CLUBHOUSE | DRIVING RANGE
DARING DEBUT
BEN OLIVER CHECKS OUT THE MERCEDES-AMG GT, THE FIRST CAR TO BE DESIGNED AND BUILT FROM SCRATCH BY THE MARQUE’S HIGH-PERFORMANCE DIVISION.
P
ure Mercedes-Benz sports cars are comparatively rare. Until now, AMG C-class compact sedan got a 6.3-litre V8, be Stuttgart has only produced two, and both have been stratospheric in no doubt about the potency of this motor, with in price and performance. The SLR of the early 2000s was developed the 100kph mark arriving in just 3.8sec and a top and built by Mercedes’ then-F1 partner McLaren, while the SLS, which speed in excess of 300kph. Such downsizing is has just finished production, was the first car to be designed and built happening across the fast-car world, led by F1: it from scratch by Mercedes’ AMG high-performance means lighter, more efficient division. If you already associate Mercedes with fast, powerful engines, better handling, and cars, that’s down to the awesome AMG treatment given to fewer fuel stops. In this, AMG Although the new Mercedes’s standard sedans, station wagons, coupes and is bang on-trend. AMG-GT is physically even SUVs, the high-performance AMG versions of which And despite those smaller smaller than the SLS, it offer often brutal performance. dimensions, the new car retains that fabulous long gains a much bigger trunk So you can imagine what happens when AMG gets to build its own car, with no compromises. The outgoing, than th e o ld SL S, n ow hood that leaves you gullwing-door SLS stood comparison with Ferraris and capable of carr ying the in no doubt where the Lamborghinis. This new Mercedes-AMG GT is more affordably essential two golf bags on 503 horsepower, twinpriced, aimed at the Porsche 911, upper-end Jaguar F-Types the Sunday morning race to turbocharged, 4.0-litre and the Audi R8. Still pricey, powerful competition, but Merc is Fanling or Clearwater Bay. quite open about having based some of its new model on the And there’s some real wit V8 motor is located. tech of its much bigger, more expensive forebear, so its new and verve in the cabin, with car comes to the fight well-armed. Merc’s hallmark, upright, Although the new AMG-GT is physically smaller than the SLS, it retains that iPad-style central display, and a central console fabulous long hood that leaves you in no doubt where the 503 horsepower, twin- between the seats with its buttons arranged to turbocharged, 4.0-litre V8 motor is located: up front, unlike the mid-engined R8 or mimic the layout of the car’s V8 engine. rear-engined 911. If ‘just’ four litres seems a little small given that even the outgoing The gulling doors don’t carry over from the
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HK GOLFER・OCT 2014
HKGOLFER.COM
SCORECARD Mercedes AMG-GT S How much? TBD Engine: 3982cc, twin-turbo V8 10PS/503hp at 6250rpm Transmission: 7-speed twin-clutch Performance: 0-100kph 3.8sec, max 311kph How heavy? 1,570kgs
SLS, sadly, and there’s unlikely to be an open version of the AMG-GT as Mercedes thinks it would cannibalise sales from the iconic SL roadster. The two cars are close in size, but the SL is a cruiser, rather than a racer. Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but the AMGGT will be pitched and priced squarely against those rivals. Deliveries start next year, but such is the anticipation that builds around entirely new models from desirable brands that we’d advise having a conversation with your Mercedes dealer now, if you don’t want to find yourself at the back of a long queue next spring. HKGOLFER.COM
HK GOLFER・OCT 2014
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