RE: Mercedes AMG SL65 Black Series

[Zad]

Hmm...

[mat205125]

Zad said:

Hmm...

Exactly! Give ya £250,000 for it if you give it a pointless headline bhp figure and make it close to 2 tonnes

[H22K]

g4ry13 said:

Wow, that's definitely too expensive and slow for what it is. They need to slash about 100k off the price at least because £250k puts it up there with a lot better, faster machinery.

..erm...no it doesn't...it's 100k cheaper than an SLR or a carrera GT or a Zonda, and it's as well built and as fast/powerful as any of them

mat205125 said:

Ugly, Excessive, Pointless, Expensive.

That money would buy an F40, a GT3 and a Range Rover Vogue.

I suspect if you can afford one of these, you'll already have those in your garage.

As for 'excessive' and 'pointless'- care to explain the POINT in a GT3 (don't say driving machine, not after you've said the black is pointless..), or a RR Vogue? (when has anybody actually NEEDED to have supreme off road capability AND ultimate luxury in the same car..?)

[mat205125]

H22K said:

.. care to explain the POINT in a GT3 (don't say driving machine, not after you've said the black is pointless..)

Er? Isn't a road/track sports driving machine exactly what the GT3 is?

I'm had a go in one and can confirm how good they are. I've not driven the black, however when I look in my dictionary a driving machine doesn't weigh close to 2 tonnes, and require road roller width rubber, and a saturn 5 rocket engine to lap the ring quickly to keep the marketing man happy.

[g4ry13]

H22K said:

g4ry13 said:

Wow, that's definitely too expensive and slow for what it is. They need to slash about 100k off the price at least because £250k puts it up there with a lot better, faster machinery.

..erm...no it doesn't...it's 100k cheaper than an SLR or a carrera GT or a Zonda, and it's as well built and as fast/powerful as any of them)

I won't defend the SLR as that's crap. But the Zonda does 0-60 in ~3.5 seconds, top speed of 224mph and looks much nicer and has better finish. Porsche, similar acceleration to the Zonda, top speed a shade over 200 but put it next to SL65 Black series on a track and I imagine the Porsche will just disappear around the corners.

But what's your point? A 430 Scuderia has similar spec and is a lot cheaper than this Merc.

Edited by g4ry13 on Friday 26th December 19:32

[JohnGoodridge]

Not normally a merc fan. But this is epic: chiselled and flawed it's like a DC comic adaptation of an SL. The Black Knight or the Dark Merc or whatever. Would never buy it, but obviously there are enough out there who would! Genius - respect due.

[Tokamak]

Um, Im struggling with this one.

You would either buy a Bullit/Rocket: or a 599, 430scud, gt2, LP640 etc wouldn't you?

I like agressive looking cars though, would look good to me in something other than silver (And maybe that makes it worth the money to some).

[mikEsprit]

There doesn't appear to be any still-shot angle that justifies the price.

Looking at the pics, if I had been told this was a $100,000 car (or less), I wouldn't have questioned it at all.

[LHDisbest]

Sutters writing for PH?

What a car, but a used SLR can't be any more than £250k. It would be an SLR for me rather than the SL65 Black.

[Miguel]

GTRene said:

I really love it, I hate big heavy cars but this one is a real monster beauty, very impressive!
GTRene

+1

I don't know if I'd prefer this over an SLR. I guess I'd have to drive them both.

As always, when it's about unusual cars, you and I end up liking the same ones, Rene, be it this one, the Artega, TVR, Wiesmann, etc.

Miguel

[Miguel]

minimatt1967 said:

This is a plea to Merc, please pretty please with a cherry on top,
Put a Fecking Manual box in your AMG models,
even just as an option!

That car looks mental but I still think I'd have the CLK black series!

I can see the argument for a manual box in the naturally aspirated AMG models, but not in something that had to be detuned to produce "only" 737 lbs-ft of torque. That would just be silly.

Miguel

[Miguel]

g4ry13 said:

Wow, that's definitely too expensive and slow for what it is. They need to slash about 100k off the price at least because £250k puts it up there with a lot better, faster machinery.

Oh well, they'll have no problems shifting them - i'm sure there's loads of rappers in LA waiting to put their 26'' chrome spinners on them and pimp them out.

I see rappers and other celebs buying the regular SL65 but not the Black Series. The top doesn't go down, the interior is not as nice or comfortable, the ride isn't as good, etc.

Also, you're contradicting yourself by saying that they should cut 100k off the price, then predicting that they'll have no trouble selling them all. That doesn't make any business sense... and they will have no trouble moving them all.

Miguel

[Fire99]

gumsie said:

Fire99 said:

I'm not normally a fan of modern-day Mercs but i think this one looks rather good. Would prefer it in black rather than bland silver.

However, it's an auto and for truely spirited driving i really can't get on with them.
I'm also not into Merc's tendency to over-assist with it's electronic aids. As in, you can't turn them completely off.

I suspect in these 'Blacks' you can turn off the aids. For me to buy on though, someone would need to spray it white and graft on the original front end.
Oh and someone would have to lend me a 1/4mil.

Bet you 50p you can't switch them off completely.

[Fire99]

Miguel said:

I can see the argument for a manual box in the naturally aspirated AMG models, but not in something that had to be detuned to produce "only" 737 lbs-ft of torque. That would just be silly.

Miguel

One could say then, perhaps they should make the car light enough to not need 737 lbs-ft to go that fast..

It doesn't change the fact that some people would no doubt love the car, but just don't get on with Auto's

[Orb the Impaler]

I think the bog standard SL looks better; much cleaner and more sophisticated. This is just trying too hard; it's like automotive Brut 33

[metrofour]

minimatt1967 said:

This is a plea to Merc, please pretty please with a cherry on top,
Put a Fecking Manual box in your AMG models,
even just as an option!

That car looks mental but I still think I'd have the CLK black series!

Agreed.The guy a few doors down from me has one.Lubbley.

[kambites]

I wouldn't buy one personally (even if I had 250k to spend on a car) but I can see why people would. If they're actually going to make money on the thing, good luck to them, I say.

[varsas]

Fire99 said:

I'm not normally a fan of modern-day Mercs but i think this one looks rather good. Would prefer it in black rather than bland silver.

However, it's an auto and for truely spirited driving i really can't get on with them.
I'm also not into Merc's tendency to over-assist with it's electronic aids. As in, you can't turn them completely off.

You can turn all the aids off in the AMG models:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rv1m5mlPvvE

[Wammer]

Isn't this the car that Clarkson bought recently or was that the CLK Black.

[Miguel]

Fire99 said:

Miguel said:

I can see the argument for a manual box in the naturally aspirated AMG models, but not in something that had to be detuned to produce "only" 737 lbs-ft of torque. That would just be silly.

Miguel

One could say then, perhaps they should make the car light enough to not need 737 lbs-ft to go that fast..

It doesn't change the fact that some people would no doubt love the car, but just don't get on with Auto's

If they don't like autos, then AMG models are simply not for them. Furthermore, they're only making somewhere around 350 of these Black Series SL65's. They don't need to do something that they don't do for any other model when they'll move them all very quickly as is. Clearly, they don't seem to be interested in making manuals. Even BMW's M division, which won't use slushboxes, is still getting away from pure manual transmissions and moving more towards sequential manuals. What no company does, however, is to try to please everybody, which is what you seem to be suggesting. If something about a car doesn't suit you, there are plenty to choose from.

Miguel