Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63 Premium Plus – a naughty machine

The AMG GT63 has always had guts by taking on fierce competition like the Porsche 911 and Aston Martin DB11…

---

Car Reviewed: Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63 Premium Plus

---

Every version so far, apart from the Performance Premium Plus and Performance Ultimate, comes with 585bhp, giving a 0-62mph time of 3.2sec and a blistering 196mph top speed. If that’s not enough to soothe your inner speed psycho, then the more powerful Performance guises should. By opting for one of those, you’ll see a power increase to 612bhp, which increases the top speed by just 3mph and lowers the 0-62mph by just 0.4sec. For now, we’ll focus on the Premium Plus.

The GT’s cabin feels airy thanks to the large windscreen and sunroof. The steering wheel is busy with plenty of buttons and there are lashings of carbon fibre trim throughout. It doesn’t take long to get used to.

By peering at the spec sheet left in the cabin, I spotted that the new GT, although athletic in appearance, is rather portly, weighing just shy of two tonnes—that’s a fair bit more than the previous GT, which was around 1,570kg. Out on the open road, you quickly forget about its additional weight—this thing shifts.

There are a few settings to tweak before taking off, if you want the full GT asbo experience. Rotate the knob on the steering wheel to Sport Plus and hit the exhaust button located on the centre console. When driving, you also get a neat little symbol on the gauge cluster that lets you know just how warm the tyres are.

Nailing the throttle releases a typically angry AMG soundtrack that almost resembles a misfire, and while so much drama happens inside the cabin, things are oddly civil outside. An 800Nm dollop catapults you down the road. Let off the throttle, and you’d swear you were being shot at by an Apache helicopter because of the machine gun-like backfire.

The trick suspension handles bumps incredibly well and it also has rear-wheel steering, which means that you just point and shoot.  It never feels nervous when pressing on.

After spending some time with it, I had some closing thoughts: I wish manufacturers would stop plonking large touchscreens in the middle of the car. Older Mercedes cars had nice clicky buttons, but now you need to control everything through the central touch screen or the endless steering wheel controls. It takes away from what could be a beautiful interior.

This aside, the Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63 is an absolute weapon. Every time you climb into its interior, it tingles your senses and makes you want more. It should be illegal.