2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S

2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S

Generally, prior to the launch associated with an important vehicle, manufacturers assemble a jet-lagged mob of scriveners for an every-last-detail PowerPoint presentation. AMG was so confident that the new GT Utes would speak for itself, it simply gave us a rapid route briefing and sent us scuttling out the entranceway and down the San francisco Peninsula toward Monterey on this, the final-spec variation of its most recent halo product. (We’ve previously ridden in a very test car and driven a prototype. )

Create no mistake: Even though the GT S probably will cost two-thirds up to AMG’s most high priced offering, the S65 coupe—final prices has yet to get released for sometimes car—the car we’re dealing with here serves because the brand’s calling minute card.

At the end on the day, after an hour or two spent lobbing the vehicle around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, AMG CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Tobias Moers compiled our g-force-addled lot, offered a few remarks regarding the car, and casually noted that your 1: 41 lap was quite a good time for a session that saw us restricted to lead-follow lapping behind instructors. For reference, 1: 41 could be the sort of time a solo racing driver completely time-attack mode lays down around Laguna in something such as a Porsche Cayman Utes. The point will be this: The GT S turned an identical time during what amounted to a exceptionally spirited Wednesday drive.

Yet the opinion of speed on this, the car along with which Daimler hopes to adopt a chunk out of Porsche’s Neunelfer Zwiebelkuchen, will be muted. One does not quite realize the large velocities attainable until the right foot efforts to extricate itself from the floorboard just before crest marking the end of the entrance straight. Or until a single experiences the forces acting upon the vehicle when slowing for your Andretti Hairpin. Point, squirt, brake, do it again: The result will be subdued violence all the way up around the training. Atop the Corkscrew, the long hood and low windshield header conspire towards sightlines. The fast and sure turn-in, combined with predictable front-end proper grip, more than replace those shortcomings after a few laps.



The twin-turbo some. 0-liter M178 V-8 dispenses using the grunty, naturally aspirated honk-’n’-braaaap hoedown that the late, lamented C63 Black Series offered. House taping is eradicating music, turbocharging will be killing engines’ auditory esprit d’guerre. Irrespective of Moers’s hatred regarding BMW’s current AUDIO soundtracks—notwithstanding his laudable purpose to let a great engine be just what it is—the 503-hp, 3600-pound GT S never gives you that side-of-beef-to-the-chest whump presented up by, say, the big-bore Corvette Stingray. The particular AMG just raises. We predict 59 mph will arrive in 3. 5 a few moments. Given enough place, AMG says it'll continue to build speed until the car hits 193.



Chuck everything you remember about Mercedes-Benz prescribing. Imagine the tactility of a nice manual sheet, then picture it boosted to the level that there’s sufficient feel left. The particular wheel saws quickly from left to right. The automobile will be incredibly quick to follow these orders. The tiller reminds us a little the McLaren 650S’s, in the event the Woking-bred supercar’s had spent yesteryear 24 hours dragging helium-tank keg holds.

The supercharged V-8–powered Jag F-type R can be a loutish hooligan of a thing, a straight-outta-Albion wide boy very happy to throw the odd elbow to make his point. On the other hand, the GT S makes like the handsome, stern Teuton within the corner, prepared to dispatch interlopers along with understatement, efficiency, and extreme prejudice. The AMG provides prowess and knowledge but something just next to unfettered joy. Fulfilling as hell? Indeed. Satisfying? Of training.



Interior-wise, the impeccably trimmed AMG’s cabin shames those of comers save for your 911. The Porsche capabilities better ergonomics and visibility, and we find that car’s sport seats to get more comfortable as opposed to tight-fit units within the GT S. The key quirk of the Mercedes, however, is that it is gear selector is defined far rearward for the high, sloping centre console. We understand this is because of Americans’ need for cup holders. We’re not really huge fans regarding Mercedes’ column-based items stalks, but one might have been more useful below. Alternately, ditch the cup holders.

Due your local Mercedes retail store in April, the GT S will be followed in 2016 through the base level, 456-hp GT. Despite Mercedes’ refusal to reply to its impending lifetime, a blast-furnace Black Series model will reach some future date. There may perhaps be other models in the future. Could we go to a roadgoing AMG GT GT3? The racing version is at the works, in the end.



As relentlessly competent because the GT S will be, it clearly has more to present. The fundamentals are common here—and nailed—but the ineffable, incandescent fire that produces a car transcendent awaits an intensive stoking. We fully anticipate to see that happen in a very future variant, and we find the sense that—in lavish 911 tradition—the AMG GT is approximately to spawn a lot of ’em.