[Auto] Mercedes-AMG GT

[MehrezVM]

 

Confirmation bias must be something that car-makers account for when they’re doing their market research - mustn’t it? 

 

In press material - for cars like this new Mercedes-AMG GT sports car, and so many others - the feedback of owners of the outgoing model is treated with gospel reverence. “We kept everything they liked, but also addressed every absence of failing they identified,” we’re told.

 

Little is said about the opinions and feedback of others. What about David, 59, from East Sussex, for instance? David liked the look of the last Mercedes-AMG GT. But, after scaring himself paler than the cream of his favourite cotton slacks when he opened up the taps on a slightly bumpy and damp B-road during a test drive, he duly decided that another Porsche 911 was in order.

 

David didn’t buy a Mercedes-AMG GT; and, very often when it comes to ‘discretionarily bought’ sports cars especially, I wonder if that makes his opinion mute. David’s is the money they should be bidding for, surely? But because banking on the deposit of someone with a track record of actually handing it over is a much safer bet, that’s what manufacturers so often seem to do.

 

This second-generation of AMG’s range-topping super sports car feels like it could have done with a bit more confirmation bias adjustment. It differs significantly from Affalterbach’s first-gen model in several quite fundamental ways. And yet, to drive, not so much.

 

Mercedes decided to marry up this car’s development with that of the ‘R232’-generation Mercedes-AMG SL roadster. While the models therefore share cabin architecture and fittings, engines, and a predominantly aluminium spaceframe chassis, you might imagine that the company would have designed and defined the cars quite differently from each other, so as to cover the biggest possible sports-car-market territory.

 

They didn’t. The SL sprouted a pair of occasional rear seats and 4Matic+ part-time four-wheel drive so that it could be made more usable than before; as well as firmer AMG suspension tuning so that it felt sportier.

 

And the GT? Much the same. The car’s old two-seat, rear-drive concept has been dispensed with; 4Matic+ four-wheel drive has been added to all models; and the better part of a foot has been added to overall length, along with around 250kg of kerbweight - the latter without counting the electrification gubbins of the new range-topping, 800-odd-horsepower, GT 63 S E Performance plug-in hybrid version.

 

Despite the growth spurt, there’s clear familiarity with the old car in the exterior styling of the new one. It gives the new car instant identity, even if every body panel and every detail has been altered.

 

At 4728mm long, 1984mm wide and 1354mm tall, the GT has grown in every direction in order to offer more interior space and accommodate those rear seats.

 

Engines are the same as in the SL, the GT arriving exclusively with AMG’s twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 in two states of tune: 469bhp and 516b ft of torque in the GT 55 (which UK buyers aren't offered), and 577bhp and 590lb ft in the GT 63 we’re driving here. There's a four-cylinder GT 43 for other markets too but, like the GT 55, UK buyers won't be offered it.

 

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