---
title: "A Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG on a Racetrack Is a Bad Idea"
description: "Matt Farah finds more G-Wagen excitement off the beaten path."
date: "2016-04-21"
modified: "2016-04-21"
authors:
  - name: "Drive Video"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/drive-video"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/video/3117/a-mercedes-benz-g63-amg-on-a-racetrack-is-a-bad-idea"
categories:
  - "Mercedes-Benz News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "g-class"
  - "luxury"
  - "Mercedes-Benz"
  - "Off-Road"
  - "suv/crossover"
---

# A Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG on a Racetrack Is a Bad Idea

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/042116-video-mercedes-benz-g63-amg-hero_1.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

With so many civilian-spec Mercedes-Benz G-Class trucks haunting the malls and traffic jams of Southern California, you might as well call it the "Los Angeles-Class." (Oops—turns out the Navy already uses that term for its nuclear-powered attack subs.)

Still, Matt Farah was tired of seeing LA's sad-looking G-Wagens operating at a tiny fraction of their go-anywhere capability, so he shanghaied one to the western Mojave. He wanted to see if the 40-year-old platform—refreshed with AMG's latest 563-horsepower, 5.5-liter biturbo V8—could run with the track-day crowd at Willow Springs raceway.

As ideas go, this one could have been better. Matt turned a few laps, apex-blocking the hoard of Vipers, BMW M3s and Honda S2000s that comprised the track's paying customers, before deciding that a steeper and scrubbier part of the Willow Springs property was better suited to the G63's very particular set of skills.

Sorry. Next time he'll ask first.

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