German Car Forum

Hope this isn't a repost. In the November issue of Evo, there is a comparison test of the SLK55 AMG Black Series and the 997 GT3.

It isn't posted on the Evo website yet, so I'll just type in the details for now.

Bottom line: The SLK55 BS lost pretty badly, both from an objective and subjective driving point of view. Keep in mind that the SLK55 BS was tested with P Zero Nero street tires made for wet weather, compared to Michelin Pilot Cup tires on the GT3.

SLK55BS/GT3
HP: 394/409
torque (lb-ft): 383/298
weight (kg): 1495/1395

0-60mph (s): 4.9/4.3
0100mph (s): 11.2/9.4
0-150mph (s): 28.9/22.5

1/4mile(s/@mph): 13.4@110/12.5@116.4

100-0mph (s): 4.5/4.2

laptimes: 128.6/123.1

Evo rating: 3.5 stars/5 stars

With better tires, they think the SLK55 Black should have gone much faster, but they still were not happy with a number of things, namely the 7 speed automatic gearbox, and the brakes which caused some instability at times on the track. The GT3 is simply better in everyway.


PS. Evo recently revamped their rating system for their car reviews, and made changes to all their previous ratings, if appropriate.
1 star: Thrill-free zone
2 stars: Tepid
3 stars: Interesting
4 stars: Seriously good
5 stars: A truly great car

Nothing to be ashamed of really, porsche is always porsche. Hard to beat.

No it's not that,if the SLK 55 had better tyres and much more weight saving(smaller than the GT3 but 100 kg heavier ) the result could be easily altered

the tires wouldnt do much for the Benz, GT3 is one league above. Sportauto used R-tires for SLK55 and still the GT3 beat the car on N-ring and Hockenheim.

Not just the tyres the weight diff is huge,100kg is just too much and the SLK55 is smaller than the GT3,MB is gonna do some serious weight reduction for all the upcoming BS cars so i'd expect much better results plus the ESP settings on all MB cars is really intervening excpet for the C63 so that also might slow it seriously around a track coz SLK's ESP is not fully off like the C63.

Andreas is right. There is a huge difference between the performance of these two very different cars. I don't think there is a real chance of SLK beating a GT3. But you can always keep saying things like "if the SLK weighted a quarter ton less" etc.

What r u talking about? the GT3 is superior for reasons and those reasons are stated and well known for eveyone,GT3 is not superior by magic

its not Porsches fault that others aren't superior like Porsche .

Well, I just feel it's somewhat pointless to keep on arguing that SLK could beat GT3 if it only was lighter, had more power... etc. etc. After all, the GT3 is car in the 911 range that Porsche has refined to perfection and it knows how to build cars like this. SLK was never meant to be a similar pure sportscar from the beginning. It's a small hard-top roadster for cruising and that's why it's inferior to the 911 on the basis alone. I would almost say that there is some magic that Porsche puts to the GT3.

I agree with bmer- the 911 started out as a sports car and was refined into an even better sports car with the GT3 variant. The SLK started as more of a cruiser and has had some sportiness added. Even with less weight and more power, the GT3 would win. Look at comparos of the GT3 vs. turbo and other more powerful cars- the other cars may turn faster lap times, but the GT3 usually comes out on top becasue it is the better driving machine. It is simply more satisfying to drive, even if it is not the fastest. You have to spend some time in one on a track to appreciate this subjective quality.

BTW where I come from we use PS Cups as rain tires. Hoosier R6, Bridgestone R1, and Pirelli P Zero Corsa are some dry tires.

Couple of points, one, I think even if SLK BS weighed 100kg or even 200 Kg lighter, IMO, it would still be slower than GT3. See how GT3 is even faster than a super light Caterham R400 in some recent test.

Second, to say a car A would be better than B if it weighed lighter is just childish.What is next? if it had 700 more HP, it would be better than Veyron??


You have some big balls. I have cups on my car and while they are ok to tip-toe back home when wet, I dare not push.

I guess u misunderstood me,i did mean that the SLK55 would have performed better with the mentioned reasons,the GT3 is the ultimate 911 which is very hard to beat,it takes supercars to match it's performance.

That's not the point at all,every kid outthere knows how much weight can affect the handling,a more stripped out SLK55 would definitely perform better than the current SLK55.

Yes it would perform better. But like you your self said, saying a car would perform better if only it weighed lighter is stating the obvious - doesn't really add anything to the discussion.

Which is exactly what Just_me said in his post :

But then you said, this wasn't the case and that with weight saving and better tyres the result would be different...

Anyway, I'm happy that we got this cleared.

Test now online: Mercedes SLK55 AMG Black v Porsche 997 GT3 | Car Group Tests | Car Reviews | evo