Combustion-powered racer
Mercedes-AMG GT 63: Low-flying sports car with V8 engine
Mercedes may have stripped the second-generation AMG GT of its monolithic character, but it is still an old-school sports car. "Krone" motoring editor Stephan Schätzl was out and about in the more powerful of the two pure V8 GTs - his impressions here in the video driving report!
Presenting the car next to an almost 70-year-old Douglas DC-6B may be a little presumptuous, but you can let the fast Affalterbacher fly pretty well and the aircraft was practically begging for it. It hasn't seen much action since it was retired in 1974.
Looking at the configurator on the Austrian Mercedes website, you might think that the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 - 50 years later - had met the same fate shortly after its market launch, but in fact the 585 hp eight-cylinder is only no longer offered in this country. Why? No official information, but since the AMG GT 63 S E-Performance with the same V8 engine but an additional plug-in hybrid unit and a total of 816 hp is even cheaper, it has presumably been sacrificed on the altar of the standard consumption tax. Which is a shame, because the plug-in hybrid didn't prove itself at all in the test.
We would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank Mercedes-Benz Austria for providing us with what is definitely the best engine for this vehicle. In addition to the PHEV, they also have the V8 trimmed to 476 hp by software and the 435 hp four-cylinder in the price list.
The blue ("MANUFAKTUR spectral blue magno") suits it particularly well, not only next to the blue and white DC-6B, which was taken out of service exactly 50 years before the test car was registered. It was very popular as a long-haul aircraft, although it often left the skies prematurely: of a total of 704 examples of the DC-6 series built between 1947 and January 2019, there were 187 total losses of the aircraft.
The AMG GT 63 is also suitable for long distances. Its adaptive suspension allows for something akin to comfort and, with the exhaust flaps closed, the interior is so quiet even at highway speeds that you could easily make a phone call. If only the hands-free system wasn't so bad - the other party understands exactly nothing.
Roadster with a roof
The first generation of the Mercedes-AMG GT was just that: a Mercedes-AMG GT. A pure sports car, not the lightest sports car on earth, but by no means overweight. The current generation is actually a Mercedes SL, so it shares most of its features with the Roadster. Although it is now also part of AMG and therefore has a more sporty design, it is not really a sports car. And so the GT has a few hundred kilograms of ballast to lug around. The registration certificate for the test car states an unladen weight of 1915 kg - 360 kg more than the DIN weight of the equally powerful AMG GT-R, which I raced over the Bilster Berg exactly seven years ago. What an experience that was!
Then there is the fundamentally different design of the whole thing. Instead of a front-mid engine and transaxle transmission, the new GT has a front engine on the front axle and the nine-speed automatic directly behind it. That's it for the weight balance.
Sure, in Affalterbach they pull out all the stops to defeat physics, with adaptive suspension, 2.5-degree rear-axle steering (turning circle: 12.50 meters) and active roll stabilization, and of course the car handles really well. However, they cannot make up for its weight. Despite the rear-wheel drive (rear-wheel drive only for the weaker V8), a slight tendency to understeer cannot be denied.
Nevertheless, the GT steers to the point and the steering is super-direct. So direct, in fact, that it is sharper than the suspension in Comfort mode, which can make cruising a little tiring at times.
Somewhat arbitrary in the interior
The full sports car character has also been lost in the interior. Whereas in the old GT you could still sit in awe and adjust the setup via buttons on the center console, with a view of a veritable cockpit, there is now a superimposed 11.9-inch touchscreen. Slapped unimaginatively onto what is actually an appropriately sporty and elegant dashboard. At least it is easy to reach and the whole thing is also reasonably easy to operate, but it takes away quite a lot of character from this 300,000 euro sports car (that was the price of the test car including extras when it was still on offer). What a pity.
The digital speedometer is better integrated. And the small control wheels, which would be called Manettini at Ferrari, are also a success. The one on the right selects the driving mode, which can then be fine-tuned on the display, while the one on the left is divided into two parts and can be assigned functions: Damper hardness, exhaust sound, transmission characteristics, as well as the position of the rear wing and the carbon flaps on the underbody, which influence downforce. The functions can then be activated with two additional levers.
However, the touch controls on the steering wheel are a complete failure. The fact that they are used in exactly the same way in all other Mercedes model series does not make them any better. With every new model that comes onto the market, they only call into question the judgment of those responsible even more. Operating these elements is a matter of luck. If you use the slider to turn up the music with your thumb, it is not uncommon for it to be turned down instead. Or vice versa. It works better in every Dacia.
V8 power, V8 sound, V8 consumption
The sound of the four-liter biturbo engine has been tamed, but still delights the heart of the petrolhead with the exhaust flaps open. If you let go of the full 585 hp and 800 Nm, the car sprints to 100 km/h in 3.2 seconds with the wet starting clutch; acceleration stops at 315 km/h. This makes it more than half as fast as the DC-6. There is never a lack of power, with maximum torque available from 2500 to 4500 rpm and revs up to 7000 rpm.
As far as fuel consumption is concerned, this V8 (like many others) has an advantage over economical three- or four-cylinder engines: its standard consumption is easily undercut. Here it is 14.1 l/100 km. On the freeway, however, the on-board computer showed just 11.5 liters per 100 kilometers. Mind you, this is in Austria. In Germany, that would probably be quite different. And if you really drive sportily, the scale is open at the top. In city traffic, you have to be able to suffer in this respect anyway.
In another respect, the ability to suffer is less necessary than with other sports cars: the AMG GT has an absolutely usable trunk under its large tailgate. It can hold 321 liters. And the wall to the passenger compartment can also be folded down, making the load compartment almost opulent.
Background: because the engine has been moved so far forward and the wheelbase has also grown to 2.70 meters, two emergency seats can be ordered to turn the GT into a 2+2-seater. The seat option is not available in the GT because AMG wants to imitate its most important competitor, the Porsche 911, but because there just happens to be space. However, since you can't actually sit there anyway, there is simply a practical storage compartment there as standard.
The prices
304,283.28 euros is listed on the price sheet of the test car, of which 90,980.88 is the road tax. This should therefore have been around 261,500 euros - around 17,000 euros more than the plug-in hybrid with 816 hp, for which only 18 percent NoVA is payable. Not 44 percent. The savings offer is the four-cylinder starting at a good 162,000 euros, the weaker V8 costs 225,000 euros.
With a bit of luck, you could almost get a used DC-6 for that money, each with four 2400 hp twin radial engines.
Driving citation
Despite all the criticism of the details and the basic design - the AMG GT 63 has become a beautiful brute. The sound, the suspension, the appearance - it's all typical AMG. Although neither restrained nor refined. Fine-tuned drivers are more likely to look to Zuffenhausen than Affalterbach. Otherwise: buy V8 sports cars while they are still available. For a clear conscience: The small numbers are not really a factor for the climate. But everyone has to work that out for themselves.
Why?
A V8 is simply a V8.
Sports car suitable for everyday use
Why not?
Weaknesses in operation
Quite heavy
Or maybe ...
... Porsche 911 Turbo - or simply the weaker V8. That will probably be enough.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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