Test drive: G-class Now with a diesel engine!
Celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the “test Gelendvagenam” the most powerful heavy-fuel version
© Mercedes-Benz
“Square”, “safe”, “refrigerator”, “Gelik” under these nicknames, the hero of the day know what we have. Exactly forty years ago, in 1979, the production of the Mercedes-Benz G-class SUV, parallel military and civilian models, began at the Steyr-Daimler-Puch plant in Graz.
With its recognizable form, as if molded from several banasthali sheets, it has never changed: neither in 1989, when the luxury “civilian” version of the W463 index entered the conveyor, nor in 2018, when the car introduced a completely new generation.
For the anniversary, I went home Gelika: on the occasion of the launch of a new model mersedesovsky Graz built an off-road training ground to train customers and show the ability of the car to journalists. By today's standards, moderate terrain: forest, track, obstacle course, pond with Wade, twenty meters from impassable mud… but the ups and downs are bewildering: steep – one hundred percent, or forty-five degrees!
This is my first experience with a new car. But to believe that the new Merc is really new is completely impossible: not only has it retained its recognition, it has literally remained the same! Although in fact there is nothing in common with the classic model: no body parts, not even one small cross member of the frame. There are exactly three points in the list of inherited items – the headlight washer nozzles, the spare wheel cover and those door handles, similar to the Gelik commercial Mercedes T1 minibuses and Mercedes LK trucks. Even the characteristic “warts” turn signals are different: in the event of an accident, they dive inside the wings so as not to injure a pedestrian.
Specially for us, from the Mercedes Museum pulled the original Mercedes-Benz G230 1979 brick red. This rarity is not allowed to ride, but having spawned it, I have enough. And I will express a seditious thought: journalists are accustomed to sculpting in Gelik the label of rude and uncouth warriors – a cross between an infantry fighting vehicle, a stool and a Kalashnikov. But compared to any off-road vehicle of the army of the origin of the seventies, it was a model of comfort.
A person, seats with fabric upholstery in the window, sliding glass, correct and understandable for reading documents, control of the “razdatka” with a single lever, a spring… just compare that up to the “four hundred and sixty-ninth” UAZ or Land Rover series III – from oak leaves suspension, wood levers on the floor, scattered throughout the instrument panel and seat height with a wrench. With “Gelik” you can live, And with them only to survive!
The doors of the new “Gelika” close exactly like the “old man” – with a roar, and requires a strong hand, and the central lock works with a deafening ring. But the driver's left elbow is finally safe – you don't hit your hand when you close the door. Given the almost constant dimensions of the machine – a real ergonomic miracle.
And all traces of kondovski disappeared inside! Like all Mercedes cars of the current generation: a virtual instrument, in combination with a multimedia system (unless the system itself is the newest MBUX and senior team), control is carried out automatically from the steering column lever, an electromechanical parking brake button instead of a conventional pedal, recognizable round deflectors ventilation… but all of that – along with a flat vertical windshield, and vertical windows. The cognitive dissonance!
Recently, only the most expensive versions of the G-class with V8 4.0 gasoline engines are being sold – a 422-horsepower 500 g 9,510,000 and a crazy Mercedes-AMG and G 63 with a capacity of 585 forces, for 13,170,000 conventional units. In Europe they offer a relatively inexpensive g 350 d with a new six-cylinder 2.9 diesel engine with 286 horsepower. And soon a powerful version of the G 400 D will join them: for it, an in-line “six” ohm 656 boosted to 330 forces – and these machines will be delivered to us.
At the wheel of “Gelika” I drove along rural roads around the city. The car was surprisingly friendly: it responds to the steering wheel, holds a straight line well and did not scare the banks even in tight corners (despite the lack of a rear anti-roll bar, only AMG models lie). In general, they left a very “fusion” impression – what is the undoubted merit of the new chassis, independent front suspension and rack and pinion steering. Although frame SUV!
But if you lift your foot, imagining yourself driving a Cayenne or an X5, the G 400d quickly learns not to be full of fun – roll, straightening the trajectory, sliding the front wheels. Maybe it's for the best: after all, how many “Helenow” fell on the side of the horsemen on the Russian land!..
The duo of a powerful 330-horsepower turbodiesel with a nine-gun didn't seem to play well. The car reacts lazily to the gas pedal, and the box is in no hurry to switch to a lower gear – the impressions of the dynamics are blurry, although everything is clear: the motor should be enough.
But there is an inevitable on the track: the entire area of u200bu200bthe charisma of “Gelik” is in the air. Already at a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour it becomes so noisy that the conversation must be stopped. However, judging by the number of “Gelik” in Moscow, few people are worried about this…
Let me tell you about my off-road exercises, because there “Gelik” worked wonders. On the site, our service climbs seventy to one hundred percent steep, some mud, an obstacle course of boulders and a small pond with a depth of seventy centimeters. Not something that is necessary on a trip, but after you “Gelik” with “toothy” tires with three locks…
Thrill seekers must have grimaced when they heard about independent front suspension instead of a solid front axle. But the testers who worked with Gelik say that the car's capabilities even increased slightly, where the former models of the axle under traction began to jump. The new wheels retain traction.
“Gelik” was a very serious SUV: it is based on a powerful frame, all the blocks are covered inside it and do not back down. The steering rack with EPS covered crossbar, and the breathers of the front gearbox, gearbox and transfer case are removed for spacer between the front shock absorber mounts, so that in wide aggregates they do not fill with water.
Like all civilians from Gelika, starting from 1989, there are three “magic” buttons on the front panel, which includes a center differential lock and two interwheel ones. A serial SUV with this superpower, I don't know. However, it took me only once to choose the front lock – when we began to climb through loose rocky climbs. In all other cases, it was enough to lock the center and rear cross-axle diff and the Gaelic effortlessly scrambled down slopes and climbed over boulders and fell into the mud.
The G-class no doubt went up and down the hill at 70% or 80%, that is 31.5 and 36 degrees. On paper, these numbers look modest, but believe me: to get such an offset really, except on all fours, and through the windshield at such moments you can not see anything but the sky.
Although the crown number for the “G-vagen” is the movement for 100% bias. That is, translating into more understandable units – by 45 degrees. The driver at these moments feels like an astronaut mounted on a rocket launch pad – it seems that the car is already at a right angle to the earth's surface, and you are lying on your back. And in general, “Gelik” does not climb – the main thing is that there is enough tire grip. Capable unit of vehicles.
However, I was amazed by another ability of the “Gelika” – to stop on the rise without the help of the brakes! It is enough to engage a downshift and differential lock to enable G-mode. The elevator can then take its feet off the pedals and the engine with its thrust to keep the car up by slipping the torque converter – making the wheels just long enough for the car not to roll back. Similarly, without the use of brakes, the electronic downhill system works – the box holds first gear, and the engine creates a braking torque, not allowing the car to accelerate over five kilometers per hour.
The geometric capabilities of the Gelika are striking: there are practically no overhangs, nothing protrudes under the bottom – all blocks are tucked under the stomach, the lower front suspension arms are flush with the frame, and even the Terminator mufflers are installed in the base and hidden behind the thresholds. The gap under the box rear axle gear is 24 cm, and under the front gearbox – and all 27. Plus, the suspension is very inspiring – even on rough terrain, the wheels retain traction for a long time. And when they finally come off, locking differentials will help. In the forest, “Gelik” worked wonders, quietly moving among the boulders.
By and large, I have only one question for the new Gelendvagens as a lunar rover: this is the possibility of installing large wheels. It seems that this increase in permeability in this way will not be easy. The fact that this is hindered by the cunning shape of the steering knuckle, the upper part of which is shown in the wheelhouse. Another thing is that few of us care about it. For hundreds of owners, driving on asphalt, how much do you have to regularly travel on the roads? For example, I personally know only one thing – he lives next to me and goes to a used three-door with a winch, and “toothy” tires.
The new G-class is able to ford a depth of 70 centimeters. Automation in this case covers the front air intake, so that the engine does not have access to drinking water: the air intake comes from the front fenders
Not for people to pay ten or fifteen million to get into the dirt! By the way, prices for the new G 400 d will be announced soon, but in Germany it costs as much as 27 thousand euros more than 500 g of gasoline! And having visited the production in Graz, I can say with confidence that perhaps the Gelik can cost much less. The Magna-Steyr plant is nothing like a giant and almost feels like home: a small shop – a small size, most of the operations are manual, and even a truck with the bodies of workers roll themselves transporters. But for one small aviary, an aunt sits on a sewing machine and sew upholstery for the inside…
In Graz, it would be emphasized that the machines are assembled almost by hand
Of course, this is not a workshop, and the plant is only designed for very small volumes. In fact, with the other Mercedes “Gelik” there is almost zero association – here they are just a motor with a gearbox. Almost everything else is made right here in Graz. And technology does not provide for mass production. For example, a typical front panel is salted in advance by the supplier company, and is fed to the assembly plant already in the finished module. With “Gelik” not – the bar is assembled right here, before being installed in the car. The same with the seats and trim of the central tunnel.
But such production can be very flexible. Among the dozens of new Mercs on the line, and then you may see one or two cars – the olive color is the old model W461, which is still produced for the Bundeswehr and other military customers. And it has nothing to do with the civilian “Gelik” new model!
In this mode, almost manually, last year there were about 22 thousand “Gelika”. Mersedesovsky say that the release of the new generation has drastically spurred demand: in May, an increase of one and a half times orders was recorded. But even if all year sales are in the same quarter of last year, the G-Class will remain a very exclusive comparison car, and not the massive C-Class sedan sold in 2018, with a circulation of nearly 78,000 vehicles.
Mercedes-Benz 400 g
how
Incredible charisma, a monstrous cross and modern ergonomics
I do not like
Noise in road mode, thoughtful power supply
Sentence
What can I say: this is “Gelik”, and he has become better than ever
engine icon
2925 cm3, l6, 330 l. s., 700 Nm
gear icon
2354 kg
Detailed specifications
| Mercedes-Benz 400 g | |
|---|---|
| engine's type | diesel, l6 turbo |
| Working volume, cm3 | 2925 |
| Max. power, l. with. | 330 |
| Max. torque, Nm/r/min | 700/1200-3200 |
| type of drive | full |
| Broadcast | mechanical, 9-speed |
| Front suspension | independent, spring, double wishbone |
| Rear suspension | dependent, spring, five-lever |
| Dimensions (LxWxH), mm | 4817х1931х1969 |
| Wheel base, mm | 2890 |
| Syrianna weight, kg | 2354 |
| Trunk volume, l | 454-1941 |
| 0-100 km / h, s | 6.4 |
| Max. speed, km/h | 210 |
| Fuel consumption (comb.), l / 100 km | 9.6 |
| Fuel tank capacity, l | 75 |