Posted on 10/23/2016 5:39:44 PM PDT by MtnClimber
For nearly 25 years, AMG has been known as Mercedes’s performance division. But to think of it as just a small engineering department inside a massive corporation couldn’t be further from the truth. In its nearly 50-year history, it has built some of the most incredible performance cars to ever come out of Germany, and it’s been doing it long before it was under the wing of the mighty Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes’s performance prestige remained intact thanks to AMG’s fantastic reputation for quality and performance, and its Mercedes connection kept AMG at the forefront of the performance tuning community.
The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz in 2005, and on top of building the hottest Mercedes models available today, it is also developing engines for supercar builder Pagani, as well as Aston Martin.
From building cars one at a time in a small workshop to having the bottomless resources of Mercedes-Benz behind it, here are 10 cars that helped transform AMG from small-market tuner to one of the most advanced performance divisions in the world.
For a brand as dignified as Mercedes-Benz, you wouldn’t think it’d take kindly to some aftermarket tuners stripping one of their executive cars, calling it “The Red Pig,” and racing it against much smaller and lighter offerings from Alfa Romeo and BMW. But that’s what AMG did in 1971, and it turned the European racing world upside down.
Taking the big Merc’s 6.3-liter engine and increasing its displacement to 6.8, the Red Pig finished second at the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa and became famous overnight. With a top speed of 142 miles per hour and a zero to- 0 time of 6.3 seconds, the Red Pig became famous as “the world’s fastest sedan” and was more than enough to get Mercedes’s attention.
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https://www.alfaromeousa.com/cars/alfa-romeo-giulia-quadrifoglio
Bi-turbo v6, 500+ HP, but RWD not AWD. 0-60 in C63 times, so sub-4, probably 3.8 or so. Power-to-weight looks good. Big enough for a family, and not in Ferrari “you got a family? have some tiny rear seats” style.
It ran the Nurburgring in 7:32. That is exceptionally impressive.
That Nurburgring time is impressive. It is about the same as the impressive Cadillac CTSV and only a bit off the time of arounf 7:09 of the Nissan GTR.
Recently acquired a 2013 SL63. I am scared to death of it. I’m also scared I’m going to add a Renntech ECM tune and totally lose my mind! Truly a bucket list car for me, it is an amazing machine. But now that I have it out of my system I’m considering a S550 coupe.
Why don’t they put that engine in the Maserati models? When I looked at Masearti I thought the engine sounded great, but they were slower 0-60 by 1 second compared to my Audi S6 and the price was higher.
Those are nice machines for sure!
We have a 2012 GLK 350 so have been looking at the new E’s. they’re gorgeous! Just have to talk myself into getting rid of my Jag. Lol
So, the Mazzas. The engines are built differently but still-Ferrari-built. The 458 and 488 use a flat crankshaft rather than a crossplane as used in the Mazza. They are different configurations: the crossplane is smoother running but has more rotational inertia, hence the difference in 0-60. Also, the Mazza engines are a bit detuned vs the straight up Ferrari because they’re cruisers rather than track cars.
/car nerd
I turned off the electronic assist on the C63 and drove the Oakland hills at speed. It tried to kill me and nearly succeeded. They are scary, but I love them anyway.
No doubt.
Yes, but, which Ferrari will hold its price best? The 458 may be the last of the normally aspirated V8s and the Speciale model is the rarest. The 488 has more hp and probably is the better car except that it has turbos which the purists seem to hate.
Steady State vs Transient conditions. Even at 6 sec 0-60 and going through a few gears, there is all sorts of things that can be done during that period that you can’t do forever and expect things to hang together.
How purist are you going to be? Do you want three pedals? Is it the turbos that are the problem? The coachbuilding?
Don’t get me wrong, I love Ferrari. Purists are weird. When you’re at Monterey and talking 250s or whatever and people express opinions like “not a real Ferrari, no gate on first to second” I get a bit bored.
For myself, I love the advancement in engineering and embrace it.
Does anyone know anything about the Audi R8?
I drive an AMG and never even want to downgrade to those stupid C and E class series. I would rather stick my face up Moochelle obamatard’s fat ugly ass than drive a C class. Actually told that in front of the MB sales guy and he started laughing..
I know a bit about the Audu R8. The base 4.2L version is a normally aspirated V8 used in other Audi RS models such as the RS4 and RS5. Output is around 450 hp.
The V10 version of the Audi R8 shares the same engine as the (VW Group) Lamborghini Gillardo. The newer Lamborghini Huracan shares the Audi V10 and the AWD drive system. Both the R8 and the Huracan have 610 hp engine options.
Hey man - calm down. The C300 and the E classes are nice cars.
I’d also have trouble downgrading from the AMG but that doesn’t stop me appreciating them.
In 2013 my Audi S6 would beat a E63 AMG or a M5 in 0-60. The E63 upgraded in a big way. But, it won’t touch a Porsche 911 turbo, Mclaren 570S or a Ferrari 488 GTB.
The Blizzak DVM-2 were the only top rated studless tire i could get here in Alaska locally, all the police and troopers use them. They work pretty good. I would recommend them very much, just limit them to wet, snow or slush as they are very soft and will wear down, BUT...they are dual layered, after you wear off most of the soft outer tread the inner tread is much harder and then wears longer as a normal all season tire.
I owned the CLA45 years ago and tried to outrace my buddy’s Mustang 2014. Smoked him by 3 seconds but I did feel some clutch issues after some time.
My Mercedes C300 has the AMG package which has different front and rear tire sizes. Blizzak does not make tires that fit my rear wheels. Yokahama made the best rated at the time. Going on my second year.
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