Precious manual work: Mercedes only produces 275 copies of the AMG One. The price is around three million euros.
Only 275 examples will be built
We’ll tell you right away: the circus ring is on fire – and it’s ablaze. We’ll also tell you right away: tickets are sold out, gassed people have paid a good three million euros for the furious ride, AMG only wants to assemble 275 cars from the One by hand. It’s going to be a fun jigsaw puzzle anyway. Because the One doesn’t just take over an engine from an old racing car. Formula 1 technology for the 2023 model year is nothing from the engineer’s pole, in terms of construction it is the absolute supreme discipline.
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On the front axle, two electric motors with a total of 326 hp turn the output shafts with up to 50,000 revolutions, in addition to the 1.6 V6 petrol engine, a 163 hp electric unit pushes on the crankshaft.
The AMG One is a technological firework
The shell is made entirely of carbon fiber plastic, the chassis uses spring struts that are acted upon by pushing and pulling pushrod kinematics, ceramic balls rotate in the wheel bearings, and instead of rigid spoilers, active louvers, flaps and wings lever the car onto the ground with extra contact pressure.
Forbidden fast: In the “Strat 2” driving mode, the Mercedes-AMG One loses its street legal status – and becomes a racing car.
So that this insane performance can also pour out on country and federal roads, AMG has prescribed four catalytic converters and two particle filters for the exhaust gases of the One. The exhaust system is electrically preheated by the high-voltage system immediately after starting. In short: quite complex!
The AMG One can also be gentle, even purely electrically
And how does the thing drive? Not complex at all. Pull the shift paddle (perfectly made with a metallic feel with clicking final detent positions, by the way) to D, gas and off you go. Whereby: going is relative. It depends on the mode. The One can be gentle, even purely electric, even tolerates “everyday” gliding. Then he also shows a desire to bounce, helps with steering with servo skill and deceives something like kinship with perfectly normal cars with delicate understeer.
In “Strat 2” mode, it loses its street legal status
But he can also be very different. In race mode, it gets really fast, the Über-Benz runs at the typical speed of a super sports car around the circuit, pulling through with crazy vehemence. Almost standardised, true to the line and arrogantly braking late, he eats away all 911s on earth and probably all genuine racing cars below Formula 1 in a grunt as he passes by.
Plenty of steam: the Über-Benz has a system output of 1063 hp, the combustion engine alone contributes 574 hp at 9000 rpm.
And then there is the “Strat 2” mode. It’s forbidden fast. Literally. With lightning-fast hydraulic lowering of its body by almost four centimetres, with the positioning of its air flap in the rear wing and with the steep positioning of its eight flaps in the front fenders, the One loses its street legal status.
From 1.6 liters, the V6 gets 574 hp, a maximum of 352 km / h in it
The supposedly cute V6 machine makes about 11,000 tours, the maximum output of 574 hp is at 9000 revolutions per minute. Again at this point: This is a turbo! A brutal value for supercharged engines. The aggregate is even slightly inhibited on the road so that it can tolerate Super Plus and not on NOxvalues fails.
The acceleration is surreal despite clearly noticeable shift pauses of the automated manual transmission, the draft causes breathing difficulties, the One does not know any loss of traction, the car only suspects a thrust limit at 352 km/h. Why such a crooked number? At this speed, the machines at the front have reached their limit, and AMG prefers to use self-protection.
The One sounds in all the tones that a car acoustic has to offer. Beeping from the E department, a light background noise from the spur gear sets, throbbing from the high-revving machine, sawing from the exhaust. Everything at the same time, everything rumbles, everything roars, everything hisses – the eardrums can hardly make it.
The One is indeed Formula 1 for the road
Stare: editor at the limit, car not yet. A drive in the Mercedes-AMG One leaves a lasting impression.
After a lap, the neck muscles kick in, otherwise only touring car champions master these centrifugal forces. In fact: Formula 1 for the road – applause for a crazy performance by AMG.
