Traveling from San Francisco to Big Sur, one can find a heady mix of some of the best twisty roads, scenery and country club profiling opportunities the world has to offer. The Mercedes AMG GT C makes the journey effortless; it is a weapons-grade sports car in the twisty sections, a comfortable cruiser in town and is wrapped in a sexy body that holds its own when parked next to super cars at the poshest resort. With this in mind we picked up our Mercedes GT C in San Francisco and quickly made for the coast.
Heading south
Heading south from San Francisco the roads through the Santa Cruz Mountains are sinuous ribbons of tarmac that hug the fault line-shaped creek valleys. Ridge top views of Bay Area cities quickly give way to Redwood groves and small country settlements. Situated at the well-worn crossroads of La Honda R0ad (Hwy 84) and Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35) sits Alice’s Restaurant, famous not from the Arlo Guthrie song, but rather the throngs of sports car and motorcycle enthusiasts that stop here. On a busy weekend the parking lot resembles a very well-attended Cars and Coffee and the nearby roads echo with downshifts and squealing tires. We hit the area in mid-week and had the parking lot and roads nearly to ourselves. From Alice’s, one can strike west for the shortest route to the coastal views and sedate driving that is Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz or head deeper into the mountains where mile after mile of convoluted tarmac await.
Savoring the GT C
We chose the latter in order to get a feel for the GT C’s rear-wheel-steering system designed to kick in when the turns are tight. At first the sensation is akin to the rear end stepping out, but that feeling is quickly replaced with a tightening turning radius and slot car-like changes of direction. The deeply bolstered seats help you deal with the prodigious g forces while the sport exhaust setting lets you enjoy the burbles, cracks and pops generated from the 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 when you downshift the dual-clutch, rev-matching, seven-speed transaxle. Turn the drive mode to one of the sportier selections and the active motor and transmission mounts stiffen up. When you're rocketing through wooded vales, those mounts help launch the GT C at warp speed towards the next tree-lined apex. All of that forward progress will eventually bring you to the surfing hangout that is the town of Santa Cruz. Continuing south, Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Monterey is a mix of multi-lane super slab designed to accommodate commuters and two-lane farm road through the dark, loamy fields of the Salinas Valley. Here we turned the active suspension to the comfort setting for a well-cushioned ride, enjoying the grand touring capabilities of the aptly named GT C.
The finer things
The smooth ride and sexy good looks serve the GT C well as you arrive in the Monterey area. The GT C glides through the gate at Pebble Beach’s 17-Mile Drive with nothing more than a smile and a wave from the guards collecting a fee from other tourists. Surely the driver of an automobile as fine as the Mercedes GT C has a mansion overlooking the ocean or is a member of the exclusive country clubs that lie ahead.
The sleek GT C looks right at home parked in front of the famed Pebble Beach Lodge, overlooking the storied greens that host both the world-renowned Concours d’Elegance and the Pro-Am golf tournament. Continuing south on 17 Mile Drive brings one to downtown Carmel, California. Known for its many miles of silky soft beach, posh shops, and fine dining, Carmel is no stranger to the finer things. The AMG cuts a wide swath in the narrow streets. We stop here just long enough to stroll the main esplanade, Ocean Avenue, before heading south to the increasingly beautiful coastline of Big Sur on the increasingly narrow Highway 1.
Heaven’s highway
Instead of expecting world class driving in Big Sur, it's better to enjoy the world class scenery instead. Highway 1 is the only paved conveyance on the coast for the 120-mile stretch from Monterey to Morro Bay. All tourist traffic, construction vehicles, and trucking must use this extremely scenic cliff-hugging narrow road. Passing opportunities are few and cars entering and exiting the cliffside roadway at scenic overlooks are frequent. It's best to slow down, settle in and enjoy the view. The rewards of trying to drive in a sporting fashion are low and the consequences for getting it wrong and leaving the roadway are high. We took advantage of the overlooks to reward ourselves with views of the changing sunset colors and constant ocean waves.
As we reach the town of Big Sur, a stretch of Highway 1 is ushered inland from the spectacular coast by the Big Sur River to the loosely organized hamlet. High end resorts, rustic campgrounds, and expensive clifftop restaurants with million-dollar views dot the area. Our destination is a combination of all these. The Big Sur River Inn offers campsites, hotel rooms, and fine dining with limited seating available directly in the murmuring Big Sur River. A full menu of great food, local beers on tap, cocktails, and local wine are to be had in the log cabin style dining room for indoors types, and there's a deck for the open-air types. As we alluded, there are Adirondack chairs set in the cool, shallow river for the aquatic-minded.
We can’t resist taking our food and beverages out to sit in one of those chairs, sitting ankle-deep in the slowly flowing waters as we reflect back on the wide range of roads we travelled, the many types of driving we encountered, and the variety of extravagant places we visited. Most of all, we remain impressed by the seemingly effortless way in which the Mercedes AMG GT C carried itself and us on our journey to one of the most beautiful places in the United States. Now we just have to find a graceful way to not track riverbed onto the GT C’s floor mats before we turn north toward home.
