The Mercedes-Benz G-wagen is pretty nuts. A nearly forty-year-old ex-military vehicle, the box-shaped off-roader has become an unlikely status symbol, one that Mercedes-Benz intends to keep around for the long term. To that end, Daimler has been playing variations on the funky G: Consider the G65 AMG, packing an absurd, 621-hp V-12. And let’s not forget the ultimate absurdi-G, the three-axled G63 AMG 6×6, which was sold in limited quantities. Slightly less insane, but still pretty far out there, is the G500 4×4², an ultra-hardcore off-road G-wagen that expands the definition of “all-terrain”; it’s been sold in other markets since last year, and now the website Motor1.com reports that it may be coming to the States.
Motor1 quotes Bart Herring, head of product planning for Mercedes-Benz in the United States, as saying that MBUSA is “very close to a good decision” on whether to bring the G500 4×4² here. Should that “good decision” come to pass, we’ve further been told to expect the G500 4×4² to rumble into U.S. showrooms in the latter half of 2017.
Unlike the 6×6, the 4×4² is based on the G500, which means it’s powered by that model’s new 416-hp, 4.0-liter V-8?that engine, it should be pointed out, is potent enough to send the brick-shaped 4×4² from 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds (5.7, to be exact), and it blasts its rorty exhaust note through dual side pipes that exit just ahead of the rear wh...