Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mercedes G63 AMG is one of those ostentatious vehicles that you see driving around and wonder what sort of celebrity might be behind the wheel. Let’s see if this one is priced to allow that same intrigue for us regular folk.
After posting last Friday’s 2000 Newmar Kountry Star motorhome/2008 Toyota Yaris combo deal, I got to thinking about the model’s odd spelling of country with a K. I mean, it seems to me that “Kountry Star” should rightfully be applied to a guy whose real name is actually something like “Travis Open Carry” and who sings about freedom and the faithfulness of a good dog.
Based on the comments, it seems most of you took more issues with the combo’s $32,500 price tag than with that name. Some of you even broke out the calculator and did the math on the deal, finding it not to be a good value. Oddly, that failed to sway the majority of the voters, as the Kountry Star and its Yaris partner took home a solid 66 percent Nice Price win.
Friday’s Newmar motorhome (yeah, I’m done with writing country with a K) was a symbol of ostentation simply by virtue of its size. At 34 feet long and twice as high as an elephant’s eye tall, it certainly made a statement. The diminutive Yaris? Yeah, not so much.
What, however, if you sought to make such a statement of unfettered consumerism but didn’t have the space for something the size of Jeff Bezos’ wallet? Well then, you might want to go with something like this 2015 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG Designo. This is, after all, a type of truck that makes its presence known far and wide, but at the same time is also quite garageable.
The underlying Geländewagen is Mercedes’ longest-running model, having originally been introduced as a military vehicle (think, fancy Jeep) in the late 1970s. The civilian model arrived in 1979, but wouldn’t make its official U.S. debut until 2001. That was in answer to the success Range Rover was enjoying in the American market. Over the course of its incredibly long model run, the Geländewagen has seen a steady stream of updates and modernizations. These have kept it abreast of the best of off-roaders out there and the added luxuries today make the model one of the fanciest in Mercedes’ lineup.
The G63 AMG is one of the ultimate expressions of the G-Wagon, offering under its hood a 5.5 liter M157 V8. That’s fed by twin turbochargers that help boost power to a dizzying 536 horsepower and give it over 590 lb-ft of torque. That allows the massive brick of a truck to bolt to sixty from a standstill in just a few ticks over five seconds. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, and owners of the G63 AMG are responsible for keepingthe fossil fuel industry rolling in cash.
On top of the performance, the AMG-zed G-Wagon gets some body mods that let it stand out from the lesser models and pretty much everything else out there. These include a unique grille treatment, model-specific wheels, and bigger grilles on the fenders to let the brawny V8 better breathe.
This one goes a step further in the bling department, as the ad notes $20,000 in add-ons including additional lighting elements, a Brabus hood bulge, and a rear wing that’s just plain comical. Underneath, the truck rides on a three-and-a-half-inch lift kit and Rhino axles. Twenty-inch wheels are fitted with Toyo tires that stick out of even the G63’s wide fenders and look like they probably drone on the highways.
Inside, you get Mercedes’ chi-chi Designo accoutremonts. That means diamond stitching everywhere and other upscale touches. Overall, it looks super posh, although it is a little disconcerting how similar the steering wheel buttons look to those on a lowly VW Jetta.
Mileage is a mere 68,000 and the truck comes with a clean title, a clear Carfax report, and all manuals from when it was new. The seller claims it to be “perfect” and advises you “won’t find a cleaner one.” The ad notes that payment must be made in cash or cashier’s check only, and the seller advises that they will not take payments over time since they are “not a bank.”
Okay, with that all in mind, it’s now time to consider this G63’s price. The asking is $95,000 and yes, that’s a lot of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos when taken out of context. In context is the fact that, when new, this truck carried an MSRP of over $140,000, or around what a similar Porsche Cayenne Turbo S would have asked. This one also has a slew of updates and appreciably low miles.
I’ve built it up enough, however. Now I’m handing the reins over to you. What do you say, is this G63 AMG Designo worth that $95,000 asking? Or, is that too much, even for a truck that’s so over the top?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.
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