Thinking Of a G-Wagon for Winter

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Pietre

Active Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Messages
633
Location
Portsmouth
Car
Volkswagon Phaeton V10 5.0L
Any guidance on getting a G-Wagon for the winter. I have heard horror stories,and then the complete opposite, but I notice there isnt a G-Wagon listed on this forum, (which I must say is far better supported than any of the BMW forums i belong to for my bike) any suggestions such as keep your money, or whatever will be gratefully received. :cool:
 
No direct experience of one although I do like them ...

Prolly not a cheap vehicle to buy or run though.

There is an absolute belter here in the office car park, a 9 seater 280 in silver on a D plate with only 25k on the clock. :eek:
 
The Army is replacing its fleet of old Land Rovers with G-WAGON's. Nuff said :)
 
Pietre,
Try www.g-wagen.co.uk for your G Wagen. I had one a few years ago, I thought it was a great motor, shame it had to go :-( As regards your BMW motorcycle, try www.bmwsporttouring.com. Its based in the US but has many UK and European members. Unfortunately, I just sold my R1100RT, I think I made a mistake
 
g -wagons are cool, also get an amg version... no experience with one tho..not even sat in one come to think of it!!
 
Not a common vehicle but highly rated for serious off road use and much favoured by the military. G-wagens are pretty much hand-built in Austria (Steyr-Daimler-Puch) and and differ from most 4x4's in having front, centre and rear diff locks as standard. Rigid high articulation axles front & rear, so a real off-road design orientation means that they are not going to be as good on road as some. Really need to drive in order to compare.

Went through a number of 4x4's (M class, X5, Range Rover, Discovery) and drove one second hand G-Wagen which was expensive and I really did not like it. Maybe newer ones are better, but I thought it really made a lot of going over quite modest road bumps and transmitted substantial surface noise. Bit barge-like in terms of corners!
If you are considering the V8 versions be prepared for serious wallet pain at the pumps: 15mpg ish in normal use is considered good.

In the end I settled for a Toyota Landcruiser LC3 (which will be in my sticky paws Friday PM :bannana: ) as being the best overall for my purposes. Big, tough because it has a real x frame chassis, reliable and is capable of doing far more off road than I would ever dare. Still reasonably civilised for longer-on road journeys. And not a hairdresser in sight.

.
 
Wel I think I am going to bite the bullet on this one as G-Wagons are like rocking horse dung, and give up. But on a positive note I saw a lovely 420SEC for sale and that has now started a new thought process, as in could I get a 500/560SEC for not a lot of money, that i could take loving care of.
 
I have owned 2 g-wagens, an '89 280GE swb and a '91 300GD lwb, both manuals.

The 280GE was by far the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. Normally it is is in rwd mode, but when the going gets tougher you can transfer to 4wd on the fly. There are only 2 diffs on this model and both can be locked seperately. It is important to keep all tyres at a similar depth if you do not want to suffer transmission wind up. ABS was not an option on this model, so some care is required stopping this beast on icy roads. The model I had was fitted with the optional Recaro seats, which were very comfortable.

Fuel consumption was a greedy 19 mpg despite fitting an engine pre-heater, and ultimately this was its main downfall. I owned the car for 3 years and sold it for 75% of what I paid for it, which was pretty good

In hindsight if lpg had been an option then I would probably still own it!

At the time I was keen on the newer type 463 model with all its electronic triple diff locks and ABS. The interior had come from the plusher E series salloon cars. I purchased a lwb 300GD fitted with the rarer 6 cylinder diesel. The performance on road was far smoother than my previous G and far quieter. Unfortunately for me the previous owner had failed to fix anything, perhaps due to letting their nanny drive it all the time. The car spent most of its first year being fixed under warrany by the local MB dealer. Stupid electrical things would fail like the fuel gauge, the filler lock, the door locks. The final trouble was rust started to appear on a panel seam and the power steering pump leaking. I think it must have been on the Paris-Daker never mind a trip to the park with Nanny!

Sadly this vehicle would have been ideal except for its gross unreliability, a fault I suspect of just this particular vehicle and not the entire range. Its fuel economy was around the 25mpg mark. I traded it in after 15 months and lost 25% again.

I'm told that great fun could be had with the G300 auto at the traffic lights if you were to select the low range on the auto box. Wait for the lights to change and floor it, you would give the boy racer a fright as you went through all the gears before hitting 30mph flat out!

If I were to buy another one it would be one of the 463 turbo diesels. Unfortunately RHD versions are extremely rare as they were never officially imported by MB UK. I would not worry too much about driving a left hooker as the very elevated driving position commands an excellent view of the terrain ahead.
There is a nice looking V8 twin turbo diesel for sale on Autotrader, at an even nicer price!
www.dealer.autotrader.co.uk/_seniors1.htm

Anyway I haven't won the lottery this week. I'll have to load some pictures up to my gallery some time.
 
G wagens rock :)

I saw a G55 AMG a few weeks ago :) and a few G500's
 
Has anyone seen the Brabus V12 6.3 twin turbo in merc enthusiast last months issue (August) :eek: `

Oh and theres a nice G500 1999 LWB LHD for sale in it as well or a 300gds high miler.
 
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G wagens are :cool: Oh and dont you just love unimogs :D Slightly impractical though :bannana:




Stu :cool:
 
stwat said:
G wagens are :cool: Oh and dont you just love unimogs :D Slightly impractical though :bannana:




Stu :cool:

I wondered what you meant about being impractical? Then I pulled out an old photo of my G-wagen and realised how much better the 2 vehicles it was parked between would be at collecting the shopping and parking where they liked!

Thumbnail below......

 
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Apial said:
I wondered what you meant about being impractical? Then I pulled out an old photo of my G-wagen and realised how much better the 2 vehicles it was parked between would be at collecting the shopping and parking where they liked!

Thumbnail below......



I think he ment that unimogs were impractical for the school run :D

model_range_all_unimog.object-Single-MEDIA.jpg
 
fuzzer said:
I think he ment that unimogs were impractical for the school run :D

model_range_all_unimog.object-Single-MEDIA.jpg

I think you are correct. Those Unimogs look VERY practical for a short cut though. I heard that the Alvis Stalwart six wheeler was once used by a home sick squaddie to drive home from Germany without using the tunnel or ferry! I think he was arrested 6 miles out at sea.
 

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