In the Hall of the Mountain King

The venerable Geländewagen keeps on getting better and more capable, with evolving engines and special editions, adding more lines to its historic scroll of tales. We drive the new "400 d" powertrain in "Adventure Edition" guise

- Jim Gorde 

SOME THINGS ARE TIMELESS. LIKE A historic piece of orchestral music standing the test of time, being handed down through centuries, sometimes with a twist in the tale to suit a generation, there are few creations that survive the ages. Like the Edvard Grieg's original composition-the title of this feature-used in the 1867 play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, there was a remake not too long ago by the melodic metal band, Epica, who created a new-age masterpiece, combining the rising tempo and notes of the original with heavy metal double-bass elements and wicked guitar riffs. The essence of the original remains strong-preserved through centuries. And this resonates well with the Mercedes G-Wagen.

From 1979 and the likes of the W460 240 GD built in Graz in Austria, with a 2.4-litre diesel making 72 hp and 137 Nm, to the present-day W463 G 400 d, still built in Graz, armed with a turbocharged 2.9-litre straight-six diesel making 330 hp and 700 Nm, with a slew of hardware and software enhancements that put it in a different league of premium, SUV, and off-roader, jointly and separately, the G-Wagen continues rolling high and mighty even today. In fact, the 500,000th G came by in April 2023. Aptly, it was a G 500 that rolled out from Graz 44 years after production first began. Now in its 45th year, it feels just as incredible.