Yahoo Autos 2025 Mercedes-Benz G550 and AMG G63: Luxury Boxes
While the electric 2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Technology is the big news in the world of rectilinear four-by-fours built in Austria, the gas-powered G-wagens also received a host of revisions for 2025—some welcome, some maybe not. The slick hydraulic cross-linked suspension on the 2025 Mercedes-AMG G63 is an unequivocal improvement. The replacement of the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 in the base models with a supercharged and turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six might not be quite as popular, even though horsepower increases from 416 to 443. The G's badging in other markets acknowledges the underhood downsizing, with the 2024 G550 giving way to the 2025 G500, but such an alphanumeric downgrade likely wouldn't fly with affluent U.S. consumers, so it will still be known as the G550 here. We'd hope that the six and its 48-volt hybrid system will offer an improvement on the outgoing G550's 14-mpg combined rating when the EPA gets around to testing it. Might its fuel economy soar to 16 mpg? Dare to dream.
The G550 does surrender some torque: It's 413 lb-ft now, versus 450 for the old V-8 model. But it doesn't really feel much different, in part because its low-rpm shove is buttressed by that electric motor and the 20 horsepower and 148 lb-ft it contributes, though that extra grunt doesn't increase the powertrain's peak output. The same system is fitted to the AMG-branded G63, although net output remains unchanged from last year: 577 horses and 627 lb-ft of torque. Really, the main experiential difference is the G550's sound. Every U.S.-market G-wagen has had at least eight cylinders under the hood, and an inline-six just doesn't issue the signature bass percussion that has defined the G-wagen soundtrack as surely as the clack of its overly authoritative door-lock solenoids. That part hasn't changed, though. Unlock the G550's doors, and it sounds like the warden just granted you a meeting with your lawyer.
If you must have a V-8, you can still get one in the G63, which plenty of buyers choose anyway. In the Benz brand hierarchy, G-wagen customer affluence is just beneath that of the Maybach crowd, so the G63's estimated $40,000 upcharge doesn't represent the financial stretch that it might for a mere SL customer. And the G63 alone gets the trick new AMG Active Ride Control, which replaces the anti-roll bars with a cross-linked hydraulic roll-control system that offers three levels of off-road roll stiffness: Rock, Trail, and Sand. To demonstrate the suspension's newfound capabilities, Mercedes invited us to send a G63 into low orbit.
The setting was a muddy rally course draped over a craggy hillside in southern France, and each lap culminated with a climb that filled the G63's windshield with sky. At sane speeds, it wouldn’t be a jump, but at 50 mph or more, it was enough to clear all four wheels off the ground for perhaps 30 feet or so. From outside the car, it looked violent. From inside, all was composed. Which is especially notable given that this is a suspension with steel springs and a fixed ride height, not the active air-spring system that allows Mercedes GLS and GLE models to perform their lowrider bounces and extend individual wheels in search of traction. Benz says that system is designed for a four-wheel independent suspension and isn't really compatible with the G's solid rear axle, but one engineer mentioned that reliability is a factor too—G-wagens regularly stay on the road for 20 years or more, and steel springs never leak.
And, as we saw, they work just fine, height variability aside. Mercedes had a range of vintage G-wagens on hand, including very recent ones, and the difference between the 2025 G63 and a 2022 model was evident before you left the parking lot. Compared with the new suspension, the prior setup and its steel anti-roll bars feel brittle. Time to trade in that inferior and outdated '24 model, Buffy!
Other than the major hardware changes, both G550 and G63 receive a raft of subtle updates, inside and out—four bars on the grille instead of three, available illuminated interior air vents, and an off-road display that conveys stats such as altitude, steering angle, and diff-lock status. There's now a "transparent hood" display that uses the 360-degree cameras to show what you're driving over, like a virtual spotter. Certain aero tweaks, like slicker cladding for the A-pillar, were initially developed for the electric G, but Mercedes decided that all buyers might appreciate reduced wind noise and improved efficiency. Adaptive damping is now standard across the lineup, and the G finally offers lane-keeping assist and automated emergency braking.
The revised 2025 G-classes aren't wildly different from their predecessors, but they offer some worthwhile concessions to modernity without screwing up the money-printing G-wagen aesthetic. Yet it was interesting to drive the G550 and G63 alongside some of their vintage cohorts, like a manual-transmission two-door G280 or a 120-hp GD290 diesel shop truck. Because the powerful and sophisticated G500 and G63 have more in common with those simple forebears than with their own 2025 kin, the electric G580. New as they are, they're vintage already.
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