Mercedes-AMG GT63 Pro Review: Sweet Spot Or No-Man’s Land?

Once upon a time, there was a car called the Mercedes-AMG GTC. It’s probably not the most well-remembered car in Affalterbach’s recent history, but I always reckoned it was the best of the previous-gen GT bunch. You had the GTR’s wider rear stance, and a fruitier engine than the GT S, but with a less ostentatious aero setup.

The new Mercedes-AMG GT63 Pro seems like it might also occupy a nice middle-ground, in this case between the GT63 and the 805bhp S E Performance Hybrid, and also a new GTR should one emerge. But it isn’t a straight-up successor to the GTC.

The Mercedes-AMG GT63 Pro 4Matic Coupe, to give it its full name (for the one and only time in this article, because that’s a stupidly long official title) doesn’t stray very far from the boggo GT63’s recipe. Yes, you get an extra 25bhp, giving a new figure of bhp, and an additional 605lb ft of torque for a total of 627lb ft, and better cooling, but all of the other stuff present here can be optioned on the common or garden GT63. If you could ever described a £165,000 AMG thusly.

The extra bits include a fixed carbon fibre rear wing, sports seats, carbon ceramic brakes and a rear seat delete, although you can option the latter back in at no cost. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs are fitted, but it’s free to switch them out to Pilot Sport S5s should you want a less committed set of boots.

As for the Pro-exclusive stuff, aside from the already mentioned power/torque uplift, there’s a new front apron which works in conjunction with revised underbody aero for improved front-end downforce. There’s also tweaked cooling for the brakes and a new cooling inlet for the rear differential. Oh, and the GT badge at the rear has a natty little flag emblem on it so all your mates definitely know you spent more money on your GT63.

The forged 21-inch wheel option features the same design as found on the GT63, but the grey finish is something you can only have on the GT63 Pro. Combined with the Alpine Grey body colour, it looks fabulous. Initially, I wasn’t so sure about the way the car looked, especially relative to its striking predecessor with its bonnet that appeared to go on forever, but in the right spec, the new GT is gorgeous in the metal.

The same can’t quite be said of the interior. There’s a lot going on, with the business combined with far too many cheaper feeling plastics (the vents, particularly) for a car which is probably going to cost around £180,000. 

Nudging the start button, you start to feel a bit less bothered by this. Doing so awakes Mercedes-AMG’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo ‘hot V’ V8, and while tightening regulations and petrol particulate filters mean it doesn’t have that vaguely satanic gargle I loved the old GTs for, there’s still plenty of audible menace at idle. The uplift in power actually makes no difference to the 0-62mph time, but the 0-124mph figure has dropped by half a second.

Our test of the Pro is exclusively track-based, and at a partly soggy Ascari Circuit at that. It’s a daunting place on a dry day, with tricky corners you never quite feel like you’ve nailed, big elevation changes and walls that feel perilously close to the ideal racing line.

With over 600bhp, semi-slick Cup 2Rs at each corner, and damp patches, this has ‘code brown’ written all over it, particularly as (if you’ll excuse the name drop) I’m following DTM legend Bernd Schneider. Who doesn’t like to hang around, regardless of how talented (or indeed not) the driver behind might be.

In reality, buttocks remain unclenched. I’m not suggesting this is an easygoing experience, as the beads of sweat collecting under my helmet will attest. But at the same time, the AMG GT is supremely friendly even when I feel like I’m pushing my luck considering the conditions.

I’m in race mode with the electronic aids fully on, which not so long ago in a car like this on wet asphalt would mean helplessly watching a wildly flickering ESP light while the system takes away most of the power at even a light tickling of the throttle. Not so here. Its interventions are for the most part imperceptible - it’s only on one particularly soggy corner that it noticeably gets involved to keep the rear axle in check.

Incredible traction means the ESP often doesn’t have to rear its head at all. The combination of four-wheel drive and those Cup 2Rs is a mighty one, proving how far tyre technology has come in the last few years. Wet laps on semi-slicks used to be a horrible experience, but these hoops can really be lent on, working wonderfully with the 4Matic system.

It’s a neutral setup on the whole, rarely feeling like the car wants to rotate significantly, but when it does go, there’s a pleasing pivot in the middle of the car. Switching to Sport Handling mode, which dials back the traction and stability control significantly (without binning them off entirely) would, Bernd tells me, make the rear a little livelier, but with the rain intensifying, that seems like something to take his word on for now.

The caveat to all this is it takes a good time behind the wheel before you feel comfortable really starting to push the GT Pro. Yes, it’s clearly very stable in the fast corners, plenty nimble in the slower stuff, and it hides its near-two-tonne weight figure incredibly well. But the steering and chassis lack the communicative feel of something like a Porsche 911 GTS, which, as it happens, I was driving last time I was at Ascari.

That car felt so much more ‘alive’ here, and so much more involving. You’d feel the front tyres start to give up in the fast sweepers, knowing exactly how far you can push it. But soon, your trust in the GT63 Pro builds, and you’re braking later, increasing your entry speed and booting it earlier and earlier at the corner exit. All the while having a jolly good time.

The V8 is a key element of that ‘jolly good time’. It’s not an engine for high-end theatrics, feeling and sounding like it’s running out of puff near the redline, but with such a potent mid-range, it doesn’t really matter. It is worth switching off the active exhaust, though, as this also turns down the augmented sound that comes through the speakers, which drowns out what’s coming from the actual engine. Yes, it’s a touch muted with the exhaust button switched off, but far more natural-sounding, and suitably rumbly. Plus, having it in this configuration ditches the shift ‘beep’, which is new for the Pro, and not something I’m really not a fan of.

So far, so good, mostly. But here’s the thing - much of the above isn’t down to the extra bits you get on a Pro. In percentage terms, the power and torque increases are so small that you’re unlikely to know the difference. As for the cooling stuff, it’s hard to know without putting a standard GT63 and GT63 Pro through long track sessions to see if the former starts to suffer from cooked brakes and a toasty diff much earlier than the latter. Then there’s the aero, which a ‘normal’ driver is going to struggle to perceive.

There’s a deeper issue, which is whether many GT63 owners are gagging to take their cars on track and take advantage of the cooling and aero stuff. It doesn’t seem like the most obvious tool for the job, impressive though it is in this environment. 

Then again, although we don’t know the UK price yet, it’s unlikely to cost much more than a GT63 with options like the fixed wing and carbon ceramics added. It wouldn’t surprise me if a good chunk of those already eying up a GT63 will simply splurge a bit extra even if they don’t intend on fully exploiting the extras. For many, the bragging rights of having that little flag on the tailgate might be enough. For me, I’d be happy with either.