Mercedes-Benz G 500 (42177) vs LR Defender (42110)- which one is better?

[thekoRngear]

Guys, the 42110 was released back in 2019, quite unexpectedly. Since then, not gunna lie, it has a very strong cult following; it got lots of talks everywhere in the key Technic discussions. It still manages to get amazing MOC builds. The more days pass the more I see the 42110 as someone's insane one night dream came true in the form of insane amount of engineering. Its chassis got abnormal amount of gears, overly complicated drivetrain and such. A slight misalignment in the building process caused frustrations.

On the other hand, nearly 5 years later another Jeep/SUV came out. This time it is the M-B G 500 Professional line. At one way of looing, it seems a successor to the Defender aka 42110. It got a gearbox that got rid of the 4-speed transmission. The AWD drivetrain now got rear and center differential locks. The suspension system, if not better, is as beefy as the Defender. Moreover, it got rear live axle something that many think should have been present in the Defender. The G 500 got newer parts like the gearbox stuffs and flip-flops beams which effectively creates more opportunities to build MOCs with better functions and/or designs. Like there are MOCs which have diff locks across the axles and center differential!

How about the solutions when it comes to body work? For Defender, the A pilers, the engineering of front headlights and also the rear ones, the functional tailgate (with a questionable illegal technique), the interiors including the seats, the overall rigidity of the body-chassis seems to have done with lots of care. Without having the flipflop beams, the solutions seem pretty amazing. On the other hand, the body of the 42177 seems a bit too cluttered, flimsy, and overall less rigid but, looks as attractive (if not more) as the Defender.

Both the sets have cool accessories. Which one got more emphasizes that is debatable I think.

Also, does the target age group matter, or, how does it matter? The 42110 was a 11+ set which exceptionally strikes balance between functions and looks. The 42177, on the other hand, has an 18+ tag that does not need rich and authentic functional tags.

What do you think? there is no definite winner here I guess. Also, I think it is still a bit too early to tell which one is more successful in terms of sales figure or popularity. One thing that seriously matters to me is that, from the very beginning of 42177 it got some really really good matured polished MOCs built by some very cool MOC designers. As a result, it almost does not matter that much whether one is better over another. You buy either one of them, you can settle with varieties of MOCS. However, from stock build/solutions perspective perhaps it would be interesting to see how the owners of both (or either one) models think.

Edited January 28 by thekoRngear

[mobi]

Landover has a real gearbox! 

 

[Aurorasaurus]

TBH I think the G class is the better set. Less to go wrong, cooler tires, and a color that exists in other sets, unlike the defender. I really dont get the fuss with working gearboxes in technic. As a play feature, they (to me) suck. You push a button or twist a knob... and nothing happens. Distribution gearboxes in sets is a different case, but IMO engine speed gearboxes are just inflating the price and taking away from other playable features like adjustable suspension or a winch.

[SimonCK]

I have both and I loved the build process with both of them.  I don't buy many big lego sets so they were a treat to myself. 

It's interesting that the mod/improvement thread for the Defender was circa 30 pages I recall with lots of brilliant and clever improvements.  In fact I would really recommend building the improved Defender model from that thread which fixes the gearbox and has a cool quick body-off mod.  You need to buy around 100 extra parts but it's well worth it.  In my view the gearbox in the original is not fit for purpose.  Improving the model doubled the fun for me easily. 

The G500 mod/improvement thread is very small by comparison.  It's a great model with cool functionality and nothing really wrong that needs improvement.  My only modification is adding a lighting kit.

What's nice is they are the same scale so make a great pair to display together.  

 

 

[SAM1626]

Me with very very biased opinions thinks that the g wagon is far superior for many reasons. (they may not stand well under scrutiny)

[2GodBDGlory]

I tend to prefer the G. The color really pops, the tires are way more suitable, and the solid rear axle feels much more proper for an off-roader. It is too bad to lose the gearbox, but it didn't work that great anyways in the Defender, and the addition of differential locks helps make up for it.

[SAM1626]

26 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

I tend to prefer the G. The color really pops, the tires are way more suitable, and the solid rear axle feels much more proper for an off-roader. It is too bad to lose the gearbox, but it didn't work that great anyways in the Defender, and the addition of differential locks helps make up for it.

FR the color is amazing and the tires are much better I personally love how lose the suspension is in the g wagon but that's just my opinion. And from what I have heard of the defender there is many problems with the gearbox.