What's the difference?
Once upon a time, people would dream about owning a Mercedes-Benz 450SLC – the C107 sports/luxury coupe flagship of the 1970s.
Sexy, stylish, secure and incredibly solid, it embodied the brand’s ‘Engineered Like No Other Car' mantra of the era.
Today’s all-new, second-generation, C192 AMG GT Coupe is something of an indirect descendant of this sort of thinking, changing tack from its supercar-esque 2014 C190 predecessor, with more space, more seats, more sensibility and, conversely, even more steak and sizzle from its glorious V8.
A modern-day SLC? The Porsche 911, Aston Martin DB12, Maserati GranTurismo and Bentley Continental GT’s worst nightmare? Or something else entirely?
These questions and more are answered below.
If you’re looking for a sedan version of the RS 6 Avant, then you’ve come to the right place – sort of. See there is no RS 6 Sedan, but the RS 7 Sportback is the next best thing – you may even find it an even better thing because not only does it share RS 6 Avant’s outrageous engine and high-performance hardware, it’s also a sedan …but with a hatchback.
And if that kind of thing makes you happy, sit down – because the new generation RS 7 Sportback has just landed.
The GT63 4Matic+ is a breathtaking example of everything that Mercedes-Benz and AMG are.
Ferociously fast, incredibly agile and superbly sophisticated, it should be on anybody’s shortlist, if that also includes a Porsche, Aston Martin, Maserati or even a Lamborghini. And it’s definitely much more than yesterday’s SLC ever was – for similar money in today’s terms, as it turns out.
But, around Tasmania’s glorious roads at least, the Mercedes-AMG lacks the ride comfort and road noise isolation to be a fully-rounded-out GT, and that’s a disappointment for a brand with such formidable history in making such cars.
The new-generation RS 7 Sportback heralds the further evolution of this large majestic beast, with more features, a beautifully finished cabin and with more grunt with the looks to match. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better combination of power, dynamics and comfort in the Audi range – apart from in the RS 6 Avant of course.