Olamide joins G-Wagon clique with 2014 edition

Popular musician, Olamide Adedeji, 26, better known as Olamide is one of Nigeria’s fast rising hip-hop artistes. The multiple award winner, who labels himself as ‘badoo or baddest guy ever liveth, renders most of his songs in Yoruba language and is still loved by many for his originality and street language.

Recently, Olamide acquired a Mercedes Benz G Wagon and a Range Rover.

With the G-Wagon, which costs about N25m, Olamide joined the league of celebrities driving the powerful ‘machine’.

The Mercedes Benz G-wagon was initially developed for military use in the 1970s and is reputed to be among the most capable SUVs ever created.

Aside from its monstrous looks, reviewers say the vehicle has powerful engines, fine interior materials and excellent and incredible off-road capability. They say it delivers quick acceleration with incredible power that belies its size and weight.

Popularly called the G-Wagen,’ from the ‘German Gelandewagen’, which means a cross-country car, the vehicle is considered to be highly rugged. According to auto reviewers, most buyers will never use their G-Wagon to a fraction of its capabilities. And the fact that people can still buy one of Mercedes’ crowning achievements from the 1970’s as a new car today makes it worth every penny.

Performance

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz G63 is powered by a twin-turbocharged 5.5-litre V8 engine that produces 536 horsepower and 561 pound-feet of torque. The seven-speed automatic transmission that sends power to all four wheels through a full-time four-wheel-drive system is praised for its quick and smooth shifts.

Mercedes estimates a 0-100-mph sprint to take only 5.4 seconds, an exceptional performance for such a heavy vehicle. Understandably, fuel economy suffers, returning an abysmal estimated 13 miles per gallon in combined driving, 12mpg in the city and 14mpg on the highway. It has a towing capacity of 7,000 pounds, which is not surprising for such a massive vehicle.

Features

Standard features for this SUV include 20-inch alloy wheels, an automatic engine stop-start function, xenon headlights, power-folding heated mirrors, a sunroof, automatic wipers, front and rear parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, a blind-spot monitoring system and keyless ignition and entry. Other features are 10-way power front seats, COMAND electronics interface with a 7-inch display, navigation system, voice commands, rear-view camera and a 12-speaker Harman Kardon surround-sound system with six-CD changer. Its connectivity options include USB/auxiliary audio jacks, satellite radio and 10GB of music storage.

Safety

Its standard safety features include brake assist, front and rear parking sensors, driver and passenger airbags, including side head, rear head, front side and side curtain airbags. Also included are integrated turn signal mirrors, auto-levelling headlights, hill-hold assist, blind-spot monitoring system and Mercedes’ mbrace2 emergency telematics.

With its tall height, there is an abundance of headroom and legroom and the quality of its interior materials is from supple leathers to rich and attractive wood accents – up to luxury car standards. Even though it has dash-mounted buttons, its menu structure and overall ease of use are excellent.

Surprisingly, it has small storage and cargo space, but its 45 cubic feet of cargo space can be increased to 79.5 cubic feet when the rear seats are folded flat.

The good:

With its weight, the vehicle defies logic by accelerating with shocking ease and in a car-like manner that is positively amazing. It provides a smooth and comfortable ride and its all-terrain tyres combine to generate a fair amount of wind and tyre noise. Also, reviewers commended its front seats for their comfort and support.

The vehicle’s slow steering is a benefit in the dirt as it can be guided through just about anything nature throws at it and the steering wheel rarely registers the impacts, thanks to its full-time 4WD system with front, centre and rear locking differentials.

The bad: It has poor fuel economy and cornering prowess because of its large size and heavy weight. Moreover, the steering is slow and does not return to centre quickly, since it is set up for off-roading. It has no height-adjustable suspension that other pricey SUVs employ. The centre console is reasonably-sized, but the single cup holder and dual door pockets are mounted low, thus, are difficult to access.

Source: www.edmunds.com