What to improve ?

Weight and weight management

We are very concerned about the weight management.

This has security issues, mechanical issues, confort issues, diesel consommation issues, and, and, and,...

We had a shock absorber leaking in South Africa,
probably due of that !

The second picture is, after empty the car completely, and 10 lt diesel in the tank, we went on a truck scale to check the reality.

The G wagon specs

The car is given empty at 2450 kg

with a maximum driving weight of 3150 kg

This is 700 kg of load.

This value is given EMPTY, no diesel, no oil, no passengers.... empty, means empty.

The reality

We empty the car as much as we could. We had less than 10 liters in the tank.

We left all the fixed or screwed elements that we need to drive on overlanding expeditions.

We kept the under steel protection, compressor, one spare wheel and holder, the roof rack, and empty side boxes. We had over 2850 kg "empty" weight.

WE have to add a second spare wheel, a roof tent, a box with little spare parts, 80 lt water, a kitchen with fridge, a second courtesy battery, food, our own luggage, refueling the main and the secondary tank (190lt), and finally Patricia and me ... we are over the GWM. no doubt.

Tire choice

We got the car with Copper AT tires 275/65R18

Very good tires, absolutely no problem, we drove one month in Algeria with any issue.

I watched to many Youtube videos about tires, and for our big journey in the southern Africa, I changed for smaller ones, because they are more economical on the consumption. This is true.

BUT, less air, so they heat up much faster than bigger ones. And the ground clearance is less too.

After again temperature alarms (even after exhaust modification), we decided in Upington to change our 6000km brand new tires for bigger one.

We use now BFgoodrich AT 285/65R18 tires.

We had to modify the front mudguard to prevent the wheels from rubbing when turning the steering wheel.

We use one more liter /100km... well, but no alarms anymore.

Bull-bar or NOT bull-bar

I think it's a matter of where you're going, and how do you want your car to look like.

For us, we didn't think it was a nice and helpful parity.

Again I was wrong, here in Africa almost every two weeks we almost crash into an animal. Of course, we are driving in the desert and many animals are running around.

Of course, we never drive and will never drive at night. (we hope)

So after our almost car crashes, we decided to look for a good bull bar. For the new model G463a, you will only find models protecting the two lower oil coolers.

For us, we need more. Our sad experience is that because these bull bars are banned in many countries, the choice is very limited. We ordered a model, with very good protection inside the bumper.

We will modify it after our next trip... let's see