Looking for an AMG sports car that’s big enough for the whole family? The 2022 Mercedes-AMG GT is built for that purpose. The 2022 Mercedes-AMG GT 43 and 53 are built with a sporty feel and luxurious interior, plus they have four doors and options for either a bench seat or bucket seat in the back. The result? The whole family can experience the joy of a Mercedes-AMG sports car.
But it’s certainly not cheap. At a starting price of a little over $102,000 for the GT 53, or $92,500 for the slightly lower-spec GT 43, this is a purchase for those who are set on a luxury sports car experience. It goes head to head with the likes of the Audi RS 7 and BMW M5, with arguably the most unique design of the bunch. How well does it compete? I’ve been testing it to find out.
Pros
- Luxurious interior
- Well-designed exterior
- Excellent performance
- Great handling
Cons
- Expensive
Mercedes-AMG GT 53 exterior
The exterior design of the Mercedes-AMG GT 53 is a little controversial. Some find that the bulbous nose and somewhat lack of angularity do a disservice to the car’s overall design, but I actually quite like the overall look of it. Sure, it’s not the most mean-looking sports car out there, but it’s still sleek and stylish, and clearly a premium option.
The front of the car boasts a large collection of grilles with a large Mercedes logo in the center. On the sides, you’ll find slim and angled LED headlights. The front-end layout helps make the car look a little sleeker and meaner than, for example, the EQS, which has a more bulbous, grille-less front-end.
On the rear of the car, you’ll find a tucked-away spoiler, which you can raise and lower as you see fit. And, you’ll find the even slimmer rear headlights, which I really like the look of.
The side profile is perhaps the least controversial thing about the car’s design, and again, I quite like it. The car offers a sloped rear that gives it that coupe look, and a relatively long sculpted hood. The car in general is quite long, and the result is that while it still looks sporty, there’s a solid amount of trunk space.
The wheels are perhaps one of my favorite things about the car’s design. Our model offers the 20-inch split 10-spoke wheels with gray accents, and they look great.
Generally, some may not love the look of the GT 53, but I really like it. It has a sporty look and feel to it, and looks like a premium car.
Mercedes-AMG GT 53 interior
The interior is perhaps even sportier than the exterior, especially depending on the options you go for. The car is decked out with premium leather and nice stitching. Our model offers black interior leather, with a splash of color by way of the yellow seatbelts, which I think look awesome. Hardware is a nice silver metal, and everything looks and feels…expensive.
The car offers a low seating position, while retaining a good amount of visibility. Seats are comfortable and ergonomic, and seat position controls are located on the door, making it easy to visualize tweaks.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the car’s interior is the location of the controls. The center console is adorned with controls for the drive modes, letting you tweak the settings for those drive modes at will. You’ll get individual buttons for things like the suspension and steering, plus the ability to switch to a manual transmission. There’s also a touchpad that you can use to scroll through menus in the infotainment system, which is neat.
There’s a solid amount of room in the rear, though a little more height might have been nice. Passengers get their own climate controls, and you can opt for either two bucket seats in the rear, or a bench. And, there’s a good amount of space in the trunk — you’ll get 12.7 cu-ft of space, which is plenty for most situations.
There are some minor issues I didn’t love about the car’s interior. For example, there’s a row of buttons for things like the parking cameras and other things right behind the cupholders, and I regularly accidentally pressed those capacitive buttons when reaching for my drink. And, the wireless charger is behind the cupholders, so you won’t really have access to your device with anything in the cupholders. They’re minor complaints, but things that I wish were different about the car.
Mercedes-AMG GT 53 infotainment
The Mercedes-AMG GT 53 may not have the HyperScreen on offer by the all-electric EQS, but there’s still plenty of screen to go around. The car comes with a huge 12.3-inch center display with AMG’s MBUX infotainment system built into it. It supports CarPlay, but only through a wired connection, which is a little unfortunate. It’s 2022, and a car this expensive should support wireless CarPlay.
On the GT 53, I found MBUX to be very responsive and reactive, rarely taking long to react to touch input, and often feeling almost as quick as a smartphone.
That’s good news, because you’ll probably be touching it a lot to find your way around it. MBUX is far from the most intuitive infotainment system out there, and you’ll find yourself scrolling around menus to find certain options. Of course, like any infotainment system, you’ll probably set and forget most of the options in the system — and you will get used to the overall layout. But don’t expect a very intuitive system overall.
The second display in the car is the digital instrument cluster, which pretty much shows everything you would expect. It’s a good-looking screen, and easy to see even in direct sunlight.
Mercedes-AMG GT 53 performance
The thing I love about the Mercedes-AMG GT 53 is the fact that it’s a complete package. It doesn’t just look good — it has some grunt to it too.
The GT 53 offers an inline six-cylinder 3.0-liter engine, with a turbocharger and an electric supercharger, coupled with a separate electric motor. All of these components work together to create a car that’s fast from the get-go — and you’ll get a combined 429 horsepower that can get you from 0 to 60 in 4.1 seconds.
The result of all this tech? The car is incredibly responsive, and feels like a sports car, despite its larger size. But quick acceleration isn’t the end of it — the car also offers a sporty-feeling suspension and responsive steering that helps you feel in total control if you want. The Comfort mode is good at taking a lot of the job out of your hands, but when you do want complete control over the car, you can get it.
Mercedes-AMG GT 53 driver assist
As you would expect from a luxury car these days, the Mercedes-AMG GT 53 offers plenty of driver-assist features, some of which come standard and some of which are options.
Our test model comes fully-loaded with things like a 360-degree camera view, along with a full automatic parking assistant. You’ll also get a lane-keeping assistant and adaptive cruise control, and combined the car can drive itself on the highway, as long as you stay attentive and with your hands on the wheel.
It’s a solid combination of features, and everything we would expect in 2022. Mercedes integrates these features into the car pretty well, too.
Conclusions
The Mercedes-AMG GT 53 looks awesome, is built with premium materials, and is a ton of fun to drive. All of that is to be expected though. The question remains — is it the best option in this price range, and is it worth the money?
Whether or not it’s worth the money is hard to say — and it really depends on what you’re looking for. I will say, however, that you would expect a car with these features and this premium of an interior to cost a lot. It definitely commands a premium, and it looks and feels as much as it costs.
The competition
There is, however, quite a bit of competition. Perhaps the most notable competition comes from the likes of the Audi RS 7 and BMW M5. Both of these cars are great options, but they don’t quite offer the same unique design as the GT 53 — and as such, if that’s important to you, you should go for the GT 53.
But if basic performance is the most important consideration for you, then the RS 7 is probably a better buy.
Should I buy the Mercedes-AMG GT 53?
Yes, as long as you’re comfortable with the fact that there are better-performing options in this price range.
