Thread: Out go the Perenties, in come the Gelandewagens

Certainly with is a thread about comparing the new incoming vehicles with the old outgoing vehicles it does need to be kept in mind that the G wagen as a model is even older than the Perenti and its civilian 110 equivalent.

Contrary to popular opinion the vehicle started life as a Steyr Puch replacement for the Haflinger. Shortly after Mercedes Benz became involved and was rebadged as a MB. These early models were powered by Merc diesels and petrols and if one of these early diesels was compared to a Perenti then many of the issues related to engines would not be so relevant. The civilian petrol version was sold in Australia in the mid 80s and compared well against a petrol 110 of the same time.

Likewise if Landrover had tendered for the modern contract that the G wagen won then the vehicle - certainly engine wise would have many of the issues that people have raised about the complexity would also have applied.

The other aspect is that when the Perenti was built it followed the doctrine of taking these vehicles on war operations where we have now found that this is not a good idea for most of them and more armoured vehicles are needed. The G wagens of course will not be used in the same way the earlier Perenties were and will be used more as a behind the scenes vehicle support vehicle than a front line vehicle - there will always be exceptions of course.

So it it fair to compare the two vehicles when their roles in our military are subtly different.

Please pedantic people take note - these are general statements.

The G wagen and the base compnents of our military vehicles are still built by what was Steyr Puch (now Magna Steyr) at its old factory in Austria. While MB badged, they are really a SDP vehicle.

Interesting history there mate

There is also a Peugot version with a different engine again.

Originally Posted by DeeJay

Interesting that they are heading South out of Melbourne. The few I've seen on transporters are on their way North...I wonder what their destination is? - Maybe a body getting fitted at Dandenong?

After they have arrived in Melb (Merc Head office) some are trucked up to Newcastle to get "modules" attached

Things are looking up

Mercedes-Benz G-Professional hits Oz - motoring.com.au


How about a Group Buy ???

"If someone wanted to buy say 20 G-Professionals of the absolute same spec we could probably accommodate it, but for individual vehicles we simply don't have the capacity in the plant at the moment – but that's not to say it won't happen in the future."

Nah, I'll stick with a Perentie, suits my style better.

I just finished testing a civilian cab chassis G wagen. Fitted with road type tyres and alloy tray. We curretnly run Land Cruisers utes. The G wagen leaves the LC in its wake. Carries substantialy more load and does it more safely and easily, more stable, particulary on side slopes.

As for serious 4WDing, the Gbanger is just a capaable as a LC fitted with lockers but carries more load and as mentioned more stable on side slopes. The auto is excellent in general driving and up hills (torque is plentyfull), not as good down hill with the vehicle running away faster than an LC but manageble with a change in driving technique.

We had a few compaints about the ergonomics but being a Landy driver, much the same to me. Steering on the Wagen a bit too heavy. These things are no more complex than any new model vehicle the challenge is serivce, most bigger towns have a Toyota dealer, not so Merc.

In fact to compare the wagen to a LC or Land rover is unfair because the wagen is in a different class, its not a light 4wd, closer to a light truck but drives like a light 4WD.

All up the wagen out performs everything else out there for what we use our vehicles for, not for every one and the servicing issuie is still to be resolved but a verry impressive vehicle.

Cheers

Originally Posted by bent

I just finished testing a civilian cab chassis G wagen. Fitted with road type tyres and alloy tray. We curretnly run Land Cruisers utes. The G wagen leaves the LC in its wake. Carries substantialy more load and does it more safely and easily, more stable, particulary on side slopes.

As for serious 4WDing, the Gbanger is just a capaable as a LC fitted with lockers but carries more load and as mentioned more stable on side slopes. The auto is excellent in general driving and up hills (torque is plentyfull), not as good down hill with the vehicle running away faster than an LC but manageble with a change in driving technique.

We had a few compaints about the ergonomics but being a Landy driver, much the same to me. Steering on the Wagen a bit too heavy. These things are no more complex than any new model vehicle the challenge is serivce, most bigger towns have a Toyota dealer, not so Merc.

In fact to compare the wagen to a LC or Land rover is unfair because the wagen is in a different class, its not a light 4wd, closer to a light truck but drives like a light 4WD.

All up the wagen out performs everything else out there for what we use our vehicles for, not for every one and the servicing issuie is still to be resolved but a verry impressive vehicle.

Cheers

Couldn't have said it better myself. I've driven the g350 (nice interior) and the G Professional. The professional is "the s**t" offroad. You honestly can't get them stuck if you have any 4wding experience. Plenty of grunt and transitions to the black stuff is easy as it is still a nice car on the road.
Maxtraks has a photo of a 6x6 Army G going around on their products at the moment, which is interesting because in all of the army testing they couldn't get it stuck in the sand (inside knowledge) so they gave up and placed maxtraks for a photo!


having a G would be great, would take one over a Sahara LC anyday. But in the mean time the perente will do me fine!


cheers.