In a quite unusual showroom volte face, Mercedes has reintroduced the G Wagon to UK forecourts. Well, kind of. It will only be available from Mercedes-Benz World in Brooklands, but it is right-hand drive.

It's not a new model or anything; it's the same G-Class SUV that left the UK market ten years ago - over twenty years after it was first unveiled.

Mercedes doesn't really say why it's back, but we're glad it is. Three versions will be available from later this year (2010), starting with the G 300 CDI Professional. That's a proper utilitarian version though, which doesn't have the same level of equipment as the other two.

UK R&B starlets will be asking for either the G 350 CDI or the G 55 AMG. The diesel option is a 221bhp six-cylinder unit that returns 25.7mpg, and the AMG model is powered by a 500bhp V8 whose fuel economy is neither here nor there. It gets the SUV to 62mph from rest quicker than it takes 50 Cent to say 'where's my gat?' That's 5.5 seconds in actual units. G units, so to speak.

There are standard and long wheelbase versions, with the entry-level G 300 priced from £57,975, the G 350 from £79,975 and the G 55 a whopping £114,975. That outlay buys a car hand built in Mercedes' Graz factory, fully equipped to tackle whatever sort of terrain the King's Road throws at it, with a fully locking centre diff and a low ratio auto 'box.

Standard equipment in the G 350 and G 55 includes climate control, leather seats and dashboard, bi-xenon headlamps, satellite navigation, reverse parking sensors and, most importantly, an eardrum rattling Harmon Kardon surround sound stereo.

Mark Nichol - 26 Apr 2010