2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Gets More Power

The 4.0-liter V-8 now makes 523 horsepower, a 54-hp increase, and a sinister-looking Stealth Edition joins the lineup.

• Mercedes-AMG adds more standard equipment and more horsepower and torque to the GT for 2021.
• As a result, the 2021 GT has a claimed zero-to-60-mph time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 194 mph for the coupe (193 for the roadster).
• The 2021 Mercedes-AMG GT goes on sale in early 2021. Pricing has not yet been announced.

We thought it a little odd, when we recently drove the Aston Martin Vantage, that AMG furnished Aston with a 4.0-liter V-8 that's more powerful than the one they put in their own two-seat GT model. That discrepancy gets rectified for 2021, with the standard GT gaining 54 horsepower, for a total of 523 hp—comfortably ahead of the 503-hp engine that gets shipped to Gaydon. Torque is also up, from 465 to 494 lb-ft, and the coupe's top speed climbs from 189 mph to 194 mph. That'll really cut down on your commute time, if you live and work on opposite sides of the Hakskeen Pan.

Perhaps more relevant is a drop in the zero-to-60-mph time, from a claimed 3.9 seconds to 3.7. We expect it'll be quicker than that, given that we clocked a 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT at 3.5 seconds.

Current GT owners talking themselves into an upgrade have more to consider than just horsepower. The base GT's standard equipment now includes a lithium-ion starter battery, an electronically controlled limited-slip differential, the AMG Ride Control sport suspension with adaptive damping (formerly a $1500 option) and a Race drive mode. The brakes are the AMG high-performance composite system—meaning composite in the sense of iron rotors and aluminum calipers, rather than carbon composite rotors. Those calipers are now red, unless you opt for the new Stealth Edition. Red calipers are a little too aufmerksamkeit errengen for a Stealth Edition, we think you'd agree.

Both coupe and roadster are available in Stealth Edition, which builds on the Exterior Night and Interior Night packages by blacking out every potentially shiny piece AMG could think of. Besides the brake calipers, the roadster's top is black (the coupe has a carbon-fiber roof), as are the headlight surrounds. The wheels are matte black. Counterintuitively, the standard exterior paint color is Vibrant Acid Lime Metallic . . . just kidding, it's black. And the other three colors fall under the description of "pretty much black," with the possible exception of Designo Graphite Grey Magno.

The Stealth Edition interior looks as you'd expect, with even the transmission shift paddles blacked out. You get the AMG Performance seats, in black leather with diamond quilting and black stitching.

The updated GT arrives at dealers early next year. Pricing has not yet been announced for the GT, which started at $116,895 for 2020.