The new G63 will cost £143,305

It’s the news that every Sheikh, Kardashian and box-shaped car lover has been waiting for: the price of the new G63. Well, how much is it? £143,305. Or, £164,495 if you want one of the fancy ‘Edition 1’ that comes with chunky 22-inch matte black and red alloy wheels, an auxiliary heater and heated windscreen, different seats (finished in black leather with red stitching) and plenty of ‘Edition 1’ badging. Either way, both are on sale now.

As a reminder, the new G63 is the 21st makeover we’ve all been waiting for. Behind a face squarer than David Coulthard’s lives the familiar 4.0-litre bi-turbo AMG V8. In days gone by, AMG detuned its V8s for service in the G-Class, because its Bronze Age chassis couldn’t cope with the potency of modern German muscle. But this, despite looking just as archaic as the G always has, is an all-new G on an all-new platform. And it can handle the power.

So, the new G63 develops 577bhp. That’s an identical power output to what you find in the AMG GT R. Forty per cent of that arrives at the front wheels, and 60 per cent is sent to the back (past two pairs of side-exit exhaust along the way), via a nine-speed automatic gearbox.

As a result, this shipping container with headlights is properly fast. AMG has clocked it from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds – that’s 0.9 seconds quicker than the old G63 – and it’ll bully oncoming air all the way to 136mph. Select the AMG Driver Package (why wouldn’t you?) and it’ll romp on to 149mph.

Satisfied with the speed achieved by a block of flats with door mirrors, AMG has set about making its luxury monster truck more efficient. We kid you not. Under light throttle openings – as if any G63 owners know what they are – the V8 shuts down four of its cylinders, helping achieve a claimed fuel consumption of 21.4mpg, and 299 CO2s per km. Those are whopping improvements of 1 mile per gallon and 23g/km.

Mercedes has also carried over its new off-road innovations to the G63. New transfer case gear ratios and intelligent diffs are on board so that if, say, a breakfast radio DJ should attempt an off-piste excursion, the G63 won’t need towing out by a Land Rover. Oh, the shame.

Meanwhile, the suspension is tougher, less roly-poly, and offers three levels of stiffness via a button. And if that doesn’t obliterate the ride quality, then optional 21 or 22-inch wheels ought to do the trick.

So, £150-ish grand (when you tick a few option boxes) for a retro-styled ex-military 4x4 wearing side-exit exhausts and a grille you could griddle elk on is hardly down the rational end of the purchase scale. And that’s why every dream garage ought to have one.