It’s fitting that we traveled to Half Moon Bay, California, home to a massive seagull population, to test a new type of gull. The 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, one of the most exotic, outrageous new cars to debut in recent memory, harks back to the days when Sir Sterling Moss piloted its spirtual father, the ’50s 300SL Gullwing.
With the discontinuation of the Mercedes-McLaren SLR looming, AMG chairman Volker Mornhinweg felt it was time for Mercedes-AMG to show that it was fully capable of building a supercar for a new era from the ground up. Incidentally, it was a new model that tended to look in the rearview mirror from time to time.
The supercar: Redefined
The SLS AMG is not overtly flashy like a Bugatti Veyron, nor adorned with crisply creased body panels like a Lamborghini Reventon or the Ferrari F458 Italia. Instead, it appears as an evolutionary successor to the 1955 through 1957 Mercedes 300SL. With acres of front hood ahead of you and a short overhang behind, it is laid out as the quintessential sports car. Designed digitally before even the first stamping, engineers had the ability to tweak engine placement, ergonomics, aerodynamics, suspension and driving dynamics and even crash performance before there was even a clay model. In fact, when the mules finally did come around, it looked as though Daimler found some old Viper body parts from the ill-fated venture with Chrysler to keep our prying eyes out.
Forty-odd test mules were dispatched to all the corners of the world for hot, cold, wet, and dry testing. Our own spy photography maven, Brenda Priddy, saw and shot the prototype test cars in many different stages of development, but those were a bird of an entirely different color compared to the early production models we sampled in Seagullville.
Businesslike
In its final form, it is clear that the SLS is a purpose-built sports car that shares a similar, but updated appearance with its predecessor yet boasts beneath its shimmery, swoopy body a similarly awe-inspiring array of technological advancements.
With a slightly longer wheelbase, in this case, the better to set the engine rearward for optimal balance, the SLS boasts of a 47 to 53-percent front to rear weight bias. Gone are the opera windows of the original. So too, the design strakes over the front and rear wheels. But what remains, while not exact, offers a representation of key design elements from the original. It’s kind of like paying homage from whence you came to see where you are going.
Side gills help to release trapped air from under the long expanse of aluminum hood. In fact, the bulk of the car – bulk being a relative term – is, with a few exceptions, made up of aluminum. The entire aluminum-built space frame weighs in the neighborhood of 530 lbs. Only the parts making up the engine cradle and A-pillars are of heat-formed steel. The trunk lid, which hides GPS, telematics, cellular telephone and radio antennae, is made of plastic composite. And the roof member, which houses the explosive-charged hinges, (in case of rollover to ease occupant exit) is cast aluminum.
Overall, the SLS uses highly innovative means of weight reduction including the use of an aluminum torque tube in which rotates a carbon-fiber driveshaft to drive the rear wheels.
High tech familiarity
Gaining access to the cockpit of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG presents you with retractable door handles that when operated, cause the gullwing doors to swing up on a cantilevered-type hinge that actually does much of the work for you. Lift your right leg over the enormous doorsill and place it in the foot well. Lower your butt down to the seat, and once firmly in place, swing your left leg into the well, following through with a quick swivel into place. You are almost home. Finally, extend the reach of your left arm up to grab the grip handle and in one quick motion, swing it down and home to lock it securely. Now you are ready to roll.
It was worth the effort.
Looking around, you will find yourself firmly ensconced in a pair of well-done contoured sport seats with infinite adjustments including moveable side bolsters and lumbar support. Getting acquainted with the controls in the SLS is a quick read. If you are familiar with other Mercedes-Benz vehicles, like the SL63 AMG for example, you’ll feel right at home.
Featuring a decidedly aviation-themed cockpit, the SLS is guided by the nearly ubiquitous flat-bottomed steering wheel with all the redundant controls we have come to expect on an AMG-equipped ride. Aluminum paddle shift levers sprout up from behind and offer lightning fast gear changes from the rear-mounted gearbox. Directly behind the wheel lies the tachometer and speedometer with a multi-informational display that can show temperatures, odometer, audio info and directions as fed through the navigation system. Air conditioner registers take on a retro appearance with their target cross pieces. Although the latest type of in-dash monitor is part of the standard equipment in the SLS, the console directly below it looks as though it came from a classic roadster that was characterized from the “style moderne” era.
Mechanically speaking
A gear selector that Mercedes describes as an “aircraft throttle-inspired lever” adorns the console, while buttons controlling every combination in the alphabet from ABS to TCS to ESC rest close to the driver. At the top of the panel is a four position AMG Drive Unit selector dial that operates the Controlled Efficiency (C), Sport (S), SportPlus (S+) and Manual (M) modes. It allows the driver to customize throttle, damping, shift speed and other variables to adapt the car to the driver.
Mounted in a middle-front location, the Mercedes-Benz/AMG-built 6.2-liter V8 known internally as M159, is a pure piece of art. Modified heavily from the basic M156 used in other AMG models, the M159 is unique – for now – to the SLS.
AMG’s mantra of “one man, one engine,” lives within the engine room of the SLS, as each Affalterbach, Germany-based engine builder signs the manufacturer’s plate on top of the manifold cladding. The presence of this cladding is rather unfortunate, especially when you consider the eight beautiful velocity stack intake trumpets residing underneath.
Beyond the beauty is the power. Producing 563 normally aspirated horses and 479 lb-ft. of torque, it will be one of the most powerful normally-aspirated production cars when it becomes available next year. Its dry sump oiling system allows it to sit lower in the unibody than previous models and enables that “think where you want it to go” driving ability really shine through.
The gearbox is a rear-differential-mounted AMG Speedshift DCT-7 seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with shift by wire connectivity and rev-matching in every mode except the Controlled Efficiency mode of the AMG Drive Unit. Double wishbone suspension at all four corners keeps things very flat through turns along our route through Silicon Valley near Santa Cruz. Coming in to a turn a little hot is handled like kids play by way of the 15.8-inch compound brake rotors in front and the 14.2-inch discs that are larger in diameter than your neighbor’s humble family sedan. With six pots on the front calipers and four on the rear, the 3,573-pound SLS manages to stop in no time.
Driving the course at Laguna Seca Raceway in the Carmel Valley shows how much refinement has gone into the SLS. Squint at the car, while approaching it and you can still see some hints of Mercedes SLR AMG in it. But more than that is the balance. This car just wants to make you a better driver, and with the right amount of gravitas, you will be. Driving in Controlled Efficiency mode found a track-bred specimen, eager to please with flat cornering, blistering acceleration, and controlled braking when needed. Well balanced, the car allowed you to feed throttle and steering correctly through the turns until it was time again to really thrash the loud pedal. The symphony from underhood sounded like a 700-horsepower NASCAR racer at full roar. It is really one of the most intoxicating sounds we have come across yet, this year.
Driving back on public streets saw zero to 60 mph times of 3.7 seconds. Though we never had the opportunity to achieve a top speed of 197 mph, the SLS is right in the heart of supercar country. Although it won’t earn you bragging rights at your local hang out, we did manage to achieve an average rating of 17.8 miles per gallon in road driving, which is one mpg shy of the factory’s estimate.
And all those numbers combined did impress the crowds gathered at Alice’s Restaurant on Skyline Boulevard in Woodside.Though not the one immortalized in Arlo Guthrie’s song of the same name, it nonetheless was inspired by such, and is a weekend hangout for motorcyclists and gearheads alike, who want to take a break after winding through the twisties on Skyline. Great gourmet burgers, too.
And there’s always someone interested in talking about the SLS.
Leftlane’s bottom line
The Mercedes SLS AMG coupe is a refined supercar that is at home at that restaurant that requires reservations six-months in advance, as it is at track day on the Nurburgring. At around $200,000, it could quickly find itself being called an instant classic in ways its SLR predecessor could never have dreamed.
