 13
11  Jeep Wrangler TGiW promote to 20 because I own one
11  Mitsubishi Challenger TGiW promote to 13
12  Land Rover Defender TGiW promote to 13
12  Mitsubishi Triton
12  Mitsubishi Pajero
12  Toyota Land Cruiser 200 TGiW promote to 13
12  Toyota Hilux
13  Lexus LX570 TGiW demote to 10
14  Range Rover Sport
15  Land Rover Discovery
15  Range Rover Vogue

4WDs in the Christchurch earthquake

Many of us will have been wondering what assistance Christchurch-area 4WD clubs have been able to offer in the aftermath of the earthquake and, indeed, how the clubs and their members have fared. The latest issue of Trail Torque, the bulletin of the New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association, has some interesting coverage; you can see it here.