Mercedes-AMG GT: Preview

Harris doesn't like doing 'ride' stories; makes an exception for the AMG GT

The main problem with being a car obsessive as well as a journalist is the accompanying inability to resist inefficiencies that pander to the former and hinder the latter.

"So when can I drive it?"

This is how I found myself in the passenger seat of a development AMG GT S coupe, rolling down Highway 25 with company boss Tobias Moers. That's right, having publicly stated that I'd never again endure one of those god-awful pre-launch shotgun rides, I'm here for one of those god-awful pre-launch shotgun rides.

But it's a chance to have a nose around a car that I've waited so long to see, so all professional inefficiencies went out the window, but I stopped short of telling Mercedes that I was coming along out of personal curiosity.

The GT will come in two forms, the base GT is yet to be confirmed with around 460hp and the S model I'm sitting in with 510hp and 479lb ft. From launch, the only model available will be the S. AMG doesn't really want this car being referred to as a short-wheelbase SLS, but the description isn't inaccurate. The car shares many structural parts with the bigger Gullwing, including the floor, the A-pillars and the rear bulkhead. But the conventional doors necessitate a new roof and the car is 50mm shorter ahead of the front scuttle. In all areas of twist and bend, this shell is superior to the SLS.

Definitely not an SLS SWB

The rear axle design is completely new, but the front suspension is pure SLS - anyone who has seen those vast, expensive forgings will realise that they're some of the best hand-me-downs in the business.

Donor card
A transaxle gearbox sits behind the occupants - it's the same seven-speed Getrag DCT found in the SLS - taking power from the latest AMG powerplant, the 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8. Its internal nickname is, rather deliciously, the 'hot V'. Yes, it will inevitably lack the sharpness of the old M156 normally aspirated motor, but it's a very trick bit of kit.

The 'hot V' refers to the two turbochargers wedged in between the cylinder heads, which are fed by vast intercoolers and then cooled by an intake which runs all the way under the bonnet. The block sits very low too, thanks to dry sump lubrication.

The reason for the US trip in disguised cars is a final set of sign-off evaluation tests - and some valuable miles in what remains by far the most important market for a sports car, the US. The cars have been subjected to the type of brutality we read about in stories like this and barely digest. In response to me asking about intake temperatures, Tobias causally talks about lapping some proving ground in Phoenix at 312km/h (194mph) in 48 degrees ambient. "The cooling is excellent", he says with a sizeable grin.

Make your own guesses about the looks!

Hot V
What about the move to turbochargers on a car of this type? "I'm so pleased with the throttle response. I have a standard test which is maximum acceleration in third gear, then braking, then straight back to full power, the way this engine picks-up is very impressive." All said as we mooch past a snoozing State Trooper at 58mph in seventh gear.

What's the cabin like? Wide. The GT is as wide as an SLS, but a good deal shorter. The vast transmission tunnel houses a carbon prop shaft and atop it, and inside, sits the new AMG control layout. It's a little different to before with individual configurations available for shift speed, dampers and level of traction control, and a manual override button that now works in all shift maps. The cherry on the cake is a race mode that defaults to a maximum power shift map and the largest amount of slip available with the chassis computer switched on.

Sick bag
I know this because after a couple of hours cruising we head into Pikes Peak International Raceway - like Indianapolis built for Legoland. It's tiny, but it has space to play, and Tobias kindly throws me around as I do my best impression of the worst passenger in history. It's at this point I promise myself I will never attend one of these passenger ride scenarios ever again. I never thought I'd say "The last time I blundered was on my stag-do" to the boss of AMG.

Well of course it does this

What could I tell from riding shotgun? It's fast, proper fast, but despite the two-and-a-half-years of calibration work that goes into a project like this the motor doesn't quite have that bite above 6,000rpm. But that's also a measure of how potent it feels below 4,000rpm. Even on half-throttle openings, Moers is managing big oversteer angles through the standard fit Michelin Pilot Super Sports. Does it feel like a 911? Nope. Does it feel like an F-Type Coupe? Hell yes.

The Getrag dual clutch gearbox is identical to the one used by Mercedes in the SLS and Ferrari in the 458, but it has been comprehensively updated for this application. I won't bother with the milliseconds claims, but it now feels instant, can nudge you in the back if you so require and is very smooth at low speed.

And then there's the noise. It's pure AMG V8. The S model comes with exhaust flaps as standard and a noisy button on that vast centre console. It'll do the great phlegmy V8 whoop from start up, blares like the best of them at speed and in Race mode the overrun pops are more war-zone than Nordschleife. Tobias knows where he has a competitive advantage from his powertrains: "We don't need loudspeakers" he grins.

And his timing is good. The 991 is not bossing the class quite the way its predecessor did, leaving opportunities for AMG and Jaguar to persuade people that front-engined solutions are available. If it looks right - and I genuinely have no idea how it looks - I think the Porsche will find life even more difficult.

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Beefmeister

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