I’ve Never Been a Mercedes G63 Fan. Then I Drove One 500 Miles Across Morocco.

I’ll ’fess up: I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the W463 Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Yes, the current G-Class is an endearingly passionate reimagination of what has become one of the three-pointed star’s most iconic vehicles, an oh-so clever nostalgia fest digitally remastered for the 21st century—the automotive equivalent of a Carhartt WIP Detroit Jacket. I’d have the one G-Class we can’t get in America in a heartbeat, the diesel-powered G450d, an upgrade of the impressive G400d I tested in 2022.

But I’ve long struggled with the AMG G63 version. Usually on big wheels and low-profile tires, its 577-hp twin-turbo V-8 and thundering exhaust serve as a conspicuously expensive middle finger to the eco-weenies. The G63 has always seemed like a show pony, an off-road SUV egregiously dressed up to do its best work in Beverly Hills or South Beach rather than Baja or the Sahara. A 4x4 for the rich and fatuous.

Morocco changed that. A three-day, 500-mile expedition from the 1,000-year-old city of Marrakesh, on trails through the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains that arc across the northwestern corner of Africa and into the massive orange dunes of the Merzouga Desert, gave me the opportunity to drive all the current Mercedes-Benz G-Class variants, from the G450d and G550 through to the G580 electric luxury SUV, the G63, and even the towering G63 4x4², the $350,000 mini–monster truck Mercedes no longer sells in the U.S. I came away with some opinions confirmed and others recalibrated.

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Confirmations and Recalibrations

Opinions confirmed? The G450d is still a way better baseline G-Class than the G550. With 34 percent more torque than the G550’s same-capacity gas engine, the G450d’s velvety 3.0-liter straight-six turbodiesel is a powerplant that’s beautifully aligned with the effortless, go-anywhere character of Benz’s continent-crushing 4x4—on and off the road. OK, you lose a four-tenths on the 0–60-mph sprint compared with the G550, but the G450d’s 130-mph top speed is identical, and it will take you a lot farther between refills. That said, the new G550, which replaced the popular V-8 model of the same name, has been improved since I first drove it, Mercedes engineers having muffled the exhaust resonance on light throttle I noted back in April 2024.

Opinions recalibrated? First, the electric-powered G580 is the answer to a question nobody asked. Sure, the tank-turn stuff is fun. The first few times. But the G580 won’t take you very far on the road and is particular about where you take it when you drive off it. While I found the four-motor, electric-powered G-Class stunningly capable when I tested it on the steep, shattered limestone hills near Perpignan in southern France, it proved a lot trickier to drive on the soft sands of the Merzouga Desert dunes. First, unlike the other G-Class models, the G580 doesn’t have a bespoke sand mode. What’s more, when less than 25 percent of the power is being used in high range, it defaults to rear-wheel drive. On top of that, it’s heavy, tipping the scales at 6,897 pounds, nearly 1,000 pounds more than a G63, and the lack of engine noise makes it hard to judge wheel speed. More than in any of the other G-Class variants, momentum is a must on soft sand in the G580. Lose it, and you’ll get stuck.

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When Physics Push Back

The cartoonish G63 4x4² proved that not even solid engineering can rewrite the laws of physics. The humungous 22-inch wheels and 325/55 tires sent shimmies through the suspension on the drive along the highway out of Marrakesh, and there was noticeably more fore-aft pitch over bumps. The hefty 9- and 10-inch increases in the front and rear track meant it was a tight fit on some of the trails through the Atlas Mountains, with its fender flares barely clearing rocks and trees that the regular G-Class breezed past. But in high range with the center diff locked and its giant Pirelli Scorpion tires aired down, the big-footed Benz came into its own on the dunes of Merzouga. Its punchy V-8 powered it into wall-of-death turns high on the face of curving sand walls, and the wide track kept it steady as you angled over sharp crests. It also got me out of a situation I was sure would require a lengthy recovery process.

We were convoying along a narrow section at the top of a giant sand bowl, steep slopes of sand on either side, when I saw the G63 (with an inexperienced driver at the wheel) in front of me start to lose momentum. My heart sank: I had nowhere to go. As I slowed the 4x4², I could already feel the rear start sliding down into the bowl. I hit the brakes. The nose was pointing upward, and the whole rig tilted at least 30 degrees. The big Benz was well and truly stuck.

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After the G63 had been extricated, one of the expedition’s recovery team members leaned in the window: “We have two options we can try,” he said. “The first, if you’re up for it, is the big-balls option,” he smiled. “What’s that?” I asked. “Turn hard right and get on the throttle,” he said, “and keep turning right and keep on the throttle, even if it feels like the car might tip over. It will come around. Just remember to steer downhill and give it plenty of power to get up the other side.” I did what he told me. The 4x4² squirmed and slid and tilted some more and then rotated, and I pointed it straight downhill, the bottom of the sand bowl filling the windshield before it bounced through the compression and stormed up the opposing wall, where I angled it around into a sweeping turn that popped us back out on top of the dune and out onto a flat area of hard-packed sand.

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The G63 Is No Show Pony Off-Road

Yes, the 4x4² was impressive on the sand. But the G63, just as powerful, almost 400 pounds lighter, and more agile, was better. And it was better everywhere else, too. Our G63 rolled on 20-inch wheels shod with generously sidewalled General Grabber AT 275/50 tires. But it wasn’t just the sensible wheel/tire combination—the smallest rims and the highest-profile rubber available—that made the G63 ride better than I remember. It was the Active Ride Control suspension that made its debut as part of the 2024 G-Class refresh.

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Active Ride Control uses hydraulically interconnected, two-valve shocks to precisely control wheel and body motions. It can change the effective compression and rebound damping rates of each shock, which eliminates the need for mechanical roll bars. In Sport+ mode, the system effectively doubles the roll stiffness setting of the default Comfort model; in Off-Road mode, it halves it. The result is a G63 that feels a lot more controlled and comfortable than it used to, regardless of what’s going on under the wheels.

Active Ride Control is available on the G63 as an option in the U.S., as part of the $4,400 AMG Performance package or the $13,450 AMG Off-Road package PRO. I’d opt for the latter, not least because, in addition to increasing the G63’s top speed from 137 to 149 mph (a feature that absolutely no one in the U.S. will ever use), the Performance package also mandates 22-inch wheels and low-profile tires that agitate the ride.

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The Off-Road package PRO gives you the 20-inch wheels and 50-series tires, plus a roof rack and mud flaps, and includes three off-road driving modes that can be fine-tuned by the driver. In Trail mode, drivers can switch between seven different levels of traction control. In Sand, the level of torque vectoring can be adjusted to help improve agility. And in Rock mode, as the drive system can exactly sense the torque load on each wheel, an Off-Road shortcut button can be used to activate electronic diff locks with variable locking rates. In low range, the AMG Traction Pro feature will spin the front and rear wheels at different speeds to help extricate the G63 if it’s stuck in sand or mud or deep snow.

With 20-inch wheels and tires, the latest-gen G63 is still plenty fast on the road. But the Active Ride Control Off-Road package PRO makes it more comfortable and capable than ever. It’s not a show pony, but the real deal. And that’s a G63 I can love.