Mercedes-Benz is, as you probably know, one of those manufacturers that aims to be represented in as many market sectors as possible, and in consequence builds a great variety of vehicles. There are saloons, there are estates, there are hatchbacks and coupes, there are roadsters and SUVs, there are economy models and super-duper high-performance ones, and if you look further you'll find vans and lorries too.Finding one feature they all share isn't easy, but I think it would reasonable to say that nearly all of them are modern. You could spend a week going from one Mercedes to another and not finding a single example that was in any way anachronistic. And then you could spend the next week doing the same thing and still not.But then there's the G-Class.As we'll see, there are some modern aspects to the G-Class, but its basic structure dates back to 1979. Anyone remember 1979? Back then, if you wanted to send someone an e-mail you had to buy a stamp, there was no such thing as Channel 4, and the World Rally Championship was driven by a chap driving a Ford Escort. (That was Bjorn Waldegard, sadly no longer with us, and I can't let this aside pass without mentioning that he actually drove a Mercedes on two of the qualifying events.There's no obvious reason why the G-Class should still exist in this form. After 35 years it should surely be in at least its fifth generation by now. And it's not like there is much of a demand for it (except, a Mercedes spokesman suggests, from people think "Range Rovers are too common") - last year, just 162 were registered in the UK.Still, here it is. The model we're looking at is the G 350 BlueTEC, which would seem crazily extravagant and pointless if it weren't for the fact that the other car in the UK range is the much more powerful (544bhp!) and much more expensive G 63 AMG. And the only reason that isn't considered the Furthest North of G-Class eccentricity is that there's an even wilder (612bhp!) model called the G 65 AMG, which isn't sold here.Suddenly the BlueTEC isn't sounding so daft, is it? Its 208bhp power output, adequate but in G-Class terms very modest, comes from the same three-litre V6 turbo diesel engine fitted to every Mercedes with the number 350 in its title. Like the seven-speed automatic gearbox also found elsewhere in the range, it's very good.The major controls feel much the same as they do in Mercs created in the 21st century, though the G-Class, with its Early Thatcher Era chassis, obviously doesn't respond to the steering in anything like the same way. When you turn the wheel there's a sense that you're precisely and accurately pointing the car in a direction that might be described as Somewhere Over There.Provision for luggage and rear passengers is generous, that for the driver and front passenger less so. A bit more rearward seat travel would be useful for those of us over six feet tall.You sit very high up, with a good view of the countryside or townscape, surrounding traffic and the severely square-edged bonnet. Looking down on the equally un-fluffy light units on top of the wings makes me feel like I'm being given a piggyback by a Cubist dalek, a concept that has never occurred to me when driving any other car or being in any other situation ever.The interior fitments are all right up to date, and things like Bluetooth connectivity, satellite navigation, Harman Kardon Logic 7 audio and heated front and rear seats, all of them fitted as standard, would have seemed either fantastically luxurious or just plain impossible back in the early days of the G-Class.But that was then and this is now, and for a car costing over £80,000 in 2014 the G 350 isn't lavishly equipped. You can have DAB digital radio, a tilt-slide sunroof, a heated windscreen, a reversing camera (mounted extremely high up because nobody thought of these things in 1979 and there's nowhere else to put it) and a rear-seat entertainment system with integrated DVD players, but you have to pay extra for all of them. With all of these fitted, plus an exterior styling kit and lots of optional extravagance for the interior, the test car was worth slightly more than £106,000.Unless you have a lot more disposable income than I do, you probably wouldn't want to scratch the paintwork on a car costing this much, but for the record the G-Class is a legendary off-roader. It also has a 3500kg towing limit with a braked trailer. These, however, are practical reasons for making the purchase, and I suspect most owners have more eccentric ones. Engine 2987cc, 6 cylinders Power 208bhp Transmission 7-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 25.2mpg / 295g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 9.1 seconds Top speed 108mph Price £83,830 Details correct at publication date
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