2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Technology Review: The electric G Wagen is a real head spinner

May 31, 2025May 31, 2025 Stephen Corby 489 Views 0 Comments

When EVs started creating a stir, back when Elon Musk was seen as a saviour rather than a silly sausage, there was much breathless talk about how car makers would soon produce mad machines with an electric motor in each wheel.

The talk was all about the torque this would deliver, and the mad all-wheel acceleration, rather than the fact that it would allow one-wheel drive, previously unimagined off-road skills and the ability to zing the wheels in opposite directions so that you can get your car to spin on the spot like a child’s toy.

Incredibly, finally, a mass car maker has produced just such a vehicle in the square and quite unappealing shape of the Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ Technology, which effectively has the power output of a C180 Benz in each wheel, and which thus delivers not only the ability to climb sand mountains and perform gurning G-Turns but berserker acceleration as well.

This all-electric G Wagen would be the most absurd, unhinged and unnecessary vehicle I’ve ever driven, if I wasn’t so fortunate as to have previously taken the wheel of the Tesla Cybertruck, which is notionally the only competitor this batshit Benz has (although not in Australia).

I spent a day making myself feel sick in one so that you don’t have to (and in case you don’t have $250K to buy one).

2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 price and equipment

So, Mercedes-Benz Australia declared itself “very proud” of the $249,900 price for the G580 (or the special suckers’ price of $299,900 for the early adopter Edition One variant, which does come with a lovely blue weave carbon fibre treatment), but it’s hard to say what they’re proud of, because it can’t be how low the number is.

Perhaps they’re proud because they can’t believe how much margin they’re going to make on a car that will no doubt be snapped up by rich fashion victims who think all G Wagens are cool – because rappers and gangsters and flim-flam social media whores drive them – and thus this new one must be the thing to have.

These people, all of whom should have their phones taken away and thrown into Mt Doom, will no doubt rush to their polo-pony farms to film themselves spinning through 720 degrees while doing a G-Turn – a feat that really hits the G-Spot with the social algorithms – post it on Instagram and then realise how scary it is to drive in the real world and either sell it or park it towards the rear of their car collections.

What they almost certainly won’t do is appreciate that fact that the EQ G Wagen is actually more capable off-road than the famed combustion versions, thanks to a wading depth that’s 150mm greater and a full carbon composite bash plate that covers the underside of the Wagen so that it can take an absolute pounding without piercing the giant 116kWh battery (which can charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 32 minutes on a DC charger of up to 200kW and delivers a claimed range of 567km).

The G580 can quite likely dig a hole all the way to China if you want it to, thanks to its four motors producing 432kW and a ridiculous 1164Nm of torque, so dragging you up sand hills or through rivers will be a doddle. Or would be, if a G Wagen like this ever went off road (Merc can’t tell us how many customers are likely to do this, and refused to say whether “zero” was a fair estimate).

It can do off-road crawling, it can spin through 720 degrees, it can do G-Steer, which allows it to drift around obstacles in an exciting fashion, and it offers G-Roar, which is a fake noise system that pumps an “ominous” faux engine noise through the Burmeister stereo into the car, and through two sound bars, front and rear, for the outside world.

In looks terms, it’s almost indistinguishable from a normal G Wagen, nor the original one from 1970, other than a slight power bump in the bonnet, which apparently improves aero.

And surprise surprise, you can have one without a spare wheel (I mean, why would a giant off-road vehicle need one?) and choose a Design Box on the rear door instead, in which you can keep your charging cables.

Obviously it has many safety systems and every interior mod con, plus many lush screens.

2025 Mercedes-Benz G580: What we think

Having seen videos of the giant G-Wagen EV doing its Kylie Minogue tribute and spinning around, I’m sure you’re wondering what that’s like and, while it looks like it might make you sick, the good news is it’s actually hilariously amusing and easy.

I can’t explain why it doesn’t make you vomit, but I can explain why Benz thinks it’s necessary. Apparently off-roaders sometimes drive into dead ends and get stuck and then have to make annoying multi-point turns or tricky reverses, but not with the G580. No, you can just press a button, pull a paddle on the steering wheel and turn 180 degrees on the spot. Why the car can go through 720 degrees is a harder question to answer, but the reason is probably best described as “Instagram”.

So, I’ll buy that this giant ladder framed overpowered mass of metal is capable off-road, no problem, but considering that it will mainly be used on the road it’s important to note that it does ride like a ladder framed mass of metal, and it’s not overly pleasant, or luxurious, or $250K-car like.

It’s not awful, and the big Benz can actually handle some sweeping bends without falling over, although it’s always going to be top heavy should you ask it to change directions quickly, but it’s noticeably crashy at times.

What is hugely impressive is what it can do to your insides when you unleash more than a kilometre of Newtons by stamping the throttle. You really do get all of it at once, from all four wheels, and the sensation of a machine that weighs more than three tonnes – just let that sink in, THREE TONNES – hurling itself to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds is deeply moving.

Throw yourself at a fun section of road, stamping on and off the throttle, and you’ll soon start to feel like your stomach has been filled with rocks while your body is strapped into a Gravitron. It’s fun, until it isn’t. It’s also possible that you’re not meant to drive it like that and if you are more sensible with it the G580 is a pleasant enough ride for a country drive. In the city, however, it sticks out enormously, and people stare at you. Which is exactly what its buyers want, I guess.

2025 Mercedes-Benz G580: Verdict

Personally, there are few cars I’d be less likely to buy, and I think the price is offensive, but I can see that it is a technological tour de force, and if you consider it on the merits – is it performing its designed function (which is being amazing off road and capable on road, with space for four adults), it hits its goals. It’s just that no one is ever going to utilise that core function.

SCORE: 3.5/5

2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 price and specifications

Price: $249,900 plus on-road costs
Basics: EV, 5 seats, 5 doors, SUV, 4WD
Range: 473km (WLTP)
Battery capacity: 116kWh
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Energy consumption: 23.1kWh/100km
Motors: 2 front and 2 rear, each with up to 108kW/291Nm, 432kW/1164Nm combined outputs
AC charging: 11kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 200kW, CCS combo plug
0-100km/h: 4.7 seconds

Stephen Corby

Stephen is a former editor of both Wheels and Top Gear Australia magazines and has been writing about cars since Henry Ford was a boy. Initially an EV sceptic, he has performed a 180-degree handbrake turn and is now a keen advocate for electrification and may even buy a Porsche Taycan one day, if he wins the lottery. Twice.