- Doors and Seats
2 doors, 2 seats
- Engine
4.0TT, 8 cyl.
- Engine Power
430kW, 700Nm
- Fuel
Petrol (98) 11.4L/100KM
- Manufacturer
RWD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
Mercedes-AMG GT R first drive review
A nervous burst of laughter fills the cockpit as our V8 flares into wheelspin cresting a brow at 200km/h.
Mercedes legend Bernd Schneider is at the wheel, taking a break from racing to offer the ultimate showcase of the fierce Mercedes-AMG GT R at the Bilster Berg circuit in Germany – a private facility seemingly combining the best bits of Bathurst, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nurburgring as it soars, dives and scythes through forest country near Padderborn.
It’s hard to tell from the passenger seat which element of the triad is the most impressive.
Schneider is well and truly on it, attacking blind corners with the sort of determination that helped Mercedes win the world’s toughest GT3 endurance races at Bathurst, Spa and the Nurburgring. But the track is something else, pitching our matte green streak up and down, left and right like a fighter jet dodging enemy missiles.
And the car is simply sensational.
The Mercedes-AMG GT range follows Benz’ “gullwing” SLS as the second model designed from the ground up by the manufacturer’s performance arm. Unlike popular models such as the A45 hatch or C63 sedan, the GT did not start life as an ordinary luxury car – this is a purebred performance machine.
The AMG GT range has grown over the years, starting first with a GT S version in Australia that was joined by a more affordable GT and more potent GT C. This GT R is the most hard-core version of the lot, at least until a rumoured Black Series version arrives toward the end of the model’s life cycle.
Pitched as a rival to Porsche’s fiercest 911s, the GT R takes inspiration from the brand’s GT3 racing machine as well as its cheaper GT4 cousin.
Ditching the standard GT’s panels for wider bodywork at the front and rear, the GT R features lighter 19 and 20-inch wheels wrapped in broad, track-focused Michelin Pilot Cup 2 rubber. A nine-stage adjustable traction control system nicked from the GT3 racer allows drivers to dial in how much slip they want to experience before the safety net intervenes (or doesn’t), and a new rear-wheel-steering system offers improved agility at low speed and additional stability north of 100km/h.
Active aerodynamics behind the front spoiler suck the car onto the road surface, and a huge rear wing allows owners to indulge in racing fantasies by manually adjusting its angle of attack.
A reworked twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine pushes the GT’s 350kW and 630Nm outputs to 430kW and 700Nm, sending power to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with shift paddles.
Comfortable sports seats in the standard car make way for track-ready fixed buckets that only offer back and forth adjustment, though you can go for regular seats by special request.
Options include massive carbon-ceramic brakes, a track package including a fire extinguisher, rear roll bar and four-point harnesses, and a wide range of colours including the Nurburgring-inspired “green hell magno” pictured here.
The GT R’s standard price of $349,000 plus on-road costs puts it around $90,000 above the standard GT and $50,000 ahead of the mid-range GT S.
Climbing into the deeply-bolstered seats, I grab the car’s yellow seatbelt and take in yellow-stitched microfibre and leather that seems to clash with the car’s green coachwork. While that is a question of taste, it is clear AMG got the car’s driving position spot-on, with a low-set seat, well-spaced pedals and manually adjustable flat-bottomed steering wheel with plenty of reach and range.
Following Schneider in a train of GT Rs, we exit pit lane and take it easy on the first lap before attacking the circuit properly.
The GT R’s feelsome, consistently weighted steering offers outstanding predictability and precision, lending plenty of confidence in the car’s front end. There’s a tension to the GT R’s body movement separating it from other models in the GT range – doubtless harder to live with in the real world, this one feels born to hit the track.
Squeezing the throttle out of a tight corner, I’m surprised by the amount of traction on offer – credit for that is shared by its sticky Michelins, active differential and deftly programmed traction control.
Unlike most front-engined cars, the GT’s transmission sits at the back of the car in a “transaxle” arrangement that puts more weight over the rear wheels than the front tyres. That lends the machine impressive balance - it will understeer, oversteer or four-wheel-drift as required, bending to the driver’s wishes in most circumstances.
Loosening the stability control’s rein during a second assault on the circuit, it’s clear the boosted V8 has more than enough grunt to overwhelm the rear tyres, sending the rear slewing wide in second and third-gear bends.
The V8 also has enough to push the rear out of line in much faster corners, particularly when the car gets light over blind fourth-gear brows and crests on the Bilster Berg.
It’s less funny when you’re in the driver’s seat.
That motor is mighty on our test track, bellowing under load and crackling on a closed throttle while offering the sort of straight-line punch required to hit 100km/h in 3.6 seconds. AMG’s dual-clutch transmission is also a highlight, snapping through the gears at the brush of a paddle before hungrily blipping back through the ratios on corner entry.
No, that front-engine V8 layout isn’t as exotic as the soaring V10 in Audi’s R8 or the shrieking six-cylinder engine of Porsche’s 911 GT3. But it works.
There’s a feel-good factor to the GT R that’s hard to match. And production car lap records from Bathurst to the Nurburgring speak to its immense performance potential.
The GT R’s engaging driving experience is a fitting example of how far the brand has come.
If you wanted a speedy two-door Mercedes at the turn of the millennium, the best an Australian dealer could offer was a 235kW version of the SL500 boulevard cruiser. AMG’s hardest-hitting beast in 2000 was the V8-powered, 260kW E55 sedan, a car easily eclipsed by the brand’s entry-level four-cylinder hatchback today.
Few people then could have predicted the meteoric rise of AMG – which represents around one in five Mercedes sales in Australia – or the sheer breadth of its range in 2017.
And there is more to come.
2017 Mercedes-AMG GT R pricing and specifications
Price: From $349,000 plus on-road costs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol
Power: 430kW at 6250rpm
Torque: 700Nm at 1900-5500rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive
Fuel use: 11.4L/100km
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