Did you know that spider legs don’t have muscles? It’s real. Their legs are moved by a system that works like a hydraulic pump and uses blood as the fuel. That’s why spiders’ legs curl up after they die. We’re not saying that spiders were the inspiration for this, but the new Mercedes-AMG GT’s standard hydraulic anti-roll control looks like the legs of a spider.
McLaren has used a hydropneumatic system for a long time. The GT’s corners are joined by circuits that control the car’s roll stiffness. There is a cylinder in each corner that looks like a damper, but the damping is done by electrically controlled valves on the outside of the damper body. Inside the tube, there are no valves. The good thing about the system is that you can turn off the anti-roll effect to make the ride smoother and then turn it up to 11 when you really want to corner. Not so great, though: it’s heavier than most anti-roll bars, and the new GT seems to be all about bigger things.
More than before
The Mercedes-AMG SL now shares its chassis with the second-generation GT, which is a pretty much brand-new car. It doesn’t have a specific platform, a dual-clutch transmission, or a long hood like the first GT and the SLS before it. The twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engine makes 577 horsepower and sends power to all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission. You can choose not to have a back seat, and the infotainment screen and digital dials are the same as on the SL. It has a bigger base. The wheelbase is now 106.3 inches, which is 2.8 inches longer than before, and the length is now 186.1 inches, which is 7.1 inches longer than before. Because of this, the GT can now carry about 600 pounds more than it could before.
Even though the back seat isn’t required, it should be thought of as such. It doesn’t add much weight, but it has a huge amount of useful features. The two seats can fit people up to four feet eleven inches tall, which means “kids,” and that makes sense. The seats are necessary because they can be folded up. When the car is folded, the cargo room goes from 11 cubic feet to 24 cubic feet, which is big enough to fit a bike (without the front wheel). If you choose the two-seater, it comes with a parcel shelf and a set vertical wall.
It was customer desire that led to the vestigial seats. AMG paid attention to what its customers wanted, and the most common answers were more features and all-wheel drive, even though winter tires have come a long way. Owners didn’t demand more speed, but AMG, being AMG, thought it needed it too.
The AMG GT Performance
All-wheel drive almost ensures that the car will go faster than its predecessor. When you press down on the gas pedal, the engine answers with a ferocity that you don’t usually see in six-figure grand tourers. The nine-speed transmission skips gears more quickly as you switch between drive modes (Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport+, Race, and Individual), thanks to a clutch pack instead of a torque converter. The GT63 should be able to go from 0 to 60 mph in less than three seconds with little effort.
Thank goodness AMG didn’t just focus on that area. Rear steer is also standard, and the back wheels can point out of phase up to 60 mph. All of the fancy suspension systems do a great job of hiding the extra weight. If you swing the car around like a spider web, it will stick to the wall.
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