When it overhauled the G-Class in 2018, Mercedes was careful to safeguard certain traditional features.
The bonnet indicators are a good example. They were nightmarish to homologate but were regarded as indispensable. The push-button door handles are another such element, along with the industrial-sounding clack with which the doors slam shut. It’s a noise that hasn’t been tolerated on any other passenger Mercedes model for 40 years or more, and on this electric version of the G-Class is more incongruous than ever, yet it doesn’t half set the tone. We like it.
It’s a climb up into the G-Class – the sort you only ever get with proper off-road vehicles, to the extent that you’ll actually look down into the cabins of Audi Q7s on the motorway – and you’re greeted by an upright seating position and an upright, letterbox windscreen. There’s less leg room than you might expect, mind, until you remember that the G-Class is only 4.6m long, which is about the same as a mid-sized crossover.
The door mirrors are sculpted for the wind, so smaller than you would find on an Ineos Grenadier or a Land Rover Defender, while the interior mirror view suffers from quite a lot of cable box obstruction. There’s no option of a digital mirror either, as you will find on the Land Rover Defender Octa.
The G580 has Mercedes’ MBUX infotainment system, comprising twin 12.3in screens: a display behind the steering wheel and an infotainment touchscreen, more on which in a moment.
The division of digital interface and physical controls is well managed. There are physical buttons for heating controls beneath the big touchscreen, and they work in a conventional and easy way. The wing mirrors are adjusted via a button on the top of the (heated) door edges, where you will also find window switches and toggles for adjusting the seat.
Perceived quality is generally high and the nature of the materials used is opulent enough to mean you would feel at least a little bit guilty clambering up into the car wearing a sopping-wet Barbour and muddy wellies. Equally, our test car had a pronounced dashboard rattle and the admittedly lovely truffle brown leather was poorly trimmed on one of the passenger seat bolsters.
Those bolsters are substantial, and the seats are otherwise superb, with an unusual degree of lumbar adjustment. Six hours in the saddle is no problem, which isn’t a given in cars with upright driving positions.
The relatively shallow boot, at 555 litres, is down a little on ICE G-Class models owing to a marginally taller floor, but the rear seats fold flat. This, along with the very high ceiling, makes the G-Class as capacious as any other senior SUV.
There’s no frunk, because the space is filled with electric bits, including the sound box for the engine-sound-imitating ‘G-Roar’.
As for that infotainment ecosystem, two 12.3in screens have been updated to run Mercedes’ current MBUX software.
It works even better here than in other models, because the climate controls get their own row of rocker switches and because the G-Class retains its touchpad and shortcut buttons. The resolution is excellent, as is the colour rendition, and the menus are simple to navigate.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also neatly integrated, and your phone can be connected wirelessly or via one of three USB-C ports in the front cabin. The digital ecosystem in the G580 is very complete. That it achieves this while feeling unobtrusive is one reason why the car’s cabin is so appealing. Mind you, the Burmester ‘3D’ sound system is crisp enough but does buzz at higher frequencies and didn’t blow us away in general.
Elsewhere, prod the large central dashboard button and the display will shortcut to the car’s off-road gauges, which include an inclinometer, real-time axle articulation and the division of drive between all four wheels.
