If you’re expecting to be greeted by a mirror image of the
two-door GT’s cabin when climbing into the four-door, you’re in for a surprise. The four-door is far more reminiscent of an
E-Class or
CLS, with two massive digital screens to take care of all your information and entertainment functionality, which are controlled with either a trackpad on the centre console or thumb controls on the steering wheel. The controls take some getting used to, although the menus seem sensibly laid out and the graphics and response times are pretty sharp.
The centre console houses a bunch of buttons for controlling various aspects of the car’s dynamic performance – exhaust note, spoiler position, adaptive suspension and the various driving modes that make adjustments to all of the above; oddly, there are also different controls on the steering wheel that do pretty much exactly the same. The small rear window means your rear view isn’t the clearest, but the seats are really comfortable and come with bags of electric adjustment. And importantly in a car this expensive, the plush materials and impressive fit and finish make the cabin of this car feel very luxurious.
The GT is a car that’s supposed to provide supercar performance in a package that’ll take four people and their luggage, and it fulfils that brief well. The rear seats (of which there are only two as standard, but you can add a third as a cost option) have enough headroom and legroom for tall adults to get comfy. The boot is pretty big at 461 litres, too, so suitcases and golf bags aren’t out of the question, but the space is a rather off shape and you’ll have to lift items over a very large lip to get them in.
As with the interior, the four-door GT shares far more mechanically with the
E-Class than it does with the two-door GT. It’s built on the E-Class’ platform rather than the GT’s, albeit braced and stiffened to within an inch of its life. It’s no great surprise, then, that the car behaves much more like the E-Class than it does it’s namesake. It’s a big, heavy car, weighing in at just over two tonnes, and although it does a good job of disguising its weight, it can’t shake it off completely, and you can feel all that mass shifting around as you change direction.
That said, it’s very nimble and responsive for a car of its size, helped in no small part by the four-wheel steering system that comes as standard on all versions. The tight body control and mammoth grip also help make this car even more capable, and even though the car is rear-wheel drive most of the time, power can be diverted to the fronts when wheel slippage is detected to give you stronger four-wheel-drive traction. But while it’s good on twists and turns, the GT really excels on the motorway. The adaptive suspension that gives great control in the sportier modes can also deliver impressive comfort in the less hardcore modes, and that helps the car feel imperiously smooth, stable and civilised at a steady cruise.