Monday 27th May 2019

Mercedes-Benz AMG SLS Black Series | PH Video

A new flagship Black Series is on the way from AMG; it'll be going some to surpass the last one, though...

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A good car deserves a good road, doesn't it? And an even better car, naturally, deserves an even better stretch of tarmac. So with access to an SLS Black, more than a pootle along the high street and a cruise down the motorway is needed to do it justice. After all, this was one of the last cars with that ferocious 6.2-litre V8, the fastest SLS ever produced, probably the best Black Series AMG made, and incredibly rare, too - less than 20 right-hand drive cars were made.

Hence kicking off a new video series with the sensational SLS, which we're going to call Rise & Drive. Pretty self explanatory, but the plan is essentially to revisit some iconic cars on some brilliant bits of road, film them early in the morning and share for all and sundry to - hopefully - enjoy. Simple, right?

We have a couple more planned, with Dan Prosser on presenting duties, and this should give you an idea of what's to come over the next few weeks. If there are car and road combos you'd like to see, then let us know - enjoy the vid!

 

Photo: Dafydd Wood

[Nerdherder]

More of these Rise & Drive video’s please, just what the doctor ordered!

And if there’s room for an additional series a similar one that goes in depth on iconic race cars would be mega.

[Danwise]

Really enjoyed watching this! Great idea, looking forward to the next one for sure.

[Kasperoff]

Loved that. Reminded me a little of the older Chris Harris on Cars videos before he went to Top Gear. Just well made and interesting segments on great cars with a nice, personal commentary.

Dan Prosser doing a great job there.

[Gandahar]

Still a really ugly car.

Compare that to a current GT C .....

I'm surprised Mercedes are still doing the SL when the GT convertibles are so much better.

[PHMatt]

Surprised he refers to it as a front engine car when the engine, as he points out himself, is nearly a foot behind the front axle.

When will people realise that a mid engine car doesn't have to be behind the driver?
In fact, I'd suspect for a road car, having it in front of the driver with the box and diff behind gives it a much better balance. May be not the absolute fastest configuration, but less likely to spin.

[Gandahar]

PHMatt said:

Surprised he refers to it as a front engine car when the engine, as he points out himself, is nearly a foot behind the front axle.

.

Maybe front engined car should actually be in reference to where the driver sits and not regarding an axle?

All Ferrari's are currently front engined if you consider the rear axle to be the defining point....

[unsprung]

mighty motor, fabulous scenery

continue to embrace the "Englishness" of your test locations and I reckon you'll pull a lot of eyeballs from abroad (and not merely those from the UK)

[playalistic]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Have always pined for an SLS. One day!

[Tall_Blk]

Seriously, tea on the rear spoiler. I was really enjoining the video up to the point I couldn’t take my eye off the rear spoiler.

[Kenny Powers]

Great video. Amazing car. Nice jumper. I like a bit of Lyle & Scott. Man has taste

[jl4069]

As i was watching the video, nice as it is, I was remembering Dan's old employer Evo's review of the same car when it came out. I remembered that they had never fully got on with the car's handling. I think its always a good idea to refer back to what the better road car journalists said in years past, before we rewrite the history books and declare a car to be faultless.

Evo had written;
"Occasionally, over a mid-corner bump or ridge, it will suddenly break its seal of lateral grip so that the whole car leaps sideways, which scares the crap out of you, but also adds to the car’s no-nonsense character and means you never forget what you’re trying to hustle."


Reviewing high performance cars is hard to do, and i think we need a few journalists involved in the process, reviewing cars over some distance and time, like we had in the golden era of Evo and Car in certain years. I miss those days, which sadly are gone.

[Kenny Powers]

To be fair, car reviews are opinions, not objective facts.

[WokkaWokka]

There is a bloke on YouTube called Mr Jww and he did a review of this exact car the other day on his channel. I think the series is called “Modern classics” he’s done a few, AM vanquish and a Ferrari 599 GTO are a couple I’ve watched.

[Brainpox]

Good video. I might bump into you filming if you do them around Beachy Head each time. The decent driving roads are few and far between down here but there are others not a million miles away.

[herebebeasties]

I'd love to see you visit/revisit, if you can find them:

Golf GTI mk 1/2
Clio Williams
Megane R26.R
Lancia Delta Integrale
Any older Ferrari (355 or before, ideally, but an F430 would also be interesting)
NSX (original)
Integra Type-R
Lotus Elise S1 190 VHPD
TVR Sagaris, or failing that a Griffith
McLaren MP4-12C to see how far (or otherwise) they've come since

[cherryowen]

Left-field suggestion:-

Mk 1 Octavia VRs on the A488 between Shrewsbury and Knighton

[Dr G]

I enjoyed that; as (clearly) did Dan.

Not aiming for the over-polished Top Gear/Grand Tour look and all the better for it.

[pSyCoSiS]

Great video, epic car, lovely scenery.

Love this Black Series SLS - agreed, one of the greatest engines ever made.

Looking forward to more of these in the future, keep up the good work. You certainly have my attention!

[DEAN7231]

Legendary car must be a blast to drive! Let’s be having some beautiful modern classics something like a Aston Martin DBS.

[saxy]

Gandahar said:

Still a really ugly car.

Compare that to a current GT C .....

I'm surprised Mercedes are still doing the SL when the GT convertibles are so much better.

So much nonsense here...