Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6

G63 AMG 6x6 at a glance

The 6x6 is a four-seat double-cab pick-up with a short load bed. It sits in the G-Class family (W463 at the time), whose development department in Graz engineered it, and it shares the long-running body shape and the front of the G63 AMG. Behind the cab, two driven rear axles carry the bed.

The idea came from a military vehicle. From 2007 the G-Class team built a six-wheeled version for the Australian Army, a load and patrol vehicle with a diesel engine. Mercedes-Benz took that layout, added AMG power and a luxury cabin, and revealed the G63 AMG 6x6 in early 2013. It was first called a "near-series" show vehicle; customer demand turned it into a small series.

G63 AMG 6x6 engine, gearbox and six-wheel drive

The engine is AMG's M157 5.5-litre V8 with two turbochargers, the unit used in the G63 AMG of the time: 400 kW (544 PS) and 760 Nm. A seven-speed AMG Speedshift Plus 7G-Tronic automatic with three modes (efficiency, sport and manual) sends power to a transfer case with high and low ranges (0.87:1 and 2.16:1). An extra shaft drives the rearmost axle. The nominal split is 30% front, 40% middle and 30% rear.

Five differential locks, worked by three switches in stages, can lock all six wheels together. That makes the 6x6 very hard to stop on sand, rock or mud, as long as the wheels touch the ground.

In a period test, the 6x6 reached 60 mph in 7.8 seconds, quick for a vehicle weighing about four tonnes. By our calculation it has about 104 kW per tonne, compared with roughly 155 kW per tonne for the four-wheeled G63 AMG of the time, which had the same engine and weighed about 2.55 tonnes. Top speed is limited to 160 km/h (100 mph). The old 1cars text gave fuel use of 16 to 22 l/100 km; with this weight and engine, figures at the upper end of that range or above are realistic in real driving.

Portal axles, tyres and off-road hardware

The 6x6 uses portal axles, similar in principle to those of the Unimog: the wheel hubs sit below the axle line, which lifts the whole vehicle. Body height rises by about 250 mm over a standard G-Class, and ground clearance reaches 460 mm. Fording depth grows from about 600 mm on the standard G to 1 metre.

The tyres are 37-inch off-road tyres on beadlock wheels, so they stay on the rims at very low pressure. A central inflation system with an onboard compressor and four 20-litre air tanks lets the driver change tyre pressure from the seat. It goes down to about 0.5 bar for soft sand and back to road pressure in under 20 seconds per change.

Other hardware:

• three-part stainless steel underbody protection;
• coil springs, stiffer on the front and middle axles and softer on the rear axle, with adjustable gas-pressure dampers;
• carbon-fibre wheel-arch flares;
• a load bed decked in solid bamboo.

Cabin and equipment

Inside there are four individual seats, all electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated, trimmed in diamond-quilted designo leather with Alcantara. The rear passengers get a two-screen entertainment system in the front seat backs. The dashboard and gear selector follow the G63 AMG, with carbon trim and lit door sills.

There were no trims or option packages in the usual sense. Each car was built to order in Graz, and customers chose colours and materials through the designo programme.

Price, production and buyers

Mercedes-Benz did not publish a standard list price. At launch the 6x6 sat below only the SLS AMG Electric Drive in the Mercedes range, which made it the second most expensive car the brand sold. Reported deals show its rarity: 15 right-hand-drive cars went to Malaysia and one South African buyer ordered 10.

Production ran from 2013 at Magna Steyr in Graz, where the G-Class itself was built. Demand exceeded Mercedes' expectations, but the company declared the model sold out in early 2015, and the last customer car left the plant in May 2015. In total, a little over 100 were built, many for buyers in the Middle East. Some later appeared in films such as Jurassic World (2015).

Running, reliability and ownership

The 6x6 shares its engine and gearbox with the G63 AMG, so routine engine service is not unusual for a Mercedes-AMG workshop. The rest is special: portal axles, the extra rear axle, the tyre inflation system and the 37-inch tyres need specialist parts and knowledge. Buyers should check:

• the full service record from a Mercedes-Benz or specialist workshop;
• leaks and wear at the portal hubs and the rear axle drive;
• the condition of the beadlock wheels and tyres, which are costly to replace;
• the compressor and air tanks of the inflation system;
• the registration and licence class: at about 3.85 tonnes the 6x6 is above the 3,500 kg limit of the EU category B licence, so a driver usually needs a C1 licence.

There is no Euro NCAP or other crash rating for the 6x6, as is usual for small-series vehicles.

Rivals and later six-wheelers

Very few production vehicles do what the 6x6 does:

• Brabus B63S 700 6x6: the Bottrop tuner's version with more power; the brand's story is told in the history of Brabus.
• Mercedes-Benz G500 4x4² (from 2015): the four-wheeled follow-up, which kept the portal axles and raised body but dropped the third axle.
• Mercedes-Maybach G650 Landaulet (2017): a limited open-top G-Class on portal axles, aimed at the same buyers.
• Mercedes-AMG G65 AMG: the V12 G-Class of the same period and the most powerful four-wheeled G of its time; see the G65 AMG page.

To see how the V8 6x6 ranks among powerful off-roaders, look at the most powerful SUVs, or set it against a standard G-Class or another off-roader in the 1cars comparison tool.

Who the G63 AMG 6x6 suits

The 6x6 is a collector's vehicle. It suits a buyer with space to store a 5.9-metre truck, access to specialist service and a use for real off-road ability, for example in desert regions. For everyday use, a standard G63 AMG or the later G500 4x4² is easier to park, run and maintain. As one of about 100 cars from the Graz plant, a well-kept 6x6 is likely to stay sought-after. The brand's wider history is in the Mercedes-Benz history, and the current range is in the Mercedes-Benz catalogue.