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(Enlarge photo)
The grille and headlights look like those of a slightly made-over SL, but under the paint is carbon-fiber bodywork mounted to a carbon-fiber platform.
(Photo by Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com)
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(Enlarge photo)
Everything that looks like high-quality metal actually is high-quality metal. The leather is similarly rich, and amenities like automatic climate control and a Bose audio system give the SLR a distinctly grand touring demeanor.
(Photo by Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com)
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(Enlarge photo)
The side "gills" were inspired by the original SLR of 1955 (a car that won the Mille Miglia that year). The LEDs within the taillights are a slightly more modern styling element.
(Photo by Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com)
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Road Test: Follow-Up Test
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Follow-Up Test: 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
McLaren's Latest Street Car
By
Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com
Date posted: 12-09-2003
Editor's Note: This was our second time behind the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz
SLR McLaren. Our first experience came during an advanced First
Drive event in Barcelona, Spain.
There is something truly surreal about listening to The Beach Boys sing "Little
Deuce Coupe" while driving the all-new Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren around Cape Town,
South Africa. First, from a geographic standpoint, you couldn't be much farther
from Southern California without leaving the planet, so despite the warm temperatures
and crystal blue ocean, this wasn't Beach Boys territory. Second, while it's easy
enough to insert the word "Cape" in the line, "Well, I'm not braggin' babe so
don't put me down, but I've got the fastest set of wheels in Cape Town,"
the truth is that this Benz stands out far more in Cape Town than it would roaming
the streets of West Los Angeles, where almost no four-wheeled conveyance can stand
out.
Heck, they don't even drive on the right (or correct, for that matter) side of the road in South Africa, so much of our initial focus was centered around keeping the SLR in the proper lane while navigating the drive route (particularly challenging when making right-hand turns). But focused we were, because the thought of bending this particular $441,000 "deuce coupe" was enough to scatter any residual mental cobwebs left over from the 24 hours of air travel required to get from Los Angeles to Cape Town.
This raises yet another notable aspect of the SLR's design: its platform, outer
shell and flat underbody tray are constructed of nearly 100-percent carbon fiber,
so "bending" the vehicle really isn't an option. The Mercedes folks showed us
some post-crash test carbon-fiber cones that mount just aft of the SLR's front
bumper (also made of carbon fiber) and ahead of its aluminum engine cradle. Upon
examining said cones, we saw that this ultralightweight, ultrastrong material
tends to crumble and shred during severe impacts, but it doesn't bend. Regardless
of terminology, we weren't interested in testing out the SLR's high-tech crash
protection system, though we were assured by company representatives that the
car provides a level of passive safety (airbags, cabin integrity, energy absorption,
etc.) equal to or greater than that of an S-Class.
Not a surprising result when you consider that, while carbon fiber is 30-percent
lighter than aluminum, it offers four to five times as much energy absorption
capability as steel or aluminum during a collision.
Much of the SLR's design philosophy, including those carbon-fiber impact-absorbing cones, comes courtesy of McLaren Cars, Ltd., a specialty car builder out of Woking, England. McLaren is better known for producing Mercedes-Benz's F1 race cars than ultraexotic street cars (though it did produce the extremely limited BMW-powered McLaren F1 back in the mid-1990s, a vehicle many still consider the ultimate street car). Because Mercedes has contracted McLaren to build the SLR, and because the company was after world-class performance, the heavy use of carbon-fiber materials, along with ceramic brake components and active aerodynamics, seems appropriate. Certainly, with the SLR capable of 200-plus mph, it's nice to know that the movable rear spoiler can rotate up to a 65-degree angle to work as an airbrake when jumping on those ceramic binders. This same spoiler tilts 10 to 30 degrees at 60 mph and above to aid high-speed stability.
What we discovered after two days of driving the SLR on the public roads surrounding
Cape Town was that, just as hearing the Beach Boys on the other side of the planet
felt a bit contradictory, the SLR is itself a collection of contradictions. On
the one hand, you've got a car capable of supercar performance on the same level
as Porsche's new Carrera GT
and Ferrari's new Enzo. It's certainly as advanced as either of those vehicles
in terms of design and construction. On the other hand, you've got features like
a seven-speaker Bose audio system with CD changer (the changer is in the trunk,
of course); an "Unlimited Dimensions" personalization program that offers a Personal
Liaison Manager, or PLM, (much like Mercedes' own Maybach program); and a five-speed
automatic transmission (no manual transmission is available). These features,
along with a wealth of safety and driver aid systems — such as Electronic
Stability Control, BrakeAssist and even Baby Smart technology — all speak
to the Gran Turismo side of the equation. Yet many of them, particularly the lack
of true manual transmission, will have purists dismissing the SLR as yet another
expensive toy for buyers with more money than driving skill.
But therein lies the contradiction. Lifting the gullwing doors and falling into the one-piece, carbon-fiber driver seat immediately communicates that this is not a poseur car. Poseurs, for instance, will not want to deal with the "falling in" aspect of entering the SLR. The same less-than-dignified approach to exiting the car exists because you must hoist yourself up and step over the wide door sill while keeping your head low (or risk banging it into the gullwing door). The seat itself, because of its one-piece design, offers no independent seat back/seat bottom adjustments, so if you don't like the seat back angle…tough. Actually, that's not true; a range of seat pads can be inserted by McLaren to personalize the driver seat for each SLR customer. Your PLM will, of course, help you through the process when ordering your SLR.
Once situated in the driver seat, it becomes clear that while McLaren did much
of the body and suspension design, Mercedes supplied the interior. Everything
from the climate control dials to the gauges to the steering wheel is pure Benz.
In fact, when sitting in the SLR, it's hard to notice any immediate differences
between this high-dollar exotic and a current-generation
SL — though the large "SLR"-badged panel in the center stack
is a pretty clear giveaway. We can't fault the interior materials, as they are
among the best we've run our grubby paws over. Everything that looks like metal
actually is, and the seat and headliner leather is among the supplest we've ever
felt. But we have to wonder if SLR customers will be content with a cabin that
is so clearly derivative of a volume Mercedes-Benz product, especially one that
can be had for one-fifth the price.
What can't be had for one-fifth the price is the SLR's driving characteristics. Fire the AMG-massaged 5.5-liter engine by hitting the start button on top of the shifter and revel in a deep rumble that only a V8 can conjure. All the latest tricks can be found under the SLR's long hood, including a Lysholm-type supercharger, twin intercoolers, twin spark plugs, NiCaSil cylinder walls, forged connecting rods and pistons and a cast-aluminum engine block. Pulling a page from the "Mad Max" school of engineering, the SLR's supercharger does not spin when the vehicle is coasting, and under light throttle, the pressurized air is rerouted to reduce the load on the supercharger and improve fuel efficiency. Anyone who remembers the old 540K's "power-on-demand" supercharger knows that Mercedes was utilizing this thought process long before Mad Max.
To keep the engine, and the SLR's hood, as low as possible, AMG outfitted the V8 with a dry-sump oil system. It's unique in that it uses twin oil pumps: one to keep the bottom of the engine block dry and another to inject oil into the engine bearings. By using this system, the block could be mounted low to reduce the SLR's center of gravity. The engine is also mounted well behind the front axle, giving the SLR a front-mid engine layout and perfect 50/50-weight balance between the front and rear axles.
You might expect all this technical wizardry to result in some fairly spectacular numbers, and with a peak output of 617 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque, we hope your expectations are met. As impressive as those numbers are in terms of spec sheets, what really matters is how the power is delivered over a wide rpm range. At 1,500 rpm, the engine is already making 440 lb-ft of torque. This number jumps to over 500 lb-ft at 2,000 rpm and hits the 575 peak at just 3,250 rpm, remaining there up through 5,000 rpm. While maximum horsepower doesn't hit until 6,500 rpm, you'd never know it from the instantaneous forward thrust available from idle to redline. This car proves the popular saying, "Horsepower is what you read about, torque is what you feel."
It's this level of engine performance that allows the SLR to overcome what many will feel is an unacceptable drivetrain component in an otherwise highly capable car. The five-speed automatic is similar to the unit found behind other AMG products, but it has been upgraded with wider planetary gears, larger bearings and an improved cooling system. It also features a new Speedshift system that offers three levels of performance: "Comfort," "Sport" and "Manual." A dial in the center stack rotates between these settings, with Sport offering crisper shifts than Comfort, and Manual offering three additional settings made by yet another dial in the center stack (these settings are labeled "Sport," "SuperSport" and "Race").
It's an accepted fact within the automotive universe that AMG makes some of the
finest slushboxes available. From the C32
to the CL65,
this company knows how to make a car shift for itself. Not surprisingly, the same
can be said of the SLR's five-speed automatic. From responsive downshifts to positive
upshifts, the five-speed auto never missed a beat. Furthermore, the ability to
shift it manually via steering wheel-mounted buttons gave it a level of precision
close to that of BMW's sequential manual gearbox (SMG), especially when placed
in its most aggressive "Race" mode.
However, the very fact that every other high-performance Mercedes comes with a slushbox further calls out the need for this Mercedes product — a vehicle that is supposed to represent the company's no-holds-barred approach to ultimate street performance — to possess a true manual transmission. We didn't mind driving it with an automatic, but we're not sure the target demographic will be as forgiving.
Beyond the lack of a manual transmission, there was one other characteristic that we never got used to, even after two days behind the SLR's wheel: the brakes. As previously mentioned, the SLR features an advanced braking system that uses ceramic rotors. These rotors are 14.6 inches in front and 14.2 inches in back. They are grabbed by eight-piston fixed calipers in front (four-piston in back) and the entire system is rated to handle up to 2,000 horsepower. In addition, the system is supplemented by the aforementioned air brake that deploys from the rear deck lid and rotates to 65 degrees, increasing rear downforce under hard braking conditions.
With all this hardware working together, there's no denying that the SLR offers
world-class stopping power, but smoothly modulating that power under normal driving
conditions proved nigh impossible throughout our two-day, 250-mile driving excursion.
Similar to the "dead zone" found on other Mercedes-Benz electronic brake systems,
including those fitted to the SL and E-Class,
the SLR's pedal moved an uncomfortable distance before any form of braking action
occurred. When things finally did start to happen, they happened too abruptly,
causing the vehicle to lurch, particularly at low speeds. If you've driven a new
SL or E-Class, multiply the "on/off" feel of the brake pedal by five and you'll
understand.
Knowing that the SLR is not your typical street car, we fully expected the need for an "acclimation period" to properly appreciate, and utilize, the race-bred braking system. But when we continued to be challenged by the car's recalcitrant brake pedal throughout our driving experience, and when we heard similar comments from the rest of the assembled press, our willingness to accept the system as part of the car's performance-oriented character waned. We've driven other ultraexotic performance cars that offered as much, or more, stopping power (Mercedes claims the SLR will stop from 62 mph in 114 feet) and they still provided predictable and consistent pedal action. The Mercedes-Benz folks readily admitted that the brakes were designed for performance use first, street use second. We won't argue with that description.
Beyond the brake pedal issue, we can report that the SLR delivers the type of excitement one would expect of a 21st century sports car. The double-wishbone suspension works in conjunction with the car's long wheelbase (106.3 inches), low center of gravity and wide track to provide stability and predictability under extreme driving conditions. We found the car to be fully capable, if a bit out of its element, in low-speed, tight corners where the long wheelbase was a disadvantage. At higher speeds in long, sweeping corners and through rapid transitions, the vehicle felt as buttoned down as anything we've driven on the street.
Our street drive was followed up by hot laps at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit near Johannesburg, where the SLR's true capabilities could be displayed. Here, the car's "always ready" powertrain was supplemented by its advanced suspension to slingshot the Benz out of corners while providing race-carlike grip through fast sweepers. Even the brakes felt at home in this venue, repeatedly pulling the car down from triple-digit speeds with aplomb.
Dr. Hans-Joachim Schopf, head of Global Product Communications, told us that "two
hearts are beating within the car." He went on to describe the SLR as a vehicle
that straddles two categories. On one side you have grand touring vehicles, such
as the Aston Martin Vanquish
and Ferrari 575M Maranello,
and on the other you have pure performance machines like the Lamborghini
Murcielago and Porsche Carrera GT. If you're looking for a vehicle
that offers better performance than the Vanquish or 575, the SLR answers the call.
Similarly, if you're looking for a vehicle with more amenities than a Carrera
GT or Lambo, again, the SLR serves up the creature comforts.
But, the SLR doesn't offer a true manual transmission like a Porsche or Lamborghini, and the level of wind and road noise within the cabin, even at moderate speeds, won't threaten the serenity of Ferrari's Maranello and Aston Martin's Vanquish. What this means to prospective buyers is that you can now have yet another flavor of exotic transportation. Easier to live with than a pure super sports car, more capable than a grand tourer and endowed with a more advanced design and construction than either. With a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 207 mph (both figures come via Mercedes-Benz), the SLR can certainly run with the world's most capable vehicles.
If you're wondering how many people are looking for such a car, Mercedes tells us there's already a two- to three-year wait for SLRs (depending on what country the customer is in). A total of 3,500 SLRs will be produced for worldwide consumption — the company says it will produce 500 a year for the next seven years. All of them will feature left-hand drive, regardless of final destination point around the globe, and in the first two years they will only come in silver or black. In later years the color palette will expand, but Mercedes says there is no plan to produce a convertible version, due primarily to the associated compromise in structural integrity.
We're just hoping to get another chance to drive one on this side of the planet. Who knows, maybe the brakes work better in the Northern Hemisphere.
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