Our cluster of high-powered SUVs tore away from Mexico City headed southeast, flanked by a chase car carrying armed personnel, just in case. An hour down the road, we stopped to change license plates. The limited-access freeway gave way to a two-lane road, but the needle of the speedometer remained close to 200 km/h, the equivalent of 124 mph. We had an excuse not to waste any time: That evening, Mercedes-Benz was unveiling a hybrid version of its GLE in Oaxaca de Juárez, almost exactly 300 miles away from the capital. Reason enough to make haste, especially since the police appeared to be utterly unfazed by our elevated pace.
The GLE hybrid represents the future, but we opted for heritage in the form of the classic G-wagen, which made its final official appearance as a new car at this driving event. Since its launch in 1979, the G-wagen had been updated with great caution; in 1990, the W460 became the W461, and the W463 was added as a more luxurious version. Later this month, at the 2018 Detroit auto show, the next generation will be launched. It will feature styling greatly similar to that of the current model but will be about four inches wider. The underpinnings are new, though, and the leap will be greater than ever before, even though the new model disingenuously retains the W463 code.
We choose the G550 for the trip down to Oaxaca; for the drive back, we lined up a G550 4×4², the more intensely off-road-worthy model with portal axles and Unimog-like ground...