Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG 2010 review

The car that says everything about Mercedes-Benz in 2009 is bold, brutal and ballistically quick.  The two-door SLS coupe takes its historic inspiration from the 300 SL of the 1950s, but goes fully 21st century in everything from its safety package to comfort, quality and advanced materials.

It is a super sports coupe in almost every way, but promised to be just as good as a daily drive. Provided, of course, you have a bank balance that can take a half-million dollar hit.  And it is so much more than just a Gullwing.

The SLS is the first road-up project for Benz's go-fast AMG division, which was tasked with creating a flagship speed machine after the collapse of the F1-based collaboration with McLaren that created the fast-but-flawed SLR.  The new coupe is officially the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, but it was always going to be called the Gullwing once the planning team decided to do an update on the roof-hinged door system that was also a signature for the fifties car.

This time around there is even a pyrotechnic escape plan if the car happens to go upside-down in a shunt — allowing the doors to be unhinged from the body following a crash.  The Gullwing is a relatively conventional design for a super-coupe, with a front-mounted, naturally-aspirated V8 engine, two leather-wrapped seats in a cabin with a satnav-aircon-sound package, and rear-wheel drive.

But it also gets a transaxle gearbox below the back end, dry sumping for the engine, available ceramic brakes, and switchable settings for the seven-speed gearbox and stability program. Flat-finish paint is also available, and so are Recaro rack buckets.  The numbers are mightily impressive, from 420kW and 650Nm to 3.8 seconds and 317km/h.  The SLS also has economy of 13.2L/100km and CO2 emissions of 308grams/ km.

The Gullwing will hit Australia by July next year and there are already 15 deposit-paid customers, led by trucking magnate and long-time Gullwing fan Lindsay Fox — who has a brace of 1950s originals in his Melbourne collection.

Driving

The thundering exhaust note from the Gullwing signals serious speed.  It's a maximum-bass rumble that comes with splitting and popping on the over-run into corners, and a loud crack for upshifts in full manual mode.

It sets the SLS away from everything else in the class, claiming a character that is suitably masculine for a big-bore Benz.  The rest of the car is similarly focussed, particularly on the road. 

It turns wickedly-quick into corners, with no sign of front-end push or baulk, has great mid-turn balance, and can grip and go as soon as you pick up the throttle.  The optional ceramic brakes — around $20,000 in Australia -are fade-free, do not squeak at low speeds, and give break feel and stopping power.
The seven-speed transmission can slur like an auto in traffic, or go thump-quick on upshifts if you hit the track.

When you uncork the car on a track it responds incredibly well, particularly in 80-140km/h turns and climbs around the Laguna Seca in northern California. The torque pushes it out of any corner and it will charge quickly to 200km/h.  Not that most owners will be doing that sort of driving.

As a road car it feels strong, refined and suitably quick. Some people find the styling a bit clunky, and it's definitely not as elegant as the fifties Gullwing, but the roof action is light and access is good.  The boot is supercar tight and my real complaint is the space in the passenger seat. It is short of leg space, or headroom, and sometimes both. Even compared with Benz's own SL.

Speaking of the SL, AMG is already working on an open-air SLS and promises a convertible would be just as quick and nearly as taut.  The Gullwings is not a Ferrari, or even a track-scalpel car like the Lexus LFA, but it's the sort of supercar that would be an easy daily drive.

The best comparison is probably with the Mercedes-McLaren SLR, which missed targets on both sides of the performance/liveability divide.  The SLS hits them, and hard, to prove that AMG knows its customers and knows what is important to them and Mercedes-Benz.