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Something Wicked This Way Comes
For every wish, there is a price. For every desire, there is a cost. And for every 2010 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series there will an owner afraid of his car. Or at least there should be. Because the latest addition to AMG's lineup of Black Series specialty cars is as wicked as it looks.
We say wicked because there's no other way to describe this car. It's menacing and imposing. It's low and it's wide. It's got vents, ducts, carbon-fiber body panels and even a rollover bar to prove its purpose.
And it sounds vicious. Mildly so, at first. But like the train in Ray Bradbury's yarn, it rolls unassumingly into town, then quickly reveals its full potency. Its engine note begins with a sinister burble and ends in a vile shriek of high-velocity exhaust gas and sheer force.
More important than any of this, however, is that the twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 of the SL Black Series makes 661 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. And that kind of motivation, friends, is nothing if not wicked.
If a Little Is Good...
Punching through the 600-hp barrier seems to be something of a trend these days. We thought it a novelty when Dodge recently rejiggered the V10 in its Viper to make 600 horses. Then Chevy one-upped the Mopar boys with the 638-hp LS9 V8 in its Corvette ZR1. And now AMG is fighting back with this beast.
The message, it seems, is clear. Winning the horsepower wars requires a bigger stick than ever before. And, generally speaking, we're a fan of big sticks. However, we recently drove this car several hundred miles on the road and on the track and can report that more isn't always better. Or necessary.
Because 604 hp isn't enough, AMG retuned the twin-turbo V12 to make an additional 57 hp in Black Series trim. Reshaped waste-gate ducts, larger turbo compressor wheels and more efficient intake plumbing make the difference. The ECU is also recalibrated to handle 12 psi of boost.
Power goes to the ground through a five-speed automatic gearbox with four modes (Comfort, Sport, Manual 1 and Manual 2). Manual 2 is the most aggressive mode, offering 25 percent faster shift speed than Manual 1. Shift paddles on the steering wheel speed your gear selection. The 2.65:1 rear-axle ratio is extremely tall to accommodate the power without risking mechanical failure. There's also a limited-slip differential with a 40 percent locking effect.
Full Story: 2010 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series First Drive
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