Defender vs. Wrangler vs. G-Class Off-Road Challenge Ends With Two Losers
Jeep should be thanking Land Rover for releasing the new Defender. If the Brits hadn’t done it, the Wrangler would have never gotten so much attention over the past year.
With the Land Rover out, though, the first competitor that came into everyone’s mind was the American legend. That’s despite the fact the two have very little in common, apart from their proficiency over the rough stuff. And even there, they go about things quite differently.
This little test put together by carwow is a perfect illustration of that. The Land Rover relies heavily on two things to get it through the worst situations: its wonderful Terrain Response system and the air suspension that can put it on stilts when ground clearance becomes a worry.
The Jeep Wrangler, however, has other things going for it. On the one hand, it has rigid axles both front and back, helping it push the unloaded wheel down during articulation to maintain grip with the ground. Secondly, it has the ability to disconnect its sway bar on demand, which allows the front wheels to travel even more than a flight attendant.
And then there’s the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, the third participant in the test. We’re so used to seeing the G-Class in its AMG form that one could almost forget there are other ways in which you can order the German off-road master. In this case, it’s a G 350 d, which stands for a 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel that lowers the SUV‘s performances dramatically, but also its cost. It doesn’t make it cheap, mind you.
The three SUVs will be put through six different challenges, each with six points to be gained: three for the winner, two for the runner-up, and one for the last place. If a vehicle can’t complete a challenge, it’ll be sent to the scrapper. No, wait, it just doesn’t get any point. Yeah, that makes more sense.
Care for a bet? Since this is a British channel and the Land Rover Defender is actually a more than decent off-roader, we thought it would be the clear winner. We were wrong. We’re not going to spoil things any further but suffice to say the video has a pretty tense ending. Oh, and make sure to stick around for the sixth challenge if you want to hear Mat, the host of the carwow channel, make the weirdest – some would even say awkward – sounds.
Source autoevolution.com
