But that's just my view. Interested to know yours when you get to drive them.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend the whole day driving the last generation GT C Roadster and the new generation GT 63 Coupe back to back, spending around 10 hours in the seat of one or the other over the course of a 12 hour period.
The weather wasn’t ideal with very thick frosts and very heavy rainfall on the previous few days. Whilst the weather was warmer and drier the roads were mixed, between dry and flooded, with lots of mud, debris and greasy too for that extra challenge.
The new car
Looks are very subjective, so I won’t dwell on it too much but it would be remiss not mention the new car’s handsome good looks. In Obsidian Black with gold/bronze forged wheels, and an all black and carbon interior it is a handsome brute.
For a car like this ingress and egress is straightforward. The aperture is tall and wide - and the door not too long - making it easy enough for even taller and larger drivers to get in and out as easily as any other Mercedes.
Inside is very nice. Very well put together, with all contact points solid, tactile with a premium feel. The large screen is a pleasure to use with all controls quick and easy to locate, and switch gear has a firm and positive action.
I opted for comfort seats and perhaps time will confirm or deny my initial thoughts, however I found that the seat didn’t offer enough shoulder support, and I had mild but noticeable discomfort around my shoulder blades after an hour of driving.
Even set in its lowest setting, I can’t quite get low enough in the car, another 30 mm would be perfect. It doesn’t feel like I am sat on the car - far from it - and combined with the generous glass house the visibility is excellent for a car like this.
Perhaps also contributing to the feeling of sitting higher than I would like, the arm rest on the centre console is far too low my liking. Perfectly positioned arm rests are something which Mercedes designers usually nail every time.
I’ll come back to whether the AMG GT should have massaging seats (which were really rather good) and umpteen colour choices for the interior ambient lighting (immediately dimmed and set to a subtle amber colour, in other words perfect).
Rear seats - I’ll come back to whether an AMG GT should have them - I didn't even look at them, never mind try to sit in them, but they’d be ideal for those with children or grandchildren small enough to fit and old enough not to need a child seat.
Generally the inside of the car feels cosy, narrower inside than the last model, it has conventional proportions and you sit closer to the nose, which makes it as easy to place on the road and park as any car. Front and rear cameras make it effortless.
Performance is everything you expect of a super sports car with a turbocharged V8 engine packing a 585 PS and 800 Nm punch. It’s very quick and the 4matic system provides confidence to make progress in cold and wet roads.
Strangely it doesn’t feel as fast as the previous 585 PS GT, and lacks the horse-kick in the chest delivered by the mechanically similar M177 engine found in the nose of the new Aston Martin Vantage, which is capable of brutal acceleration.
Helpfully the car indicates red, amber and blue warnings for tyre temperature to confirm more objectively what your fingers and bottom are subjectively sensing, and it’s incredibly hard to maintain temperature in the tyres on the road.
The automatic 9 speed transmission is well judged, fast acting and always in the right gear, however I spent the vast majority of the time in manual mode. It’s super smooth even when pressing on, too smooth in fact, it reminded me of an electric train.
The steering is OK, it’s pretty good, but for my taste isn’t as good as it should be for a car at this level of performance. It feels too disconnected to the road surface, and doesn’t communicate as much as you would want it to when pressing on
The ride was firm, you wouldn’t expect anything less however in comfort mode it was compliant enough to be described as genuinely comfortable even on the scarred, pot-holed, mud and debris strewn B roads of The Cotswolds.
On that day in those conditions, the car felt most right with the engine set to sport, transmission set to manual, suspension set to comfort, and chassis systems set to basic/standard. Oh, I almost forgot, the exhaust set to on.
Even though the car rides higher than the previous generation GT, it comes with lift - not just nose lift - which combined with it’s more manageable footprint makes it so much more usable, especially going to places you’ve never been before.
Overall it feels like what it is, a replacement for the S-Class Coupe and GT Coupe, and the GT 63 Coupe is probably trying to be the love child of an S 63 and GT C Coupe specifically, and to that end Mercedes-AMG have succeeded.
They have somehow managed to create a car which is neither of it’s parents, blessed with it’s own personality, and just enough of it’s inherited qualities to be a charming, charismatic, intelligent - and dare I say it - potent. Very impressive.
Mercedes have taken the fight to their Stuttgart neighbour and have tried to out 911 the 992. The GT 63 Coupe feels more engaging than the 992 Turbo S, even if it’s down on power, but the 63 is a launch model so no doubt more is coming.
This is a car which will have a much much broader appeal than the GT that replaced it, however I believe selling them will be tough. Relatively few previous generation GT owners will buy them, and it lacks the cult following and loyalty of the 911.
Which is a shame because Mercedes-AMG have a created a car which is exceptionally competent, truly usable and which isn’t just “not-dull”, but is genuinely engaging and exciting to drive. That’s very hard to do, and should be applauded.
The old car(s)
The new GT 63is not a replacement for the previous GT. Everything which makes it so usable makes it feel less special. The comedy proportions of exceptionally long nose and exceptionally wide hips changes the way the car looks inside and out.
Looking out through a very wide and very low slot - more like a WW2 gun post than a windscreen - and down a very very long, low and flat bonnet is an defining feature of both the SLS and GT, but it is also what makes it a pain for manoeuvring.
Sitting so far back is what gives the SLS and GT an almost unique feeling for a modern car on the road, which you quickly adapt to, and feels wonderful when sewing together flowing apexes. The pivot point is some way in front of your coccyx.
The doors are long, the aperture is low, it’s not easy to get in and out of especially parked next to another car, and most people almost fall into a GT because the car is lower, and the seat goes as low as you like. The position is worth it though.
Having a dry dumped engine mounted lower and further back - and a transaxle - make the SLS and GT more exotic on paper, but also change the way that it feels in the road. Inherently better balanced, and sharper in every respect.
The drivetrain also feels more special too, the M159 requires no introduction, the M178 is a star too, and the Getrag box is smooth for what it is, but the speed and feel of the shifts when pressing on are perfectly judged and add to the experience.
This is especially true in downshifts, to feel and hear something more than an engine tone change on the GT 63 requires a great deal of speed, and a corresponding portion of hard braking, and then it will give the slightest sensation of a shift.
The SLS and GT are not uncomfortable however they are much firmer, and not as comfortable on the average British B road. It’s also much less able to deal with pot holes making driving it on very wet very narrow roads a seat-edge experience.
As a result of all of that and more, the SLS and GT are much more rewarding cars to own, drive and live with, however there’s definitely a place for a car which is softer and dialled back but still engaging, and the new GT 63 gauges that we’ll.
Conclusion
Would I buy one? Yes. Would it replace an SLS or GT? No. Would it come close? Not really. Is it a better car? For most people, most of the time, on most journeys, it’s a much better car. That said most cars are better everyday than the SLS and GT!
