Feature: AMG Performance Tour

[svgallery name="AMG_Performance_Tour"] By John LeBlanc PAHRUMP, Nev. - Over the past four decades, Germany's AMG has grown from a couple of guys hot-rodding Mercedes-Benz in a barn, to a full-on subsidiary of the automaker that now employs over 900 employees. You can buy an AMG-tuned model of every Mercedes-Benz, save the compact B-Class, E-Class Coupe and Cabriolet, the Range Rover-challenging GL, the baby GLK and R crossover. The variety of product helps explain why Canadians buy so many AMGs. According to Mercedes-Benz spokesperson JoAnne Caza, our market regularly ranks in the top 15 globally for annual AMG sales. To keep AMG's high-performance sales momentum going, for the first time ever, Mercedes-Benz Canada extended the AMG experience beyond dealer test drives and its more intensive AMG Driving Academy with a Canadian version of the automaker's AMG Performance Tour. The Tour is a three-day experience that includes one day of driving various AMG products on a race track with expert guidance and instruction. For the event, Mercedes-Benz Canada invited media, dealer staff, and existing and potential AMG customers from Western Canada to Las Vegas, Nevada. Vancouver-based Driving Unlimited -- the same team that puts on Mercedes-Benz Canada's more intensive Driving Academy -- offered the professional driving instruction. After a night's stay on the Vegas strip, the next morning we were bussed to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, a little over an hour's drive west of Las Vegas, close to the California-Nevada border. Once there, we were greeted to a row of gleaming AMG Mercedes models. Between the least expensive $63,500 C 63 AMG compact sports sedan with 451 hp, to the new $198,000 SLS AMG Gullwing super sports and its 563 hp, Mercedes also had on hand AMG-tweaked versions of the E-Class sedan, SLK roadster, CLS four-door coupe, SL grand tourer, S-Class luxury sedan and ML SUV. The only models not present were the G-Class off-roader, and the CL-Class Coupe. One we done ogling our rides for the day, head instructor Danny Kok introduced us to his team. A brief in class discussion about proper seating position and basic cornering physics followed. Afterwards, each of were assigned a racing helmet, then led out to the row of awaiting AMGs. To be clear, the AMG Performance Tour is not an alternative to the more intensive and disciplined Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy the automaker continues to offer at various locations across Canada. As Caza explained, the Tour is more about showcasing AMG products, and making them more accessible to existing and potential customers. Unlike the Driving Academy -- which is open to anyone who can afford the fees -- the Tour is only available to Mercedes-Benz customers through its dealerships. Except for air fare, the dealers pay the way. "The Tour isn't so much a driving school. But it does allow access to these wonderful, high performance cars -- and more than just one model -- to our customers in an appropriate setting," said Caza. As such, the day at the track is a more relaxed affair than what you would experience at a high-performance driving school. Unlike the Driving Academy, you share the car, which cuts down on seat time. And to make sure everyone got a chance to drive the plethora of AMG hot-rods on hand, each of the Tour's on-track exercises -- which involved cornering, braking, a slalom and "hot" lapping -- was limited to only a couple of laps, before heading back into the pits to swap cars. The AMG Performance Tour certainly achieves its goal of allowing those interested in buying an AMG product to find out what these cars -- with admittedly high performance limits -- can do. And after a day of back-to-back driving, the different personalities of each AMG on hand became apparent. Having already experienced the latest AMG, the SLS, at speeds over 230 km/h, the car seems almost handcuffed by the relatively short track at Spring Mountain. Its 563 hp 6.2-litre V8, and exemplary chassis, begged for more room to let it stretch its legs. Not surprisingly, the least impressive AMG was the SLK 55 AMG Roadster. It employs the "old" naturally-aspirated 5.4-litre V8, and its chassis always felt one-step behind its monster motor. An all-new replacement, speculated for some time next year, can't come soon enough For those in the know, it was no surprise that the least expensive AMG you can buy was also the most impressive on the track. Despite sporting a detuned version of the same 6.2-litre hand-built V8 found in models costing more than twice as much, the C 63 AMG sedan was the easiest to drive quickly. Its steering feel (notably absent in other AMG models) is meaty and accurate, while its handling was better balanced than every model except for the SLS, especially on some of track's off-camber turns Ahh, the burden of choice. Regardless of which AMG you may be interested, talk to your local Mercedes dealer if you are interested in taking part in the next AMG Performance Tour, or the more extensive Driving Academy.

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