Graham Courtney test drives the new Mercedes AMG GT 63 S E Performance and gives you all the numbers you need.
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…it was muted by Mercedes back in 2017.
Let’s do some number crunching.
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.
Floor the throttle and you hurtle to the horizon. 0-60 mph comes up in a truly stunning 2.9 seconds. 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 excited because Mercedes say that it can only manage a rather pathetic 8 miles. But that’s missing the point because the battery and electric motor are there to work in tandem with the engine and provide terrific off-the-line performance. If you make full use of the hybrid system and don’t enjoy the engine note and performance, Mercedes reckon you can get around 35mpg. To be honest, you’ll be lucky to get high 20’s but we suspect you won’t be too miffed when you’re forking-out around £180,000 (August ’23).
There are seven driving modes which you select from a knob on the steering wheel…Comfort, Electric, Sport, Sport+, Race, Slippery and Individual (allows you to drift the car). 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.
If you use this car purely for long-legged motorway jaunts, you are in for a wonderful experience because 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.
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 a 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 standstill like a scalded cat 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.
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. The sat-nav is one of the best around and provides you with direction sign photos.
Formula One had a big say in the way this Mercedes AMG GT 63 S E Performance produces its power so when Max Verstappen notches-up his next F1 win, we should say thank you.
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Mercedes AMG
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