Assigned a new chassis code in 1990 as an extensive revision of the original W460, the first W463 is the car that turned the G from a spartan military vehicle into a luxury model sold next to the S-Class: wood trim, leather, ABS and full-time four-wheel drive, on the same ladder-frame chassis and door-hinge silhouette.[1] It stayed in production for 28 years without a full redesign, ending up with the widest range of engines Mercedes ever fitted to one model: four-cylinder to V12, naturally aspirated to twin-turbo.
The two trims recorded here bracket that range. The G 500 of 1998 is the mainstream V8, sold once Mercedes finally brought the G-Class to the United States. The G 55 AMG Kompressor of 2004 added a supercharger to the same V8 family for 350 kW and a 5.6-second run to 100 km/h in a vehicle that still, underneath, was built to cross a desert.
