If you are banished to the Highlands for yet another holiday, the Mercedes G400d will bring a touch of off-road extravagance to your otherwise prosaic family trip. A redesign of the iconic G-Class, engineered in 2018, the new model makes a great addition to the German manufacturer’s catalogue. Its hardy-looking and rugged utilitarian exterior open up into typical Mercedes luxury inside – it’s “a vehicle capable of traversing a post-apocalyptic wasteland and can give you a soothing back massage while doing so”, says James Attwood in Autocar.
The car boasts a powerful three-litre, straight-six, turbo-diesel engine that can generate 700Nm of torque, so it’s more than capable of scaling any incline the Lake District has to offer. For its size, the machine will do it quickly too; hurtling all 2,489kg of its mass from rest to 62mph in just 6.4 seconds, says Sean Carson in Auto Express, and on to a top speed of 130mph. It will have no trouble tearing up the moor in every one of its nine gears or dragging a small boulder in its wake with a massive 3,500kg towing capacity.
The lavishly-lined interior, with its “diamond-quilt” leather upholstery and open-pore wooden trim, is also “an extremely nice place to spend time”, says Martin Pretorius for AutoTrader, and features a generous amount of gadgets to complement the more delicate traditional furnishings with all the mod cons. The dashboard has an infotainment system, standard operating navigation and even voice control. Fitted with a selection of ambient lighting in 64 colours, three-zone climate control and adjustable dynamic front seats that remember how you like to sit and counteract lateral forces when cornering, going for a drive starts to feel more like a spa day than piloting a typical SUV.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
It’ll cost you a fair bit more than your average spa day, however. The most basic model costs £101,565. That asking price seems “less lamentable” when you consider that it’s built almost entirely by hand in a bespoke facility and undercuts similar luxury SUVs, including the offerings from Bentley and Maserati, says South Africa’s Car Mag. It also provides the most “mesmerising 4X4 experience” you can buy.
-
The top stocks in the FTSE 100After a year of strong returns for the UK’s flagship index, which FTSE 100 stocks have posted the best performance in 2024?
-
A junior ISA could turn your child’s pocket money into thousands of poundsPersuading your child to put their pocket money in a junior ISA might be difficult, but the pennies could quickly grow into pounds – and teach them a valuable lesson about money
-
Global car shares slide amid lower demand in China – what happens now?Has the car sector run into trouble? Britain’s Aston Martin and Germany’s Volkswagen are among the key automobile brands that have issued profit warnings.
-
Volkswagen mulls closure of German factoriesWhy is Volkswagen considering the closures and how is the carmaker performing?
-
Is China winning the electric car race?China now sells more electric cars than conventional ones within its territory. Western countries seem determined to stop them from crossing their borders. Why?
-
Val d’Isère is a valley of delightsMoneyWeek Travel Matthew Partridge reviews Airelles Val d’Isere and Hotel Mont-Blanc in the famous French ski resort
-
Review: The Ozen Collection – a dream stay in the MaldivesMoneyWeek Travel Ozen Life Maadhoo and Ozen Reserve Bolifushi, where luxury meets nature, are almost too good to be true, says Nicole García Mérida.
-
Review: An odyssey through Sri LankaMoneyWeek Travel Merryn Somerset Webb explores the South Asian country’s ruins, jungle and fabulous food.
-
Flexjet review: the only way to flyMoneyWeek Travel Chris Carter flies with Flexjet, a provider of fractional ownership of private jets, to St Moritz in Switzerland for the Snow Polo World Cup.
-
South American nature holidays – take a walk on the wild sideTravel We find holidays in South America where you can explore nature in all its diversity.
