Offensive cars are a dying breed. In a world of homogenized designs, where even Lamborghini’s scream for attention feels somewhat predictable in locales like Dubai, and Pagani’s hypercars are accepted as rolling art, true automotive rebellion is rare. Want to genuinely provoke and polarize? Look no further than the biturbo V12 Mercedes-AMG G65. And surprisingly, it’s absolutely brilliant.
(Full Disclosure: Mercedes-Benz, in a twist of events, offered us a G65 as a substitute when the requested S550 convertible for Pebble Beach week was unavailable. We accepted and embarked on a memorable journey from LA to San Francisco and beyond.)
Objectively assessing the Mercedes G65 AMG, it’s hard to paint a flattering picture. “Terrible” and “atrocious” might even be understatements. Beyond the boastful “BITURBO V12” badges, finding a genuinely redeeming quality is a challenge. Even the monstrous V12 engine, the car’s supposed centerpiece, feels… flawed. It’s almost unbelievable to admit, but even that powerhouse is part of its perplexing badness.
With a staggering price tag exceeding $220,000, the G65 is automotive aristocracy flipping the bird. Every facet of this machine seems engineered to elicit dropped jaws and bewildered head-shakes. Rationality takes a backseat as frustration, anger, and confusion bubble to the surface. Its unapologetically boxy and aggressive styling is hardly pleasing to the eye, and even the roar of the V12 lacks a truly satisfying note. It simply doesn’t excel in any conventional automotive metric, and in many areas, it performs downright terribly. Forget about making new friends; and since it’s just another G-Wagen to the untrained eye, even your enemies are unlikely to give it a second thought.
In a world searching for rebellion, the Mercedes G65 emerges as an unlikely punk rock icon. While its opulent price tag clashes with punk’s anti-establishment ethos, its sheer audacity and confrontational nature resonate with a similar spirit. This is automotive anarchy in its most luxurious form.
The Geländewagen, or G-Wagen, boasts a lineage stretching back decades, originally conceived as a robust military vehicle for geopolitical standoffs. Today, it’s more commonly seen navigating affluent city streets than traversing battlefields. Even the “base” Mercedes G550 model, equipped with a 4.0-liter biturbo V8 producing a potent 416 horsepower, starts at an eye-watering $119,900. This already eclipses the power of the original G55 AMG by a significant margin.
Then there’s the Mercedes-AMG G63, which, in the face of the G65, feels almost… pedestrian. If you’re committed to making a statement, to truly express automotive defiance, why not go all the way? Why settle for a polite cough when you can deliver a full-throated roar?
And the 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V12 engine residing within the Mercedes G65 is precisely that roar. Producing a colossal 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, it’s a mechanical middle finger of epic proportions. It’s so massive, it appears to barely squeeze under the G-Wagen’s iconic hood.
This cramped engine bay perfectly encapsulates the G65’s essence. There’s no room for frivolous additions or unnecessary refinement. It’s all wonderfully, deliberately, superfluously nonsensical. The Mercedes G65 AMG is not about logic; it’s about making a statement, however outrageous.
