REVIEW | Mercedes AMG GT 63 S E Performance
Unfortunately, when sport becomes predictable, it no longer remains interesting. The recent Ashes series was wonderful because it was impossible to guess what was going to happen. Last season’s Premier League remained tight until the end and Wimbledon has a new men’s champion.
But it now looks as though Red Bull and their two drivers (mainly Max Verstappen of course) will sweep the Formula One board. Yawn.
Meanwhile, over at Mercedes, they seem to keep tinkering with their car but so far Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggle to even make it onto the podium.
Well, here’s a suggestion. Put them into the Mercedes AMG GT 63 S E Performance and they might not be so far away. They’ll also end the race as fresh as a daisy, will have enjoyed listening to their favourite podcast and can even indicate when overtaking.
What you’re looking at is the first performance hybrid from Mercedes-AMG and a lot of the technology under the skin of this sleek 4-door coupé comes from Formula One. It’s taken a while to finally come to fruition, originally being conceived way back in 2017.
First, let’s crunch some numbers.
Under the bonnet you’ll find a 4.0-litre V8 bi-turbo petrol engine which, when added to the oomph delivered by a battery-powered electric motor on the rear axle, delivers a thumping 832bhp. All of this goes via a 9-speed automatic gearbox mated to a 4MATIC all-wheel drive system. The electric motor has two automatic gears.
Floor the throttle and you hurtle to the horizon. 0-60 mph comes up in a truly stunning 2.9 seconds and top speed is 196mph. For a car approaching 2.3 tonnes, these are impressive figures.
And yes, as this car is a plug-in hybrid, you can drive it using electric power only. However, don’t get too excited because Mercedes say that it can only manage a rather disappointing 8 miles. But that’s missing the point as the battery and electric motor are there to work in tandem with the engine and provide terrific off-the-line performance. The battery has also been designed to both charge and discharge quickly. You can thank F1 for that. If you make full use of the hybrid system and don’t enjoy the engine note and performance (unlikely), Mercedes reckon you can get around 35mpg. To be honest, you’ll be lucky to get high 20s but I suspect you won’t be too miffed when you’re forking out around £180,000.
There are seven driving modes which you select from a knob on the steering wheel - Comfort, Electric, Sport, Sport+, Race, Slippery and Individual (allowing you to drift the car and shred your tyres). To be honest, although it’s fun to play with, most folk will leave everything in Comfort and let the air suspension do its work. As you’d expect, when you hit the Sport modes you get a bit more noise (it’s wonderful by the way) from the exhaust, the throttle, gear changes and steering become sharper and the dampers make the ride more controlled and a tad firmer, although it never gets uncomfortable and remains remarkably civilised over Britain’s pothole-strewn roads.
You can also juggle the amount of regeneration which occurs when you brake or take your foot off the throttle. The highest level allows one-pedal driving.
If you use this car purely for long-legged motorway jaunts, you’re in for a wonderful experience as you glide along with only a distant rumble from the engine, but when you need to overtake and boot the accelerator, the car comes alive and because of the electric assistance, acceleration is instantaneous. Once you leave the motorway and head for the country lanes, switch to one of the ‘Sport’ modes and enjoy how the driving experience becomes more involving.
It’s also extremely easy to boost the battery power. Granted you can do this from a charger, but it’s actually quite good fun doing it as you go along. Brake early but gently and the regeneration soon tops things up in readiness for when you need to switch to warp speed.
Even when you leave the drive mode in ‘Comfort’ setting, you still set off from a standstill because the electric motor provides the initial burst of power. And if you don’t want to disturb the neighbours and fancy saving the planet, switch to ‘Electric’ mode to arrive/depart home in silence.
Yes, this Mercedes has supercar performance, but it’s all remarkably civilised. For some, that will be a bit of a downside and I’m sure they’d rather it was a bit more raucous.
The interior is a work of art with lashings of leather, chrome and natty lighting. The dashboard and steering wheel have a plethora of ways in which you can configure how the car operates. The 12.3-inch touchscreen and head-up display work well. As well as this, the sat-nav is one of the best around and provides you with direction sign photos.
Other than that, let’s just say that you get everything you could possibly want and the build quality is faultless.
Any downsides? This comes down to personal preferences but perhaps it could look a bit more ambitious in its design. It’s a tad understated. The boot is tight and there’s a bit of whine from the electric motor, although you only notice it because the car is so quiet.
Other than that you have to applaud Mercedes for coming up with a comfortable four-door coupé that will more than happily trundle around town using zero fuel one minute, and then unleash the horses to incredible effect and blast you down a motorway slip road or around a racing circuit.
Formula One had a big say in the way this car produces its power, so when Max Verstappen notches up his next F1 win and we all yawn (apologies to Verstappen and Red Bull fans), we should really be saying thank you.
Words: Graham Courtney
Pictures: Mercedes
