2019 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-DoorPeter Bleakney / Driving OVERVIEW Beauty meets brutality in AMG’s first four-door car PROSballistic, engaging, sharp handling, exquisite interior, hatchback configuration CONSA tad to edgy for those seeking true GT characteristics VALUE FOR MONEYcompetitive WHAT TO CHANGE?Find a little more compliance in Comfort mode HOW TO SPEC IT?This colour, this interior get two thumbs up. The optional rear spoiler? Go for it. Might as well get this out of the way right off the bat: The 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-Door Coupe, finished here in satin Designo Brilliant Blue Magno, is quite a looker. No car, this side of a Lamborghini or McLaren, has attracted so much attention during its brief stay at Chez Bleakney. Sitting in my driveway, the AMG drew gawkers like buzzards to a squashed possum. Most of my neighbours are pretty blas about what I bring home, but not with this car.Yet the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door is not in-your-face outrageous. It seduces with a masterful blend of grace and menace, art and aggression, beauty and brutality. Its lines are pure, flowing and unadorned, yet that toothy grill looks hungry for small children.The $177,500 Benz does not write any visual cheques it cant cash this car backs up its looks with bonkers performance or so Ive read. Driving on public roads is essentially an exercise in frustration; other than a few wide-eyed felonious blasts and some off-ramp strafing, I came nowhere near pushing this nutty hatchbacks envelope. But in reality, nor will most who buy it, unless they live in Germany or take it out for a day at the track.This is the second car designed and built in-house by AMG, and while it follows the svelte two-seat AMG GT Coupe, it does not share that cars all-aluminum/rear transaxle architecture, instead riding on the bones of the Mercedes-AMG E 63 Wagon. This is, after all, a long and luxurious executive express with generous rear legroom and a hatch able to swallow a full compliment of luggage. Nonetheless, it goes about its business with the classic AMG atomic-fist-in-a-velvet-glove sedan thing that, up until now, has not seen this level of ferocity. And that is saying something.It all stems from AMGs masterpiece of a 4.0L twin-turbo hot-vee V8 that, in this 63 S iteration, makes the most power of any application yet 630 horsepower and 669 lb.-ft. of torque. Yes, you can buy a turbocharged straight-six version of the AMG GT 4-Door Coupe, or even the slightly detuned V8-powered 63 variant with 577 horsepower, but why would you? In for a penny, in for pound, I say. With a body this sexy, you might as well take the engine that drop kicks the laws of physics into whimpering submission. Just because.I liken the four-door AMG GT to Danielle House, the Newfoundland beauty who lost her 1996 Miss Canada International crown for punching out her exs new girlfriend in a bar. Its not all about explosive straight-line acceleration, however, even though the 63 S will eclipse the speed limit in a tick over three seconds. The chassis shines, displaying a sharpness, agility and sense of communication that belies the cars 2,045-kilogram mass, no doubt helped by the standard rear wheel steering. Grip from the optional 21-inch forged wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires ($1,500) seems unending, and the steering is precise and connected. The 4Matic all-wheel-drive system is decidedly rear-biased, and theres even a Drift Mode that disengages the front wheels entirely for those times when exiting the Sobeys parking lot requires just a tad more drama.The AMGs attitude is easily altered by the nifty rotary controller placed at four oclock position on the steering wheel. Switch from Comfort to Sport, Sport+, and Race, and the sedan gets progressively louder, stiffer and more alert. Yet even in Comfort mode, the 63 S never really relaxes every ripple on the road is felt and 21-inch tires thwap away on expansion joints. At lower speeds the nine-speed AMG Speedshift transmission can be jerky, too Porsches PDK twin-clutch, this is not. And if you have the exhaust in Sport mode all the time guilty as charged well, it just furthers the impression the car is dog that would rather hunt than sit on the porch.But thats what I love about this beautiful bruiser. Its unapologetic about its status as Mercedes fastest and most aggressive four-door. You want something almost as fast but a bit softer? Theyre happy to sell you the 603-horsepower E 63 S sedan, at $117,000. The interior of this tester is the most visually pleasing of any Mercedes Ive seen, stunning with its Saddle Brown/Black Nappa Leather (an $1,800 option) and Grey Ash Open Pore trim (another $500). The dash panel features the broad expanse of digital screenage found in most Mercedes sedans now, while the centre console with its array of buttons for modifying the cars behavior is snagged from the AMG GT Coupe. I found the ventilated sport seats supremely
Origin: Car Review: 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-Door Coupe