Comments on: Mercedes SL 63 AMG and SL 65 AMG Roadsters

By: wxhxoxt

wxhxoxt — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:55:50 +0000

ugly headlights

By: D 1 0 N

D 1 0 N — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:41:41 +0000

*Sigh*, the previous model SL was easily in my top 3 most beautiful cars list… this is just plain fugly. It wouldn’t be if those headlights gelled with the rest of the car better, as it is, they do look VERY Korean.

Can’t argue with the performance though, so I guess that’s a plus.

By: Prumm

Prumm — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Reckless, yes I’m a Merc fan/past owner (but despise the new front end… shudder). I do concur the VW DSG is far “superior” in most all aspects, however there is a reason they don’t have one on their larger cars. And for Alborz, no, DSG can’t take it (torque), else it would be in more VW’s than just transverse mounted small/mid size cars. And don’t bring up the 7 Speed in the Bugatti because that gearbox cost a lot more than a whole VW, not to mention took 50 engineers and god knows how many millions to make. PS, both these AMGs put together make a lot more power than the Bugatti so don’t be facetious, in fact the 65 alone is the only engine in the world that doesn’t look laughable next to the Bugatti because the Veyron makes just 25% more torque (less if the 65 were not limited, albeit without the extra two turbochargers, 2000cc and 4 cylinders).

Why are we even comparing gearboxes from little cars to Luxo-barges and hyper-super-dooper-not-really-a-car cars anyway? Apples and apples people, bring out the facts of the new M3 Convertibles tranny!

By: tony

tony — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:04:07 +0000

NIce! But they don’t do corners like an F430!

By: Reckless1

Reckless1 — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:00:02 +0000

Haha, sounds like the Aston guy was on the back foot explaining their “slow” gearbox. The marketing department probably spent months penning the response just in case someone asked the dreaded “unanswerable” question.

Holden and Ford going at it with “mine are bigger than yours” ????? Wash out your mouth ! That would not happen, haha.

By: alborz

alborz — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:55:11 +0000

Reckless, even as recently as a few years ago Holden and Ford had different ways by which they measured the power output.

I have no doubt the VW box is the fastest, and I have no doubt its the best (I love it), I was simply stating a fact.

A few months ago we had a long chat with the nice chap from Aston Martin Australia about why his Hyper-shift gearboxes are 140ms, and he gave us a very good explanation of the way they measure it, which is completely different to VW, hence its much longer.

Of course the VW is a dual-clutch system so it already has the next gear ready to go, while the rest have to make that happen on demand.

And as for power, DSG can take it, look at the Bugatti Veyron, that has a DSG gearbox, and that has almost more power than both these AMGs put together (admittedly that is a specially made gearbox that took a good 5 yrs – but hey its a proof of concept)

By: Reckless1

Reckless1 — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:48:19 +0000

Hey Alborz, before you were born, the Japanese had a different way of measuring horsepower to everyone else Datsun 1200s were claimed to produce 13bhp, when in fact they had about 6 So different ways of measuring is no surprise. In spite of that, the VW box IS the fastest changing, no matter how anyone else measures theirs.

I wasn’t saying the Merc box was inferior, just musing.

Don’t know what Prumm is getting at, seems that as a Merc fan/owner/past owner he is implying the DSG is not as good as the Merc gearbox simply because it was designed for small cars not large cars. Weird thinking that.

By: Prumm

Prumm — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:14:11 +0000

Reckless, how much torque can the VW DSG handle? 630nm? I think not.

Ps, any NSW people here I own the number plate “SL-63″ if anyones interested 0407386516

By: KC

KC — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:39:19 +0000

Engineering has nothing to do with style Reckless.

Have a look at the hardtops. They have tried to copy the old 300SL’s shape minus the gullwings. Then look at how the headlights have half sharp half rounded edges for no apparent reason. The only other place Ive seen this trend is Korean and Malaysian manufacturers.

By: alborz

alborz — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:34:53 +0000

Reckless1 you might be interested to know that different manufacturers have different ways in which they measure their gear changes, so the figures are not always easily comparable.