SL-Class 2012 Mercedes SL (R231) - First Drives Thread

[Sunny]

Does the headlight have a stupid plaque in the headlights like the 7 series?

 

[Merc1]

That says something about the lighting system? I think it does.


M

 

[Gianclaudio]

Yes, stupid branding. So vulgar.

Extremely positive review by Autocar, they seem to love the new SL:

What’s it like?

You’ll notice surprisingly sharp steering and impressively deft turn-in even if it’s a modestly attacked roundabout that is your first direction-changing experience aboard this car. That’s a sensation that any car called Sports Light ought to deliver, but one that has been disappointingly absent from most versions of most generations of this famous Mercedes, which has compensated instead with plentiful qualities in other directions.

More than that, this V6 is noticeably more agile than the heftier V8, encouraging you to drive it in the manner of – shock – a sports car. Will you miss the power shortfall compared to the V8 and its turbos? Yes, if you’ve sampled their power, which is why you’ll soon be reaching for the ‘S’ for sport button on the centre console, and stabbing the same setting for the electronic dampers while you’re at it. Sport has the transmission delaying upshifts and still more usefully, selecting lower ratios on part-throttle, quite often jumping two at a time to provide appropriately enlivened thrust.

Below 100mph that turns the 350 into a charger more than adequate for most UK-based red mist moments, even if those enjoying it on a derestricted autobahn will miss the V8’s mighty torque at three-figure speeds. Red mist moments? Yes. This is an entry-level, six cylinder SL that has shed much of its stolid demeanour, encouraging you to attack bends with commitment and the considerable speeds that it’s capable of. Hints of this new-found dynamism appear not only through the quickened steering but also via the suspension, whose momentary side-to-side roll-rock jostlings betray particularly stiff anti-roll bars that might, you find yourself thinking, provide especially accomplished cornering prowess.

And so it proves. The Benz noses into bends with zeal whatever the speed, and even if it rolls a little more than you’d expect given the above and its presumably-low centre-of-gravity, it corners with satisfyingly well-planted and neutral security. True, the steering fails to twitter sufficient topographical tweets, and if you accelerate too early mid-bend you’ll bring on momentary surges of light understeer, but you will not find yourself discouraged from the urge to drive this car hard.

And all the while you’ll enjoy the luxury of superb seats, an impressively swirl-free cockpit once the collapsible wind-stop has motored sky-wards, a finely upholstered cabin that combines an appealing cocooned sensation with plentiful space. And roof-up, this SL is as civilised as an S-Class saloon, while riding with usefully more pliancy than the sometimes coarse E-Class.

Criticisms? The styling seems overwrought and distinctly short of elegant grace to these eyes, the fine-tuning of the seat bolster support is a fiddly business and the V6, while sounding decidedly keener and more sporting than many motors of this configuration, suffers a little metallic harshness at middling to high revs. So not much in other words, the thoroughness with which Mercedes has set about engineering this first aluminium-bodied regular production SL bearing all kinds of bountiful fruit.

More herein:
http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Mercedes-Benz-SL-350-3.5-V6/262043/

Regards!

 

[Merc1]

The car is perfect for the segment. I think all Mercedes cars are going back to sheer greatness, but sadly the styling will be iffy.


M

 

[Gianclaudio]

The car is perfect for the segment. I think all Mercedes cars are going back to sheer greatness, but sadly the styling will be iffy.


M

I completely agree with you. Again and again. Excellents cars, except design wise.

Regards!

 

[fortuner]

Mercedes is back with a bang....

 

[K-A]

Is this thing out in Dealers yet?!

I saw one today!!

I was driving up a street late at night (in my Girlfriends Nissan Sentra) and was passing what I thought was gonna be an SLK.... as I passed it, I noticed the side vents, then super thick eyebrows. I reversed and parked behind it to check out what was indeed the new SL

It DOES look better in person. The design teeters between aggressive and subdued, to today's M-B design standards. The sheetmetal carving isn't as dramatic as the E or CLS, but the style of the car revolves mostly around the great and Roadsterific proportions. The hood looks awesome, the front end is okay.... the lights DO look better than in pics, but they still look huge, not sharp, and not sexy. The car DEFINITELY is going for a "modern-classic" type of design approach, and the front end is very cute/cartoony, but not in a bad way necessarily at all.... yet I don't know if that's idealy how I'd like the SL's front to fully look. It's not as serious and mean as the E-Class, but it is sporty, and interesting, and the bonnet is very low (typically as it's a Sports Coupe).

The rear looks nice and will probably age better than the rest of the car, due to it being simple and relying on more logistics to make its impression. The headlight graphics are.... idk, not terrible but not sexy, they look like thick man-brows.

Overall, it isn't as clean and classy as the R230, and it isn't as frivolous as the CLS, and it isn't as hardcore angled as the E-Class. It's smooth, yet not too smooth, aggressive and sporty, yet not too aggressive and sporty. M-B tried to walk a fine line with it and they did NOT want to make a statement of the design being a case study of anything (for example, the W212 is a case study in angular/cubism, the CLS is in avantgarde shapes, and the SL is more trying to not be so extreme in one aspect, yet apply a bit of all to it subtly). The architecture and forms language is typical SL, however, i.e sexy, rich, and cool yet mature. If I could change anything, without being too specific, I would have told them to "make up your mind and make it a design that speaks one core language strongly, instead of giving it so many aspects that will draw opposite conclusions depending on who's looking at it".

I like it, but will have to see it more to know just how much. I am however certain that I WILL NOT dislike it, as I somewhat do the CLS solely do to its amateur side profile carving.

.... I will also say that during my brief encounter, all analytics aside, I'm happy to have another M-B that I feel like I'd feel compelled to buy and like seeing in the showroom. It definitely is a Mercedes, even with its quirks, and I think it'll do the SL lineage some justice, though again, probably be the quirkiest one we've seen yet, but not so drastically.... though, even a little bit is unfortunate.

I'll say that it is one of two of my favorite M-B's right now I think, along with the W212 of course.

 

[montana]

When I was at the dealership a few days ago, they said they had one, so I missed it. But then i got to see the CLS 63, so it didn't really upset me. They said they'd have it in the end of April though, guess I'll see it then.

Also, good to hear that the lights look better in person...

 

[fortuner]

Thanks for your post mate what about the interior....

 

[Zafiro]

I've seen one up-close as well. Looks a lot better than the fugly CLS.

 

[klier]

^^ CLS is rather beautiful actually....

So the SL is at the dealerships now?
It's 4 PM here, I think I am going to have a look before they close at 6 PM

Does the headlight have a stupid plaque in the headlights like the 7 series?

In the new 6er coupe it says 'BMW Adaptive LED'
Pretty cool imo

 

[Zafiro]

^^ CLS is rather beautiful actually....

I spotted a white one a few hours ago and I still dont like the car...
.
I saw my first SL at a Swedish Autoshow.

 

[K-A]

Thanks for your post mate what about the interior....

I couldn't get a good look since it was dark, but it looked very mature, very elegant, classy, and felt "right" for this car. Fortunately, I didn't get a glimpse of the misaligned screen so I didn't go running away in a huff.

I think it looks much better in a more cohesive and "makes sense" sense than the CLS as well. It's also not as avant-garde or artsy seeking or looking, for better or worse (depending on your take on how each capture what they're going for).

I still want to see it on the roads, and next to other cars, etc. to know how much I really like it, and if it's truly "SL QUALITY" to me, but I think it will be, at least for the most part. The headlights could have been better, that's for sure, they give the car a very "wide eyed" cartoon look, kind of like a caricature, which isn't exactly great at all to me if it's not more dynamic than that, but it can be interpreted as nice to some. It does give the car a kind of 50's throwback caricature, which is something that I LOVE as I am all about Classic idioms, but how they implemented it is still questionable to me. Could have added some sexiness to the shapes of the headlights.

One thing I will say right now is, that since M-B forces itself to focus on the mass cars more and more, it makes it harder and harder to justify a whopping $105K BASE PRICE for a car that shares the same attention to detail and design team as cars that cost less than half of it. That said, the SL is actually one case where taking design and all that out of the equation, it actually DOES command that price due to the core development of a BESPOKE and exclusive chassis with perhaps the most advanced construction in the car business today. Props to M-B for actually EARNING the exuberant price tag, by not putting the car on a chassis shared with much lower price cars. Aesthetically, however, I feel like it's not the same as it used to be with M-B, or any manufacturer for that matter, i.e, a more expensive car doesn't necessarily look to be "designed more expensively" per-se.

 

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Generally speaking, I'm a pretty measured sort of guy. But when it comes to convertibles, I'm a bit of a lunatic. I've been known to motor with the top down in all conditions – including light rain and snow – much to the bewilderment of other drivers (and quite often the chagrin of my passengers). For the most part, it doesn't matter if I'm driving in a bare-bones roadster or a lux-lined GT. Thankfully for my hapless guests, however, advances in technology have done much to assuage discomfort in poor weather. These days, there are far fewer tradeoffs associated with top-down motoring: improved aerodynamics, wind blockers, enhanced ventilation, sun-reflecting leather and, of course, seat heating and cooling – all features that have done much to make me better company. What's more, modern underlying structures are stiffer and there's little in the way of the noise, vibration and harshness penalties that there used to be.

In terms of innovation, nobody has done more to advance the everyday livability of the convertible than Mercedes-Benz. They kept the faith back in the early 80s when nearly everyone had gotten out of the convertible business. They brought back the folding hardtop. They came up with the pyrotechnic roll hoop to augment rollover safety. They created Airscarf. Aircap, too. Hell, with this 2013 SL550, they've even invented a new windshield wiper fluid delivery system to prevent errant schvitzing when driving with the top down (more on that in a minute).

On its face, a typically sober German engineering approach would seem to be at odds with the very idea of a top-down bauble, but Mercedes has taken a very logical approach to building something so frivolous. Amazingly, this philosophy works in the SL's favor... most of the time.


Before we delve into what makes this $106,375 convertible tick, we can't avoid the elephant in the garage: styling. The SL's nose is fussy, with a pair of eagle-eye bi-xenon cornering headlamps and a massive upright grille giving way to the obligatory long hood. We can't quite put our finger on it, but there's something aesthetically uncomfortable about the front end's proportions and multiplicity of lines. The schnoz looks particularly awkward when viewed in profile, as the grille and front fascia stand uncomfortably proud of the swept-back headlamps. We're inclined to blame toughening pedestrian crash test standards for all of this, but somehow, other automakers have done a better job. The rest of the bodyside is less controversial, with the SL's patented long of hood, long of door aesthetic dominated by a U-shaped character line that originates in the front fender's heat extractors. The taillamps look a bit oversized for our tastes as well, but it's really the front end that jars us.

This R231 generation SL is a big car – with a length of 181.8 inches, it's over three inches longer than Honda's latest CR-V. Compared to the fifth generation model, this new SL is two inches longer and spans just over two inches wider. Critically, while the 2013 SL is larger, it's also much lighter. That's because for the first time in its history, the SL rides atop an aluminum unibody. With the exception of high-strength steel A-pillars, nearly everything that isn't aluminum is comprised of even lighter magnesium, including the roof panels. By going with aluminum, Mercedes reckons that the SL's shell is nearly 250 pounds lighter than it would have been had it been rendered in steel, and the whole works is upwards of 20-percent stiffer torsionally. All told, the 2013 model weighs about 275 pounds less than the exit car. All of which means Mercedes can argue there's a bit more truth in labeling this roadster SL ("Sport Leicht") – if only a bit. After all, the SL550 still tips the scales at 3,947 pounds – 400 pounds more than the portliest all-wheel-drive CR-V that Honda can muster.



Thankfully, there's a lot more power here than in Honda's cute ute. 429 horsepower at 5,250 rpm and a whopping 516 pound-feet of torque from 1,800 rpm (some 32-percent more than last year's 391 torques). That mechanical motivation comes courtesy of Mercedes' 4.7-liter bi-turbo V8, an engine you'll also find in the even larger CL550 coupe. The turbos strapped to the direct-injected eight-cylinder can generate up to 13 pounds of boost, and as we found during our drive around Málaga, Spain, the engine is the centerpiece of this roadster's appeal. Muted at idle and at partial revs, to carpet the pedal is to awaken a great bellow, followed quickly by a great wave of power funneled through the seven-speed gearbox and out the rear wheels.

Mercedes has fitted a defeatable stop-start system to maximize fuel economy, but it's something of a lampshade in a whorehouse: EPA fuel economy estimates aren't in yet, but we're guessing something along the lines of 16 miles per gallon city and 25 highway.

Another part of the greening of the SL is its new electromechanical power steering system, dubbed "Direct-Steer." By switching to electric steering, Mercedes has reduced the accessory load on the engine, thus improving fuel economy and emissions. Unfortunately, this system is the weakest link in the SL550's dynamic resume – the speed-sensing, variable ratio setup is about as talkative as a Marcel Marceau convention. We'll have to hope for more feedback from the AMGified SL63, but for now, the 550 feels more like a boulevardier than a proper GT.



Of course, you don't buy a motorcar of the SL's ilk to be parsimonious – you buy it for presence, performance and poshness, all of which it has in spades. Mercedes says the SL550 can rocket to 60 miles per hour in just 4.5 seconds – quicker than Porsche's new 911 Carrera – and we believe it. Power is ridiculously easy to come by at all rpms and the seven-speed automatic with paddleshifts is well suited to the sort of relaxed, high-speed motoring that this car engenders. Top speed runs, however, are neutered at just 130 mph. Should you run out of road, 14.2-inch ventilated and perforated discs up front and 12.6-inch ventilated rears haul the SL down from speed with solid pedal feel and little drama.

Bumps are smoothed and corners are negotiated thanks to a multi-link/torsion bar setup front and rear. Mercedes' Active Body Control system is optional and provides both Sport and Comfort modes, but we'd probably stick with the less complex, less weighty standard steel spring system. It's plenty refined for cruising and relaxed winding road driving, but neither setup is much good for spirited work – you just don't get enough steering feedback and there's too much size and weight to confidently toss the pride of Stuttgart in the truly twisty stuff. Still, body roll is quite well controlled, the chassis offers girder-like rigidity and there's plenty of power. In fact, the grip is there, too, it's just that the vital information about how much purchase the 19-inch front tires actually have is a message too often left undelivered.



On the plus side of the ledger, the SL's cabin puts the "Grand" in "Grand Tourer," with a pair of supremely comfortable and supportive seats that offer more adjustments than a Beverly Hills chiropractor. Materials and fit-and-finish are tops, and our Edition 1 tester's interior bound in look-at-me crimson Designo Nappa leather with contrast stitching impressed one and all. We love the round air vents that are spreading throughout Benz's lineup, but oddly, the COMAND interface's seven-inch TFT screen almost felt small. (Consider that observation to be more an indictment of the screen size arms race than it is of Mercedes' product planners.). Our tester was also fitted with optional Magic Sky Control, the variable transparency roof panel that first debuted on the SLK, and the electrohydraulic folding top was as quiet in operation as any we've ever heard.

Mercedes is making a big to-do about its new FrontBass audio system, which turns spaces in the aluminum structures ahead of the footwells into resonance chambers. That's right, the chassis does double-duty as a speaker box. We'd like to tell you how vibrant and wonderful the stereo is, but the only volume dial we were interested in adjusting was the throttle pedal.



One trick new feature that this new SL has is Magic Vision Control, a rather fantastical name for what amounts to intelligent windshield wipers. And by "intelligent," we mean genius. We've seen wipers integrate washer nozzles before, but never with this degree of sophistication. These wipers have dozens of tiny holes along the entire length of the blade that pushes out fluid on the leading edge of the stroke (in both directions). Not only does MVC all but eliminate overspray into the cabin when the top is down, the system actually disburses different amounts of fluid depending on the weather, and in winter, the blades and fluid are heated. The only downside? You'll have to get replacement blades with the special channels at your dealer, and we're willing to bet they'll be expensive.

At the end of a couple of hundred miles of high-speed top-down meandering on narrow Spanish mountain passes, we were left a bit conflicted. Like the BMW 6 Series Convertible against which it will inevitably compete, the SL long ago graduated from a true enthusiast's car into a plush GT, and the new model fills the latter role capably. But with the promise of weight loss and additional power on hand, we had hoped Mercedes' ever-innovative engineers might have found a way to integrate a bigger dollop of driving enjoyment along with the SL's creature comforts. Guess we'll have to wait for Magic Drive Control.

2013 Mercedes SL550 [w/video]

 

[Soup]

 

[Soup]

To MB experts, are there any plans to release SL600 too ? because all I can find is the 350 / 500(550) / 63&65AMG

 

[Soup]

Next months test

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[far2000]

To MB experts, are there any plans to release SL600 too ? because all I can find is the 350 / 500(550) / 63&65AMG

i dont think an sl 600 would be needed...63 AMG replaces the 600, and the 65 is there as the hammer of all hammers....

 

[Tarek]

^Man..i friggin' love the SL65..the ultimate roadster.

 

[DeDe]

Quattroruote - Mercedes-Benz SL500 BlueEFFICIENCY
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