Yahoo Finance The Mercedes-AMG G63's New Active Ride Control Suspension Is Wicked
The Mercedes-AMG G63 receives one major update for the 2025 model year, and that's its new optional hydraulic suspension. It's an engineering feat, and to put it to the test, the automaker let us and other journalists thrash the truck on a speed-friendly off-road driving course. In other words, we ripped it on a mini rally stage.
Similar to systems used on the Ferrari Purosangue and the new Porsche Panamera, the updated G63 uses hydraulic actuators to keep the truck stable around corners, without the help of sway bars. On a sports car, that's impressive. On a truck that likely weighs nearly 6000 pounds, it registers as mindblowing.
In off-road drive modes, the system—confusingly referred to as "AMG Active Balance Control," a "supplement" of "AMG Active Ride Control"—allows for three different levels of roll. When you flick through them, the differences are stark. Even in the most boaty mode, the G63 remains composed when you're hucking it around off-road.
Though the roll levels can't be adjusted for on-road performance, G63 Product Manager Viola Walliser told Road & Track her team worked hard for serious improvements for on-pavement sporty driving as well.
"For on-road, we now have a really high roll stiffness thanks to the AMG active drive control suspension, giving the car better steering precision, better on-road performance," Walliser said. "For fast driving off-road, you want to have the same. You want to have high precision to really go fast; low body roll. So you would set AMG Active Balance Control on high, but once you need more comfort or you are on more uneven streets and need more traction, you need less roll stiffness so that the G 63 can really interlock."
We spoke with Tobias, an engineer on the Mercedes-AMG G63 team, who went into further detail on what the company hoped to achieve with the tech.
"So in the conventional car, you have a sway bar or anti-roll bar. And you know, especially with a car like a G-Class with a high point of gravity, when you go dynamically over road, you get a lot of rolling. This is not perfect for you as a driver," Tobias said. "So you feel this shaking. And so one of the main goals was to improve driving performance on roads and to improve, um, just comfort as well. So to reduce the vehicle rolling. And by activating the hydraulic actuators, which replaced the standard sway bar, we are able to reduce rolling of the vehicle as much as possible so we get a better car feeling even if you go dynamically over."
We got to put this stuff to the test on a mini rally stage. The course was part of the proving grounds that AMG says it used to develop the truck and new suspension. In the dirt at speed, the truck impressed. Though I would've likely requested some light tire pressure tuning, the G63 and all of its hulking mass were easily controllable and tossable over the uneven surfaces and heavy mud.
Unfortunately, I was only able to sneak two laps in. Thankfully, I had some GoPros mounted for the second one. Turns out, the G63 makes for a pretty solid rally car. Who knew.
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