This is the ultimate battle of the boxy off-roaders. The folks at Carwow pitted the Suzuki Jimny, the Jeep Wrangler, and the Mercedes G-Class against each other in a series of off-road tests to determine which off-roader would actually come out triumphant. Although all the three SUVs share similar styling cues – the boxy design mostly - and are pure off-roaders at their core, they cater to different customer bases altogether. Which SUV do you think won the battle?
Three SUVs With Vastly Different Specs
Let’s get the basic specs out of the way first – The Suzuki Jimny is packed with a 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine that lays out 101 ponies and 96 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to the wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox. It also comes with a low range mode for the four-wheel-drive system. The Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is packed with a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that churns out 272 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of twist. This engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and gripping power is boosted with front and rear diff locks. The Mercedes-AMG G63, on the other hand, comes with a 4.0-liter, bi-turbo V-8 engine that makes 585 horses and 627 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to the wheels via a nine-speed automatic gearbox. It features a central differential lock along with a front and rear diff lock, and a low range mode as well.
It’s The Battle Of The Boxy Beauties
Coming back to the video, the first test was an uphill drag race in slushy conditions. The G63 and its 585 horses pulled away effortlessly to score an easy victory. The Jimny came in second, whereas the Wrangler turned up last. Looks like Jimny’s light build overcame the other obstacles here. The next challenge was an axle twist wherein the SUVs had to maneuver a stretch of potholes and all sorts of ups and downs. The Wrangler just zipped by without any problem, thanks to the huge tires and the impressive ground clearance.
The third test involved the SUVs driving at an angle to check how rigid and strong the chassis is and its articulation ability. Logically, the heavy G63 should’ve taken a few hits because of its hefty mass, but the strong ladder frame chassis saved its ass. This was followed by the Wrangler which didn’t break a sweat, thanks to the brilliant articulation and the anti-sway bars that can be decoupled. No wonder Jeeps are considered to be the Gods of off-roading. The little Jimny, without any locking diffs, relied on the braking system to surpass the angle test. But, you can’t really complain when you are paying a fraction of the price compared to the other two here. For the next test, the diffs were disengaged and the SUVs were put in low range mode. It was a time-test through the trenches that involved a U-turn as well. The Jimny won this by a big margin, completing the course in 30 seconds. In comparison, the Wrangler took 44 seconds whereas the G63 completed it in 56 seconds.
The fifth test was going down a hill using the hill descent control feature. The Wrangler crawled at 0.6 mph and was the slowest to reach the bottom. The Jimny swiftly reached down, thus taking the loss in this round. The final test was the steep incline test with the diffs locked in, low range engaged, and gearbox slotted into manual mode. Since this was all about grip and power, I expected the SUVs to be placed according to their respective engine specs. The G63 passed it with flying colors – flying mud, rather – but shockingly, the Wrangler ran out of breath midway, thus scoring zero in this round. In the end, all the off-roaders ended with the same points across six tests.
Final Thoughts
Which SUV is your winner here?
Further reading
Read our full review on the 2019 Suzuki Jimny.
Read our full review on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler.
Read our full review on the 2018 Mercedes-AMG G63.