His strategy is the epitome of automotive self-confidence or perhaps hubris if you鈥檙e a competitor or not a fan. All BMWs, from the M3 to the X3 to the i3 are sporting machines this strategy says, while Mercedes-Benz cars are big, steady rolling bank vaults, and only sporting in that the AMG models make good autobahn-pounding muscle cars. But Mercedes-AMG has moved past that image with the front-midengine GT. There鈥檚 none of that with the 577-hp Mercedes-AMG GT R coupe, the track-ready flagship of this series, which just went on sale in the U.S. 113,395. Although this version has been on the U.S. Don鈥檛 think of the GT as a 鈥渓esser model,鈥?though. The AMG GT is a nicely balanced sports car, with its 4.0-liter biturbo V-8 placed front-midengine and driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The roads between Paderborn and Bad Driburg have their share of entertaining corners, though they鈥檙e not quite as entertaining as the Alpine roads in this part of Europe. The point here was to get us to the Blister Berg circuit where we could wring out a GT-R with impunity. Makes 469 horsepower and 465 pound-feet.
It comes with the AMG Sport Suspension, limited-slip differential, and AMG Dynamic Select chassis settings. All GTs now come standard with AMG鈥檚 Panamericana grille. Boosts the turbo V-8 to make 515 horsepower and 494 pound-feet, adds an AMG Performance exhaust and a Burmeister Surround Sound audio system. The S also adds a 鈥淩ace鈥?mode to the AMG Dynamic Select system and AMG Ride Control adaptive sport suspension. Also, my tester had the optional active rear steering, which turns the back wheels up to 1.5-degrees, opposite front wheels at low speeds and with the front wheels at higher speeds, up to 62 mph. This was the sole convertible AMG GT that I drove. The Edition 50 coupe, celebrating AMG鈥檚 founding by Hans-Werner Aufrecht, originally of Grossaspach, and Erhard Melcher, is a cosmetic package and goes on sale in the U.S. Thanks to a different turbocharger in this version, the R makes 577 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Forged aluminum wheels are 10 x 19-inches front, 12 x 20-inches rear, one inch wider than on the GT S, and are shod with Michelin Pilot Sport Cups. Its adjustable nine-setting AMG Traction Control is based on the GT3 race car.
While the AMG GT family features a 510-pound aluminum spaceframe, the R adds a lot of carbon-fiber parts, including front fenders and a stout carbon-fiber torque tube. It also gets the lithium-ion battery, and the active rear steering. On the road, the 4.0-liter turbo V-8 is smooth and plenty powerful in any of its iterations, from 469 horsepower on up to 550 horsepower, and the car鈥檚 handling is forgiving and intuitive. The throttle response is perfectly linear, not at all what I鈥檇 expect from a turbo, and not what you鈥檇 get with any of the current crop of high-strung smaller displacement turbo engines. At road speeds, I didn鈥檛 come close to triggering the stability control, anyway. The single noticeable difference between the base GT, the GT S and GT C is that the latter two were equipped with the rear steering feature. A sensitive backside could detect the rear wheels toeing into turns, steering with the rear wheels without feeling like it might slip into a drift. On the public roads, there鈥檚 no discernable difference between ride and handling, though of course it does speed up the throttle and shift responses.
The standard 鈥渃omfort鈥?mode is still plenty stiff, allowing just enough compliance around fast corners, though also rather firm over road imperfections. Paddling the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic is quick and rewarding under 鈥渃omfort鈥?and quicker and even more rewarding under 鈥渟port.鈥?You鈥檒l want to use these paddles, connected to the wheel and not the column, more often than not. The steering is adequately light and very quick, and the brakes are just what you鈥檇 expect, which is to say they will save your hide. This reassures me on the twisty, hilly, technical Blister Berg circuit. Let me set the scene: A professional race driver leads two journo-driven cars around the track for 3-1/2 hot laps, the last half-lap left for cooling things down. Mercedes-AMG let us lap in 鈥渞ace鈥?mode. I didn鈥檛 turn off traction or stability control, and the rear tires stepped out slightly on a couple of occasions.