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Slipperier than before
We’re not talking underfoot, which is treacherous on the snow and ice in Sweden, but the way the G 580 cuts through the air. The G-Class might share its aerodynamic properties with a barn, but Mercedes-Benz’s engineers have been busy trying to make it a bit less slab-sided without changing the looks. We’re told the aerodynamicist in Mercedes-Benz’s wind tunnel found it to be unlike any of the company’s other vehicles, but that’s kind of the point. Engineers love a challenge, and with some minor tweaking of the G 580’s shape, this is the slipperiest G-Class ever.
The outgoing vehicle has a coefficient of drag (or Cd) of 0.54, but one engineer admitted they’d managed to knock almost an entire point off that. That’s still not fantastic; for comparison, the EQS SUV has a rating of 0.26, but that’s built off a dedicated EV platform and doesn’t come with any legacy and iconic styling expectations.
What’s impressive is that you’ll need to be a committed G-Class spotter to note the differences. Mercedes-Benz reprofiled the front pillars, added a small spoiler in the gutter above the windshield, reshaped the hood, and added cutouts in the rear wheel arch protrusions. That not only helps reduce the Cd figure but also makes for a marked improvement in refinement, with wind noise dramatically improved in the G 580’s interior — so much so that all new G-Class models adopt some elements of the EQ model’s aero tweaks, though not going so far as the cutouts in the rear wheel arches, or the unique hood.
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