2011 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG Widestar

First registered on the 6th of September 2011, this wonderfully OTT and ultra-rare G55 Brabus G-Wagen was reportedly owned by the Prince of Denmark - who is said to have paid £225,000 for it…

This huge sum is largely explained by the optional extras that were fitted at the time. These are extensive and include the Brabus Widestar body that includes the rear skirt and underride protection, additional lights, front and rear fender flares including four matching door panels, a Brabus front skirt, four side-exit exhausts, and 23-inch titanium alloy split-rim wheels and low-profile tyres.  

The interior is just as opulent featuring black and tan quilted leather seats, door cards and headlining plus a plethora of Brabus-branded accessories including shift paddles and velour floor mats. There is also acres of exquisite white carbon fibre – and that’s not something you get to write every day. (So much so, in fact, that only two were ever built in this spec - and the other went to Monaco…)

There is also fitted, an entertainment package that includes a TV tuner, a DVD player and two rear seat screens, a DAB radio and Harman Kardon sound system, pre-wiring for a telephone plus a Bluetooth telephone module, and the Parktronic rear-view camera. 

Other practical upgrades include the Winter Package (comprising an auxiliary heater and a heated windscreen), a steel tilt ‘n’ slide sunroof, privacy glass, the seat comfort package including heated and cooled multi-contour seats, and a garage door opener. 

In the care of the vendor for the past four and a half years, it has covered just 18,500 miles from new, and only around 10,000 in the vendor’s hands. Still in an immaculate condition, it is only being offered for sale after a great deal of soul searching.

The Calcite White coachwork is offset by a black roof. Hugely imposing and with massive road presence, the wide-body styling suits the car’s angular lines to perfection. As you’d expect of a car with Brabus’s pedigree, it’s been fitted and painted very well indeed – but then this is a factory approved conversion, so you’d expect nothing less.

Given the G-Wagen’s mileage, you’d be entitled to expect it to still be in a stunning condition, which is exactly the case; resprayed in 2018 at a cost of more than £5,000, if you popped another private number on this it could easily be mistaken for a one-year-old example. 

Why the respray? Well, it’s simple, really. When he bought it from Prestige Cars it had a wrap on it. Keen to change the colour, peeling the wrap away revealed a few flaws in the paint. Faced with two options, rather than hide the flaws away under a new wrap he chose to do it properly, a move that might have taken an inordinate amount of time and money but did, in his own words, “allow me to sleep at night”.

This attitude towards to car’s upkeep and care runs like a thread throughout the G-Wagen’s DNA; he is not one to bodge and run, leaving problems for the next unlucky soul to find preferring to stump up the appropriate amount of money to sort the problem once-and-for-all. 

As was the case with the 23-inch, split-rim, titanium alloy wheels. These were expensively refurbished in November 2020 and so are still in an excellent condition. They’re fitted with matching 305/35R23 Yokohama Advan Sport tyres. Yup, they’re more than a foot wide – and all are in great shape.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance. 

There’s plenty of additional illumination on the G-Wagen too, including external mood lighting. The overall attention to detail is staggering and includes such minor, and beguiling, features such as the Mercedes-branded windscreen wiper arms and twin side-exit exhaust pipes.

Blemishes? Apart from the odd – and we do mean odd – stonechip and minor mark there are no problems whatsoever, that we can see.

Wonderfully opulent, the interior is a carefully designed riot of quilted leather and white carbon fibre. Blending the practical with the aesthetic very well, the G-Wagen has a purposeful air that vehicles like the Range Rover have abandoned.

Take, for example, the row of three switches on the centre dashboard. There to control the front, rear and centre differential locks, they’re supported by a switch to shift the gearbox into low-range, at which point you could conquer Everest – in complete comfort and accompanied by four of your mates. 

And just how comfortable would you be? Well, the black and tan leather front seats are multi-contour, electrically adjustable, and heated and cooled. Very restful, they’re as supportive as they are impressive to behold. The matching rear seats are in similarly great shape with exactly the sort of creasing you’d expect to see on a car with 18,500 miles on the clock.

Further joy comes via the comprehensive entertainment package that includes a Harman Kardon sound system that includes multiple speakers, headphones, a TV tuner and a DVD player plus rear TV screens to keep those in the rear seats occupied.  

There’s an auxiliary heater in there too, plus natty front seat coffee holders that look exactly like miniature basketball nets.

Of course, standard black carbon fibre trim would have been too common for a prince, so this one was fitted with a white variant we’ve never seen before. Impressively well finished and maintained, it’s ship-shape and supplemented by lashing of chrome trim. 

Riding in there is, the owner tells us, like flying first class section – just a bit louder.

The rear load space has a 12V power point and plenty of lashing points to hold your Louis Vuitton luggage securely in place. 

Problems? Well, the quilted leather headlining has come unstuck very slightly and the offside A-pillar trim has come adrift.

Last serviced in July 2020 at 17,860 miles, the work included new rear dampers and a set of rear discs and pads plus top suspension mounts. Again, this was no mean undertaking and involved a three month wait for the suspension and brake parts to arrive from Germany.

It starts, runs and drives as well as you’d expect, and the engine bay is beautifully presented with only the odd rusty fastener marring its appearance.  

Performance, even with a kerbweight that easily tops two tonnes, is vivid; the 5.5-litre V8 engine, fettled by AMG to produce 499bhp, can haul it to 60mph in 4.1 seconds, all the while spitting flames out of the side-exit exhausts.

This is not a car that is likely to appeal to a Tesla enthusiast, although those of us who lived through the punk era and bemoan the homogenised nature of 21st century life are unlikely to be disappointed. 

The underside is solid and strong and appears free of rust or damage.

The first owner was, as we mentioned, believed to be the Prince of Denmark, who registered it in the West End of London under a company name. The second registered owner was one of the chaps at Prestige Cars who became so enamoured of the G-Wagen that he put the V5 in his name for a few months – and those of you who know the car trade will understand how rare this is…

The G-Wagen’s MOT certificate, which is valid until December 2021, was gained without a single advisory point. It also shows a slow accrual of miles since 2013, so the recorded mileage is almost certainly accurate.  

It has a number of expired MOT certificates plus a sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it over the years.

It also still has its original owner’s handbook, stamped service history booklet, book pack, and storage wallet plus two sets of keys.  

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a good standard.

If you’d like to inspect the car prior to placing a bid – something we would encourage – then please use the Contact Seller button to arrange an appointment.  

NB: Please note that the cherished numberplate you see in the photos does not come with the vehicle. The new registration number is HX61AEY.

Everyone loves a G-Wagen, largely for their indomitable spirit and bullet-proof reputation. One of the few vehicles that makes a Land Rover Defender look a bit soft, they’re battle-hardened and capable of traversing the opera car-park as easily as they could K2.

They’re also hugely desirable among city folk who appreciate their imposing presence alongside the sort of comfort more usually the preserve of a Bentley or Rolls-Royce. 

And this one’s low mileage and extensive Brabus fettling add another dimension to an already hugely desirable vehicle; that it has been so carefully preserved adds another huge tick in your pre-purchase mental checklist.

Given all this, you would have every right to assume that it’s going to sell for a hefty sum – and you’d be right because we expect it to fetch somewhere between £45,000 and £60,000. 

Yes, that’s a lot of money for a nine-year-old car but then you are getting a helluva lot of metal for your money. That the vendor paid a six-figure sum for it four years ago – and the first owner almost a quarter-of-a-million, £60,000 of which went on the interior alone – puts that into perspective.

Plus, you will recall, the true cost of a vehicle can only be calculated when you sell it on and cars of this specification and quality and rarity will always be in demand - and given that it’s already lost £9.45 for every mile it’s covered, it has probably pretty much stopped depreciating at this point… 

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.