Mercedes Benz SLS AMG: First Drives Thread...

[Sunny]

Isn't it ironical that Jay Leno, an accomplished comedian has a car show that gives a honest review and Clarkson, an auto journalist has a car show that goes out of it's way to be funny some times even at the expense of the truth.

[Mr. Mercedes]

Originally Posted by Sunny

Isn't it ironical that Jay Leno, an accomplished comedian has a car show that gives a honest review and Clarkson, an auto journalist has a car show that goes out of it's way to be funny some times even at the expense of the truth.

Great observations Sunny! JC is a tool. 3/4 of is 'journalistic reporting' is for the sake of entertainment and controversy.

[The Artist]

i guess they really did well with this car..


It seems to be great

[Mr. Mercedes]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mercedes

Great observations Sunny! JC is a tool. 3/4 of is 'journalistic reporting' is for the sake of entertainment and controversy.

Whats with the hyperlink in my post.

[Tarek]

Good review and gorgeous car.

Loved what he said about the SLR compared to CGT..and it's coming from an unbiased owner of both.

[Merc1]

Ferrari’s 458 will go headlong into battle with Mercedes’ stunning new SLS AMG

Rating:


Walking along the pavement, getting ever closer to the waiting SLS that I can now see parked under the soft glow of a San Francisco street lamp, I’m suddenly aware that I’m almost as excited by the prospect of opening one of its doors as I am by the potential of a 563bhp V8 slung low in an all-new aluminium chassis. That might seem a bit wrong, but I’ve always thought that doors are more important than we give them credit for. I’m the one that will always choose to grapple with the revolving door into airports or hotels, even if there’s a normal door standing open next to it. They set the scene. They’re the architectural or automotive equivalent of a handshake.

Press the raised, Braille-like image of an open padlock on the key, the hazards flash once in the darkness, and on the door, down by the sill, a small horizontal bar appears, protruding by about an inch. Lean down, hook your fingers under the handle and the door swings smoothly skywards. Just like a DeLorean (or an original SL). The opening isn’t huge but because there’s nothing obstructing the aperture you can use all of it. Unlike the original 300SL there isn’t a hugely wide sill to clamber over, but the seat still looks a long way down. After several experiments I decide that the least clumsy way to get in is to fall bum-first into the seat and then swing my legs in. All that’s left to do then is reach up (and you really do have to reach up) to pull the door down with a thunk.

Headroom inside is limited, and through the relatively short and upright windscreen the bonnet looks vast. It looks Corvette-vast actually, stretching for miles side to side and then disappearing over a crest to an unseen nose somewhere out in the night. The only breaks in the view over the bonnet are the lovely slashed vents that could have been lifted straight from an original Gullwing. There’s a slightly retro feel to the interior too, with all the buttons and dials grouped together, leaving the simple dashboard stretching out, uncluttered apart from four circular vents with crosshair centres. The main instruments, specially commissioned for the SLS, are lovely too. It’s just a slight shame that most of the switchgear feels so interchangeable with the full alphabet of Classes in the rest of Mercedes’ range.

The switchgear is all that’s interchangeable though. The SLS is no rebodied SL63. Where previously AMG has been slightly hobbled by the constraints of working with an existing model, this time it has been able to design the car from the treadblocks up. One example: the 6.2-litre V8 has never felt exactly asthmatic to us, but in reality it has always been short of space in other Mercs. Now, with a bespoke engine bay, it has been given room to breathe. Many members of AMG’s powertrain team have backgrounds in F1 and the changes to the engine are a direct result of their knowledge. They’re particularly proud of the sophisticated valvetrain and the flow-optimised exhaust headers that have larger and longer tube lengths (hence the need for extra space). The end result is an increase of 45bhp and 15lb ft over the standard M156 engine and an exhaust note to be proud of.

Press the starter button on the transmission tunnel and the bass-heavy growl which erupts sounds particularly loud in this relatively quiet street of San Francisco. Nudge the stubby gear selector back for ‘D’, leave the seven-speed gearbox in ‘C’ (Controlled Efficiency) while the fluids warm and then ease out into the night. Because it’s front-mid- not mid-mid-engined, the SLS won’t turn quite as many heads as something like a Ferrari 458, but the more conventional layout does mean that it has a wonderfully useable feel to it. There’s less intimidation, despite the long bonnet, and even at low speeds there’s instantly a sense that you know where all the car’s extremities are.

The SLS’s wheels slap as we cross the tracks for one of San Francisco’s cable car routes and I can feel the broken tarmac as we crawl down the next street. It’s not uncomfortable but the stiff chassis has no qualms about communicating the quality of the road surface. With its retro vibe and SL proportions, it’s easy to think of the SLS as a boulevard cruiser, but as soon as you start to drive it you remember that cruising isn’t what AMG is about.

Steve McQueen might have had a riot in San Francisco, but I’m starting to feel a little hemmed-in here. Perhaps it’s the vibe you get from having Alcatraz so close by. Highway 1 is our escape route to relative freedom but as we’re here it seems only right to start the run south from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Light seems to diffuse across the surface of the SLS’s matt finish paintwork as we rumble above the Pacific. It’s the first time I’ve really stretched the car’s legs and the effect is mighty. Nail the throttle and there is all the blood and thunder of a big-capacity or forced-induction engine yet with none of the laziness. Throttle response is instant and although the engine doesn’t quite reach the manic heights of some V8s, it nevertheless seems to demolish revs frighteningly quickly between 4000rpm and its 7200rpm red line.

We’re heading south tonight. We could stick to the iconic Highway 1 and follow the coast but it’s dark and a view isn’t really top of my priorities. Instead we head inland and up into the hills. You might have the impression that America’s roads are almost entirely of the kind that make the country look like a big, strangely outlined waffle from the air. And mostly this is exactly the correct impression to have. However, California is slightly different; it has some really great driving roads. In fact, as they relentlessly twist and turn up through the trees, the surface usually good yet occasionally very bad, the roads remind me of Spain. There’s no let-up in the corners for several miles at a time and they’re not the widest either – perfect territory for a long-nosed Mercedes with 479lb ft to start tying itself in complicated knots.

Yet the SLS not only deals with them but inspires huge confidence almost instantly. Out here you can sense the distinctive AMG DNA that we’ve felt before in the Black Series models. There’s an incredible stiffness to the chassis and allied to almost no roll this means that inputs to steering, brakes and throttle elicit fantastically quick responses. Jink the nose into a corner and you feel utterly connected to the wheels out in front. Pick up the throttle mid-corner and you can instantly feel the rear wheels behind your bum react as you start to steer with your foot. It is utterly direct in all its actions.

That supremely rigid chassis is all aluminium, the suspension is double wishbones all round and everything possible has been done to get the drivetrain as low as possible. It certainly feels like it too. It’s unusual these days to find carbonfibre making only one appearance, at least in the standard car – just the prop shaft linking the engine and gearbox – but with a kerb weight of 1620kg it doesn’t seem to have done the SLS too much harm…

On into the night we plunge, xenons flooding the way with their bright white beams. I try the dual-clutch transmission in its Sport Plus mode but, although it’s good, I can’t resist the urge to keep popping in changes with the cold metal paddles which seems to confuse both it and me, so I switch to ‘M’ for Manual and give my index fingers a proper workout. The shifts themselves are quick enough, though sometimes there’s a pause between the request at the paddle and the action in the ’box.

As the corners link together, the steering comes under scrutiny. It’s light yet direct around the straight-ahead, then, as you add lock, weight seems to flow into the steering wheel’s rim. You don’t get a lot of textural feedback about what the Continentals are moving over, but the directness of the connection between wheel and wheels means you still know precisely when grip begins to haemorrhage. Though it sounds a little odd, but the dynamics are almost like those of a very big Caterham: engine in the front, driver sitting over the back wheels, enough power to happily steer with the throttle almost as much as the steering, and a stiffness that makes the whole car wonderfully reactive and easy to place on the road.

Dawn is not far off by the time we turn into the twisting entrance road to Laguna Seca. It’s a track I’ve always been fascinated by but, until now, never had the chance to visit. It was built in 1957 as a replacement for the road circuit at Pebble Beach when that became too dangerous. It seems strange to think of gritty road-racing ever taking place amongst these genteel, chino-and-blazer surroundings; these days you’re more likely to find an original 1950s Gullwing being polished for a concours d’elegance. It also seems odd that Laguna Seca was once regarded as a sanitised place for racing, given that it’s so narrow in places and has one of the most daunting corners in motorsport…

The first time I turn left and drop over the edge of the Corkscrew I have to tell myself to turn right whilst the car is seemingly in freefall and hope that its nose finds some sort of apex underneath it when it comes in to land. The corner after requires a lot of commitment too, as you’re still in shock from the Corkscrew and still going downhill and gaining speed rapidly when you find you have to simultaneously brake, turn left and cope with a heavy camber. It’s brilliant. The fact that the SLS soaks up this circuit abuse with ease and still feels genuinely scarily quick on a track (especially in the downhill braking zone at the end of the gently arcing main straight) is of huge credit to AMG. Comparing this car to the vastly more expensive SLR seems laughable, so I won’t.

I do worry that the rigidity and unashamedly aggressive ride might not always translate quite so brilliantly to our very particular roads when we get to drive the SLS in the UK, and I would like the gearbox to be a touch more responsive, but overall the new Gullwing is fantastic. I love that it throws a transaxle layout in amongst the mid-engined supercar norm, I love its useability, I love its engine, I love the directness of its chassis, and I particularly love those doors.

The other SLSs
Unlike some X Factor winners, the SLS won’t be a one-hit wonder. An electric version is definitely happening in 2013. It will have a motor for each wheel (but not in each wheel hub like some) and will thus be four-wheel drive. Power is claimed to be a stonking 525bhp and the 0-60mph should be very close to that of the petrol-powered version.

Also on the drawing board is a soft-top (presumably without gullwing doors) and it’s rumoured that after that there will be a Black Series variant too. However, if you can’t wait for the Black you can already spec several upgrades to the standard SLS: carbon-ceramic brakes (40 per cent lighter, obvious track benefits), a sports suspension pack (10 per cent stiffer springs, 30 per cent stiffer dampers), forged alloy wheels (14 per cent lighter) and sports seats.

The first thing that will happen to the SLS, though, is that it will gain a set of orange lights on its roof and be put into service as the safety car for Hamilton, Massa and the other F1 boys for 2010. Bernd Mayländer is a lucky chap.


Mercedes SLS AMG | Car review | evo


M

[The Artist]

almost full marks from EVO??
That seals the deal..
Must be great

[SCOTT27]

I seen one tonight and again it strikes me how compact it is in real life , I also like the simplicity of the styling with no over sculpture on the surface.
It is my favourite Mercedes model.
Regarding that "extreme looping" film well it was Visual effects, no one has even attempted to do that but in the Middle East market the advert will come with a warning that is not possible incase someone attempts to do the impossible.

[shonguiz]

So peoples what's the final verdict on this car ? Is it another half arsed compromise a la SLR or a proper driving pleasure factory ?

[Pagani]

From what has been said in the press so far, that answer is a resounding 'YES" in favor of the latter.

[bum-man]

Originally Posted by shonguiz

So peoples what's the final verdict on this car ? Is it another half arsed compromise a la SLR or a proper driving pleasure factory ?

Seriously? There's a freakin' Evo test three posts above your's...

[shonguiz]

Since when is a single source enough ?

[bum-man]

Then what do you think the rest of this thread is filled with??? Look at the title of the thread...

[shonguiz]

Sorry i didn't read the title.

[Merc1]

Ice Dancing in the Arctic With the 563-hp Gullwing


You don't really understand the cold until you've been to the Arctic. In the winter months here in northern Sweden, the sun barely raises its head and the temperature struggles to better zero degrees Fahrenheit. It's a brutal environment and an incongruous place to meet the 2011 Mercedes SLS AMG.

It's incongruous but not unusual, because when the cold weather really bites, the city of Kiruna becomes a playground for Europe's automotive development engineers. The local hotels are littered with men in garish jackets that bear names like Bosch, Continental and Mercedes. And it's impossible to drive for more than an hour without spotting a top-secret prototype bedecked in camouflage clothing. If you're a spy photographer and not afraid of the cold, this tiny town on the fringe of the Arctic Circle is Shangri-La.

Driving a 563-horsepower supercar like the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG in the ice and snow should be easy, don't you think? No one else up here under the Northern Lights seems to be having any problems. It won't be like driving that Ferrari F430 Spider across Italy like I did a few years ago, or even like whipping that Ferrari 612 Scaglietti across India (with a roll of toilet paper in hand almost all the way), but it should be doable, right?

What have I let myself in for?

South to Alaska

Our 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS rolls out of the truck dressed in bright red. The Mercedes engineers brought it to Kiruna for a final cold-weather systems check before production begins in March and now they're done. I've been tasked with driving the car 250 miles south across the Arctic Circle to the town of Arvidsjaur, which, in terms of latitude, is on a par with northern Alaska.

When I first saw the SLS on its stand at the auto show, I wasn't sure about it. The macho nose looked slightly at odds with the curvaceous rump, which itself seemed an awkward pastiche of the iconic Mercedes-Benz SL300 of the 1950s. But here in the wild, smeared in ice and snow, the Gullwing looks much more effective. The SLS might not have the flamboyance of the cartoonlike Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren — a car I've driven many times — but it still has plenty of impact and those gullwing doors are pure theatre.

We're running on standard winter tires, similar to those used throughout Europe at this time of year. Studded tires would be more sensible for the conditions, but they'd provide less of a challenge for the stability control system and less of a test of my manhood. Today, concentration and finesse top the agenda.

We crawl out of Kiruna, a city of around 18,000 people. Sweden's most northerly city built its fortune on the production of iron ore, but more recently it's diversified into ecotourism and even space exploration — Kiruna has signed a deal with Virgin Galactic to house Spaceport Sweden. It would be easy to imagine the astronauts becoming confused, as so desolate is the countryside that you could be forgiven for thinking you'd already reached the moon.

Point South, Hope for Warmth

Not surprisingly, most locals here travel by Volvo and they're not afraid to push on. If your roads are smothered in ice for seven months of the year, you learn to adapt, so it's little wonder that so many of the great rally drivers hail from this part of the world.

In the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, I'm being cautious. The 6.2-liter V8 musters 563 hp and the slightest tickle of the throttle seems to make the stability control light dance to a disco beat. I pop the seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission into Manual mode and use the shift paddles on the steering wheel to change up early, something the electronics seem surprisingly reluctant to do.

Mercedes is billing this car as a proper GT, a car that owners could use every day, even though few will. This is the first time AMG has been permitted to develop a complete car, but it hasn't been given too much license to get overly frisky with the design. For example, the ultra-conservative cabin could only have hailed from Stuttgart.

Maybe it's too sensible. The infotainment system is pinched from a C-Class and looks out of place here. When you're spending around $235,000 on a car, you don't really expect blank plastic switches. Apart from an awesome Bang & Olufsen stereo system, little inside feels genuinely special. The cockpit of a Ferrari 599 GTB or even the much cheaper Audi R8 4.2 FSI has a greater sense of occasion (as we British automotive journalists like to say).

The Coolest Hotel in Sweden

A few kilometers south of Kiruna we stumble across the area's most famous tourist attraction. The Ice Hotel at Jukkasjärvi is an extravagant igloo rebuilt every winter using 45,000 tons of snow and ice. Now in its 20th year it attracts arty types, ambitious tourists and corporate executives (although Inside Line's Jason Kavanagh was also allowed to stay here when he tested the 2008 Saab Turbo X). We park the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS outside and let the Japanese tourists snap away before they're shooed away by an angry marketing man. Even in the Arctic, you can't escape the brand police.

Back on the road, I'm feeling more confident. The stability system offers a Sport setting that allows a few degrees of oversteer before the electronic killjoys intervene. On a dry racetrack it's not always easy to feel the benefits of such a system, but here on the ice you really notice the difference. It's the automotive equivalent of a rock climber's harness — you're allowed to play but you alleviate the risk of a painful excursion.

The benefits of the electronics are self-evident the moment you turn them off. It is now comically easy to slide the SLS at almost no speed. Apply a couple of degrees of lock, prod the accelerator and prepare to countersteer. It's spectacular fun and it offers a fascinating insight into the car's character. The engine is mounted so far back in the chassis that 53 percent of the weight is over the rear wheels. On the ice you can really feel the moment of inertia as the car gets crossed up. At heart, the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS is really an old-fashioned bruiser.

Driving in the Dark

We've spent so long practicing our drifting techniques that we're still north of the Arctic Circle when the sun starts to set. This is an extraordinary moment. From the driver seat it looks as if God has set fire to the heavens. We pull over and spend a half hour watching the horizon burn, then fade to black. Living this far north must be incredibly hard, but it's not without its benefits.

It's dark now and we spear on across the wilderness at 80 mph with the stability control in Sport. In some ways it's frustrating — not once today have I used more than a quarter of the throttle — but it also shows the all-weather, all-surface ability of the modern supercar. It's minus-4 degrees F outside, but the car starts on the prod of a button, maintains a steady 72 degrees F inside and the transmission slips from cog to cog with effortless ease. Don't let anyone tell you that extreme weather testing is an unnecessary indulgence.

Reaching the Tropic Latitudes

You expect something more from the Arctic Circle. Maybe a blinding flash of light or a small troupe of dancing girls. Instead our arrival at the latitude of 66° 33' 39" north of the equator is met by a cheap sign and an octet of huskies from...Germany. There's not even a gift shop.

We push on into the night in search of Arvidsjaur, past tiny communities that do who-knows-what for entertainment. We're in 7th gear and the big V8 is barely ticking over, its deep bass woofle subdued but ever-present. The SLS might lack the allure of the McLaren name, but it's a massively better car than the SLR and costs half the money besides. It's much more consistent and it genuinely feels like it was developed by one harmonious team instead of two different companies with competing philosophies.

But the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is expensive, and its competition lies with cars like the Aston Martin DBS, Ferrari 599 GTB and Lamborghini Gallardo, all of which promise greater exclusivity if not greater competence and quality. There are times, particularly in the design of the cabin, when the SLS seems like a mainstream Mercedes-Benz dressed up for the prom.

Even so, you can't deny the depth of the Gullwing's ability. Even after nearly 300 miles and with the temperature plummeting still further as a cold front approaches, I still want to drive on.


2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG on Ice


Stunning Mercedes.......



M