QOTD: Land Rover Defender Vs. Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon – Pick Your Poison

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Let’s say you had around $50,000 to spend on a vehicle purely as an indulgence. In this indulgence, you desire a somewhat rare SUV that’s basic, yet carries substantial prestige. In the same way, your SUV of choice would be very capable off-road, but you’d never take it there (as it’s simply too valuable). This vehicle would be for around-town jaunts on sunny days only.

A tough and specific decision for you, as imaginary well-heeled buyer of this used SUV. But never fear, as we’ve narrowed the choices down to two for today’s QOTD.

So, between the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, which do you choose to lighten your wallet?

This isn’t the first time we’ve presented the B&B with a Pick Your Poison Question of the Day. The inaugural honors go to the Lincoln versus Cadillac QOTD. But before we cover the two options, let’s go over the very simple rules of this engagement — there are only two this time.

  1. The Defender or G-Wagon are your only two choices today, and you must choose one of them.
  2. Suggestions of “neither,” or of any vehicles outside the two outlined below are invalid. Consider yourself warned.

Option One: 1994 Land Rover Defender 90

This short wheelbase Defender has around 78,000 miles, and is for sale right now for roughly $56,000.

As we detailed previously, the Defender was on sale in the US for just a handful of years — 1993 to 1997. It has a 3.9-liter V-8 engine hooked to a manual transmission, seats two on cloth buckets, and is in excellent condition.

Used Defender prices have increased ever since its cancellation, and the asking price for this clean example is not outside reality.

Option two: 1990 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon

The two-door G-Wagon you see here has travelled 38,000 miles in its lifetime, and is on offer for just under $55,000.

It has a small four-cylinder gasoline engine, a manual transmission, and seats five on simple cloth seats. This G-Class was never actually on sale through Mercedes dealers in the United States. It was a popular grey import vehicle, however, brought over in limited numbers in the 1980s and 1990s through importers via legislation loopholes. On these shores, customers were eager to pay top dollar (think six figures) for these rare vehicles. Prices started out high and have stayed there ever since.

This two-door model was never officially sold in North America at all. Mercedes, keen to put the grey guys out of business, began selling the G500 version of the G-Class in North America starting in 2002, but it always had four doors and a luxurious interior. The example above harkens back to a simpler time for the SUV.

Same color(ish), same concept, different execution. Which is your poncy poison SUV of choice?

[Images via eBay]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Shortest Circuit Shortest Circuit on Aug 25, 2017

    G-Wagon on the account that I have more Merc dealers around town. G500 as the diesels moved on from the reliable CDI to these funny blueTEC motors.

  • Hawox Hawox on Aug 26, 2017

    50.000$ for a defender??!! why don't you buy 10 defenders here in europe? G class no doubt

    • Bumpy ii Bumpy ii on Aug 26, 2017

      The USDM Defenders cost $50,000 because they were only imported in low numbers for a few years. Euro-market ones have to be 25 years old before they can be imported into the US, and most of those have been used up or exported to Africa already. There are some good-quality survivors, but you're not getting those for $5,000 out-the-door.

  • The Oracle Well, we’re 3-4 years in with the Telluride and right around the time the long term durability issues start to really take hold. This is sad.
  • CoastieLenn No idea why, but nothing about a 4Runner excites me post-2004. To me, they're peak "try-hard", even above the Wrangler and Gladiator.
  • AZFelix A well earned anniversary.Can they also attend to the Mach-E?
  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
  • Dukeisduke I've been waiting to see if they were going to do something special for the 60th Anniversary. I was four years old when the Mustang was introduced. I can remember that one of our neighbors bought a '65 coupe (they were all titled as '65 models, even the '64-1/2 cars), and it's the first one I can remember seeing. In the '90s I knew an older gentleman that owned a '64-1/2 model coupe with the 260 V8.
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