A curious side-effect of all the cultural tumult and general social change in Colorado is the fact that a cool-looking car is no longer a big deal, even in increasingly expensive Summit County.

But the very striking Mercedes-AMG GT Coupe seemed to be an exception to the rule, as I got repeated thumbs-up waves from people, minus of course on my drive from Alma to Fairplay.

I attributed a healthy part of that to the particular shade of paint offered on this svelte, two-door, low-riding race car-styled Mercedes, a shiny and matte special-order tint called Hyper Blue Magno, a $3,250 option.

It’s one of 50 custom “Manufaktur” paint jobs that are now available on the 2026 AMG GT, plus a Yacht Blue and Black or Rosé Grey Nappa leather interior. 

The GT itself is the modern heir to the iconic, gull-winged 300 SL of the 1950s. Introduced as a new model in 2014, the first GT was smaller and more race-car intense, with roadster variants and a driving style that mimicked its full-blown racing renditions, like the GT3 and GT4.

The second-generation GTs – mine was a 2024, but is largely identical to current 2026 editions – have grown a bit by merging with the same platform as the new SL convertible, the result being a nearly human-sized set of rear seats and a rear cargo space under the liftgate glass. Drop those diminutive seats and the cargo room goes from 11.3 cubic feet to a decent 23.8 cubic feet.

It is still a small and snug, performance-oriented machine, with widely bolstered seats and controls that tend to encircle you like an authentic race car cabin. We did manage to put nearly 400 miles on the car in a single day, exploring the unpeopled stretches of Highway 131 northwest of Vail, and it made for an intense but still comfortable experience.

The current GT Coupe, which is also available in a newer sedan version, is offered in a tall array of universally high-output variations. That starts with a 416-hp GT 43 model, priced at $106,000, the 469-hp GT 55 for $138,000, and then the marvelous 577-hp GT 63 that I drove, with an updated base price of $179,000. It also had a rather remarkable $210,300 total price with an extensive options list including the $9,000 ceramic composite brakes, $2,800 21-inch wheels, a $4,500 Burmester 3D Surround Sound stereo system and full AMG aerodynamics – a fixed rear wing and a front lip splitter.

Those last bits, plus of course the shape and color, help commit the GT 63 to otherworldly status, perhaps a bit short on practicality, but absolutely relentless during summertime drives. That twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 is noisy and constrained on a hulking SUV, but here the power goes to full use, with 3.1-second 0-60 times and very high top speeds.

The newer-generation GT has added high-performance 4Matic all-wheel-drive and that helps give the car stability, cornering power and general stickiness that are all remarkable, all of the time. 

Then, if you’re not simply satisfied with the car’s basic, outrageous demeanor, the GT can be dialed up with the widest array of sport driving modes I’ve ever seen, or a self-customized mix.

The primary changes are a shift from a blurty but muted exhaust note to full-blown race exhaust, with shrieks and backfiring pops that are blessedly unholy. Somewhere in third gear manual mode on the nine-speed automatic, at about 5,700 rpm, the noises become truly symphonic.

It’s also the first car I’ve had a chance to use ceramic brakes to their fullest, and by gosh, the expensive, fade-resistant system does great work of scrubbing exceptional speeds.

Impressive as it is, the GT 63 is of course eclipsed by a few more terrifying variations, the most powerful being the new hybrid GT 63 S E Performance Coupe, priced at $196,000. In it, the 4.0-liter V8 is further enhanced with a 150 kilowatt-hour electric motor, bringing peak power up to 805-hp. That’s moving into the realm of both race-track-only models and the fully-electric GTs in development, one of which recently set the world record for high-speed EV endurance – traveling a full 25,000 miles on track in under eight days, much of it at 186 mph.

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays in the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has worked as an editor and writer in Colorado since 1998, focusing on automotive coverage since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at summitmountainwheels@gmail.com.