The spirit of adventure in us human beings runs pretty deep. While there isn’t much opportunity to petition your queen for money to sail around the world anymore, sometimes adventure is where you find it. That’s one of the reasons why SUVs, and their suburban siblings, crossovers, remain some of the best selling vehicles on the market. While most of us won’t just turn off road and go bounding across desert plains and mountain passes, these vehicles give us the illusion that we can.

While the Mercedes-Benz G Class is indeed a capable off-roader, its starting price north of six figures means that most won’t go further off-road than a grassy parking lot or perhaps a sandy beach. The G-Wagen is certainly capable of catching air on gravel roads, but we doubt most buyers would see the accompanying stone chips in the paint (not to mention chassis squeaks and rattles) as badges of honor.

If money isn’t an object, then the G-Class could very well be your societal escape pod. For the rest of us, there’s the Jeep Wrangler, the Toyota FJ Cruiser and the Nissan Xterra.