LEGO Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line detailed building review

[00:00] Hi everyone, this is Valash from RacingBrick. Today I'm showing you another exciting LEGO Technic vehicle. This is the 42177 Mercedes-Benz G500 Professional line. You'll probably remember the Land Rover Defender from 5 years ago.

[00:15] This set seems to be successful in many ways and I will show you why soon. It's an 18 plus set, so we get this serious design with a black background. It would have been nice to see this machine in action on a rough terrain,

[00:27] rough terrain, back in the day the Defender's box looked like this and the age rating was 11+. Well, times have changed. On the back of the box is a review of the car, the smaller pictures show us some of the features, such as the suspension, the straight-six engine, a photo of the wheel car

[00:44] and the dimensions. It has 2,891 pieces, it will be available from the 1st of August and the price That is 250 US or Dollars. It is one of the few August releases that can be pre-ordered worldwide on lego.com, you

[00:58] can find the link below, you can also check all the local prices there. The box has the new design, there are a lot of tapes to cut and we have a whole bunch of paper bags inside. 20 to be exact, that's a lot of bags, then 5 of the cool new off-road tires, plastic

[01:14] bags with the rims and some frames and an envelope. we find not just one but two thick manuals and a medium-sized sticker sheet. The instructions start with a cool side-by-side comparison of the LEGO G500 and the real one,

[01:27] now we can study many details of the build while learning about the G-Class. On the next pages there's a pretty cool timeline of the 45-year history of the model, but interestingly it doesn't seem to include the latest facelift.

[01:40] We can read a few words from the designer Milan Rangel, who was also the designer of the Defender, and that's it. Here's the part if you're interested, now let's start building. The process begins with the foam differential, here are the wheel hubs, and now the steering

[01:55] rack is also in place, as you can see the movement is stabilized by the cross axle below. This assembly is given additional internal reinforcement with the green rod, and you can see the base of the Ackermann steering setup.

[02:08] This is quite a complicated assembly to have pinholes in the required places. We now have the color-coded connections to the drive and steering, then we add more gears. The Stray 6 engine has the new Kemen piston pieces that we could also see in the Yasko,

[02:22] but apparently no round tiles on the pistons this time. The front suspension uses a hard and a soft small spring, which are installed like this. This is what we have at the end of phase 2. The new reddish-orange part starts to appear here.

[02:36] This is a new color for 2024, first appeared in the Technic space set. The central differential and the elements of the transmission are taking shape. We can see how this central differential will work, this is the closed state.

[02:49] It's time to put the two assemblies together. We need to make sure that all pins and axles are properly connected. The structure is reinforced with these large frames, end of phase 3. The 16 module long axle has to go all the way in, and I had to put the first stickers

[03:03] of the set on these parts. It's time to mount the switches, it's best if they're in the middle position, then it it easier to place the selectors correctly. The instructions advise us to test things now, but I would wait a bit, and besides, there's

[03:17] a small error in the manual. I had to insert this cross-axle here, it disappears on the following two pages, but reappears on the next. So, I wanted to add this lever before the test.

[03:29] All three levers should do their job with a firm click, it's easy to test. Let's see how it all works. This is the central differential lock. When it not engaged the rear axle can drive the brake engine independently and the front axle can do it on its own too When the differential lock is engaged the front and rear axles are connected and they

[03:48] cannot turn independently of each other. I put a temporary support to the rear, attach the motor to one of the front wheels, fix the other to eliminate the effect of the front differential and lock the central one. This is for demonstration purposes only, you can do this with any LEGO motor, the weaker

[04:04] the better. Here is the DNR selector switch. D stands for drive, in this position the wheels drive the engine. N stands for neutral, the engine doesn't move. Or is the reverse gear, in this case the engine runs in reverse.

[04:18] Forward in drive, backwards in reverse. The high-low switch practically gives you a slower gear with high torque and a faster gear with lower torque, at least in real life. Just like in a real car, the engine runs faster in low gear than in high gear, of course at

[04:33] constant wheel speed. So the system works as it should. There is just one small difference. Due to the nature of the mechanism, there is a central, so to speak, neutral position between high and low. You shouldn't select this, as the engine won't run in this case.

[04:48] But this is only a small detail, because any solution that eliminates this problem would make things much more complicated. Here comes the engine cover with the stickers and the Phase 4. An unexpected item, this is the new big-witbone part from the McLaren P1.

[05:02] It will hold the rear axle here, I assume. We built this pretty cool and sturdy frame to extend the chassis to the rear. Now it's time to build the rear axle, and this contraction here will be all differential lock.

[05:14] We are using the heavy-duty differential here, which is cleverly shinshed with this pulley. Here's how it works. This is the unlocked position where the two outputs are not connected, and this is the locked position when they are connected.

[05:26] First unlocked, then locked. The wheel hubs are attached this way, and interestingly enough, we only use single hot shocks on each side, because while the heavy engine is in the front of the vehicle, so that makes sense.

[05:38] We are instructed to align the CVs on the axle, which is good, then it's time to fit the rear axle, attach the CVs, this section is a bit tricky, after that we can attach the big wishbone to the tow bulb.

[05:50] This is how we fix the upper attachment point of the shock absorbers. And an additional element here, the panhard rod, which I assume copies the original design. Here comes the steering wheel with the Mercedes logo printed on it.

[06:03] It can be centered correctly this time, but requires some patience and realignment due to the giving use. And a surprise, we now have to fit the wheels. Here are the brand new off-road tires. The rims are the same as on the Defender, so the tire width is also the same, but the

[06:18] diameter is larger. 87.9 mm compared to 81.6 mm on the Defender. It looks cool with the tires, the front suspension is nice and soft, the rim is a bit spiffer. Oh, and I almost forgot the printed tiles, the same as on the steering wheel, so we have

[06:34] five of them. In the next phase, we build a frame for the body. It's a tricky assembly, and it quickly becomes the rear seat bench, I just have to fit it correctly and that's it. Our first major orange assembly is one of the doors, and this is the first appearance

[06:48] of the brand new connector, which has been given the number 7. It fits between 2 and 3. Some people have asked why it's not 2.5, but that wouldn't fit on the side of the part.

[07:00] It's very interesting to see the new addition to this connector system after 25 years, as all of these parts were released between 1997 and 1999. The door is in place, and I also like this orange assembly covering the black frame.

[07:13] Oh, and the door will also have a locking system, pretty cool! After the rear doors we install the front seats and there a quite interesting technique with these transparent bars connecting the other elements from inside it quite unusual So this is one of the seats The side panels move around easily I was hoping to be able to fix them somehow but at least there plenty of legroom here

[07:35] Both seats are now installed, this is the end of book one. Now comes the front door, which also has a locking mechanism, and I had to adjust the position of the seat to make it fit. A few system parts for the rear view mirror and one of the doors is finished.

[07:49] Interesting that this irregular connection challenge was solved with the Technic rubber part. This is the dashboard with two big stickers and some brick build details, it goes here. This whole section is pretty wobbly at this point.

[08:02] And we have windshield wipers too. The grill will have a lot of system parts and some nice building tricks. Like here, a pair of minifigure binoculars holding the two bars together. This is a neat and surprisingly sturdy build, here comes the large printed Mercedes-Benz badge.

[08:17] Now it's time to attach the grille. Be careful, more parts will be needed, here's the license plate and the flappy parts are now better attached. We continue here with the bodywork and then comes the hood, the logo on it is a sticker this time. The angle fairing above the front float is a pretty

[08:33] fancy technique. This is the headlight assembly, it's made up of several parts. Switching to the rear with the bumper and license plate, this one is still a sticker, but the blue stripe is brick built.

[08:45] Ok, here we go again. I'm building the taillights and I'm supposed to have two of these 1x2 plates, but I only have one and this grey piece that shouldn't even be in the set. It's a fairly new part, but luckily the Milky Way has a couple of them, so I can borrow it

[09:00] from there. We'll put the grey one here as a reminder, I need to get a replacement. I had a final problem with the Technic Yesco. Two sets in a row, not a good sign. LEGO quality control still has some work to do.

[09:12] A few more body panels, then the first thunder parts will be added. Here comes the rear door, I have to fix it, it also has a lock. The roof is a massive assembly, finding the right position and connecting everything might

[09:24] take some patience. All the details seem to be properly attached with a variety of connection types and covered when needed. Here is the knob for the handlebar steering, it works well. The spare wheel has the wheel cover from the Formula 1 set we got earlier this year.

[09:38] Now here's a weird one. We have 5 of these printed round types with the Mercedes logo, but the spare wheel got a sticker. The logo is bigger there, so that could be a reason, but it's still unfortunate, especially

[09:50] because you have to line it up very carefully to make it look good. We still have one bag left, but according to the manual we could stop here, I guess this is the clean, more crawler version of the G-Class, with no extra equipment.

[10:03] These are the extra bits we can fit. It has a box for the roof, branded mud slats, which are cool, a roof rack with a leather, extra protection for the spare tire, and a trailer hitch. This is what the fully-equipped version looks like, and now we are really done.

[10:18] A few thoughts on the color now that we are looking at the set. It's bright, eye-catching, but with such large surfaces, I'm not the biggest fan. As an additional color on the space set, it was fine, but for me, it's too much here.

[10:30] That's very subjective though, I'm sure a lot of people will like it. Aside from the color, it looks great. I like all the details and the proportions overall are fine. Now let's look at the functions. We have 5 opening doors that all come with locks, which is a cool feature.

[10:45] They are well secured, not too wobbly, pretty good. We have hand-off-lock steering, the vehicle is easy to control, the steering wheel also turns with a proper gear ratio, another nice addition. The knob is easy to remove, you can keep it in the box.

[10:59] That yellow axle is from the stock spare tire configuration I not sure if this is an intentional feature or how the G500 works but my Skoda Yeti has something like this You can fold the rear seats forward to carry something

[11:12] really big. The hood opens, this half you can support it. The engine is unfortunately covered, although it's fairly easy to remove it. We can see how the pistons run, and you could see all the different features of the drivetrain during the building process. The controls aren't as hard

[11:27] to reach this time, especially with the sunroof opening, that's another feature. The effect of the central differential lock can be demonstrated like this. This is the closed state. When I open it, the front and rear axles aren't connected.

[11:40] Thanks to the lack of a traditional gearbox, the engine runs smoothly in both high and low, there is no cracking, even at high speed. If you remember, this was a common problem with the Defender, which has a 4-speed gearbox

[11:52] in addition to the sub-refuse here. We will compare these two in a minute. The real differential lock has to be operated at the axle, and that's a bit tricky. You might think that you can reach it like this and push the orange part, but that doesn't

[12:05] really work. You have to reach it that way, that's okay. I assume the direction of the forces and the way it is suspended has something to do with it. The best way is to lift the car. That's also the easiest way to demonstrate the effect.

[12:18] The suspension is very nice and bouncy, it feels softer at the front, despite the two shocks per wheel. This shows how the independent film suspension behaves differently. So, here you can see it next to the Defender.

[12:30] The Defender's suspension is different, has less travel, but the whole vehicle is lower. This build has seen a lot, so please excuse the look. Yes, it still cracks in the lower gears. Like I said, it was a good decision to make the drive change simpler in the G-Class.

[12:44] Which do you prefer? Despite the color, I would opt for the G500. Somehow I like the details on this model better. Someone asked me why I didn't talk about the sticker color on the Yasko. Well, we know that's going very well.

[12:57] Reddish orange isn't much better, the sticker color is visibly darker than the part itself. Luckily we don't have many stickers on these parts and they are pretty small too. Is there anything I don't like? Well, just small details like the side panels on the front seats.

[13:10] They are not things and you have to play with them to be able to close the door properly. To close the hood, you have to fiddle a bit as it's double hinged and I'm sure some people won't like this side view of these panels, but that's really just me speaking.

[13:23] The manual operation of the rear differential lock also raises questions, but as it's not an RC model, I can live with it. Other than that, it's a pretty pleasant build, it has good functions, they all seem to work well, and the end result is quite stable.

[13:36] I couldn't tear anything off easily and the bouncy suspension is really fun to watch. The look is subjective, but I think it's accurate enough. What about the price? It is 250 EUR for almost 3000 parts on lego.com.

[13:50] That's the same as the BMW motorcycle, which has almost a thousand less pieces, and not much more than the Mercedes-AMG F1 car. I think that's a fair starting price for what we are getting, and as usual you can soon buy it at other retailers for less.

[14:04] As I mentioned, if you really want it on day one, you can pre-order it on lego.com. So folks, let me know what you think of the set, the look, the color choice, all the functions, the new parts, let's talk about it in the comment section.

[14:18] If you enjoyed this video then please give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe with notifications as there will be more exciting LEGO videos coming soon. See you next time, bye bye!

[14:44] Thank you.