German Car Forum

I saw this on AutoSpies:

Autobild recently tested it and awarded it a grade of B+ for handling. It finished 4th place in a 14 car handling test. Here are the results:

1) Lamborghini Gallardo
2) Porsche 911 4S
3) Audi R8
4) Mercedes SL65 AMG BS
5) KTM X-Bow
6) Lotus Elise SC
7) BMW 135i
8) Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X
9) BMW M3
10) MINI Cooper JCW
11) VW Scirocco 2.0 TFSI
12) Lexus IS-F
13) BMW X6 50i
14) Brabus Smart


Saw this on the SL65 BS thread over there. Does anyone have a link or scans of this?


M

I saw someting on their webpage, a little article (with no testresult) about this test but the tested car was a SL63, not SL65 BS

Once again AutoSpies lets me down with misinformation!

M

I cant find part 2 on their webpage but im sure it was a SL63.

I did see this, nice.

M

and here is part 2 and you can see its not Black Series. Autospies have no clue

Yep, SL63 AMG it is. Thanks. Great looking bunch of cars to.

Dare I ask if Autospies even got the results right in my first post?


M

I read the article in an Autobild magazine at a local cafe. They tested the SL63 AMG, not the SL65 AMG Black Series. The order of their finishing is, however, correct.

By coincidence, I ate a cake at the cafe this morning and photographed the page of the SL63 AMG. Basically Autobild is blown away by the car. They commented on how the car is still heavy but handles very confidently on the track, is easy to control and of course has massive power. The transmission was also praised.

Also praised was the handling of the SL63 AMG in wet weather. Autobild said the SL has great traction on a wet track and is still easy to control. Electronic nannies like ESP can be fully deactivated so the driver can enjoy drifts in peace and harmony.

On the downside, the massive weight of the SL63 AMG is only annoying in a few instances. And of course, the massive price tag is shocking.

That is impressive for the SL to place that high in that list of cars.

M

Indeed.

I was really LMAO at the Brabus Smart review. The thing was so bad it wasn't even funny anymore. Terrible traction or handling on the track. It's only fast in a straight-line. Nevertheless, Autobild awarded it high marks for fun factor in the article (not the final grade which was an "F"), which I found hilarious.

I guess driving a Brabus Smart on the track must be sort of fun, even though the handling sucks.

Intresting that 135i finished better the M3 E90.

EDIT: Apparantly they were complaining on the M3 , the M3 got many negative opinions hmm, thats weird, would like to know why though.

Both the 135i and M3 were rated as very good. What brought them down in the overall rankings was their handling in wet environments and a few subjective issues like engine sound quality (HUH!? ). What shocked me was that the M3 received a C+ for "driving pleasure". These are stupid subjective issues that simply cannot be measured in my opinion. Heck, my ex-1996 Mitsubishi Pajero with 99-hp that took 30+ seconds to reach 100 km/h was up to this day the most fun car I've ever driven. It's so subjective if you ask me.

Here, the final scores and rankings.





Motoreigenschaften = engine characteristics
Getriebe / Schaltung = transmission / shifts
Lenkung = steering
Handling trocken = handling (dry)
Handling nass = handling (wet)
Fahrspaß = fun-to-drive / driving pleasure factor
Bremsen = brakes
Beschleunigung = acceleration
Sound = no idea what this means
NOTE = final grade

Since it seems like a high mark is bad in this test the M3 is the least fun-to-drive car of the bunch (not coutning the truck and the backpack) while it scores really good in Brakes. That is seldom seen but then again, they seem to like the 4WD cars a lot.

I'm very impressed by the results of the SL63!!! did really well in wet and against the best of 4WD cars on the planet

Yep, great result for the SL63. Hard to believe a Lotus Elise finishes that far down in a test for handling. Seems almost more like a general all-around performance test, not just handling. And what's up with the scoring system? How does it work (ie, "2" vs "2-" vs "2+", correlation between "final grade" and overall placement)?