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incisor
26th September 2012, 07:51 AM
Took madge down to MR Auto this morning to pic up some parts and was coming back up the highway @ 100kph when out of the blue i came acoss a convoy of the latest 4 and 6 wheel drive g wagens rumbling up north

was most amusing passing a heap of army vehicles with their windows wound up looking all shiny and new... the boys would be loving the air conditioning i bet

they are a nice piece of kit to look at and certainly look the part.

whats the white X shaped setup on the rear drivers side?

Disco Muppet
26th September 2012, 09:21 AM
Not sure if it's what you're referring too but white crosses on the back of military vehicles is for dark night convoy drives AFAIK, glows slightly so you can see the rear of the vehicle infront of you.
I could be wrong though :D

EDIT
Like the one in this?
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/remlr-general/37124d1309351813-g-wagon-6x6-photos-defence-industry-036.jpg

NT5224
26th September 2012, 10:56 AM
Hi there

Yeah, I saw a new 6 wheeler military Gelandewagen driving around town (Darwin) recently. Every day we pass the depot where old retired Land Rovers are parked. I've driven G wagens in the Sahara and although its a great vehicle it just doesn't share the character of the Land Rover.

As an aside - a couple of years ago I was driving an old TDi Land Rover up the steep Jallalabad road gorge along the Kabul River in 'Ghanstan when I ran into the back of a big traffic jam. Some Euro grunts (dutchies or Belgian) came up the road behind me in with a G wagen convoy, saw the traffic backlog and decided against waiting (maybe its some operational requirement). Their leader -probably some kid from an urban background, with limited wading experience and convinced of the invulnerability of their vehicles- decided to bypass the traffic jam by wading up the middle of the fast flowing river alongside the road. The G wagens found a spot to get down into the river, and pulled off the road behind us. In convoy, they started nosing their way up against the fast current over the large boulders on the river bed. The icy waters was flowing well over the bonnets and they made jerky progress up against the current. I must admit it was an amazing sight and everybody from the traffic jam went over to the barrier to watch the G wagens taking on nature -forging uphill against the river current.

And then the inevitable happened, the lead vehicle hit a big submerged boulder, stalled and flooded. Some following Gwagens tried to bypass it and continue but got stuck too. Finally all of the Gwagens were overwhelmed and scattered across river, and crews scrambled out onto their roofs to escape the ingress of icy waters.

So now you had the rediculous sight of these fifteen or twenty grunts squatting on the roofs of their vehicles like monkeys surrounded by the swirling torrent -with a mob of Afghans jeering at them from the road on the side of the river. The ribbing was mostly good natured, and some kids started tossing bits of rubbish (not rocks) at the grunts on their perches. But if the situation had been different it could have been very dangerous -the grunts were exposed and lined up like in a shooting gallery. It would have been marvelous if somehow my old TDI had somehow been able to assist in the rescue of the G wagens, but as the only westerner on the road I wasn't going to draw attention to myself and anyway there was nothing I could do. So I just enjoyed a good laugh (along with everybody else) and when the traffic began to move a short while later I was off. A 'rescue mission' of choppers passed overhead back towards towards the stranded Gwagens almost immediately I was on my way again.

So the Gwagen can be a great military vehicle, but as with any vehicle it boils down to the experience, skill and judgment of the driver.

There. Done.

Alan

DiscoMick
26th September 2012, 02:41 PM
An AMG G Wagon is regularly parked at a car park I frequent on weekends, so I've had a bit of a look at it. It could be a good thing I guess, but I can't see $200k value in it.

VladTepes
26th September 2012, 03:09 PM
Indeed give me a $100K D4 HSE over a $200K G-wagen any day.

And if you want to spend $200K that's what range Rovers are for !
Course we cant have the grunts getting TOO comfy :lol2:

DiscoMick
26th September 2012, 03:10 PM
Yep the $100k D4 is certainly a far better bet I reckon.