Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance 2024 review – testing the fastest AMG ever

As we’re leaving the AMG factory in Affalterbach, there’s an AMG One being off-loaded in the courtyard where we are collecting our Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance. The ridiculous thing is that the four-seat GT is the fastest road car AMG has ever built, shading even the One. OK, that’s only from 0-62mph, and by a solitary tenth, but 2.8sec for the sprint is phenomenal for a car that weighs well over 2000kg.

This is what happens when you take the four-wheel drive, V8-engined GT 63 (tested in the current issue), tune it to 600bhp and add 200bhp of hybrid electric performance. The electrical hardware is all at the rear, with a unit comprising the electric motor, a limited slip and a two-speed gearbox sitting where the differential would normally be, with the battery pack above. The familiar twin-turbo V8 and the electric motor are joined by the prop shaft and their combined output is a massive 804bhp and between 797 and 1047lb ft. Performance of that magnitude is how you get about 2100kg of coupe to 60mph in well under 3sec. Oh, you also get up to 8 miles of pure electric range too. 

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The test cars looked tasty on their skinny-sparred, web-like alloys which showed off massive carbon-ceramic brakes, the pairing helping to reduce unsprung mass. Mitigating the increased kerb weight, rear-wheel steering is standard, offering counter-steer for added agility at lower speeds and parallel-steer for stability at higher speeds. The positioning of the electrical hardware at the rear resets the weight distribution too, giving a slight rearward bias. So can the hybrid GT add fine, all-round dynamics to incredible performance? 

Drop into the driver’s seat, press the start button and the instruments that come up on the digital dash take some moments to decipher and digest. As road cars go, this has to be one of the most complex. There are the numerous switches on the four horizontal spars of the steering wheel, two mode switches hanging off the steering wheel and there’s the massive flat screen that dominates the centre console which is packed with all the functions they couldn’t fit elsewhere. If you struggle to know which drawer the detergent goes into in your washing machine, this is probably not the car for you. 

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Left to its own devices, it starts in EV mode, a short, rich and meaningful boot-up sound announcing it’s ready to go. It has adequate in-town pace in this mode, accelerating and decelerating with an appealing electrical whine, and once the battery has drained the V8 kicks in with its classic off-beat rumble. The ride seems good and road noise well suppressed, though Germany has some of the finest road surfaces so it’s hard to be definitive. 

Of course, what you’re itching to do is pin the throttle, and when the opportunity arises, it doesn’t disappoint. At anything less than 100mph, the kick is savage. Your passenger’s head will impact the headrest and stay there for as long as you keep the throttle buried. It’s almost Tesla/Taycan instantaneous, though the sound is hard-edged, trad V8, its volume dependent on the mode, of which there are many. The right-hand rotary cycles through them while the central screen offers further tuning options of drivetrain, damping and the like in each mode. Via the rotary you can also set the regen level and, apparently, access the scalable slip control, which would be useful in drift mode, which is also tucked away somewhere in the system.

The GT S E is rear-drive until its 21-inch, 305-section Michelins can’t cope, and then drive is sent to the fronts, which are also 21-in and almost as wide at 295-section. It feels like a wide car, so there’s only so much performance you can use when the road gets twisty, and even though you can sense the rear steer helping to turn the car, if you get on the throttle early and hustle it the fronts protest with a push and squeal of understeer. You can work around that by selecting the sportiest dynamic settings, which seem to make the car as agile as possible and relax slip control. 

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The car still feels heavy and wide, just surprisingly willing, and there are two basic issues that sap your enthusiasm. The first is the steering, which is dead on centre and heavy and resistant away from centre. The second, which also makes getting into a flow difficult, is the brake feel; the pedal is dead on step in, so you end up chasing the bite point when you simply wanted to check your speed. 

That said, the steering was absolutely spot on later in our drive, on derestricted autobahn, where the acceleration is still staggering. The way it piles on speed from 124mph to 186mph is unreal. I imagine it hits its top speed of 199mph like most cars hit the rev limiter in second gear. At monster speeds it feels rock solid, relaxed almost, and the sight of its aggressive front end in the mirror clears the outside lane effectively too. This feels very much like the natural habitat of the AMG’s hybrid GT.

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Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance specs