Driving the Oldest vs Newest G-Wagon

I am driving a new Brabus g800 wide star it's got a price tag of 453 thousand dollars but the luxurious perception of the modern G-Wagon was never a part of mercedes's plan so how did we go from this to this well today we're gonna drive both sides of the G-Wagon spectrum and find out oh my God I feel old and poor so James I'm driving a 1980 Mercedes Glenda wagon aka the original G-Wagon this thing's got cloth seats rubber floor mats and a four-speed transmission and not much else but I mean this is so cool I love it like this is a machine yes very little Frills very utilitarian very German and very 1970s yes it's just really good at its job which is well right now going up a dirt road in Calabasas yeah clearly there's a huge difference between this and the G-Wagon that we know today later we'll take a drive through the Canyons with both these cars to see just how much of a difference there is but to understand how we got here from here we're gonna have to go all the way back to the early 70s when Mercedes decided to partner with an Austrian outfit called Shire Daimler puke and formed the off-road vehicle company or galonda fazen gasels we're just gonna call it gfg and their goal with the company was to develop an off-road vehicle that could be fit for service for any military in the world get you out of any situation if you're under Fire but also be comfortable enough that someone could take it to the grocery store dude those are the kind the boxes that I like to be tick dude get me out of there and do it comfortably they started developing this car in 1972 in Austria and they tested the absolute crap out of it I mean there's some really great footage of gfg testing the prototypes it's so funny and like they're just jumping these things off of big dirt mounds and stuff they're just so in contrast to how g-wagons are kind of seen and driven today in that extensive testing they developed some pretty novel ideas for the time stuff like using coil springs for the solid axles instead of leaf springs and a selectable four-wheel drive system with a no slip differential the actual first prototype of this thing may be unsurprisingly was built out of wood when you look at the G-Wagon you're like ah yeah yeah that makes sense I totally make curves I don't know I don't know dude I don't have that kind of song so they developed this thing over seven years and finally in 1979 and it launched it was pretty much an immediate Military and Commercial Success this thing feels like a tractor in the best way possible I don't mean that but that is an insole at all I feel confident in this thing I feel like I can go over anything I want anyway I can't reiterate that enough the product of seven years of testing over and over and over I mean I always think of g-wagons as you know a luxury vehicle but when you tear away all that luxurious stuff you see the Purity and the simple Elegance of this machine and that is probably the reason that they went pretty much unchanged all the way until 2018 and still look the same yeah that is 800 horsepower Nolan ten times what you got wow we are going the legal Speedline oh G-Wagon tuned by Brabus is the ultimate status symbol it's got a million bajillion horsepower it's covered in carbon fiber the clock is made by a watch company yeah it's got a speedometer in the back seat for the passengers it's just it's just everything this is what we think of when we think of a G wagon yes but it took Mercedes a very long time to get here yeah so in 1991 Mercedes introduces the w463 that is the second gen G wagon they add things like leather interior nice stereos a V8 from the S500 hindsight the w463 really was the G-Wagon moving from a utility vehicle into a luxury vehicle yeah but surprisingly Mercedes actually didn't really want that to happen the G wagon was still a military vehicle in their eyes and they thought it'd be way too expensive to adapt it to American regulations so they just decided to be easier to start fresh and in 1997 they debuted the Mercedes GLE which kind of helped kick-start the whole like sporty SUV and Trend that we're still living through the GLE was a great car but the American Market wanted more and people were determined to drive g-wagons with or without mercedes's help thanks largely to a company called Europa so Europa bought g-wagons over in Germany imported them to the U.S and sold them themselves and they had to be legal in the US they had to do all this stuff they had to crash test g-wagons they were so successful at this they got to a point where they earned like a small manufacturer designation in fact at one point Europa was responsible for 10 of all G500 sales in the world which is something that Mercedes could not ignore Mercedes finally caved in 2002 and brought the G-Wagon to America and everyone wanted one yeah in spite of a market flooded with super practical SUVs that actually drove like cars Americans were still super hyped on the G-Wagon and I think it's around this time period when the G wagon really becomes a household name in the U.S and that period is the reason that this car exists today but what is it like to drive this thing and more importantly how different is the Driving Experience from the old original G-Wagon well to figure that out we're gonna head to the canyons and put these things through their Paces at least as much as is responsible for two extremely valuable cars working in the garage can also work up an appetite but unlike the project car I don't have the fuel to figure out what to eat luckily there's today's sponsor factor factor makes meeting your nutrition goals easier than ever by delivering fresh never Frozen dietitian approved meals right to your doorstep Factory meals arrive pre-prepared and are ready to eat in just two minutes which is perfect for busy days like today and better yet they've got options for everyone I'm talking paleo keto and even plant-based this week I chose the Protein Plus box because I'm getting freaking yo it includes delicious things like a spicy poblano beef bowl get the nutrition you need with Factor head to factor75.com or click the link below and use code donut 50 to get 50 off your first Factor box again that's code donut 50 at Factor 75 dot com for 50 off your first Factor box so we're in the Canyons now and I have to imagine that James's car feels a little better than mine my car has a straight axle in the front which doesn't have the best on-road manners with the w463a they change the front suspension to double Wishbone so now it drives just like a regular SUV new cars are good we have a tunnel here James is definitely gonna gun it because that sounded so sick I gotta admit I was a little surprised by the amount of noise that it did make and this might be the best car I've ever driven honestly I feel the same way about mine too well one of us is right I mean my truck is really slow and it doesn't have AC but I really love it I really love your truck too I think it's cute but there is no way that you can drive that thing every day yeah it's a really good like fifth car yeah like that's a car that you teach your oldest kid to drive stick on for the first time over summer break if you can get ahead of that semi we should do a drag race [Music] I'm Full Throttle right now damn dude I let you started a roll and I went from a dig like I was standing still dude I've been driving this one all day I was really Charmed by it at first but the lack of acceleration in this thing is starting to become kind of annoying James I think the G wagon is kind of like a Rolex right I agree but go on it's like originally was kind of designed for military use it proved itself on the battlefield and then uh became very desirable because of that yeah just like a Rolex it's a really expensive thing but it's not just expensive for the hype it's expensive because it's actually very very very well built well Nolan we're finally through the canyons and we are at the beach someplace that I think you're more at home so we asked at the top how did this thing become that thing I think the G wagon is a perfect example of what happens when you get it right the first time if you don't have to fix anything you can just keep making it better and better and better so now you have a twin turbo V8 with 800 horsepower that you can shift manually and take off-road it really is the perfect vehicle thank you so much to Brabus for letting us borrow that monster Thank You Blake that found objects for letting us borrow this guy right here I love it so much and thank you York sand for your help check out his book all about g-wagons thank you guys for watching our videos and supporting us all these years and your continued support because we're shooting with two g-wagons at the beach right now I love you eight million Subs I can't believe that we're here thank you guys so much for your support for everybody who's been here since before we had a million to everybody who came in the last million this is all for you to celebrate this Monumental moment as always we have an 8 million sub sticker available at donutmedia.com so you can tell everybody that you were here now go to donate media.com get you one they are super limited release I'm pretty sure rolling it sell them for a week so don't sleep on it guys thank you so much again I love you

Channel: Donut

Views: 1,403,294

Keywords: donut, donut media, cars, james pumphrey, up to speed, moneypit

Id: 9d9davMA21Q

Length: 11min 8sec (668 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023