This week in 2003: Mercedes-Benz SLR prototype first drive review

7/28/2019 This week in 2003: Mercedes-Benz SLR prototype first drive review

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MERCEDESBENZ SLR PROTOTYPE I FIRST DRIVE

v

TOP-ECHELON- I . . , -

SUPERCAROFFERS EVERYDAY

YGREG W L E

t e premiere of the600hpMemde3BenzSLRattheFranldunmotorshowintember willbe a laudmark

oment in the evolutionofhesupercar.Designed ande r e d n cooperationwithrcedes' FL pvmerMcLpren,h i c h w l l l d e t h e c a h ner-bodied mupe at a newyinEn&nd, itsmissionmDmlthrmdafrolnthe&sdAsmnMmiQFenar i ,

b m h e and Lambo&m. .

P o r M e m d e s ~ t h eSLR repmeno a long-soughtgraduationinto the supac~lmlcsafteraseriesofbamting-ly fast AMG balmstormasand even wildermncept canrMcLarm, of uwse, eachedsupercar fame in 1992 with itssublime PI--a m till unbeat-en for d - g o i n g d o r m a n c ea decadeafter ia, launch.Me&Benz aud McLarenh ' t mention the SLR n thesame bm th as he FerrariEuw, PoracheCluRn GT and

-Murci*,thougb we rmgbt. instead, theypoint to its inhuent layout,with the engine up fnmt, andaay i t i smacaGTr iva I tothe likes of the Asmn MvtinVanquish and Fermi 75M a r d o .

BYall m, though, theAogl*-parme=hipforged o createa s ta tedthe-art supercar via the successfulF1 involvementhas been any-dung but harmonious. Rumomof idightinpbeoueenmginea-ing teams, diftering cqiuiom

o n s t g k a n d e x p Wbuagets have dogqd hed s hree-yeal edopmen tThrougbitnlZ-theq e c w u k d ystyled SIR hasm d o the pomt whereW 'R M W h ~ e n UW-prO-

d u u i a l - ~ p n o m c g p .After much menion m

rmrmged~paauedethepow-a tho tbe inS tu t tga r t andWohng to let us get b h dthewheelforanacluslveteatdnve. ?he emphaslsheze laon the wnd "protMgpe" 'Ihecar we hammed mound the


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OTOPlPE I FIRST DRIVEMERCEDES-BEN2SLR PR

sundrenchedldia& prmringgroundsnearBaMlona is notquite representativeof theSLR that will go on sale thisf d i n i n u q x a n d i n t h eUnited Statesnext summer.

"It's close, but not LM)

percent," saysAntony Sheriff,McLarenmanagingdirector.AU the essentialingredients-th e p ~ r t sha t willultimatelymold the SLR's on-roadcharac-ter--are already in place.

The sciawrd w d n ' tlet anyonetell you they areguUwing dam, ecausetheyain't-provide a wide apemueto climb through, ut gettinga b d he SLRis not as easy ait Iwks.The sills are wide andwith a big transmissiontunnelnuYling hmugh the cabin, itproves a tight fitit.The thinlyupholstered, carbonfiber-back-ed seats are electlicallyadjust-able for travel and height. 'I%ethree-spokesteeringwheelalsoadjustsfor rake and reach.

Onceenswnced, th e drivingpositionis f i m y sp~rty,thoughtallerdriverssay thenear-verticalposition of thewheel hamperswmfart. Insidethe pmmtypc it's dark, befauseMercedes-Benzhas meredvariousareas with a thickblack fabricso as not to givet w much away three monthsbefore the officialunveding.Production versiom will fea-ture a luxurious leather-faceddashbaud along with alum&num-looksurfaces.

Th e parts on showlookfamiliarin an SL55kind ofway. The instruments are simi-lar, but with the inclusionofbold McLareninsigniasandan extensionof th e speedome-ter to 360 km/h [agood 22.3mph)and the tach redline up at7000 rpm. Simpletemperatureand fuelgauges flank these.Strangely, ioo a car of suchexaltedperformancecreden-tials, there is no oil pressure

or oil temperaturegauge.Startingthe SLRis an event

in itself. F h t you trigger heignition via a traditionalkey.Then you flip up a fighter jet-

like 8a p atop the gear lever toreveal th e starterbutton. Pressit lightly and th e SLR's engineinstantlycatches.There's nountamedshrillas the three.valve-percylinderunit ignites.We hope th e productionver-

sion will benefit fmm a bit

ridmg impression,at least atlower revs, is one of polishedrefinement.

The SLR's supercharged5.4-literVB is best desuibed asa distant cousin to a similarlyspecifiedengineused in th eSL.55.The two stem from th e

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air inlet d o l d , ncreasedsuperchargerboost pressure,aswell as dry sump lubricationfor more reliahlescavengingof the oil.

Mercedesongmally planneda solid550 hp, but an exploeionin power ratingsfor many ofthe SLR's rivalsultimatelyforcedit to nise this to "aroundMX) hp." The real acwmplish-ment is its torque.There's areputed575 lb-ftof the stuf-141 lb-ftmore than the 575Maranelloand 175lbft up onthe Vanquish.

There's an incrediblepushall the way fmm its 500rpmidle to the 7WOrpmcutout. Inthe first three gears the acceler-ation is rampant.It feelsquick-

more acousticmuscleat idle.The pmtotypewe're assign-

ed is deckedout in silver.It'sone of just two colors, alongwith McLaren'scorporateblack

metallic, in which the new carwill be sold.A short stab onthe throttle unleashes a meanersoundham those side-exitexhausts.However, the over-

samefam~lyut sharefewcomponents.Among thechanges made by Mercedes-Benz's AMG d~vls~on,hchd ssembleth e SLR's

e w e s m Germany and s h pthem to McLaren III England,IS a stdfenedblock, lncluslonof large heat extractorsfor eachc y h d e rhead,a complexnew

er than did the CLK GTR usedto homologatethe wmpany's1998Le Maw race car.

Neither Mercedes.BenznorM c k e n is preparedto divulgeaccelerationhgures. "There'sstill a few tweaksbeforewe

can get down to the businessoffinal validation,"says Sheriff.He saysproduction versionswill hi t M) mph from standstillin fractionallyless than fourseconds.It may not get as farunder four secondsas the Enzoor Murcldago,but by way ofcompansonm th the supposedappasluon,the 575 Maanelloneeds a fracuonallylonger4 2secondswh le the Vanqush

requres a whole 4 8 secondsShenffalso reveals 11 d kely&p under 10secondsforthedash to u X ) km/h 112.5 mphland nudge30 x w n d s m the

1 1 AUTOWEEK JUNE 30.2W3


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un up to 3M km/k 1186 mph). throughthe banked m e r s .M u c d e s B e n i spolicy of No chance! Th e SLRdoesn't

mitingits mad c a n to a mpn- do deunum. Its accelerationmum speed d 55mph has is savage,bu t in a saPngelyan ~onvenientlyidestepped culhvated kind of way. Nudgeor the SLR.We can't say for the throttle,b r a or themain, bu t all indicationsBI T violentsurge and thm

willrun m about

UWmphat as your body is

s&ctedm

descnbe as "the m e . " Froman mmcated240 km/k 1150mph)we're shot like a bulletfrom a b a d . My helmet wobbles around the w h k e abobblehead doll as cry to am -tain the effects of a IuUymm-

p r e s s c d ~ o n a g a i n s t l e a s

he engine's 700arpm redlinen fifthgear, making t the

a t mad car everto wearhe three-pointed stu.

We're ou t on Idiada's high-

peed test crack in amvoyehind Mucedes-Beds CL551 pace w . We've heen old toe e p ~ d m v n t o 1 5 5 m p h

n he suai&ts and 75 mph (!)

lamidableforce.Ifs wcmder-ful,fli$lteuing.laaddictiveallinone.

Cominghighoffthebnnlriagonm the h r 9 t r a i g h tm founh,

a flickd he hrmn M m d heright-hand spo& on the steer-ing wheel smds us up a gear. Inail the hrottlehard and we'remto what Sheriff would Iatu

than smoothroad surface,the 8peedo &y mduatmgz 9 0 . . . a m . . . 3 i o h q m i i 9 ~mph), and the SLR is stillaccelerating

At these sp.ods t is appar-e m t h e c s r ' s ~ whaveheenurelullyhoned.Those side-mountedexhaustsdon't lust look pmty and

s o~ m d antastic. They niso hamallowedengineusm pmidethe SLRwith a flnt undpPnyand a complex six-channeld i f f u s a a t t h e r e u s h i h mt h o s e f o u n d o n L e M a n s m ~ .Coupledwith the automatic

spoiler mback

they endow theSLR with awenome high-speedstabiliy. Push a switch on thecenter consoleto raise thespoilerto it s highat positionand you can actually fed thereu end of the CRI oad up withadded downfom. Ediaut !

Afterfourlapsofthe4.6-miledFcuittheIuUfloodofsensationsleavesme gaspingforbreathandcravingmore.If Mexedes-km and McLprmreally think he SLR is P rivdforthe MataueUod Pnpuisqthey are selling i t shon bymiles. It mightiw k like aGT, ith tbat lcmgbormet anda l l , bu t i t hns thcguedawe==.

Helping it scale such heightsof pedormurcc is a reworkedveci ionof thehveqdautomatic used m the pPlotinl

linmusine.It gainsremote hift buttws bchindt h c s h e d n g w h e e l a s w d a aahmharevixdversionofAMG's S j k d e h i helectronics.The ddva an thane bmveenaummacic or whu M a c & sBenz describesas a sporty mno-matic, aswell as manual modevia m t q witches 011 the un-sole. In manual, the gearboxholds on to the driver's chosenP a , rdusinp to change UP,even at the redline, 1 therev limiter pmtect the engine.What's more, he driver canc h o o s e t h e ~ v e n e n s o fthe shift in three distinct steps.

The and decisivmemof the shifts up and down thegearbox n the fastest manualsetting is a melation, makingthoseintheSLS5snmslavand ague y mmpmbm.This makes he decision not m

offa the SLR with a traditionalmanual gearbox of any kindseem justified It also begs thequestim: s this he world'sfastestautomatic!

JUNE 30,2003 UIIOWZEK 1s


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IMERCEDES-BEN2 SLR PROTOTYPEIFIRSTDRIVE

If the power andaccelerationare s ~ p e n d o u s ,he brakesareawqome.The SLRemploysmassivecarbon-compositediscs similar to those used onF1 race cars.Brakewhereyou

think you should from the hghsideof 1U1 mph, and an initialfeel of spoapjnesspromptsyouto nudge a little further.Then,as if by some supernaturalforce, a set of enormousalumi-nu m calipersbite viciously,and everydungis xenunglythrown into reverse.?b e sensa-tion of deceleratingclosem thethresholdof @p is almostasaddictive as he deep bassbel-

low of th e SLR's engineat fullwhack.Backmgup the mechanical

aspect of the SLR's brakingpackage is a so-calledair brakefunction incorporatedintoth e rear spoiler. Similarto thatapplied to the o w LRfivedecadesago, t instantlydeployswhen the drivergets hard onth e brakes,&king th e car'scrucialcenter of pressureback-

ward by up to one meter forimprovedstabilityand a mildreductionin stoppingdistances.

Behind th e headlinesgrabbedby the SLR's engine,gearboxand brakes lies an aluminum-intensivec h i s f immenseability.No simple rehashof tbeSL's undqinningshere. Asbefits the SLR standmgat thetop of th e Mercedes-Benzline-up, it has it s own aluminumsuspensionwith doublewish-bonesup frontand a m u l d i darrsngementat the rear. Th&sbeen no attempt to fit ActiveBody Control,as used on th eSW5.Neither does the newtwwwaterrely on elecuonicdampinglike many of its super-car rivals. "We went for a pureapproachin the interest8ofdynamics,"achowledgesSheriff.

As mentioned,the SLR'sengineis mounted aheadofthe driver. But don't think of itas b e i imply front-engined.Thoughrefusing to lift theh w d forus, Mercedes-Beaz

says the blown V8 and all itsp l u m b i i includmggiant cat-alyticumvexters,is mountedwell behind the front axle linein a mid-enginedposition. Thishelps providea 4951 front-

to-res weight distribution.A row of bright orange

islnngly sharp and d e , hefrontend steadfastlyresistingthe urge to push even on con-stant-radiuscomersat insanespeedsand the body retaininga fabulouslyflat attitude.

Make no mistake, theSLR venturesonto the so n of

mtches hats on a large expanse dynanucgroundunreachablemof smwth black bltumen is no lesserMercedes.Benz modelssubsurute for a senesof crack- It can be coaxedmto carryingmg back-roadbends, but n's huge speedthrough turns and,the best we can do to sample once comnutted,IS tremen-the SLR's handhng Through dously stable w t h barely per-the slalom course,tt felt aston- cepubleroll It's ~mmensely

flatteringbut, at the same time,it warrantsirspect.A finalverdict on the car's h a n khowever,will have to waituntil we get it on real roads.

The rack-and-pinionsteer-

ing. fairly direct at iust 2.3rums lock-to-lock,eliesonhydraulic assistancebut doesnot vary its weghting a c mthe speedrange like otherbtgh-end Mercedes-Bau mod-els. It is Wt-much lightathan you'd expect fmm a top-echelon supem--and uemen-dously quick,ye t sensitiveand,as far as we can tell, commu-nicative enoughto continuerelayingvaluable infonuationwhen it's b e i i pushed hard.

Our early impressionof theSLR's ride quality is of a firmbut not overly h h en&with p o d complianceandloadsof wheel travelgiven th ecar's toweringperformance.AU of which backsup Sheriff'sclaim that this new Mercedes-Benz will be the first topeche-Ion supercarto offer legitimateeverydayusability.

Usabilityor not, it is patent-ly clear the SLRis goingtoleave an indeliblemark on thesupercarfraternity. Final pric-ing is still being determined,but don't expect much varia-tion fmm the mid .W,WOprice suggestedby Mercedes.That's roughly what the May-bacb costs and a g n h u ~ t l ymore expensivethan he SL.55.

And yet, despitethe depesdworld economyand predictionsof funher finandal gloom, theGerman catmakersaysfirst-year productionof a planned500 cars is already sold out.This,despiteth e fact it will beproduced in left-hand-driveguise only, much to the annoy-ance of our British friends.With news like that, you canbet the high-upsat AstonMartin, Ferrari, PorscheandLamborghh will be watchingits progressinto productionandbeyondwith more than a touchof interest,or shouldthat beconcern! 8 I

14 AW O W E U ( JUNE 30 2003

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This week in 2003: Mercedes-Benz SLR prototype first drive review