The days of pure driving bliss are nearly behind us. The best sports cars on the road today are loaded up with technology and equipment that can be honed to highly customized levels. With the era of connected car components on the horizon, it's only a matter of time before driving becomes even more computer-driven rather than human-driven.
The new 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Coupe stands for all that is modern and holy about expensive grand touring. Its fastback body is a sleek skin that hides highly sophisticated features like an active lip, aerodynamics channeling and active safety technology.
Strip it back, and the second-generation GT has the all the body rigidity and mechanics to deliver a thrill-inspiring on-road experience, if you dare, and if you know how to properly push it, which the roadways around Granada, Spain allowed for in droves. It leaves little doubt that the engineers in Affalterbach, Germany had fun honing this one.
Steering at speed takes effort, but it's worth it. Diving into the corners of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the car's all-wheel drive, active roll stabilization, deployable rear spoiler, all-wheel drive and rear axle-steering help the model stay stable and driver remain confident. Uphill, downhill, on the flats, on undulating rural roads, along city streets, and around rotaries, the GT drove with the same confidence-inspiring prowess.
The GT's power is allocated by the 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged engine. As tested, in the AMG GT 63 Coupe variant, the car offered up 577 horsepower (hp) and 590 pound-feet (lb-ft) of torque. A downgraded version will also be sold in the U.S., in the AMG GT 55, delivering 469 hp and 516 lb-ft.
The turbos didn't gasp for air at higher elevations, but speeds were relatively low.
Going zero to 60 miles per hour (mph) takes just 3.1 seconds in the more powerful model and 3.8 in the other. Top speed is 196 or 183 mph, in the AMG GT 63 and AMG GT 55, respectively.
While the engine is more than proficient, the GT's engineering team really showed their stuff with the nine-speed multi-clutch transmission they installed. Its shifts are smooth, nearly undetectable unless a drive mode (Sport, Sport+ or Race) has been engaged where a robust throttle blipping is appropriate. The transmission's well-timed sophistication will make you forget that shifting is even something to think about.
This GT is unlike it's predecessor in that it has a spacious cabin that is primed with sophisticated materials befitting the GT's price tag. It's the same level of upgrade bestowed upon the Aston Martin DB12 from one generation to the next, and it's a win all around. The materials are not just high class, they're also high quality.
The car's Michelin Pilot Sport PS5 tires, wrapped around the buyer's choice of 20- or 21-inch wheels, let in a fair amount of noise on the highway thanks to thinner windows than what is in, say, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and the turbulence produced in the nook between the side mirrors and windows. But, at lower speeds, and on different road compounds, the sound was minimized.
Buyers can choose between 2+2 seating or a model with the rear seat deleted. Adults can't fit comfortably in the rear seats (Mercedes says that it's only suitable space for those under five feet tall), which appear to be there more for convenience and insurance cost purposes than practicality. Still, their dimensions are par for the course in this class.
Up front, the standard sport seats offer enough comfort, bolstering and customization levels to ensure that a day behind the wheel, or accompanying the person doing the driving, is not tiresome on the posterior or back. AMG Performance seats are available, offering up motorized narrowing when certain drive modes are selected.
The car's two screens are focused on the driver, giving the appearance of a true cockpit without blocking out the front-seat passenger. Changing drive modes on the go is just as easy using the screen as it is using the controls on the steering wheel.
In front of the driver is a 12.3-inch display that doesn't impede outward visibility, nor has its visibility encumbered by the thickness of the sport steering wheel in the GT. The centrally located infotainment display measures in at a suitable 11.9 inches in portrait orientation.
Specialty drive modes and software accentuate the AMG offering, but deciding what to use when, and learning how to use it would take months behind the wheel, even with the best dealership and on-track training. Whether customers are willing and able to take full advantage of the technology is a whole different conversation.
If there's a more maddening steering wheel on the market today than the triple-spoke AMG Performance wheel, it hasn't been found. Nothing about it is intuitive, precise or easy. It beckons for a redesign as soon as possible as fingers fall over themselves trying to adjust screens, fiddling to get the audio system volume right, and change up the drive mode.
Storage is one of the GT's biggest re-engineering benefits. Because this version was designed for daily use, drivers have more than one place to store their phone while on the go, plenty of footwell room for purse storage in the front or pack, and a spacious trunk that can fit most of a Costco run.
The new GT's suite of sensor, camera and radar technology delivers a host of driver assistance systems for driver use, another clear indication that this car is more daily driver ready than its predecessor.
Pricing for the 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe has not yet been released. It will arrive in North America next year.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Eileen Falkenberg-Hull leads the Autos team at Newsweek. She has written extensively about the auto industry for U.S. News & ... Read more
