What is it?
The bloke in charge of the way the new Mercedes-AMG GT C coupé drives is called Markus Hofbauer. He used to work at Porsche, and that Porsche he prefers a Porsche 911 Turbo to a 911 GT3 tells you more than a little about the Mercedes-AMG GT range.
It’s in the way the 911 Turbo goes about things, see; and Hofbauer knows, because he helped engineer 911 dynamics before he moved to AMG. You don’t have to be absolutely ‘on it’ all the time to make decent progress in a 911 Turbo. It’s fast, but secure and unflappable.
Which brings us to the car Hofbauer is actually here to introduce to us today: the Mercedes-AMG GT, which has, conveniently for the purposes of this article, become available in C specification as a coupé, almost completing the two-door GT range.
A quick recap. The GT is the second 100% AMG sports car, following on from the SLS. It’s a two-seat coupé and roadster, with an engine in the front and drive to the back, where sits a seven-speed dual-clutch transaxle, driving the rear wheels.
You can have a GT in base form as a coupé and roadster, which has 496bhp; or you can have it in S form, which adds an electronically controlled limited-slip differential in place of a pure mechanical one, and has 515bhp - though that only comes as a coupé.
Then there’s the C, which we’ve tried in roadster form before but has now arrived as a coupé too – initially in 500 examples of ‘Edition 50’ trim only – priced at £139,855. But, once those have run out, it’ll be 12 grand cheaper for no great loss. It has 550bhp.
Finally, there’s the GT R, AMG’s answer to a 911 GT3 (or Turbo), if you like, only not limited in production, making 576bhp, and available as a coupé only. AMG could make a roadster, but probably won’t. At least, Hofbauer would prefer it if they didn’t, but knows that given the GT C has the same chassis settings in both coupé and roadster form, they wouldn’t have to ask for his help to tune an R roadster anyway.
Which just leaves the S model looking oddly unfinished, because it’s the only standard variant unavailable as a roadster. Will one arrive? Perhaps. I think AMG looks at the gradual roll-out of Porsche models, and the publicity that comes with them, a little enviously. So there might be a few more words on it here in a few months.
But back to that 911 comparison. The AMG GT range, across these six models, is now, like Porsche 911s, meant to offer something broadly rather appealing: a base roadster for boulevardiers, up to an R for track enthusiasts, albeit all off of fundamentally the same 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8 engine and gearbox.
There are some alterations inside as you move up the GT range – the R will offer you harnesses, for example, while the base models get the softer furnishings, but fundamentally there’s not so much between them. Just a cabin that looks and feels well-finished, with the full gamut of Mercedes’ entertainment and info systems, pleasingly laid out.
There are perhaps a few too many buttons on that big transmission tunnel, which, combined with the letterbox view out over a long bonnet, makes the GT feel quite the muscle car, in its way: you sit near the back, overlooking the lengthy nose.
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In the dark
Look at the width of that bleedin' centre console. It's not a car in which to drive somewhere quiet and romantic and lean in to give your new bird a snog.
Enough!
muscle car'
This camp construction has been used for far too long, now. Please stop it.
Front of car in another time zone
You'd need binoculars to park judging by the distance between the driver and the front of the car!