RE: McLaren GT vs. Continental GT vs. Mercedes-AMG S63

RE: McLaren GT vs. Continental GT vs. Mercedes-AMG S63

Sunday 23rd February 2020

McLaren GT vs. Continental GT vs. Mercedes-AMG S63

If the new McLaren wants to prove its grand touring credentials, there are two very important rivals it needs to beat...



This article could so easily emerge as one part a description of the cars in question and four parts me wittering on about what makes a grand tourer and grand tourer, as though I'm an authority on the matter. Instead, I'm just going to tell you what they're like to drive and leave you all to make your own minds up (perhaps with a dash of me holding forth on the essential nature of a true GT car. Just to wrap things up).

McLaren reckons the new GT is a grand tourer - it even says so on the tin - which is why we've put it up against the two best GT cars on sale today. Because that's how group tests work. The thing about this new McLaren is that, on paper at least, it looks a lot like other McLarens. At its core you'll find the same basic carbon fibre tub that forms the backbone of every other series production McLaren, while the 4-litre twin-turbo V8 will be very familiar to existing McLaren drivers. Here it produces 620hp and 465lb ft of torque.

Rather than the trick interconnected hydraulic suspension arrangement that makes the 720S so freakishly capable, there are conventional springs, dampers and anti-roll bars, just like a Sports Series McLaren. As far as I can tell, the dashboard architecture is no different to that of a 570S, although a raised rear deck and a full-length tailgate means there's 420 litres of luggage space - albeit awkwardly-shaped luggage space - above and beyond where the engine rests.




At 1,530kg the GT is one of the heaviest McLarens yet produced, although that's still a relatively modest figure for a modern sports car with this sort of performance (0-62mph in 3.2 seconds, 203mph flat out). That's carbon fibre construction for you.

I can't bring myself to love the way the GT looks, mostly because it appears so much more substantial than any other Woking car. There's a visual weight to it that jars, especially given other McLarens look so lithe and athletic. And the chrome glasshouse trim is such a turn-off. But in the flesh the GT does have presence.

Parked alongside the Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupe, it seems absurd to suggest the pair might somehow be brethren. In fact, it is absurd - they could hardly be less alike. One thing I appreciate very much about the S63 is that to most onlookers it'll just be a Mercedes coupe. It could pass for a C200. Very few people will spot the quad exhaust tips and realise it's armed with 612hp and 664lb ft of torque. For covering ground at enormous speed without showing up on too many radars, the S63 might have every other car on the planet licked.




Its cabin is a triumph, more super-yacht than GT car. The dashboard layout is attractive, the seats probably the best in the business (as far as comfort is concerned) and the standard of fit and finish is exceptional. Nonetheless, I actually think the Bentley Continental GT V8 has marginally the better cockpit, mostly because there are clear signs all over the place of genuine craftsmanship - the gorgeous leather, the stitching, the wood veneer, the chrome plungers that open and close the air vents. Sitting in there is like being inside a country manor that's just been renovated by the Soho House hotel group.

The Bentley is a far flashier sort of machine than the Mercedes, of course. You'll not go unnoticed. We've chosen the entry-level V8 rather than the range-topping W12 because it's actually the better car. It's lighter by 50kg - all of that in the nose, helpfully - and with 550hp and 568lb ft, it's still colossally fast in a straight line. Four-wheel drive makes it far more sure-footed in low-grip conditions than both of its rivals here, too.

The Continental GT and S63 are both supreme grand tourers because they isolate you from the process of driving. You can spend hours at the wheel of either and not really be aware of time passing by. They're so comfortable and refined on the motorway that they make licence-losing speeds feel like 70mph. On balance, I think that's a good thing. Apart from their enormously comfortable chairs, both suppress wind and road noise beautifully and on air springs they ride serenely.




The Mercedes edges it in terms of comfort. Its ride is a shade more composed in the way it deals with bumps and ridges in the road, while its cabin quieter at a cruise. It makes driving relaxing, rather than taxing. Only in the company of the S63 can you find fault with the Conti's ride comfort or refinement, because in real terms it's up there with the very best in the world in both respects.

For me, however, the Bentley is the better grand tourer, and therefore the best GT car on sale today, because as well as being as relaxing as it is, it's also bloody good to drive along a twisty road - and I think some degree of agility is an important part of a grand tourer's constitution. This new model makes the previous Continental GT feel about as agile as a mahogany sideboard. There's balance, some adjustability, incisive steering, excellent body control... It's a far sharper thing to hustle through some bends than the 2,165kg kerb weight would have you believe.

It's searingly quick, too. If I had to guess, I'd say the official figures are very conservative, pegged back to keep W12 customers happy. Dig into the throttle pedal travel and at no point will you think, 'yeah, but another 90hp would be nice'. The 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo is a fine motor, with very sharp throttle response and a bassy soundtrack when you want it, but also subdued refinement when you don't. Meanwhile, the twin-clutch gearbox works far better in this car than the one in the last W12 I tested.

On a dry road the lighter, more powerful S63 feels even faster still, but at this time of year the car is massively hamstrung by having only two contact patches through which to deploy all that torque. Again, the engine is a powerhouse and more or less flawless, except that whenever you tickle the throttle, you feel the rear boots spin fractionally and the traction control system leap into life while the engine is all but snuffed out.




What the S63 wins in terms of long distance comfort over the Conti, it loses on a winding hillside road. Its steering is completely numb by comparison, body control is a little sloppier and there's nothing like the same agility in direction changes. The Mercedes is far happier on flowing roads than contorted ones - on more open stretches, it holds itself together admirably well and does a reasonable impression of a sports coupe.

And the McLaren? Its cabin is airy and light, but nothing like as cosseting as the others'. The thinly-padded seats are sharply reclined, leaving your feet stretched out ahead of you, and although they offer lots of lateral support they don't let your tired body sink into them. On the move the steering wheel chatters endlessly to your fingertips, the rack tugging this way and that like an echo of the shape of the road beneath. Other McLarens do this even more; the engineers seem to have muted the GT's steering a little, but compared to a more conventional GT car there's still so much more texture flooding back through the rim of the wheel.

There is a fair amount of wind noise at motorway speeds, too, while the lightweight carbon tub acts like a resonance chamber, multiplying road noise and drenching the cabin in it. The brake pedal takes a deliberate shove, McLaren-style, to get any sort of response from the brakes themselves, while the ride quality is taut, connected and assertive, but never punishing.




You could cover a huge number of miles in the McLaren in a single day, but you'd arrive at your destination knowing about every single one of them. Its performance belongs to a different league to that of the other cars here, because with a fraction more power than the Mercedes but 500kg less body fat to battle against, it is sensationally accelerative. The engine itself still feels distinctly McLaren: nothing much happens beneath 3,500rpm, but the explosion from there to the redline is worth it. What's more frustrating is the hesitancy when you squeeze open the throttle on the way out of a tighter bend, because the little extra drive that you want to balance the car doesn't come...and it doesn't come some more...until BANG, when it all comes at once.

It's a very familiar sort of power delivery, then. In terms of response and linearity, though, it's far better than the smaller 3.8-litre engine used by other McLarens. The GT's twin-clutch transmission, meanwhile, is the sharpest and most responsive here, but also the fussiest in normal driving.

On a ducking and weaving B-road, the McLaren feels like a McLaren, only five or six per cent less so. Its steering isn't quite as detailed and there is a sense of mass higher up in the car, but by and large the GT spurts along between hedgerows the way a Sports Series model would. In that sense it's a thousand times more thrilling to drive than the Bentley, and more exciting than the Mercedes by a factor I can't begin to describe.




The McLaren GT is a very good car, then, but I just can't see the grand tourer in it. Apart from a somewhat awkward stowage compartment above the engine, it doesn't have any real advantages over any other McLaren as a long distance machine. In fact, I would argue that a 720S is actually more comfortable. The truth, as I see it, is that the McLaren GT is actually a supercar - just a slightly more usable sort of supercar.

What it isn't is a true grand tourer. It can't be, because a McLaren with a carbon tub, chatty steering, thin sports seats, a low-slung seating position and a boosty engine simply isn't the right starting point for a GT car. It's like setting out to make a supercar and using as your leaping off point a Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupe. In a nutshell, the best grand tourers isolate you from the process of driving, something the McLaren GT never does.

Anyway. I'll carry on being slightly flummoxed by the GT, admiring it much more as a driver's car than a long distance device. For what it's worth, I think the S63 is the most luxurious performance car you can buy right now, while the Continental GT V8 is simply the best grand tourer I've ever driven.


SPECIFICATION - MCLAREN GT
Engine:
3994cc, V8, twin-turbo
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 620@7,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 568@5,500-6,500rpm
0-62mph: 3.2sec
Top speed: 203mph
Weight: 1,530kg
MPG: 23.7
CO2: 270g/km
Price: £163,000

SPECIFICATION - MERCEDES-AMG S63
Engine:
3982cc, V8, twin-turbo
Transmission: 9-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 612@5,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 664@2,750rpm
0-62mph: 4.2sec
Top speed: 155mph
Weight: 2,065kg
MPG: 23.9
CO2: 231g/km
Price: £129,300

SPECIFICATION - BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8
Engine:
3996cc, V8, twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 550@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 568@2,000-4,000rpm
0-62mph: 4.0sec
Top speed: 198mph
Weight: 2,165kg
MPG: 23.9
CO2: 268g/km
Price: £151,800

Photos | Stan Papior













Author
Discussion

sidesauce

Original Poster:

2,456 posts

217 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
My money would immediately go to Bentley - as a place to spend time in, only a Wraith is more luxurious and pretty much everything you touch inside the car makes you feel justified in where your money has gone.

FlukePlay

937 posts

144 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
The author has clearly forgotten about the Rolls Royce Wraith. This maclaren is no GT, just a more comfy and useable sports car.

the_hood

769 posts

193 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Only the McLaren PR department would call this a GT car.

LooneyTunes

6,780 posts

157 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
I'll freely admit to a degree of bias but if I was asked to name the competitors McLaren were aiming at with the GT, it would have been Continental and DB11. Not knocking the abilities of the S63 but is it really who McLaren are going after (or a car that people considering the McL will be looking at)?

sidewinder500

1,094 posts

93 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Yeah, Wraith has to be the ultimate GT today.

A1VDY

3,575 posts

126 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Mclaren is not even worth considering. It has no dealer network and the parts supply is next to non existant. The other two, at least they can be driven almost anywhere with dealer support never that far away..

Gameface

16,565 posts

76 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
That McLaren is one of the least cohesive, most contrived cars I've ever seen.

Ugly, ungainly and barely fit for purpose. More niche filling nonsense from Woking.

And because it's so confused and poorly styled I wouldn't be surprised if it's depreciation is even worse than its sportier, better looking siblings.

If that's possible...

Gitwhoismiserable

767 posts

122 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Wraith black badge for me... lots of McLaren hate on here as always

numtumfutunch

4,704 posts

137 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Immaterial for target market, probably, but what would the Merc be worth after 2y compared to the other two?

SidewaysSi

10,742 posts

233 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Gameface said:
That McLaren is one of the least cohesive, most contrived cars I've ever seen.

Ugly, ungainly and barely fit for purpose. More niche filling nonsense from Woking.

And because it's so confused and poorly styled I wouldn't be surprised if it's depreciation is even worse than its sportier, better looking siblings.

If that's possible...
Yep entirely agree.

Chubbyross

4,537 posts

84 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
The author’s right: that Mercedes interior is a place of beauty. I could happily spend days in there. For crossing continents I’d take the Bentley as a complete package though.

rare6499

648 posts

138 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
The Conti for me. The Wraith BB is an absolutely mega looking car, but I think the Bentley would have it licked both dynamically and in terms of performance. It’s a much newer car, and I think it would show. Arguably the interior is more interesting and probably not that far off build and materials wise. Not sure I’ve seen a proper head to head review of the two anywhere...

ate one too

2,902 posts

145 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
It's that "chrome" trim around the windows that makes it a true GT ..... adds a touch of 1970s luxury.

Sandpit Steve

9,885 posts

73 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Let’s face it, most of these are never going to do a one-day dash from London to Monte Carlo, they might spend Friday afternoons heading out to the Cotswolds if they’re lucky. The unlucky ones get to spend match days parked at the stadium.

The Merc is undoubtedly a lovely place to be, but it’s way too big and heavy to be sporty - and is going to be worth £50k in a couple of years’ time, which is a big hit even for the moneyed customer base.

If you’re doing serious mileage, then the only place better than a Bentley is going to be a Roller, but I actually think McLaren have managed to carve themselves out a bit of a niche here.

The McGT appeals to a more mature audience then the pure sports cars, and in a sensible colour looks like it sits next to Bentleys rather than Lambos, outside the nice hotel you’re at for dinner or in the golf club car park at the weekend - while it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing if you get some time to yourself on the twistys come Sunday morning. I really like it.

ntiz

2,328 posts

135 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Conti for me but then I am very biased in my love for Bentley.

As has been said a Wraith would be the only thing close but aren’t they like another 100k more?? Probably not as good a drive once you get to your destination.

Mark of the best GTs for me are if you can blast down the motorway to somewhere like Switzerland but take the mountain pass for the last bit and be enjoyable on both.

hornbaek

3,668 posts

234 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Bentley for me just that i don‘t want to be seen in one. For that the MB is better and its at least 40k cheaper, so it might be a 50k car in some years time, but you are also starting from a considerably lower entry price. The McL - well i cant really place it in this context - it is in a niche of its own. Funny how McL came up the business plan for the GT.

cerb4.5lee

30,179 posts

179 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
The S63 for me and I just can't get on with the Bentleys looks. God knows what McLaren were thinking when they built this car though...complete madness.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
PHarticle said:
me wittering on about what makes a grand tourer and grand tourer
you what mate? ;-)


(i suspect that "and" is meant to be an "a" or an "an"........... )

wab172uk

2,005 posts

226 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
Bentley for me. Ultimate GT car.

Olivera

7,065 posts

238 months

Saturday 22nd February 2020
quotequote all
The McLaren GT has that odd and non-descript styling of a Grand Theft Auto car. The awkward rear luggage space also seems hopelessly contrived. I think if I wanted a McLaren I'd just take a normal sports or super series...

As a GT car I'd take the Bentley.