2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63 vs. Maserati MC20 Cielo: Duel for Grand Tourer Supremacy!
In this genteel battle of ultra-luxurious grand tourers, there’s an obvious winner.
Contrary to the doom and gloom you see online about the demise of combustion-powered performance and luxury, the reality is that there are plenty of gas-drinking grand tourers still available for those who have the coin. Those who are in the enviable position of choosing from the current crop of flagship sports cars will no doubt consider the latest offerings from Maserati and Mercedes-AMG, the 2023 MC20 Cielo and the 2024 GT63. Maserati’s flagship looks the part of a supercar, with tight haunches and beautiful proportions; this one has a removable hard top, but there is an identical MC20 coupe. AMG’s offering is handsome, too, an evolution of the first-generation two-door hatchback complete with its signature long hood and gracefully resolved silhouette; opposite the MC20, it, too, is available as a droptop, though it’s technically a different albeit mechanically similar model: the newest SL-Class.
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As two of the best-looking grand tourers money can buy, each takes a different approach to one of autodom’s most enduring, envy-inducing vehicle types. To see which is best, we put both GT cars to the test during our 2024 Performance Vehicle of the Year evaluation at Chuckwalla Raceway. Both Maserati’s convertible and Mercedes-AMG’s coupe pack a ton of appeal, but only one grand tourer can come out on top.
High-Performance Hardware
Grand tourers are the do-it-all style plays of the automotive world. Beyond their extravagant looks and sumptuous interiors, these rarified vehicles are defined by their high-performance drivetrains, capable handling, and state- and nation-crossing comfort. In the case of the 2023 Maserati MC20 Cielo, motivation comes from the automaker’s Nettuno 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engine, rated for 621 hp and 538 lb-ft of torque. The MC20 Cielo launches from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and flies through the quarter mile in 11.7 at 124.7 mph.
The MC20 Cielo is a good match for its rival, the 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63. Cranking out 577 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque from its hand-built 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8, AMG’s new-generation GT63 flagship (well, for now—there is an 805-hp GT63 S E Performance plug-in hybrid version arriving soon) and its new all-wheel drive launches from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds and blitzes the quarter mile in 11.2 seconds at 123.7 mph. This pair attains similar times around our figure-eight test circuit, too. The MC20 Cielo takes 23.2 seconds to complete a lap; the Mercedes-AMG GT63 takes 23.4 seconds.
Similar though their basic performance stats are, these cars’ individual characters can’t be more distinctive. The MC20 Cielo’s racy interior accents allude to its split personality as a gentleman’s GT and something trying to be more exotic. Acceleration is quick but explosive, as one would expect from an engine as sophisticated as Maserati’s Nettuno. You modulate the immense stopping power from the optional Brembo-sourced carbon-ceramic brakes using pressure, not pedal travel, as in a track-tuned machine. Turn into the corner, and the light but precise steering tucks in the front end with a whiff of understeer at the absolute limit. Upon exit, mat the throttle, and what feels like a very clever electronic limited-slip differential helps ladle out the power and propel the Maserati down the next straight.
Although the MC20 has a lot of good things going for it, we’ve noted some quibbles that hold the Cielo back from its true potential as a world-class GT. A sonorous exhaust note is expected from something Italian that looks like this, but the V-6's volume isn’t loud enough to avoid being washed out when the top is lowered; it isn’t much spicier the rest of the time, either. Raising the top and lowering the rear glass accentuates the engine’s noise a bit, but its song is a monotone baritone rather than a sizzling scream. The MC20 Cielo is quick, but it never blows your mind on longer straights. We’d like Maserati’s convertible to feel a bit more playful, but the MC20 Cielo falls short of driving like the charismatic exotic it seems to be trying for.
Where the MC20 Cielo takes a restrained approach to theatricality, the 2024 Mercedes-AMG GT63 pounces with a sledgehammer approach to high-speed thrills. The V-8 growls with the guttural ferality that put Affalterbach on the map. Squeeze into the throttle, and eruptive acceleration rockets you off the line or out of a corner. Shifts from the nine-speed automatic transmission feel crisper and more definitive than those from Maserati’s dual-clutch eight-speed gearbox. The steering has heft matched with precision, giving you the confidence to wring the GT63 out on track for everything it’s worth.
With plenty of mechanical grip from the sticky Pilot Sport S 5 tires and all-wheel-drive traction, the Mercedes-AMG GT63 goads you into setting all of its drive modes to their most aggressive profiles while giving you all the equipment and communication necessary to fully send it. And although it’s easy to work Merc’s coupe into a rhythm on the track, the drive is never boring due to the all-wheel-drive system’s rear-biased tuning (in most scenarios, it feels rear-wheel-drive, with the front axle invisibly helping claw the car out of corners) and the exhaust’s snarling soundtrack.
Shortcomings are few, especially compared with the MC20 Cielo. The AMG certainly is heavier, weighing in at 4,241 pounds to the Maserati’s 3,920 pounds, but its heft is managed well by the AMG Active Ride Control suspension with semi-active anti-roll stabilization and adaptive dampers. If we’re to pick nits, we have to acknowledge that the GT63’s handling isn’t as edgy as that of an equivalent Porsche 911 or even the previous-generation GT, even if its limits are as high or higher. Still, these shortcomings are so slight and so easily overcome by skill that we can’t help but hand the driving dynamics portion of this comparison to the Mercedes.
