Porsche GT3, Aston Martin V12 Vantage S, Mercedes C63 AMG Black Series - /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS

so here's the glamor and reality of it all um it's just before 6:00 a.m. m. on a Monday morning and it's not really pouring rain um but I thought I'd show you how we do it so we can meet that's Dan help. there the one dressed like a teenager who kneels behind the camera there is another guy who will meet us later called James who is in a fourth car but we have the three

cars

and now we will spend 20 minutes shoving to get covered in mud and water because I live in the sticks, so we will take the road.

Last night I looked at the map to get from my house to the angle. You either go up a motorway and cross a motorway or you go straight through mid Wales and I really enjoy the roads and I get some traffic on the way. I have a GT3, a V12 Vantage s and a C63 Black Series. You can't go on the highway. Can you tell us a couple of secrets here? Okay, there are very few rules to what we do, but there are two rules first: who drives what is decided by strict democracy and, uh, the route we take we do as a team, okay, okay, so guys , I am driving the vehicle that you can drive.

I want to see in From different angles, the drive through Wales is always good, the traffic is easily handled and watching the sunrise with an Aston V12 gurgling behind your left ear is even better, we stop and change

cars

and have a bit of a discussion because Neil is rude to the ason and is therefore wrong. the Aston and then we come to the brilliant C angle circuit, where the sheep are being knocked down and the angle is 5°, ideal for cup tyres, there is a 50mph gale but the track is temporarily dry so we settle a GoPro quickly and we grab a Lap time on each of the Astons first while Dan tries not to follow the path of the overturned sheep, we have all the electronics off and The Damp is set to follow mode.

Torque is immense from the V12 and traction is so marginal that you only need second gear once engaged. The turn balance is good, there is not too much understeer, the gear change is clean, it does not interrupt the car under hard braking and the brakes are very powerful with good pedal feel, but the car never feels as aggressive or agile in the center of the curve, cornering grip is fine, nothing. more, but it's nice and fun, you really spend most of the lap just managing the potential over the steering wheel 14.8 the

black

one is a similar story your dunlops are even less interested in reaching operating temperature than Aston's sticky pellis there is more understeer which means the minimum cornering speed is lower and the exit phase is over, avoid steering, ESP is disabled and the shock absorbers are adjusted, this is the only car with steel brakes, but they work well and the mass is fairly well contained, but for all its special features, the

black

one behaves like a very, very well sorted C-Class MC, the GT3 is a pure sports car, it's a measure of how much faster it is the Porter, I didn't feel like I was getting close to its potential lap time, the front melins didn't even warm up so the front traction on all laps was easily the best of the three and I was cautious with the more powerful brakes on this test just to go fast.

This is the best gearbox in a road car. The shifts are incredibly quick unlike the way I drive and yet the Porsche was 2.4 seconds faster than the Aston 138.an so we were forced to drive sideways and wasn't it a shame, oh it's slippery , it's slippery and I have Pelli P0 corsets, it's cold and for some reason this little Aston Martin weighs 235 kg more than the porch, it also has 457 ft PBS of torque which is a huge amount for two wheels in these conditions, you'll see what's the corolla of all that torque and this surface is ready for second gear, oh, there it goes. she goes there she goes I mean she's got balance to spare listen to that noise it's just wonderful the gearbox feels completely dated after the Porsches but you know what I think is quite attractive in some ways strange.

I'm starting to get a little nostalgic for these automated ones. Manual shifters are much slower than the pores, but if you give it some time, it's actually quite fun. I would prefer this car to be manual because the engine is sublime, the torque is simply exceptional. I also like the balance. There is a bit of understeer in the dry, not much, you can overcome it whenever you want in the wet, of course, it's literally such a setting. Brakes The ceramics are very good. I actually like the feel of the pedal too. at slow and medium speeds on the highway, as I said, I sometimes prefer them to porches.

I have to say that this car is really a weapon, it is a little soft. I have the shock absorbers in soft Mok CU. It's wet but even on hard mode there's a bit of roll, the car just feels lazier when you look at the lap time, yeah I mean the Porsche destroys it but it will do it all day and I think this one car is just fantastic and fun, I really think so and the noise wow, the noise any question is does it have to have the paddles I guess so because that's what buyers want these days, isn't it third gear anyway, what 80 M hour and simply when the lock is a weapon, it is a weapon, yes, yes, and welcome to the black

series

C63 AMG with cold Dunlop semi-slippery tires for track use at an angle C when it is about 6 °.

Now you'll notice I'm struggling for grip because it's wet and humid and some of the pictures. From outside the car they are when it is dry and some when it is wet. It's one of those January days in the UK, so I apologize for the lack of continuity, but what happens in these conditions is that an inherent balance in a car comes to light. Bring it along because it has little grip and you learn things, so let's take a spin or so on this wonderful machine and try to understand what it is all about. Well 517 horsepower from this m156 version and very little traction at the moment, the grip of the sticky Dunlops is this.

The car is adequate for this test, I think it is due to its intended use and its character, but it feels quite large compared to the other two. The engine, wow, we all know this six-plus engine, it just goes a little harder than in fact, the standard C63 brakes a little harder, the only car here with steel rotors, you know, they work great on this one. weather and I like the feel of the pedal. I think it's a fantastic car, it's got a lovely lazy response, a long wheelbase, no. Feel too fast, that's a problem, but because you get too comfortable with big slides and angles, it may not be the fastest way to go around the track.

I mean, that's nonsense, it's free. I didn't mean for that to happen, we'll try not to skid. in the next corner, okay, let's launch it, yeah, oh, we made it, we made it, but listen to the noise, it's a lovely, lovely thing, oh, lord, look, look, stop doing that, go straight, go straight . I think it's a super super car in terms of engine. there with the other two gearboxes the gearbox is a bit slow. Now I think this MCT transmission is overpowered and you have to anticipate when the limiter comes in so you are shifting when the needle is at about 6'2 to get the limiter.

I just passed seven, but it stops well and once you get a little bit of temperature in the tires, they will start to grip a little. He says he is not there. Oh, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, we're going for the noise and we. I know on a dry track this works pretty well because it's the same car we came here with almost two years ago and it's done 10,000 miles and that's proof of how strong it is because it feels like a tank and I don't. I don't think they are the broom triggers.

I think it's the same engine, same gearbox, same running gear, oh, there it goes again. It's nothing wonderful, wonderful. I love the specialness of the cabin. I love the big, weird seat. I love the steering wheel, as well as the driving position. It's just an evil thing. I could do without the spoilers, probably in terms of track performance, yes it is the least capable of the three, but on the track this car is still absolutely brilliant, fun, absolutely brilliant, fun. 991 GT3 people on a slippery track, kind of wet. Dreams are made with 475 horsepower, 1430 kg lighter than the Aston Martin, lighter than the Mercedes by a considerable margin and this engine revving to 9,000 RPM is just a weapon.

I must say that these melins do not like humidity, they get very wet. that kind of horrible grip feeling when they try to find grip on the chassis, otherwise it's a peach, a real peach, it will do all kinds of angles, it has the most dry grip, it has the most wet grip, can you hear what happens behind me? that engine that engine it's about that engine, talk about removing the dialogue from the pdk transmission because all you can do is be consumed by that noise, it's extraordinary and it keeps pulling, keeps pulling, sir, sir, what a car, okay, brakes, these are ceramic.

Optional ceramic on this is a club sport model, they are excellent when you heat them up to temperature, best of the bunch. I have to say the best of the group. There you go again, stop doing that. Now let's talk about the transmission because it is a masterpiece. Sorry my personal choice wouldn't be to have a pdk or oars but if you're going to have oars you might as well get them right and I must say these are very fast, everything else in the test feels completely normal, the Aston Martin feels feels like three generations compared to this and I guess the way this engine revs and with these close St gear ratios, I'm not sure you'd get the same feel, the same aggression if I was swinging a stick but I miss it I have to say that the strange thing has balance it has speed it has excitement it has a lot it's a great car it's a great car in terms of four-wheel steering, you know what?

The best I can say about it is that I'm not even aware that it's doing anything. I know when I get a slip angle it goes back to being completely straight but when I'm not doing that I'm just not aware that it's there I just seemed to figure out that I can turn when I want to turn and come out of a corner the way I want to come out of it. a curve. He is very, very intelligent. There is the defining point. 8889 pull a paddle, listen to the noise yes I have one of these things.

I'm jealous of what the RS will be like and that was the track and here are the cars in more detail. The Aston is a heavily revised version of the lovely V12 Vantage, controversially it only comes as an S-speed. shifter, but that weighs 25k kg less than the old six-speed manual transmission. Horsepower is now 573 with a monstrous 457 ftlb of torque. Carbon ceramic brakes are standard, but the mandatory carbon bucket seats are not. It's the most expensive car here at 138,000 or 164,000 as tested but it's also the most beautiful despite the silly paint job. The Merc also costs 138,000 but that includes a lot of toys, the base price is only ho ho ho 118,000 so you get Darth Vader on four wheels, a 517 horsepower version of the AMG.

Massive naturally aspirated V8 Body alterations, a two-seat cabin with bucket seats and a chassis far more impressive than any other AMG product, you'll say how much, but when you see one in person you'll realize why this thing is packed with goodies. so does the GT3, it's by far the cheapest car here, and yes I'm joking, 100,000 is standard, 114,000 is tested with ceramic brakes and carbon hubs, horsepower is the lowest here, 475 with only 324 ft. PBS of torque, melin's latest Pilot Sport cup. two tires should give it an ad

vantage

as mik the new super fast pdk gearbox is not as pretty as the Aston nor as Butch as the MC but no one mistakes it for a normal 911 11.

The Aston is a very good example of why these are really street cars. cars and not track cars, they have modes here, it has a damper mode and it has a sport mode and it has all kinds of things that point to it being a track car, but you know what it essentially is not, there is no bullshit massive. The cage behind me is also a good thing because with the soft dampers, this is a lovely, lovely start from Roka with the chassis damping much more flexible than I remember from the old V12 Vantage manual. I suspect that perhaps they have simply gone with some more expensive shock absorbers.

They even took away a bit of the spring rate. I don't know, maybe they added spring rate and I'm wrong about that, but to me the car feels more flexible on the road, it's good, it has enough traction and even though you. If you have that huge amount of torque from the V12, you can put your foot down and enjoy the road being wet today, so what I tend to do is just go up a gear and then hold down the accelerator and use the highest gear as a kind of a form of traction control, nice straight tracks, doesn't hit the crown of the road too much, steering is exceptional, you know what I think?This hits the GT3 steering, which is actually quite nice for an electric system I hooked up and I like its speed just off center.

I have enough room to have options on the road when it's this wet so an awesome nvh road car is good too, the GT3 is a pretty loud car on the road with its C63. This one isn't that bad, I won't actually tell you how fast I go, but let's just say it's not too loud. I drove this for 3 hours yesterday and felt pretty relaxed. The driving position in the cabin is excellent. It has an excellent view. Great feeling to be in it. something special cool because that V12 makes a wonderful noise but it's old the Aston is an old car now it's the old instruments that go back and forth I can't really see them but I'm not too worried that it still feels special yes, driving in the The road places far fewer demands on this automated manual transmission.

I think it is very nice to use. It is not as immediate as the Porsche. I mean, there are a lot of things about this car that can't compete with the Porsche on paper. and kind of like an individual component, but you know what? when you boil them all together, I'm not sure how much I'm losing. This is a smooth shifting transmission when you want to go fast and shift quickly in sport mode. Hit, it breaks, seems fast enough to me. I'm going through those modes quickly by the way, I have a sport mode that gives me quicker shifting, a more aggressive throttle map and also gives me a little more exhaust noise.

Come on, special, isn't it? I have the damper mode which can be hard or soft depending on whether on the track or on the road and I have DSC which gives me a lot of intervention which I have now stops me from being a Wally. I have some kind of clue. mode that allows me more slip and if I hold it down for several seconds and say Wibble Wibble seven times, it turns off completely and that allows us to do the yber on the circuit brakes, now we're talking, okay, these are carbon. The ceramic has one of the nicest initial pedal strokes I've ever experienced.

I covered everything there, so we did the engine noise, we did the gearbox, we did the brakes, we did the way it drives on the road. The way it makes me feel I think we've covered it and I hope you now realize that I think this is a beautiful road car. If I were to drive one of these to the south of France, the Aston would be up to the task. I would prefer it to have a manual transmission instead of these paddles. Yes, I would, but I'm predictable and old-fashioned, so if the Aston is apparently a road car that can go pretty fast on a circuit, what does that do with that huge black color?

Mercedes-Benz with the silly wings I've been familiar with the C63 Black Series for over two years now, but every time I come and sit in it I'm struck by how many compromises and contradictions it seems to offer, and yet how they all roll together to create this really fun car, so from the outside it looks like it's trying to kill you, it really looks like a weapon of war when you get in, it has a fixed seat and an aggressive steering wheel when you start. It fires up, the engine just runs when you pull away on a cold, wet day, the rear Dunlops can't really accelerate with more than a tenth of the throttle before the traction control lights come on and you think: This is undriveable, What was AMG thinking? and then you pick up the speed a little bit on the highway and you realize that of the three cars here it has the best damping, it feels the most stable and then the tires warm up a little bit and they start working and before you know it you're cruising around and the car has a lovely pace, it's so composed that it doesn't seem to drift too much, it doesn't follow the road camera like you'd expect from a car that carries quite aggressive beds.

It's a great road car. Truly a great road car. Like the Aston, being on the road for me means the slightly slower gearbox response isn't a big deal. I don't expect that much from him. The torque from the engine is simply exceptional, it says it has the same torque figure as the Aston, but to me it feels stronger at low levels, I'm not sure that should be the case, all this seems special to me too, We have a C63 507 pickup truck with us which is a very special car but it's a whole new world compared to that which just makes you smile.

Doesn't it go away when you push the difference that a couple of degrees of temperature makes to the tires also the moment the front starts to work? You can really cover ground even in wet conditions. What don't I like about the Black Series? Well, I'm doing without the silly Wing kit, which is too much for me and I would probably install the rear seats because then it would be an interesting car. Wouldn't it be a real four-seater that offers all this performance and specialty and you can take the kids in the back? It's an attractive prospect, but as it stands, this is a great car full of excitement, full of character, truly mind-blowing performance and this strange on-road compliance that you just don't expect to drive much better than the 507 estate because it has a Expensive suspension but I guess the C63 has a bit of a problem based on the spec, this car costs £138,000 and on the road you have I wonder if there is another car from Stuttgart that offers a bit more for less money.

From the first moment I drove a GT3 last summer, I want us to know what it was like to drive on a bumpy British road, because to me that's what matters, anyone can make a car run on a smooth circuit, which feels on a bumpy road, well, the immediate response is a pretty good start with the four-wheel steering chassis. Gosh, it can't be long until they install this on all Carreras. It really makes the car feel more agile than a normal steering system. I don't know why it's okay, we know why it effectively shortens the movement of the car's wheels, don't we?

But you turn in and the car just feels like you can. Put it much more precisely on the road. Comfort, this is the firmest of the three cars, but it has a lovely, plush cushioning quality, so even though we go a little further, every movement is really controlled and the car just feels trapped. On the road surface I'm on the softest damping mode, but yes, it's still the firmer car here, it follows the tarp too much, it detects them a little more than the other two as well, but again it feels aggressive and I live much longer than the other.

The two brakes are immense at the top of the pedal field, perhaps not as pleasant as those on the Aston. It's the GT3's personality that gets you, although this is the car you get into even on the street and the horns blare and you just want to get up. because we'll get to it that engine there we go that's just extraordinary if it feels extraordinary on a circuit on the road Oh my goodness, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, the GT3 performs engine-wise at a completely different level than the others. It just feels like you have a racing powertrain on the road, get this, it's huge, absolutely huge, and that gear shift, yes, I prefer sticks, but I'm not sure you can enjoy this engine with a manual gearbox the same way you can do it with these paddles.

Because so much happens between eight and nine, let's also talk about these Mellin Pilot Sport cup 2 tires. Wow, in these conditions, not too much standing water but a wet road, they are finding grip that the other two don't even they can get closer. and because it's a rear engine Porsche in terms of traction I can go wide in second gear turns, the Merc and Aston just can't come close, they're all over the place, there's only one downside to this notable It was direct. injection engine that represents 9,000 RPM and that's what you do your gear calculation, the opportunities to really extend it on the highway second and third gear well, I don't want to do the numbers, but if you're using it all in third third Well, in At some point you will have problems.

It's almost too fast. It's on the road where you really notice the difference in personality. The other two are GT sports cars. This is a real sports car. I'll shut up? get in and drive it it's amazing, the big surprise for me is how usable the Vantage is, the optional hifi bno is Ace, the bluetooth phone is the best here, the door bins are in the perfect position, it's old but just It works and is on the way. It's a hot rod that you drive at torque and always try to sit on the edge of traction, physically you also sit very far back in the car, almost on the axle, while it contracts and moves, the more you drive it, the more you like it , can you really?

Justify the price of the Merc. The well used values ​​are quite good and it looks interesting. We had a C63 507 as a hacked camera and back to back. The two cars are unrecognizable. The black chassis is much more flexible and much more fun for some people than the regular Merc. the cockpit will be a plus its so easy and intuitive others will think its too boring the pdk argument will go on for a while but consider this with that engine and those gear ratios shifting yourself might be too complicated to use On the road for now.

I have to choose engine or gearbox and this DFI engine is so special that I could easily live with the paddles because they are still the best paddles we have tested, so what the hell do you call a winner? You grab the keys and drive 4 hours straight. country back to base and then you accept that for 3 days you've really been looking for things to stop the GT3 from winning this test and there just aren't many, that doesn't mean the Aston and C63 are anything but brilliant. Except the GT3 is one of those rare talents that shines even brighter for the record.

The Black Series is a joy and the V12's goodies are the best Miles has ever driven, so ask me what the best car is and I'll tell you. GT3 with no competition, ask me which one I'd like for a calendar year and well, I'll pause for a moment and remember that lovely AMG damping and the feeling of feeling so happy in the Aston, both fantastic cars, but I'd still choose the Porsche Pies Welsh are the cornerstone of any nutritious food