Mercedes-AMG GT R Tries To Preserve Its Good Name Against BMW M4 DTM

The evil trick about the BMW M4 DTM is that on the outside, it doesn’t look like much more than a piped-up BMW M4. On the other hand, the Mercedes-AMG GT R looks like something Cruella de Vil would drive if she was as concerned with lap times as she is with obtaining the furs of baby Dalmatians to make one epic coat. Looks can be deceiving, but not when it comes to power figures in this case. The M4 DTM’s 493 horsepower is easily trounced by the GT R’s 577 ponies.

Next-Gen BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe To Answer Mercedes-AMG GT Concept

BMW is prepping a Nurburgring lap time-hungry 6 Series.

It wasn’t so long ago that BMW held a reign of terror on the performance car world, outstripping Mercedes and Audi with its angry V10 and V8 M cars that seemed to strike the perfect balance between luxury and delivery of outrageous driving thrill. The M division is still a heavy name in the industry, but AMG has been on the offensive and the world-beating two-door GT is symbolic of how far the brand has come as well as a signal of where it intends to go in the future.

The new trend, it seems, is to gun after Porsche. With the Panamera now being the luxury rocket of choice for elites who take pride in bouncing off of apexes cleanly before handing the keys to a valet at a white tie event, Mercedes had to jump on the bandwagon and deliver the four-door AMG GT Concept. Where does that leave BMW M? With a few luxury sedans and coupes, stupidly fast SUVs, and an M6 Gran Coupe that turns heads but falls just a bit short of the Panamera’s inexplicably sexy ire. Speaking with Kate Alini, Product Manager of BMW North America for the BMW 6 Series and BMW 7 Series at the 2017 New York Auto Show, we learned that BMW is headed down the same route.

The 6 Series has been the subject of much talk lately. Speculation says it will morph into more of a Porsche 911 competitor and build an 8 Series to scoop up the grand touring crowd, although previous bad news indicated that BMW would axe the 6 Series Gran Coupe in favor of the uglier Gran Turismo body style. While Alini didn’t specify which statements would become truth (although she did give a firm no for to a 6 Series wagon), she alluded to a revolutionary 6 Series sedan that would shed its comfort focus and turn into much more of a driver’s car. “The next iteration of the 6 will surprise a lot of people. It will be a showstopper for sure.” Not that luxury will be absent, just that performance will be much higher of a priority.

“In terms of luxury, it will deliver a perfect balance of high end fit and finish on the interior and be striking from the exterior. The next 6 Series is going to be much more of a driving-oriented vehicle though, less for cruising and better at handling.” In our experience, BMW tends to know what it’s doing when setting up sports car suspension that also offers comfort on the autobahn, so it’s not far-fetched to expect the German automaker to build the next 6 Series as more of a Porsche Panamera and four-door AMG GT competitor. So far it’s not too far off the mark. A 2014 comparison between the M6 Gran Coupe, Mercedes CLS63 AMG, and Audi RS6 saw the Bimmer take the second place podium above the Merc.

The Porsche Panamera, however, has raised the bar, bringing Nurburgring lap times and drop-dead gorgeous styling into the mix (on the second generation). The 6 Series is a looker though it could use improvement in this writer’s humble opinion, but performance will be the differentiating factor. Alini alluded to something we all expected, the migration of the Cluster Architecture frame that the 7 Series and G30 5 Series has, to the rest of the lineup. With a stiffer, lighter skeleton and the possibility of an upcoming M5 with an all-wheel drive drivetrain being added to the parts bin, the 6 Series could well come equipped to do battle directly with the Panamera.

Porsche may be a little ahead of the curve in terms of combining raw power with efficiency, especially so with the 680 horsepower Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, but Alini claims that the rest of the BMW lineup is ready for the addition of electricity. With any luck, we’ll be seeing an agile, comfortable 6 Series Gran Coupe in the near future that uses the latest technology the BMW 7 Series has while being boosted by gas-saving and EV-mode capable electric motors. Now remind us, who said the future had to be boring again?

Stock Mercedes-AMG E63 S Destroys 750-HP BMW M6 On The Strip

Even with 750 hp on tap, the M6 couldn't keep up with the Benz.

The Mercedes-AMG E63 S is an absolute monster of a sedan. With its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 rated at 612 horsepower and 626 lb-ft of torque, the four-door supercar can sprint to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds. To prove just how much of a performance machine this really is, one owner took his ride to the drag strip and squared up against its two Teutonic rivals in the form of the BMW M6 and Audi RS7. However, while the Merc was stock, both the Bimmer and Audi had been tuned to deliver 750 hp.

With well over 100 hp of extra oomph at their disposal, you’d think the E63 would have been blown away by the tuned German heavyweights. But you’d be wrong. At least when it came to the BMW.

Against the Audi, the E63 managed the quarter mile in 11.206 seconds at 124 mph and the half-mile in 17.669 seconds at 152 mph. Against the M6, the Benz clocked a quarter-mile time of 11.317 secs at 124.5 mph and the half-mile in 17.595 secs at 152.9 mph. In contrast, the M6, packing Evotech’s Stage 2 kit, took 11.717 secs at 127.9 mph to reach the quart-mile mark, and 17.898 seconds at 156.53 mph to reach the half-mile finish line. The Audi was the clear winner, with the RS7 benefiting from a GoshaTurboTech GTT750 power kit, clocking the quarter-mile in 10.591 secs at 133.18 mph and half mile in 16.679 secs at 162.68 mph.