MERCEDES-BENZ G580 EQ

High-end off-roader gets an EV variant with a motor for each wheel and a big battery

- MURRAY SCULLION

Hands unyielding on the steering wheel. Foot welded to the accelerator. Round and round I go for two rotations, inner ear out of sync, the world a blur.

I'm experiencing this new Mercedes EV's party trick: the 'G-Turn'. All four of its electric motors rotate it nearly on the spot. It's good fun and it's quick, unlike when BYD's Yangwang U8 does it. A bit of a gimmick? Sure, but the G-Class has always been a bit gimmicky, and this is a G-Class through and through.

The first electric G-Class - or, to use its clumsy proper name, the G580 with EQ Technology - sits alongside the regular G450d, G500 and AMG G63 (see p30-31), and Mercedes really wants you to just see this as a G-Class first and a powertrain variant second.

And you know what? Stuttgart has nailed it. It has even objectively improved the formula in some areas. The EV is certainly a lot torquier than the G63, quieter than the 'regular' G-Classes and better off road than any of them.

But we're really not looking at the most objective, straightforward or sensible car in the world here.

Looks-wise, it's certainly a G-Class. Intriguingly, the blankedoff front grille you see in the image above isn't coming to the UK initially, anyway. It will retain the standard G-Class one.