Hi everyone! Just entering the world of G wagons and very excited about buying one. I currently have a 1991 Land Rover defender 110 which I love but looking to get a similar design with all the luxuries that today’s cars have to offer including not driving like a tractor. A few questions for you all. I really like the look of the professional addition of the G550. But they are limited in color options. My questions are as follows

- Does anyone know what the total height is of the professional edition including the roof rack?

- What would be required to modify a standard G550 to match the look of a professional addition? Removing the runningboards, adding roof rack, and swapping out spare tire holder. Anything else? Don’t need the wood trim cargo floor.

- does anyone have practical experience with the roof rack? It is hard to tell how functional it is and how you attach something like a Thule roof top box, surf boards, etc

 

Can’t help with these, sorry. I think the bigger issue is that you are unlikely to get one. The G Wagon doesn’t sit unsold on a lot, so unless you ordered it years ago, or are willing to pay a gross amount over MSRP, I am not sure how you’ll get one…

 

Thank you for your reply Surge. I appreciate the help if anyone else has any input. Thanks

 

I just took a look at the "Professional" spec in more detail. It would not be difficult to buy the parts to do this to any G.
I think it's a bit silly though - it's meant to be more of a pro / off road spec but the gloss black wheel fenders will scratch easily... the wood floor in the trunk as well... then they used the softer leather on the rear door and throughout which is more luxury than pro off road...
and that roof rack will negate just about any indoor parking -- even without a roof rack you are limited where you can park underground. About half the garages in Toronto are not tall enough.

 

Thanks again Surge. I appreciate the time and input. I do plan to take this vehicle off roading a few times a year so the clearance (lack of running boards) and having a full sized spare are important to me. I also like the look of no running boards and the different spare tire holder. The roof rack is not important to me. If the car I buy ends up having premium interior, then I'm fine with that and am not that stressed about getting it dirty. Leather is pretty tough so not worried about tears.

Can you simply remove the running boards from a G550 or is there something different installed on the Professional spec?

I did see this for the spare tire albeit crazy $$$ - https://jackwagonoverlanding.com/pro...3a-models-2019

 

This is the company that manufactures the spare wheel mount and the roof rack for the Mercedes 4X4 and professional and also for Brabus. They market under the brand name Letech in the USA. They even make a heavy duty steel all black running board for off roading

https://lennartz-technik.de/en/homepage

 

Yeah, the running boards just unbolt.

 

I converted my G550 to the 'professional edition' trim pieces in place of the running boards using OEM parts. I posted a bit about it here: https://mbworld.org/forums/g-class-w...ng-boards.html

I had to order parts from the EU, but I suspect it's easier now that the pro edition is available in the US. It's not as simple as removing the running boards, but it's reasonably straightforward once you've figured out the parts to buy. I'd guess I spent $1000-1200 on parts all told.

 

Here’s one available for $5K under MSRP. Dealer demo, ~1300 miles if interested

 

Height with rack is 6 feet 8 inches. Hope that helps!

 

Regular height is 6 feet 6 inches for the G550. The G63 is slightly shorter, because the tires are lower profile.
6'6" is too tall for about half the indoor office parking garages in Toronto. 6'8" would render ~90% of the garages unusable.

 

I dug around my phone and found a pic of it next to another g550. Sorry it's not side by side, but I hope it can provide some context of the height difference. Also the roof rack is completely flat. Attached photo of it in my garage

 

I agree with Surge as I notice majority of garages in LA are in the 6 8 to 6 10. Also risky as sometimes parking garage clearance bars are not updated.

I will also add, the no side step could be troublesome for the wives and elderly.

 

As the NYC-based owner of a lifted G550 with roof rack that clocks in at about 8’1” tall all told, I say: