Few vehicles are as over-specified for their typical habitat as the 2019 Mercedes-AMG G63 and the Mercedes-Benz G550. The automaker鈥檚 iconic 鈥淕 Wagon鈥?may be a legitimate off-roader, but its unmistakable design is more familiar from Malibu than out in the mud. With this latest generation, then, the question has to be whether Mercedes has diluted the G-Class for the inevitable on-road tastes, or if this rebooted beast is as flagrant as ever. It鈥檚 a bigger SUV than it used to be. 2.1-inches longer, and 4.8-inches wider. You get more shoulder space as a result and, most importantly, almost 6-inches more legroom in the rear. Oddly there鈥檚 still only a regularly-sized sunroof, rather than the expansive panoramic glass we鈥檙e used to from modern luxury cars. You pay luxury car money, too. 147,500. Unusually, sales of AMG鈥檚 version have typically hovered at 50-percent of the mix. Maybe that鈥檚 because it unashamedly looks the part.

Clearly related to the G-Class before it, though cleaner and more nuanced the more you look at it. Only three parts were actually carried over: the spare wheel cover, the chunky door handles, and the headlamp washers. Still, the brutalist aesthetic is unmistakable. The G550 is more reserved - in comparison to the AMG model, that is. Its bodywork is still more set-square than sculpted, but it looks more off-road friendly than the G63. The circular daytime running lights squint calculating through the frames of its bull-bars, as if coolly assessing the terrain ahead. Handsomely rugged, sure, but my heart can鈥檛 escape the gravitational pull of the AMG. It is a child鈥檚 drawing of a car made real. A Tonka truck for adults; a conscious decision to ignore the wind-tunnel-smoothed amorphous SUV blobbery of modern vehicles. Sure, you get constant wind noise at highway speeds as a result, but who cares when it looks this damn good? There are some cars which, just in those first moments of sitting behind the wheel, make you feel special.

Powerful, even. The AMG G63, with its thick, sculpted wheel wrapped in perforated leather and its supercilious seating position, captures you in a way that you really can鈥檛 predict from the outside. It just feels really good, and by extension you feel really good, too. And yes, I know, this is a luxe vision from an expiring era. A gas-quaffing, brutalist and unapologetic behemoth. There鈥檚 no hybrid, no secret plug-in to coax out an extra mpg or two: just conspicuous profligacy of a sort we鈥檙e meant to be leaving behind. With sales measured in the thousands, perhaps that doesn鈥檛 matter so much. The G550 gets the same 4.0-liter V8 biturbo as the old car, now with 416 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque. Straight-line speed in something with aerodynamics not far off those of a shipping container seems like it should be underwhelming. That only makes the 5.6 second 0-60 mph time the more impressive.

The AMG G63 has a new AMG 4.0-liter V8 biturbo, hand-made and delivering a heady 577 horsepower and 626 lb-ft of torque. It cuts the 0-60 time to an astonishing 4.5 seconds. Both get a 9-speed automatic transmission with wider gear ratios, so that a single gearbox can deliver the goods both on-road and off. The suspension has been completely reengineered with the help of AMG鈥檚 engineers. Adaptive damping is standard on the G63 and an option on the G550. There are new Dynamic modes, too, three on-road and a fourth 鈥淕 Mode鈥?for off-road use. Active brake assistance and lane-keeping assistance is offered, too, along with the latest version of Mercedes鈥?DISTRONIC adaptive cruise control. It all feels a whole lot like the automaker鈥檚 more mainstream models. That鈥檚 not to say it鈥檚 underwhelming. Nowhere close. Plant your right foot and the G63 surges forward with a pace that鈥檚 monumental.

Like a glacier, torn free of the ice flow and hurtling with a mass you can feel in the clench of your jaw; like a steam train, full throated and furious. Only the AMG gets Sport Plus mode, and of course you want it. Why would you, how could you not? Body roll isn鈥檛 quashed entirely but enough to make throwing what鈥檚 a considerably-sized truck into mountain corners feel acceptably short of suicidal. The G550, in contrast, gets a little cautioning shuffle even in its Sport setting if you attempt the same hijinks. Both get the same off-road hardware, though the G550鈥檚 footwear is more suited to such endeavors than the skinnier rubber on the AMG shoes. Few G-Class owners may take their truck into the mud and sand and dust, but they鈥檙e missing out. Over a progressively tougher series of rock climbs, savage inclines in both directions, and general tomfoolery, the G550鈥檚 talents became clear.