Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance review: even faster than an AMG One Reviews 2025
The powertrain in the AMG GT 63 S E Performance (sigh) needs no introduction, because you've seen it before: that 4.4-litre V8 biturbo and e-motor combo is the same one bequeathed to the AMG GT 4-door, albeit reined in a smidge.
The permanently excited synchronous motor sits on the rear axle and is belted onto a two-speed transmission and mechanical limited-slip diff. The battery – a 6.1kWh tiddler – also lives back there, and is ostensibly good for about seven miles of range. Oh yeah, this is a plug-in isn't it? Who's gonna bother?
Precisely no one. In most driving modes the battery will always keep some charge on standby, and it can top itself up on the go anyway. Might as well leave the cable in its plastic wrapper.
The motor has three jobs: silent (and brief) RWD e-running, emergency front axle support for when the back end starts to slide, and acting as a booster rocket for the engine. And on that last count, it's astonishingly good.
Road ahead clear? Excellent. Plant the throttle, and let the curse words flow. Chuffing Nora is it fast. The moment the torque hits the nose vaults up like a speedboat, and for a brief moment you realise how Mark Webber must've felt when his CLR flipped over at Le Mans in '99. Minus the trip to A&E.
It's exhilarating and stomach-churning and a little bit terrifying. But not completely immersive. Even in Sport+ – with the exhaust popping and crackling away – that enthralling V8 engine note is every so slightly remote, like it's burbling away in the next room.
Also the paddleshift feels disconnected from the nine-speed transmission: it works on commission, not command. So instead of the gear thunking into place, it arrives by email and only then after you've filled in the right paperwork with enough supporting documents. Come on Mercedes, let's have something more mechanical. Boo. So it's not all it's cracked up to be?
I didn't say that. It's got weaknesses, sure, but the GT63SEP (nope, I'm not writing it again) is phenomenal to drive. A real, real peach. The steering is wonderfully direct and because the car's so planted it just eats up direction change, like an Alpine A110 that's spent six months in the gym aided by dubious 'supplements'.
But it's not a cheat code either. The steering is so finely adjustable that the window for nailing a corner is microscopic. So you'll be up and down your favourite road again and again. And again…
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