This military-turned-passenger-vehicle has been hand-built in Graz, Austria and its name 'Gelaendewagen' litreally translates to "off road vehicle" and is in direct competition with the Range Rover HSE and Toyota's Land Cruiser.
Mated to the 4.0-litre (3,982cc) twin-turbo V8 engine with 416hp from 5,250rpm to 5,500rpm and 610Nm of torque from 2,250 to 4,750rpm, is a seven-speed 7G-TRONIC PLUS gearbox.
The engine also has an aluminium-alloy crankcase, which reduces weight and ensures maximum strength. Furthermore, the cylinder walls use NANOSLIDE technology, which means its surface is now twice as hard as a conventional cast-iron cylinder liner while simultaneously reducing friction for better fuel economy.
In any case, its generous amount of torque is needed to get this partiucular heavy-weight moving since it's made predominantly of steel construction - some sections as thick as 4mm, along with 6,400 individial weld points.
The body is then dip-drimed (utilising electrophoresis) and powder-coated., furthermore, all interior cavities of the frame are then treated with a hot wax for added protection against water, snow, salt and sand.
The new G550 4x4² also boasts of having innovative portal axles, three locking differentials and a ground clearance of more than 432mm - putting its height at a towering 2,235mm and making it the tallest among its stablemates.
The portal axles allow for the axle input and the wheel centre to be two drastically different heights, by utilizing a series of gears similar to those found in a transmission, where power is transferred from the G-Class'rigid axles downward to the wheel hub.
These axles allow the suspension geometry, steering connections and drive shafts to remain unchanged from other G-Class models thanks to their ability to keep the position of the rigid axles relative to the chassis unchanged.
Load is reduced from all reciprocating components, especially the drive shafts, thanks to the internal gears found in the portal axles and as the speedometer takes a reading from the rigid axles, fitting larger and more aggressive off-road tyres do not require a recalibration of the speedometer.
Its styling has hardly deviated since its introduction in 1979, but a host of modern equipment has found its way inside, which includes an eight-inch COMAND infotainment system with satellite navigation as standard.
Thanks to its ground clearance, the G550 4x4² uses has a maximum approach angle of 51.6-degrees, maximum departure angle of 43.8-degrees, breakover angle of 47.4-degrees, maximum tilt angle of 24.8-degrees and fording depth of 1,000mm.
The permanent all-wheel drive system has a 50:50 torque distribution between the front and rear axles. It also has a four-stage electronic traction control system (4ETS), a transfer case with three 100% locking differentials and an off-road low-range gear.
In Low Range mode, the center differential gear ratio is reduced from 1:1 to 1:2, which allows for slow, more controllable off-road driving, including on steep descents. Low Range mode also helps to reduce strain on various drivetrain components.
By locking the front, centre and rear differentials in Low Range mode, each wheel will spin at the same engine speed, thus directing torque to the wheels which are able to obtain traction.
But, whatever the case may be, Mercedes-Benz says that this particular G-Class is able to move forward even if only a single wheel is able to gain traction.
