Latest news with #GT63S
Forbes
07-07-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Test-Driving The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E-Performance
The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe. While 2025 may not be its heyday, the humble four-door non-SUV—known as the sedan, for those who need a refresher—is thankfully still present on America's new car lots. Especially on Mercedes-Benzs', which, between its CLA, C, E and S Classes, give buyers plenty of options to suit their lifestyle. And for the more discerning and well-heeled enthusiast, there's yet another four-door MB model, but this one answers the question 'what if you added two seats with accompanying doors to a sports car badge, and still made it look good?' I'm not sure who would ask for this in a four-door. Not only that, I'm not sure who would also request that it be the most powerful Mercedes product ever made. Nonetheless, I'm glad the brand took the less conventional path and built it; starting at $200,100, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance four-door gran coupe sports as much herculean performance and stature as this herculean price tag. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe Somewhat Understated The four-door GT63 really does look like a bigger and longer two-door GT63, too. Sure, the structure was dramatically changed to be a sedan - or, in Mercedes' words, gran coupe - but it's an overall handsome brute. I'm especially into the it's rear three-quarter perspective as minimal overhang, a wide track and broad shoulders give it a particularly muscular appeal. It wears its game face, too, with massive vents to aid cooling, and its headlights are quite sharp. Finally, in classic understated German sedan fashion, there isn't too much about its exterior that would alert casual observers (or law enforcement) of its capabilities. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe However, Mercedes was on-the-nose in conveying them on the inside. A rich mix of Alcantara, soft leather, and carbon fiber comprise every surface, and standard substantially bolstered sport seats are quite comfortable. The belt line sits high to create a pleasingly sunken driving position that's focused and assuring, which is rare among other sport sedans. Minor downside: with such a big footprint and slightly limiting visibility, this requires taking extra care navigating tight city streets and parking lots. The whole idea behind expanding a two-door high-end sports car into a four-door is to tack on an extra row of seats, but in the AMG GT63, this seemed like an afterthought. $200,000 is a heavy piece of scratch, and I was surprised to see such a barren and claustrophobic rear seat area for it. The roofline curves down to give the GT its sleek and sporty figure, so it's understandable that headroom's at a premium. But still, it's quite cramped, and has barely any common amenities like multiple USB-C ports, or even cupholders, for the base price. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe Impressively Thrilling Between its sporty looks and focused interior, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E-Performance's intentions are clear. But there's more: it's capable of producing 831 horsepower and 1,032 pound-feet of torque. Just 630 and 664 are courtesy of its hand-assembled twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 (just), and the rest of a product of its plug-in hybrid system, which is made up of an electric motor mounted to the rear axle, 6.1 kWh battery, 3.7 kW onboard charger, and 400v electric system. All of this enables the 5,200-pound GT to hit 60 mph from a standstill in just 2.8 seconds, and on to a top speed of 197 mph. Whether launching it or eclipsing triple-digit speeds, there's plenty of rousing V8 drama and longitudinal G force to keep pulses high, and nine perfectly spaced gears within its dual-clutch transmission to ensure the least amount of interruption. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe Despite its heft, this stretched-out sports car is a maniac at corners, too. Because its 76.9-inch width is spread across a vast 116-inch wheelbase, there's plenty of room for its mighty four-liter and accompanying accessories to sit quite far back under the hood. This makes it easier to balance its handling equation, as do adaptive dampers with airbags living amongst multi-link suspension at all four corners, plus rear-steer, and all-wheel drive to put the power down more effectively. Tackling mountain roads was a real treat in this AMG; steering response and weight were solid, and while too stiff in its most hardcore setting, damping made the experience wonderfully engaging and confidence-inspiring. Well, in addition to its massive 275-front and 315-rear Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, as well as gigantic 16.5-inch front and 15-inch rear carbon ceramic brakes with massive, multi-piston calipers. Ambient temps hovered around 90 degrees during my afternoon behind the wheel, and besides some brake and tire fade after nearly an hour of play, the GT's oil and coolant temperatures remained pegged in the middle the whole time. Previously, I'd driven the new/similarly hefty BMW M5 on the same roads, and vastly preferred the AMG for its livelier soundtrack, better ride quality and more engaging steering. It costs quite a bit more than the Bimmer and they aren't technically direct competitors, but it's a context clue for how each luxury brand deals with weight in our modern plug-in hybrid performance era. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe Impressively Chilling At the end of the day, the AMG GT63 is a luxury sedan, and it's just as good at wearing this hat as it is at playing race car. The ride in either Sport or Comfort mode is excellently damped and composed, and there's nary a squeak or rattle in its interior as it rolls down city streets. If someone simply wanted a roomy, isolated luxury boat with enough power on tap to keep up with modern supercars, they could do far worse. This is driven home by the GT63's hybridized powertrain—that's right, we can't forget there's environmentally friendliness factored into this bruiser. When driven with an eye on consumption, it'll return a combined 25 mpge. Though, it's not quite as good at split-personality motoring as the latest BMW M5; electric-only range is just one mile. Enough to be respectful of other peoples' peace in town, but not much in terms of regular, emissions-free motoring. But since it already weighs as much as a well-optioned Ram 1500, it really ought to not gain any more pounds. The 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance 4-Door Coupe Despite having a very base backseat at $200,100 to start, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E-Performance is as handsome, fast, engaging and fun as it is luxurious. At least in its front seat area. The idea of simply stretching out a coupe's design to slot in a big four-door grand tourer—in a lineup already laden with four-doors—seems like too much, but Mercedes pulled it off well here. It's a testament to the tech, too, as just five years ago it would've been unheard of to make 5,200 lbs drive this well.
IOL News
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Kimi Antonelli can't drive his new AMG GT63S in Italy
Kimi Antonellis will be in action this weekend at the Bahrain GP. Photo: AFP Mercedes AMG rookie driver Kimi Antonelli just took ownership of a new GT 63S but won't be able to drive the car in his homeland – Italy, until he is 21-years-old. Antonelli turned 18 in August last year and cannot drive a car with so much power, according to Italian law. He passed his driving test in January. The rules in Italy dictate that if you have a driver's license for under three years, then you cannot drive a car that has a power output of over 105kw and have to keep it under 100km/h on highways. The AMG gifted to Antonelli has over 400 kW under the hood. It would therefore be just but at the same time illegal for Antonelli to drive the rare model AMG in his homeland. The young F1 driver recently broke the lap record around Suzuka Circuit and became the fastest driver around the Japanese track.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S E Performance Is an 831-HP 4-Door Hot Rod
When we tested the Mercedes-Benz AMG Hammer back in 1986, we immediately appreciated its rare combination of supercar speed and four-door practicality. To create that 178-mph sedan, AMG stuffed a massaged 5.5-liter V-8 into an E-class, an upscale European interpretation of the oldest hot-rod formula around: Put a big engine into a small car. The 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance embraces that old AMG tuner credo with a modern twist—instead of dropping a bigger engine into the GT63, Mercedes adds a whole extra source of propulsion. Up front, you'll find the same 630-hp turbocharged V-8 that sent the 2019 GT63 S to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 11.0 seconds at 125 mph. But at the rear, a 201-hp electric motor joins the party, powered by a 5-kWh battery and mated to its own two-speed transmission. The hybrid GT63 weighs in at 5252 pounds, a 570-pound gain over its predecessor. AMG minimized the PHEV poundage by making the tactical decision to disregard EV range and optimize the battery for performance. Thus the lithium-ion high-voltage battery weighs just 196 pounds, and the E Performance has an EPA-rated range of one mile. As comically bad as that sounds, the E Performance must be exceptionally inept at the EPA's test regimen, because even that small of a battery should be good for more than a mile of range—we saw an onboard range prediction of eight miles with a full charge. Those extra 570 pounds have a negligible impact on the E Performance's handling and braking, perhaps because the rearward position of the hybrid hardware imparts a slightly rear-biased weight distribution, with 49.3 percent of the car's mass sitting over the front axle versus 53.9 percent for the nonhybrid GT63 S. (The rear-cargo-area floor is bumped up to accommodate the hybrid components, dropping cargo volume from 16 to 12 cubic feet.) The 2019 GT63 S generated 1.03 g's on the skidpad and stopped from 70 mph in 155 feet, while the E Performance clings to the skidpad with 1.02 g's of grip and hauls down from 70 mph in 158 feet; both wore similar 21-inch Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires. These numbers fall squarely into the category of "different, but probably not so you'd notice." What you do notice is the difference in acceleration. The GT63 S E Performance torches 60 mph in 2.4 seconds and trips the quarter-mile lights in 10.5 seconds at 131 mph. The nine-speed automatic uses a wet clutch rather than a torque converter, so launch control involves a real-deal clutch drop that torments all four tires as the contact patches struggle with a combined 831 horsepower and 1032 pound-feet of torque. The bonkers acceleration flattens out a bit as the electric motor nears its 13,500-rpm max and the rear transmission grabs second gear, which felt like it was around 60 mph even though Mercedes says the shift should happen around 87 mph (we noticed the upshift in the S63 E Performance as well). When the electric motor grabs its taller gear, the spike in acceleration feels like a turbo overboost function or a wee shot o' nitrous. Good fun, in other words. Mercedes says that it developed the E Performance's battery in collaboration with High Performance Powertrains, the British Formula 1 engine manufacturer, so it's unsurprising that the battery's output characteristics are tailored for racetracks rather than long commutes. For example, the battery can sate the 201-hp appetite of the motor for only 10 seconds, at which point output drops to a continuous 94 horsepower. (If that sounds like a problem, we'd encourage you to report back after you find a place where you can go wide open in a GT63 S for more than 10 seconds.) The battery enjoys an elaborate cooling system, with roughly four gallons of coolant routed to individually cool all 1200 cells and maintain a temperature of 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Rapid discharging and recharging is the name of the game—in Sport, Sport+, or Race mode, the V-8 will charge the battery as you drive, and regenerative braking can send more than 100 kilowatts to the battery. The slowest way to charge the battery? By plugging it in. But if you find an EV-only garage spot and want to take advantage, the GT63's onboard charger is good for 3.7 kilowatts. Given the complication of the powertrain—two sources of propulsion, two transmissions—it's amazing how harmoniously everything cooperates. There is no slack, no lurching confusion anywhere in the system. Check the E Performance's ridiculous top-gear 30-to-50-mph passing time: 1.9 seconds, which might be less time than it takes to say, "Uusikaupunki," the town in Finland where the GT63 is built. That sprint knocks 0.9 second off the nonhybrid GT63 S's time and matches the time posted by the Ferrari 296GTB. But conversely, in Comfort mode, the E Performance can settle down, mute its active exhaust, and slur its shifts like a decent member of society, if you're in the mood for that sort of thing. If you do find yourself on a track, the GT63 offers endless ways to tailor the car to your liking. Care to destroy some tires? There's a Drift mode that disconnects the front axle, and yes, you can combine it with launch control if you're looking to lay stripes into the next county. The AMG Dynamics settings influence the stability-control system, the all-wheel-drive system, and the electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential, and it's telling that the Pro setting isn't even the most aggressive. Beyond it is Master, which is paired with the Race drive mode and sets the rear-axle steering for maximum response on turn-in and delivers slightly oversteer-biased handling. To activate Master mode, you need to turn off stability control using the button on the center console, sort of like the two-key system for arming a nuke. If you do this on a road course, you can also enable the Track Pace function to log lap times and keep yourself informed on how a given lap is going—if your time's in red, you're off your target pace, and if it's in green you're ahead. But hey, no pressure. Besides adhering to the original AMG tuner performance credo, the GT63 S E Performance evokes the Hammer's sleeper aesthetic too—it's understated, especially for a car capable of hitting 100 mph in 5.9 seconds. But part of that understatement stems from the fact that this generation of four-door Mercedes-AMG GT is now six years old and a semi-familiar sight in the enclaves where such cars are found. In addition, the AMG GT four-door lineup spans a wide breadth of financial territory, and the E Performance hero model looks a lot like a GT43 that has 362 horsepower and costs about half as much. Our test car wore a base price of $196,050, and a pile of options brought that total to $216,410. The mechanically similar example we used for photography cost even more, thanks in part to its $6500 Manufaktur Signature Sunburst Yellow paint. Yet that flamboyant hue goes a long way toward advertising the GT63's exotic performance capabilities. Of course, you could just get it in black, avoid the $2850 AMG Aerodynamics package with its bold fixed rear wing, and let the neighbors think you've just got a nice luxury hybrid. Which this is. But it's also a poster car for the hybrid hot rod, with the electrified GT63 S crushing its nonhybrid counterpart's drag-strip performance without compromising its handling dynamics. Fuel economy even improves, albeit slightly, from an EPA-rated 17 mpg combined to 18 mpg. And if official EV range is only a mile, well, that's a mile more than it used to have. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
