Thread: G-class utes for Aus?

Originally Posted by MBZ460

Dual cab looks fantastic . Even the style side ute looks good.

Gary

Originally Posted by solmanic

...
Even though the standard front bumper is massively thick steel (thicker than a std Defender one), a bolted connection is hardly ideal when skippy jumps out to say hello.

I wouldn't be concerned about a bolted connection. Especially if you also have those side bars fitted.

Hello folks

About ten years ago I drove a G Wagen across the Sahara -1200km pushing through country which hadn't previously been opened up to motor vehicles. For much of the distance (four days) we saw no other wheel tracks and had to be completely self reliant. We drove regular heavy-duty Wagens, I guess the equivalent of the current Pro or military versions.

Coming to the diesel G Wagen from the V8 110, I found them incredibly torquey. You could point a G up a dune, slam it in low and it would just walk slowly to the top. First time I tried the anti-stall in my Puma I was reminded of the G. But the Gs are very heavy. Despite excellent torque delivery, there were times when we bogged every few hundred metres. And because of the weight, they were a bitch to recover when they did.

I'd have to say that in that sand country I'd choose a Land Rover over a G if lightly loaded, although up at GVM the advantage of the Rover is lost and you'd be better off with the G Wagen. But that was before the new Rover diesel engines. I'd probably rate my Puma over the G Wagen of ten years ago, but thats perhaps not a fair comparison

Great vehicle -would have considered a Pro ute if they were sold in Aussie
Cheers

Alan

Tom. Shepard drives one so must be good

Can anyone tell me if those Aust Defence Force Mercs have an ADR plate? as if not they can not be sold on post military use for road registration to private buyers, without an ADR plate no vehicle built post 1972 can be registered in Australia, UNLESS it is a private import and has the relative compliance plate fitted here in Australia.

The Australian Design Rules (ADR) plate is/was designed soley to protect the Australian Motor Vehicle Building Industry, from those vehicles built overseas whether they were up to or exceded those Australian specs,it costs a motor manufacture many hundreds of thousands of $ to get a vehicle approved and that does not include those used in destruction tests,that is the reason why many model of vehicles built by world manufacturers are not on the Australian market,too few sales and to to costly to get approval

I can remember a Landrover product being delayed it's ADR plate as the exhaust tailpipe exited on the wrong side (right and not left)

That is why there are so few exotics on Australian roads,but you can still import one and get a personal import plate(at your own costs) and modifications to suit ADR's if you want one,modifications include headlights(left dip,tailight brightness and reflectivity,must have Aust ADR seatbelts,etc,sweep of windscreen wipers and spray of washers) just ask any hotrodder as to what hoops he has to jump through.

There are probably a lot of those grey imports ex Japan=ex NZ that if they had to go over the pits would fail ,all at the discression of the testing officer, and his interepitation of the ADR's.


cheers

Originally Posted by UncleHo

without an ADR plate no vehicle built post 1972 can be registered in Australia, UNLESS it is a private import and has the relative compliance plate fitted here in Australia.

Not quite the case - Aust Army 101s do not have compliance plates and are on the roads in Aust without any compliance plates or mod certificates.

Garry

I am pretty sure part of the contract was that at end of service life the ADF G's go back to Mercedes and would not be made available to the public.
There are plenty of ex-army G's on the road around the world but they are almost all LHD, many from Canada, Holland, Denmark and Germany. Even the British army have some for sale.

The UK MOD will be getting rid of all theres soon, with the gradually pull out of Germany..