Damn that disguise. AMG doesn’t want us to see its new 427kW supercar in all its glory just yet, so its still wearing spy photographer-foiling black tape and cladding. Long nose, short rump, gullwing doors: the SLS clearly draws on its famous mid-’50s forebear the 300SL for inspiration.
But the detailed stuff is what’ll really make it, and that’s still hidden.
Never mind. Because I’ve just driven AMG’s new beast around the Nordschleife and here’s the skinny: the SLS isn’t just good, it’s brilliant.
Here’s what you need to know. It uses a 6.3-litre, normally aspirated V8, which pumps out 427kW and 650Nm. The engine’s block is the same as AMG’s other mighty 6.3-litre V8, but the intake and exhaust are different, it uses dry sump lubrication, and there are forged pistons.
The SLS’s weight distribution is 47:53 front/rear, and the engine is mounted low down to promote a tidy centre of gravity. There’s a new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, with a rear transaxle.
And the body is an exceptionally stiff aluminium spaceframe. This transmission and body configuration takes AMG Mercedes into virgin territory. In fact, take note AMG fans: this is the first all-new, clean-sheet-of-paper project AMG has ever undertaken.
‘We attract the rebels, the outlaws,’ AMG chassis guru Arnd Meyer tells me with a broad smile, ‘but the Mercedes board trusted us just to get on with this car. So we did.’
Ten minutes later, it’s Meyer that I follow onto the circuit in a 95 per cent finished SLS. He’s driving an SL65 Black; that’s some pace car. Following a man who’s racked up more than 5000 laps of the Nordschleife should be a recipe for disaster, but a) he’s not really trying and b) the SLS is amazingly easy to drive quickly.
In fact, it only takes three corners to realise that this thing is going to be a very serious contender when it lines up against Ferrari’s imminent 430 replacement and the new McLaren road car.
It feels immensely solid, makes all the right hardcore sports car noises, yet scythes from apex to apex with tremendous balance and poise. This particular car is fitted with AMG’s third generation ceramic brakes, and they’re superb.
There’s a new multi-stage traction control system – a bit like Ferrari’s manettino-operated set-up – and even with it switched on, the amount of grip the SLS generates means it’s rarely troubled. The dual-shift ’box is as smooth as you’d expect, and downshifts are accompanied by a fantastically hard-edged rasp.
AMG says software improvements will speed up the downshifts even further.
The SLS is revealed at Frankfurt in September. We’ll drive it on the road before the end of the year. On this evidence, it’ll be one of 2009’s highlights.
the way the current f1 cars are at the moment,this thing would probably lap alonso, hamilton etc, in the hands of takoma sato.they cant use it as a pace car as the f1s may not keep up,hey that might be intresting,a race between red bull,brawn and the pace car.
This is awesome, I can;t wait to see one on the road. It’s been ages snce Merc’s had a truly awesome super(ish) car, I hope this is it!
hope it comes to Aus
poppop said- “…they cant use it as a pace car as the f1s may not keep up,hey that might be intresting,a race between red bull,brawn and the pace car.”
Huh? Are you serious?
Why not race a Fireblade, an R1 and a Tricycle? It’d be the same result!
It’s no that great looking.
it dont look that great atm cause its not a proper road car yet. but once its finished it will look brilliant i rekcon but it wont have shit on the ford gt40 or the koenigsegg ccx
Exclusive? I don’t think so – Inside Line reported on their test drive (in a lot more detail) yesterday.
Secret? Hardly
Still, when I win lotto, I’ll have one.
I hope another motoring hack journo gets arrested breaking the law in it. Lots of friendly guys in jail I hear.
Love the doors ,but thats it , probably nice to drive but i dont think ill find out!!
poppop – you sound like Mr b/boobldyke a bit he had a tendancy to go off his medication too!!
get this merc reving to 150000+ rpm with the right suspension and tyres,and it should spank an09 f1 car
Sorry to spoil the cock party. . . . but why does anyone need a car like this? It screams ‘compensating’, or ‘scratch me!’ or similar. It presumably will cost as much as a proper house in any Australian capital city, or two houses in Tasmania.
The few non-middle aged people who will be able to buy it, probably will never get to use it to it’s limits. Might as well buy a 4wd monster-tractor for the school run while you’re at it.
Little Bits you are abasloutly right also 7 gears 6 gears is enough for any sports or racing cars if you want 7 gears why don’t you drive a truck also if this is what the car looks like it could do with a spoiler.
Thanks Speed Demon, people don’t don’t often agree with me here. I’ve got the giggles now. Well, ok, it could be the beer. Not sure.
little one and speedo,not even seven gears is enough.or should i have said little one in speedo????????
i still think seven gears is like saying you are componsating for somthing it just seems over the top i mean a meclaren f1 can go up to 400km/h and it only has 6 gears so having the extra gear is pointless
If you dont need 7 gears maybe you dont need gears at all?Why dont you people that dont like gears just rip the gearbox out of your own cars and get it customized to direct drive straihjt ffrom the engine to the diff.
Well, Direct Drive, because that would be expensive and silly! A decade from now, and we might just have one litre saloon cars, with 50 speed-triple clutch-auto gearboxes. But for now, Ford and Holden still provide generic motor cars with 202 and 308 cube petrol-guzzling donks, and five or six gears is reliable and adequate for chitty-living.
Please refer to Toyota Prius hybrid Gen-3, where Toyo, holding claim to THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BRAND circa 2009, had a choice of providing the world’s petrol-sniffing wankers with an even more fuel-efficient vehicle, or a vehicle that still looks poxy yet uses a larger engine. And of course, Toyota chose the latter carbon-pumping option.
(We all know that Prius drivers feel inadequate, and the only reason they pull away from the lights so fast, is that they floor the bastard, using carbon-fuel AND electric propulsion. Thereby negating much of the hybrid-toss-ecofuel benefit. That small benefit to the environment has now been reduced to a dimension not much larger than a white-man’s cock, in the third edition Prius).
honestly, that is the ugliest supercar i’ve seen in a while………
Dude its gotta be the most awesome car that i have never not seen…because i never saw the picture..BUT
That is not a super car. Super cars look cool and that doesnt. Any car that has more gears than a truck doesnt have balls. My 8 tonne truck i drive has 6 gears and that pulls 16 tones up to 115 kph if you think just by adding more and more gears it make go faster, not all the time. If you dont have balls your wasting your time. The phase 4 xa gt (only 4 made), they could do 180mph which is 288kph in 4 gears. If i ever won lotto would never buy that car even if you paid me. Anybody who drives that just looks like a giant D###. Merc should drag the maker out on the street and shoot him.
The Convoy, let me get this straight. You’ve just won Lotto and you expect someone else to buy a car for you? It’s just not going to happen. Balls or no balls.
I went for a ride in a friend at works 1992 GT falcon Yesterday If you ever want a car that looks good and kicks ass that is what you want his has a 5.0l Supercharged 6 speed manul developing 320kw at the wheel that was the most powerful car i have sat in and it was awsome it looks way better than the merc to and it was a real GT
Listen Poppop and Convoy, since you guys are far too interested in your own stupid, idiotic opinions to actually READ the article and LOOK at the pictures……… the car has been disguised; as is a very common practice when in pre-launch and testing for a new model!! I think you’ll find it will look a whole lot better once it actually goes into full on production and starts hitting showrooms!!!!!!!
Honestly, it’s like dealing with children around here sometimes!!! did accidentally get re-directed to the play school forum????!!!!
Mr Deit,there is no connection in what i said and you said,do you live at a home for retards???.You sound like a spastic.
it was already a concept car pnce upon a time if you look it up on google it will come up with somthing that looks a bit like a SL
I’d belive that car companys always do that to confuse the there opponents so they have a diffrent look to the copy cats
Sorry poppop, I stand corrected. That comment was actually aimed at Q.