2020 Mercedes Benz AMG GTR

Price as tested: $208,000

Engine/Power/Torque: 4.0 Twin Turbo V8/ 577 hp / 516 ft/lbs

0-60: 3.2 Seconds

Text and Video: Yousef Alvi // Photography: Alexander Grant

Soul.  It’s what is missing from modern day cars. Older vehicles have their quirks and idiosyncrasies that offer a personality that makes them so easy to fall in love with.  Modern day vehicles lack an appreciable soul since the fundamental aspects of their driving is buried under layers of electronic buffers.  This AMG GTR on the other hand is one of the very few modern vehicles that has a soul.  

The classic sports car recipe includes the finest Germany can offer.  Porsche and BMW are breathlessly named due to their surgical precision on and off the track.  Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division always tends to be ‘oh yeah them too’ afterthought. Why is that?

In the eyes of the driving focused BMW and Porsche has it nailed down.  Driving either one requires a squint and focused intensity that some revel in.  Others revel in just the delight of driving and that is where AMG comes in. Instead of driving with a laser intensity..driving an AMG vehicle brings up maniacally laughing no matter what.  

Leaving a traffic light ‘LOL’.  Turning into a grocery store ‘OMG LOL’.  Going up your driveway “HAHA”. Every mundane situation is immediately turned into serotonin fueled experience of hilarity.  That folks is what makes AMG vehicles so effing special.  

This AMG GTR is another level of special. Think of it as AMG’s version of the 911.  Heck from some angles it looks like a 911! Just like the 911, there is bazillion variations to choose from like a standard road car, a droptop, a faster road car and a track day car.  What the AMG GTR does to differentiate itself is to dial up the fun factor to 11. Just look at the Traction Control Knob in the center console! You can literally dial up and down the fun!

Yes you can have fun in a 911 but what the AMG GTR gives you is a sense of the prepubescent joy.  Just walking up to this screaming yellow, carbon fibered winged beauty is enough for one to break out in giddy excitement.  Stepping inside with it’s yellow seatbelts, yellow stitching and carbon fibered bits is another occasion. You just plop in and fucking smile!  Then you start the motor and start to laugh!

So this AMG GTR is MB’s version of the Porsche 911 GT3. A track day hero that you can live with it everyday. Making 577 hp and 516 torque, going to 60 in 3.2 seconds, skidpad in 1.14g and stopping in on a dime. The AMG GTR is a masterpiece on the track. 

When the roads open up, engage Sports + or Race mode and the AMG GTR feels like it’s alive.  Well possessed is more like it. It howls, screams and taunts you.  The backend is loose like a stripper and the sounds it makes matches the screamin’ yellow paint.  But the following is what makes the AMG GTR so special to me. Put it in Comfort mode. It’s almost civil.  Yes there is tire noise from the Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires but drive it gently…it acts gently. Hell it rides better than my old Audi S3! Since it’s a hatchback you can actually fit a decent amount of stuff inside and act like a sensible human being…..in your bright yellow, winged sports car. Okay not really sensible…but you get my point!

So what do I think of the AMG GTR? I love this car.  I never fallen in love so quickly with a vehicle in my entire career.  If you’re in the market for a car that makes you feel like you are 10 years old.  This is it. This is your answer. This is Mercedes-Benz at it’s absolute finest people….this is AMG.