Mercedes-Benz G 580 with EQ Technology: First local drive of new all-electric G-Wagen

It’s incumbent on us to usually make some sort of proclamation at some point in a review on whether the vehicle in question represents good value or not. It’s rarely a very difficult process to arrive at that conclusion based on pricing and relative merits or otherwise. The reason I temper my words here is that I’ve just driven the new Mercedes-Benz G 580 and I’m torn as to whether this is a quarter of a million dollars well spent or whether it’s a very artful grift. I don’t think there’s a middle ground either.

Over the last few years, we’ve become accustomed to Mercedes asking a huge amount for a G-Class. It’s one of those vehicles that seems to transcend the normal rules on pricing and occupy a space where Mercedes could conceivably charge double and not see much in the way of fluctuation in demand.

You could almost imagine Professor Brian Cox explaining it as a place in the automotive universe where the normal mathematics of pricing and demand fold in on themselves and disappear. Right there, teetering on this event horizon of unfathomability is the $365,900 G63 AMG. It’s now been joined by the all-electric G 580, priced at $249,900 for the standard car and $299,900 if you want to go all-in on the Edition One version.

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Look beyond the lurid Manufaktur South Seas Blue Magno paintwork aside – most G-Class buyers still choose base Obsidian Black – and this appears for all the world like the G-Class that we’ve grown up with since 1979. Think about that for a minute. Over 46 years the block-like shape has barely changed. 46 years after Porsche launched the very first 911, 991-series prototypes were driving around in Zuffenhausen. There’s tradition and there’s G-Class tradition.

So you still get the side opening rear hatch, the boxy wing-mounted front turn signals and the metal door strikers that mean the G 580’s doors still slam shut with a pronounced clack. The windscreen pillars still stand almost vertical and the aerodynamics are still more akin to a commission housing block than a modern passenger vehicle. Heck, it’s even built in a ladder frame in the same Steyr plant as the originals.

But while there’s clearly more than a nod to tradition, the G 580 is radically different beneath the slab-sided sheetmetal. There’s a massive double-stacked 124kWh battery under the floor, of which 116kWh is useable. You get independent suspension up front and a solid rear axle, and four independently controlled electric motors and a low-range gearset for each one. Yes, it really does have a 108kW/291Nm motor and gearset for each wheel.

This allows it do some fairly remarkable things. You’ve probably seen footage already of the G 580 performing the G-Turn, in effect pirouetting in its own length. It can also perform a manoeuvre called G-Steer, which reverses the inside rear wheel in a turn, effectively causing the whole vehicle to pivot around that point. From behind the wheel, it feels like a slow-motion drift that you need to counter-steer against, but it allows you to very quickly reduce the turning circle of the G 580 in tight off-road spots.

It’s easy for these party pieces to give the impression that the G 580 is a bit of a superficial attention seeker, but that would be doing it a disservice. Despite packing 432kW and 1164Nm, Mercedes doesn’t want it compared with the petrol G63 AMG. It’s not that sort of car. Instead, it’s been designed to offer unparalleled ability in the rough stuff. And you don’t need a trio of locking differentials if you can instantly and minutely control what each wheel is doing in software. Mercedes makes the point that it’s the only car it builds that can be one-wheel drive.

Open the charging flap and there’s a neat little rubber diaphragm, designed to waterproof the female part of the charging apparatus, necessary because the G 580’s 850mm wading depth is 150mm more than any of the combustion-engined variants sold worldwide. It features beefier underbody protection, with a 26mm-thick carbon composite plate to keep that battery pack clear of any shark’s teeth in the track, which is just as well as the kerb weight of 3085kg means it’s not the nimblest car you’ll ever have driven.

It’ll accelerate through 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds and, like almost every other G-Wagen, it feels imperious at first and then feels a proper handful once you fool yourself into thinking straight line speed equals sportiness. The body control is fairly languid and even with adaptive dampers, the ride is a little unsettled, with slow steering. Tradition, you see?

It even has a digital sound signature, courtesy of the G-Roar sound symposer. It’s a little meek on startup, but if you plonked someone who wasn’t hugely car literate in the passenger seat of the G 580, there’s enough of a background rumble that they’d probably never twig that it was powered by batteries and not petrol.

This makes it possibly the easiest sell of an EV to an owner moving from a petrol version. The WLTP-mandated range of 473km gives it some legs, it’s better off road than any of its combustion-engined siblings and it still absolutely looks and feels the part. It’ll even charge at up to 200kW if you can find a DC fast charger.

Is all of this worth $250,000? That’s a tough one. A diesel LandCruiser will have the range to get to places the G 580 could never be able to countenance here in Australia. For weekend warriors, it probably has more than enough capability to get you out, soak up as much off-road challenge as you’re able to handle and get you home again, but it’s an expensive SUV to be out mud-plugging in. Chances are it’ll be more of an urban flex, a toy chosen by those who are merely reassured by the depth of its ability. How these people perceive the value proposition seems initially opaque. Look at the order books, however and it all becomes significantly clearer. As Mercedes and many other European manufacturers are rapidly realising in this increasingly electric era, history, it would appear, is bank.

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