Badge of honour

As with all G-class models since the first prototypes four decades ago, G500 was validated only after ascending and descending the torturous Schöckl mountain, a 1 445 m peak in the Austrian Alps, for 2 000 km. The Schöckl mountain offroad route is a nightmare of rock gardens, vertigo-inducing gradients and horribly exposed, off-camber, corners. If G500 works there, it will most certainly work anywhere customers require it to. As such, a neat touch to the new G-class, is its Schöckl proved mountain badge at the base of the B-pillar trim, visible when you open either the front driver or passenger doors.