What is the world’s greatest four-door grand tourer? Well, it’s quite probably one of these.
The Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S has long been one of our favourite big sporting bruisers. It has a 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 making 630bhp and 664lb ft, which is good enough to propel this 2045kg machine from 0-62mph in 3.2sec and on to 196mph. It also returns 21.9mpg and 298g/km but given it costs £146,785, perhaps you’re not counting.
It now, though, gets a new rival. The Alpina B8 Gran Coupe, Alpina’s loose take on a BMW M850i. It too is very fast and very powerful. It has a 4.4-litre V8 engine making 613bhp and 590lb ft, which is good for a 201mph top speed, and a 0-62mph time of 3.4sec.
Its economy and emissions are 23.9mpg and 270g/km. And it costs £134,950.
Which, though, best blends the qualities you’d be looking for in a four-door grand tourer – speed, comfort, space for occupants and, crucially, being entertaining to drive? Join Road Tester Richard Lane as he oversees the verdict.
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What a fantastic review.
I have a B5 Touring which as mentioned has the same V8 as this B8 (and I suspect more than a similarity in the suspension and gearbox recalibration.) Personally it would always be a B5 over the B8 for me. The subtlety (mine is almost completely debadged - no stripes, plain rear, just the silver on the splitter) means that the only attention it gets is from a car nerd who spots the wheels.
Interestingly one of the only other modern cars that interests me at the moment is an AMG, not this one but a S63/S65 Coupe or Convertible.