2024 Mercedes AMG GT review. Now with 4WD, is AMG's 584bhp hotrod even more (or less) fun to drive?

Well, welcome to a new Harry's Garage video and today's car is the Mercedes-AMG GT. This hardcore version of AMG coupe goes racing, GT3 racing in Germany, goes up against the 911 perhaps and it's quite different to the previous AMG GT. It's got a longer wheelbase, it's got plus two seats in the back, great big boot which you wouldn't really expect and there's a number of changes under the skin, fundamental changes and I suppose the big one, it's four-wheel drive. But it's serious performance, 3.2 seconds, 0-62, 196 miles an hour, speed limited and it's quite a lot more money now. This lists at £164,905 which puts it in some serious competition. Let's go and have a closer look. Now, over the previous version you have to look closely to see the difference, it's a slightly bigger grille and you've got to remember this is the starting point, this is the GT. If we can see, if you look back, there's always introduction of blackish editions and R versions etc. So, this is the starting point but it's a very aggressive car as you'll get to see when we get to drive it. I love that it's actually got the original AMG badge on it rather than having the star of Mercedes on it because they are very proud that this is developed by AMG. In the UK we only get the 21-inch wheels, 295, 30, 21 on the front and this one's got the steel brakes on it, there is a carbon option should you require it. But what an interesting design of wheel, I couldn't quite work out what these vanes were for, they don't mention it in the press pack. I think they're plastic, there must be some aero reason for having them, I would imagine. V8 bite of a 4Matic badging on the side, that is actually a false vent, so no doubt on the race car that is a working vent. And then at the side here, you sort of press this and the door handle comes out and the first thing I noticed when I got this car, it feels like a very lightweight door. So, I then went round with a magnet and yeah, everything seems to be aluminium on this car, bonnet, everywhere. Even when I lifted the bonnet, the actual inner structure where the suspension mounts, that seemed to be alloy as well. The only bit of steel I could find on the car is actually this rear tailgate, which you'll see in a moment when we open it up. That is a little spoiler that comes up at speed, there is a fixed spoiler option if you go for a higher performance pack on your GT63. Tires at the back, slightly wider, 305 30 by 21s. Come right round and then traditional AMG quad exhaust, my goodness, it grumbles away, you wait until you hear it from inside, it's very definitely AMG old school sort of noise and then there's no way of actually opening the boot on the outside, but I have the key with me. If I press that, up it goes and actually, we've put the seats down so you can see how big that space is. It's, you know, it's GT-like, I suppose, the amount of accommodation in it. There is a little hatch there that keeps you goo and that sort of thing. Close it up like that. Inside, well, we'll go round the interior in more detail when we get outside, but there's no escaping the biggest iPad you've ever seen stuck on a dash, unfortunately, that it shares with its sort of sister car, the SL. Great seats though, we'll come on to the seats again later, but under the bonnet and it's the familiar AMG four litre V8, hot V though, so you've got the turbo sitting in the middle of the V there rather than strapped on the side, which used to be the way of doing it. They do this for packaging reason and also you get a quicker throttle as well, but there's a fundamental difference had I lifted the engine on the previous GT in that engine is further forward because there's a complete redesign under the skin of this car. Previous version had a transaxle gearbox as it's term, mounted with the rear axle at the back of the car for weight distribution and that car was two wheel drive only and it was 54 weight percent weight on the rear and 46 the front. This is the reverse, this is 54 front 46 at the back because the gearbox is mounted on the back of the engine and it's four wheel drive as well, so you've got a lot of gubbins powering these wheels which wasn't on the previous version, so a big change in this car. Let's take it outside, see how it drives. Lightweight doors I mentioned, it's it every time you get in you notice that aluminium door and then you're met with this. Oh my goodness, yeah there's there's no way to get around it, that is a dominant iPad that is also on the SL version of this car as well as the GT and everything is through there. It's a really busy steering wheel as well, they've even had to add two spokes to get it all on there, so if there's cruise control, radio control and then you can change screen which I'll do in a moment and then inside where there's a lashings of this carbon fibre, glossy carbon fibre everywhere, so a high line there, odd sort of Mercedes script on the windscreen which is in italics and then a very distinctive bonnet out the front because I can see the two bumps, it's like a 600 SLR or something, you know, evocative shape. This car has a panoramic roof, couldn't see it on the configurator but it's on there and in this space in the back, 911-esque when you look behind you. Here, well yeah, nice little glove box, two holes, lots of USB C's and things, not very deep. Weird it's got this sort of thing that was where the gear change and the controller for all this but now it's just a static something, styling mode under here, cup holders, wireless charging, that sort of thing and quite a small wheel and great seats. I've mentioned before that I've done lots of miles on this car and they're really good. Glove box, yeah, nothing hiding in there, storage in here, it's what you expect from Mercedes really and then to turn it on, engine start around here but it's like this iPad, it's so huge, it's like hidden behind here but I'll press that, off it goes. Lots to do, if I press this, this is the first display I go to whenever I get in this car and then I can turn the speed warning off there and lane assist off there so I like that, that it's just straight on that one button and then dead easy to turn all these safety systems that is regulations now on all 24 cars. For me, conventional dash, 7,000 rev limit and then speed, 220 mile an hour speedo but I've got a choice of screens on here, if I just press home, well I can flick through, yeah, understated, classic, map, sport, super sport, track, quite like super sport so I might put that up but there is a almost a tech overload, there is so much sort of configuration in here, down here I've got something to control that how the engine is, now that's individual, comfort is what it defaults to, sport, sports plus and then race which can do all sorts of things. Honestly, you can deep dive into everything that's possible on this car, there is even options for where you actually want to make the car two-wheel drive, drift mode, does all that, everything's possible with the parameters this but I'm quite happy with my individual mode which we'll get to where I might as well just show you on here so I've gone drive, it's dynamic, suspension in comfort and dynamics are pro, I'm not pro but I quite like the setting. So, yeah, so much on modern cars isn't there to do, these vents are good as well actually, weirdly they move like that and you think you turn them on and off by the centre of them, no, that doesn't move, that's all in here somewhere if I press climate, I think it will climate menu, yeah, I've got all sorts of stuff to do on here if I want to do it or heated seats, yeah, stuff, I know, heated seats is down here. Enough, let's get back to where we want to be, move away, it's a wand, it's gone from here, it's a wand on here like my Rolls-Royce and other things so, yeah, into drive, off we go. Already, even at this early stage, just pulling out of here, I sort of know I'm in an AMG, there's this grumble, there's an angry engine up front, I love that, that there's that AMG signature even in this day and age. Anyway, let's head out, go find some better roads. Right, this is just in normal mode comfort as it puts it and yeah, as I say, it's very obvious it's from AMG but relaxed, rides nicely, lovely wheel, this is suede covered, yeah, it's very nice to grip and yeah, it's good visibility out and I'm just in a happy place sat here and reasonable noise, it is a bit noisy in here, I suppose it is a pretty extreme car, big tyres, Pilot Sport S5s and it goes 77, 78 decibels on my noisy bit of road but what I'm itching to show you is what happens when I touch this controller down here and we'll go up to that little bit of road I use for testing and then there's a different character to this car. Not a strange little symbol on the dash that seems to show tyre temperatures and they go blue, sort of amber and then red and I think red means hot rather than danger, rather overheated but a slightly odd way of doing tyre temperatures but anyway, it's the squirt up the hill comes next. Yeah, I ought to just put this into my individual settings, there it is and there is noisy exhaust so you can just valve the exhaust so let's see what happens up here, still in auto, here we go. Yeah, yeah, different sort of character as you can tell, it's almost like a misfire as you champ a wave like that and Charlie was in here and he commented on it, it's not a misfire, there's something they've done on the mapping to give it this angry sound and on the outside it's surprisingly quiet compared to the commotion that's happening in here as you pull away and it's, yeah, it is quick, I mean what it is because it's all that torque, it's so much higher torque on this 590lb-ft of torque, it's monster 800Nm but it needs that power because this is heavier than the outgoing version by quite a margin, I weighed it and it's 1940kg, that's as near as dammit, 300kg heavier than the previous version which I just wonder how they've done it because of that aluminium body, you know, outside it's all aluminium, yes it's four-wheel drive but it can't add 300kg, it's a little bit longer to get the space, to get the boot space in those rear seats but that is dramatically heavier and it's, yeah, a bit of a disappointment it has to be said. Yeah, I don't think they're quite real and it rides very well, it's very trick suspension-ish, basically it doesn't have anti-roll bars, it loads up in the shock and it has height-adjustable platforms and it controls roll in that way rather than having an anti-roll bar and it just means that the wheels are freer to do their stuff and absorb bumps and cambers like we've got here, it's a little, I mean it is sharp on the steering, I don't know what sort of camber it's running at the front but I would imagine it's just put it into comfort actually, pure comfort all the way through, it's really good at just devouring miles and dealing with road surfaces like this, controlling those bumps, keeping close, it's not chasing cambers in its comfort mode, great setup on this car. Good over that bump, around here, it's got some thump, it's quite a quick steering, it's got rear steer on this rear axle as well, so yeah, you point it into a corner like that and you're almost backing off the steering because it's that sharp, almost Ferrari-esque, I think because of the combination of the steering and it doesn't, to me, feel nervous in any way so I like the setup on it. Yeah, it's probably time to go through some likes and dislikes with this car and I'll start with the dislikes. Interior, I just can't stand this at this price point, I think it's a lazy way of controlling the car and I wish designers would move away from this clunkiness here, it completely dominates, they can do beautiful details like these air intakes and other bits on here, there's great leather, Nappa leather, how it's done that, the stitching, but all I'm seeing is this and then I'm seeing a bit of a mess on here. I quite like these controllers down here but I almost think it's overkill having little screens in those as well, why do we need, there's one, two, three, four screens in this car and it's about three too many. Two, price, that is a chunky price, I'm going to mention it in the conclusion as well but £165,000 starting price for the 63 is a chunk of cash, there is going to be a 55 version of this car and that's priced at £125,000 they think it's going to launch next year and it's the same engine, it's just slightly detuned, everything's the same. Positive on the price, everything is chucked in in that price, everything you see here, the only extra on this car is driver assistance which is lane control and things and cameras and that's £2,500 and then also a dislike is the weight, how have they made it so heavy from this Ademir and this race car, surely that will give them headaches, I can't quite work out why it's a near two ton car and then there's the 800e version of this with a hybrid 800 horsepower, what's that going to weigh? Another dislike, well I'd have to mention fuel consumption, it's not very good, it's normally in the teens and they've reduced the size of the fuel tank and 200 mile range is what you ought to be working on before you need to go and find, I feel like you might get 220, something like that, so yeah not so good, I wish it had a bigger tank. Right let's fly it around here, I can trust either end, I can power out, that four-wheel drive just pulls you through yet it feels as though it squats, it only sends up to 50% power to the front, it feels like a rear wheel drive car, it feels exciting despite it being four-wheel drive and unlike previous AMGs, you can really deploy the horsepower with that four-wheel drive system rather than just toast the rear tyres if you turn everything. Another positive, there is a very gentle traction control on it, it's very clever, it's intuitive, I don't exactly know how it's working but I don't feel the need to turn it off or turn it, modulate it down. Other likes about this car, the character, engines deliver character in cars, it's always been the same and it's especially so in this car, there's a little sort of bit of humdrum inside, it's not the distinctive side, start it up, get to enjoy that V8 and the noise and the grumbles and the delivery of power and it defines this car, it gives it immense character and yet it's sort of easy to live with, so I love the engine and drivetrain in this car and it's quick gear changes as well, I'd like that as well, this nine-speed gearbox, it's not a true auto or torque converter, it has a wet clutch, moves away, feels beautifully controlled in low speed when he was around town and things and then you get it on open road and they're pretty quick changes, I really like that gearbox as well. So, inclusion, what do I think of this car? Well, it's a strange one, when it first arrived, first day, it sort of annoyed, I got annoyed of all the tech and things and then I kept using it a few more days and the more I used it, the more I liked it, the more that Mercedes sort of quality came through, the usability, the practicality, the enjoyment of the engine, the connectivity, the way it can deliver its power, the way it just feels naughty as I want an AMG to feel, so as the time's gone on, I've really got to like it. I think the test is would I buy one and that's the bit when I'd start feeling a little hesitating and it all comes down to the price point because £165,000 also buys you an Aston Martin Vantage as well, near as damn at the same price, the Aston is around 250 kilos lighter and it's got the same engine, it's probably got the same character, I haven't driven one yet but I've got one in a few weeks time, I think that's where my money would go and then there's other things waving at me at the similar price point, you know, the Ferrari Roma is probably only £10,000 more than this and you look at the sort of, if you're going to do it on finance, it's probably got better residual so it's probably going to cost you less per month than this but it's a great car this and, you know, it's a return to form because AMG have done some weird cars recently, don't mention the C63, the four-cylinder hybrid thing, what do they do that for and so I like this, it is a character of AMG but I think my money would probably go elsewhere but over the time I will be constantly looking at the classifiers, they're doing a deal of promotion on it because fundamentally it's a really enjoyable car, it feels AMG and I have enjoyed it so there you go, there's my conclusion on this AMG GT, I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did, keep watching, keep subscribing, more videos coming on very soon