[hellrotm]

Bear in mind that AMG used a mix of steel, light alloy and magnesium to body this aluminum spaceframe car, meaning the engine has fewer than 3,500 pounds to pull around. That's lighter than competitors like the Porsche 911 Turbo, Jaguar F-Type R Coupe and the Audi R8 V10.

I'm so used to AMG products expressing their handling capabilities in a brutal fashion – heavy steering, tremendous grip – that I'll admit to be taken aback by the way the GT danced through the redwood forests and over coastal hills. The car was like a live thing under my hands in these environs.

There's no question in my mind that the AMG engineers have a raceworthy platform here, should its coming owners demand that capability.

– it was dangerously easy to hustle the coupe around narrow switchbacks with grace and precision. Some of that was down to the supremely balanced chassis underneath me, to be sure, but a lot more was due to the excellent steering feel offered up.

Of course, the coupe can be (and will be) very fast around a circuit, but the effortless way it does the Grand Touring bit is just more impressive to me. In that style, the Mercedes feels like the best car in the class – on the track it's one more face in the high-dollar crowd.

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