Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro review: Fitter, faster, stronger

Giving customers what they want has been front and centre of mind at Affalterbach lately. After all, by Mercedes-AMG’s own admission, it’s the feedback from the people who buy and drive their cars that has shaped this, the all-new second-generation Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro. An important car then, and maybe even a redemption of sorts.

The original GT R Pro, launched in 2019, highlighted that car’s uncompromising nature, a hard-edged track-day weapon that focussed – perhaps – just a little too much on the race track. Owners needed to be race set-up savvy with a host of manual adjustments on the menu. Everything from the coil-over suspension, front and rear anti-roll bars, and that huge carbon-fibre wing hanging off the back required tools and a degree of set-up smarts to extract the best out of it.

Simply, the GT R Pro was resolute in its uncompromising single-focus. Fast? Unquestionably. Hardcore? X-rated. Comfortable and practical? Errrr…

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Mercedes-AMG listened, and the result is a friendlier GT in the truest sense of the ‘grand tourer’ tradition. For starters, the GT 63 Pro now has four seats (the previous model only had two, thumbing its not inconsiderable nose at GT tradition), more luggage space, and a better integration of the race track smarts that don’t require a spanner and scraped knuckles before you hit your local raceway.

Its appeal has thus been broadened, the GT 63 Pro opening the doors to buyers – who will shell out $418,900 before on-road costs and options – who appreciate its track-focussed nature while also catering to that unmistakable Mercedes luxury without diluting what it means to have that haloed AMG badge on the bootlid. It’s a tall order then, and perhaps one of the bigger challenges faced by the boffins at
Affalterbach.

The addition of two seats has, unsurprisingly, changed the Pro’s dimensions and arguably, its demeanour. To accommodate seats three and four, the new GT 63 Pro has enjoyed a growth spurt, measuring 177mm longer, 46mm wider and 66mm taller than the car it replaces.

The rakish rear-mounted cabin of the original that lent it some serious swagger and character has been moved forward by around 200mm, the end result a far more conventional and elegant looking coupe, even in this most potent GT 63 Pro guise. Squint and it even has a hint of Porsche 911.

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It’s also around 280kg heavier than its predecessor, partly because of its increased size, but also its 4Matic+ all-wheel drive underpinnings, the latter addressing what had made the original rear-wheel drive GT R just a little intimidating and fearsome to drive.

It’s just one of a wealth of changes under the skin, changes designed to make the GT 63 Pro an easier, more comfortable car to drive but, crucially, without losing the essence of what makes an AMG an AMG.

It starts with the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 found in the ‘regular’ GT 63. It’s a familiar beast, serving time in a number of AMG-badged cars including the Pro’s ever-so-slightly tamer sibling, the GT 63. It’s been retuned, however, boasting 20 more kiloWatts and 50 more Newton metres than its non-Pro stablemate. With total outputs of 450kW and 850Nm, the GT 63 Pro covers the 0-100km/h sprint in the same 3.2 seconds as the GT 63. The real gains come at the 200km/h mark from standstill, the Pro half-a-second quicker than the GT 63, 10.9 seconds against 11.4 seconds. Small gains on paper, yes, but they’re keenly felt on the race track. More on that later.

The V8’s moved forward inside the engine bay too, now hanging over the front axle where previously it was mounted firmly behind. AMG’s multi-clutch nine-speed automatic transmission, located directly behind the engine, replaces the transaxle (rear-mounted) seven-speed dual-clutch of the previous model.

The relocation of the transmission from rear to front addressed one of the criticisms of the old GT R Pro – a lack of usable boot space. But what the gods of packaging giveth, the engineering gods taketh away. Having the transmission up front, in tandem with the big V8 sitting over the front axle, has had a marked impact on weight distribution, now sitting at 54:46 front-to-rear compared with the older model’s 47:53.

Thankfully, the engineers at AMG haven’t been idle, countering that unfriendly forward weight bias with liberal doses of chassis and aerodynamic refinements that not only make light work of the excess baggage up front, but improve the GT 63 breed measurably.

The standard-fit suspension set-up, what AMG calls Active Ride Control, is arguably the hero of this story. It’s a complex system but one that delivers not only increased ride comfort, or so Mercedes-AMG claims, but also makes it a better car to drive near the limit.

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Eliminating the need for anti-roll bars and stabilisers, the system features interconnected two-valve dampers at each wheel. Using cameras and sensors that scan the road ahead, hydraulic actuators adjust the dampers to reduce pitch and body roll, the net result improved handling and dynamics during cornering while also maintaining ride comfort, thanks to its ability to adjust individual wheels to counteract bumps and imperfections on the road.

An aerodynamic overhaul helps here too, with enhanced elements that reduce drag, improve downforce and assist with keeping things cool underneath.

Larger air intakes, along with carbon-fibre deflectors that funnel air to the brakes, engine, radiators, you name it, are the entree. The main course, a trick carbon-fibre active underbody that extends downwards – by around 40mm – at high speeds and creates a Venturi effect – ground effects, in other words – sucking the GT 63 Pro to the ground, improving stability, and reducing front axle lift by, according to AMG, 30kg. Out back, the dessert served is a fixed rear wing – carbon-fibre of course – that increases downforce by around 15kg.

Mercedes-AMG hasn’t scrimped on keeping things cool either, vital if the GT 63 Pro is to pound out lap after lap on the track without any degradation in performance. As well as the main front-mounted radiator, the Pro scores two additional radiators up front, located inside each of the left and right front wheel arches. The 4Matic+ all-wheel drive system gets its own dedicated cooling system for the front and rear diffs as well as the transfer case.

Huge carbon-ceramic discs provide the stopping power. Measuring 420mm up front with six-piston callipers it has a dedicated aero package that works to keep temperatures down. Vanes on the underbody funnel air to the brakes helping to reduce that dreaded brake fade when enjoying some spirited driving, whether on the road or the race track.

Lightweight forged aluminium 21-inch alloy wheels – finished in stunning Himalaya Grey Matte – and wrapped in staggered Michelin Pilot Sport S5 rubber (295/30 ZR 21 up front and 305/30 ZR 21 rears) not only look fantastic, but keep unsprung mass down.

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So far, so track-ready almost-racecar. Inside, the GT 63 Pro plays to the brand’s strengths, a blend of purposeful sports car flourishes but with enough premium touches that go a long way to justifying its $418k price tag.

But the cabin is also where the fundamental changes wrought by AMG’s boffins pay, arguably, the greatest dividends. Interior comfort, a bit of a mixed bag in the older model, has stepped up several notches. Nappa leather trim abounds throughout, including on the lightweight AMG Performance bucket seats. They are the perfect accompaniment for a day on the race track, highly supportive, and hugging your body like your favourite sweater to hold you firmly in place during spirited driving. They’re heated and cooled too, while the automatic side bolsters tighten noticeably when the GT 63 Pro’s more aggressive drive modes – Sport, Sport+ and Race – are selected.

Race track-inspired features are plentiful – from the Nappa leather-wrapped AMG steering wheel with microfibre inserts at the grips and the drive mode selector dial on the lower-right hand spoke, a host of carbon-fibre interior trim elements, a large 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster with razor-sharp AMG-specific graphics that displays vital driving information alongside a wealth of configurable telemetry data.

The 11.9-inch portrait-orientated infotainment screen runs Merc’s proprietary MBUX operating system along with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But more than just a friendly host for your smartphone, the addition of the AMG Track Pace brings a plethora of track-focused telemetry with up to 80 different performance parameters data-logged, displayed and saved for later analysis. It’s a helpful tool for those looking to hone their driving skills on the track.

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The two second row seats, by Mercedes-AMG’s own admission, aren’t much use for anyone over 150cm tall, i.e. young teens and children, but they do make for a useful space for extra luggage that doesn’t fit in the now cavernous (by AMG GT standards) 321-litre boot, expanding to 675 litres with the second-row seats folded forward. The older model offered a meagre and complaint-worthy 175 litres.

So, the 2026 Mercedes-Benz GT 63 Pro is bigger and more comfortable than its racy predecessor. More practical too. It’s also significantly heavier, around 280kg, give or take. It should, by all sensible measures, be more cumbersome, and a little slower to accelerate than its slightly unhinged GT R Pro predecessor. Banish those thoughts, however – the new car is quicker from standstill to 100km/h by 0.4s, despite the extra 280 kegs it needs to haul.

Choosing to launch the 2026 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro at a track-only event at one of Australia’s most fearsome race circuits is either foolhardy or genius.

Certainly, sliding into the cabin for the first time on an unusually cold – and just a little damp – summer’s day at Phillip Island in Victoria, forces sweat glands into overdrive. Phillip Island is no Mickey Mouse race track and the GT 63 Pro is no ordinary car.

But that feeling of trepidation soon eases, the rumbling V8 under the bonnet, even at a sedate and mandated 40km/h pitlane speed limit, helping to calm the nerves. It’s a satisfying V8 grumble even if it’s not as sonorous as it once was, the sound of combustion and forced induction strangled for the modern age by the EU bureaucrats who – probably – hate cars.

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Phillip Island’s pit exit offers commanding views over Bass Strait and on this blustery day the ocean is churning, filled with ominous white caps that are soon banished from sight once the GT 63 Pro and its thunderous V8 is let off its chain.

Phillip Island needs little introduction to Wheels readers, its 12 corners and 4.448km length both challenging and rewarding. Fast and flowing and with high-speed corners that require commitment and more than a little bravery, Phillip Island provides the perfect canvas for seeing just how far the GT 63 Pro has come.

By rights, a near two-tonne and 4.729-metre long GT shouldn’t feel like a nimble and lithe sports car. Yet, the Pro does exactly that, masking its weight and sheer size with aplomb. It feels much smaller and lighter than its specs in the brochure suggest. That’s a testament to the AMG boffins who have clearly and adroitly accepted the challenge of turning a track-day weapon that was always considered “a bit of a handful” into this new, approachable, practical yet still blindingly fast track day warrior.

There’s a predictability at play, something absent from the previous model which always felt like it could turn around and bite the hand that feeds without a moment’s warning. Instead, the Pro attacks the track with a composed, albeit very, very fast surety that simply inspires confidence.

Acceleration is other-worldly quick all the way through to the 250km/h I was seeing at the end of Phillip Island’s long main straight. With 850Nm to play with, speed piles on at a prodigious rate with no pause for taking a breath. The Pro simply hunkers down and gets on with the job of being a very fast car.

But it’s also not just how fast the GT 63 Pro can mumbo in a straight line; the Pro is no one-trick pony. Its depth of abilities allow for a dollop of aggression, of extracting the most out of the car, and more importantly, yourself.

This is no rear-wheel drive monster prone to stepping out of line with an injudicious use of the throttle. Instead, the Pro’s AWD system and electronic limited-slip diffs work feverishly to provide the kind of grip out of corners that feels like a promise, the Pro whispering in your good ear, “go on, just a little harder next time”.

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The nine-speed multi-clutch automatic transmission is a gem, and so remarkably good at ensuring the right gear is selected for any given moment that it’s easy to forgo the paddle shifters. Sure, purists might like the tactility, such as it is, of rifling up or down the ratios like Kimi Antonelli, each shift met with gloriously explosive aggression that shoves you back into the depths of those body-hugging sports seats. The reality is, however, that the nine-speed MCT is likely better than you at making the right decisions. It’s certainly better than me.

The carbon-ceramic brakes provide more reassurance, pulling up the hefty Pro in a mostly predictable manner. Only the big stop into what was once called Honda Corner – probably the biggest braking point on the entire circuit – offers just a hint of sketchiness, the back end squirming just a little as the weight transferred to the front wheels. It provides a mild heart-stopping moment the first time but once the electronic traction and chassis gizmos kick in, you realise you’re in the hands of a safe and capable algorithm.

Phillip Island’s combination of fast straights and sweeping bends highlight the Pro’s dynamics to good effect. Thanks to its clever aero package, working in tandem with AMG’s Active Ride Control constantly working away at the wheels, the GT 63 Pro feels pleasingly and solidly planted to the track, even under the heavy loads of a 180km/h sweeper. The trick four-wheel steering set-up keeps things nice and tight too, imbuing the Pro with an agility and sure-footedness belying its size and weight, helping to make the car feel that much smaller (and thus lighter) than it actually is.

It’s a well-choregraphed dance of modern technological smarts that allow even the average punter – like me – to confidently extract not only performance, but blissful enjoyment from the GT 63 Pro. Not every high-powered performance car can make that claim.

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Certainly, the first part of the challenge AMG’s engineers faced when creating the GT 63 Pro has been met – that despite the imposition of extra weight necessitated by two extra seats, all-wheel drive and a host of other tech goodies, the Pro needed to remain true to its track-focussed philosophy. Tick that box.

With the Australian launch limited to the race track only, we won’t know how – or if – all that clever engineering has transformed the Pro into a comfortable grand tourer out on the open road, not until we get the car through the Wheels garage in the near future. But Mercedes-AMG is confident the GT 63 Pro has addressed its predecessor’s shortcomings with a package that is not only fearsomely fast with predictable handling that will flatter even the most timid of drivers, but also a practical and comfortable road car. Sounds like a win-win.

The GT 63 Pro family tree

Mercedes-AMG SLS

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Although not a direct ancestor, 2010’s SLS could rightly stake a claim as the current GT 63’s grand-daddy. The first car designed and built entirely in-house by Mercedes-AMG, the SLS stunned when it first appeared at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, not least of all for its gullwing doors, an homage to 1954’s original Mercedes-Benz SLS.

But more than just a pair of doors, the SLS was fitted with a monster 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated V8 pumping out 420kW and 650Nm, outputs that made it at the time, according to AMG, the most powerful atmo V8 ever in a production car. Zero to 100km/h was over in what today seems a pedestrian 3.8 seconds, but was blisteringly quick for the day.

Ever more powerful and faster versions followed, culminating with 2013’s SLS Black Series that weighed 70kg less than the standard car. Power from the V8 was up too at 464kW, although AMG throttled torque ever so slightly in a bid to make the car more manageable to drive. A shorter first-gear ratio andredline increase combined for explosive performance, with a 0-100km/h claim of 3.6 seconds. Underscoring its track-focus, the Black Series’s adaptive dampers came with only two settings – Sport and Sport+ – doing away with the more road-friendly Comfort.

Just 350 SLS Black Series coupes were ever made, going down in history as the last naturally-aspirated car ever produced by AMG

Mercedes-AMG GT

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Strictly speaking, the new Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro is only the second in a lineage that dates back to 2014 and the original first-gen (C190) AMG GT.Only the second ever car developed entirely in-house by AMG – after the SLS – the GT’s long bonnet and wide- stance swagger endeared it to die-hard performance car enthusiasts even if the long, low, V8 powered two-seater coupe defied the very definition of grand touring. Still, what it lacked in seats it made up for with brutal and uncompromising performance.

A more hardcore GT R followed in 2016, boasting 430kW and 700Nm from its M178 twin-turbo V8 and a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 3.6 seconds.

Those outputs and performance claims remained unchanged in 2019’s GT R Pro but thanks to a host of track-focussed enhancements to the suspension, aerodynamics, brakes and even the interior, the lightweight ‘professional’ version of the already hardcore GT R proved even more fearsome, underscored by Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel’s 7m04.632 seconds lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in late 2018, at the time the eighth-fastest lap by a road-legal production car.

That lap time paled into insignificance with the release of the AMG GT Black Series in 2021, which featured a heavily reworked M178 twin-turbo V8 utilising a flatplane instead of cross-plane crankshaft.

Additionally, a new smaller compressor wheel increased boost to 24.6psi, the end result increased power and torque outputs, now rated at 537kW and 800Nm.

Wrapped inside a body largely fashioned out of carbon-fibre, the Black Series was nothing short of a bona fide race car for the road. Only the number plates gave any hint that the bewinged monster was indeed road legal.

Engel once more put the Black Series through its paces at the Nordschelife, his astonishing lap time of 6m43.616s resetting the benchmark for a production car.

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Specs