GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
- 11,038
- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
[Brief Backstory]Bought the wife a Mercedes A250 "Engineered by AMG" in July[/Brief Backstory]
This is not the A250. This is an SLK55. Keep up!
So I got an invitation to an AMG Performance Road Trip. From an Edinburgh Mercedes dealership to one in Coldstream. Lunch, then back. In 6 AMGs. Limited to 12 places. Did I want to go?
No thinking required. YES PLEASE!
Now, where the hell is Coldstream? Turns out it's roughly sixty miles (100km) roughly south from Edinburgh. So, a 120 mile round trip. Seems like a go-er.
Turned out there were only 8 people on the event, so I was on my own in the cars. Totally suited me. I'd then get to drive each car on the way out and the way back. We split into two groups. The first, led by a young lad in an A45, had the SLK55, CLS63 (with performance pack) and SLS. The second group, led by a nutter in an ML63, had a C63 Coupe, S65 and SL65.
Oh, yes, that's right. Not one, but TWO 600+ bhp V12s to drive today. And an SLS.
I started in the SLK, which was fine if a little muted. Next into the CLS, which with the 5.5 biturbo V8 was very pumped in its responses. The performance pack lifts power to around 560bhp, and top speed to 186mph. The CLS was of interest to me because a shooting brake would have been a really interesting comparator to my XJ Supersport had it been around at the time.
Finally in group 1, the SLS.
OK, so I can now say that I get the SLS. On paper it doesn't seem supercar-enough, given that it's 70bhp down on the SL65. And I've never really been convinced by the styling, especially from the rear.
Having now driven one, I can say I was wrong. It's a hoot. So vocal and chatty and loud. So long as you're not too adventurous with the loud pedal in the wet, it goes where you point it, and there's a direct correlation between throttle angle and noise. It's a real "occasion" car. I loved it.
The C63 Coupe was interesting too.
It's how I would imagine a modern-day Ford Capri should be. It can do the seating-4-in-comfort thing, but what it really wants is to be shoved in sport+ and to have its neck wrung, over and over again. It's so eager. So keen and so compliant. Yes, it was one of the least powerful of the group, but it was really a car you could chase down the road.
Next up was the S65.
I'm not sure I get why you'd go into a Mercedes dealership, and choose to spend such an amount of money on inserting such a muted engine into your car. It's very fast, and very well equipped and very luxurious, but if you want to go so fast that you install a 600 horsepower engine in your car, and you're OK paying £50,000 for the privilege, wouldn't you want that motor to make its presence felt? In more than just the "oh, I'm going 40mph faster than I thought I was" kind of way?
It was of course extremely competent, but it rather left me cold. One of the driver-passenger pairs put their passenger in the back, whereupon it was judged "amazing", but for driving pleasure the XJ has it destroyed.
So, it turned out I saved the best 'til last.
The SL65 AMG is an hilarious scary ballistic riot of a machine. It's ludicrously epically mentally fast. Huge power, tyres and carbon ceramic brakes make you forget its physical size as you hurtle towards the next corner. The mute biturbo V12 from the S65 has had 14 cans of Stella before being put in the SL65, and is now shouting at the TV. It caused such an adrenaline rush in me that I laughed and laughed and laughed. And then arrived at the next checkpoint a minute in front of the S65 and C63...
What a great way to spend a day.
This is not the A250. This is an SLK55. Keep up!
So I got an invitation to an AMG Performance Road Trip. From an Edinburgh Mercedes dealership to one in Coldstream. Lunch, then back. In 6 AMGs. Limited to 12 places. Did I want to go?
No thinking required. YES PLEASE!
Now, where the hell is Coldstream? Turns out it's roughly sixty miles (100km) roughly south from Edinburgh. So, a 120 mile round trip. Seems like a go-er.
Turned out there were only 8 people on the event, so I was on my own in the cars. Totally suited me. I'd then get to drive each car on the way out and the way back. We split into two groups. The first, led by a young lad in an A45, had the SLK55, CLS63 (with performance pack) and SLS. The second group, led by a nutter in an ML63, had a C63 Coupe, S65 and SL65.
Oh, yes, that's right. Not one, but TWO 600+ bhp V12s to drive today. And an SLS.
I started in the SLK, which was fine if a little muted. Next into the CLS, which with the 5.5 biturbo V8 was very pumped in its responses. The performance pack lifts power to around 560bhp, and top speed to 186mph. The CLS was of interest to me because a shooting brake would have been a really interesting comparator to my XJ Supersport had it been around at the time.
Finally in group 1, the SLS.
OK, so I can now say that I get the SLS. On paper it doesn't seem supercar-enough, given that it's 70bhp down on the SL65. And I've never really been convinced by the styling, especially from the rear.
Having now driven one, I can say I was wrong. It's a hoot. So vocal and chatty and loud. So long as you're not too adventurous with the loud pedal in the wet, it goes where you point it, and there's a direct correlation between throttle angle and noise. It's a real "occasion" car. I loved it.
The C63 Coupe was interesting too.
It's how I would imagine a modern-day Ford Capri should be. It can do the seating-4-in-comfort thing, but what it really wants is to be shoved in sport+ and to have its neck wrung, over and over again. It's so eager. So keen and so compliant. Yes, it was one of the least powerful of the group, but it was really a car you could chase down the road.
Next up was the S65.
I'm not sure I get why you'd go into a Mercedes dealership, and choose to spend such an amount of money on inserting such a muted engine into your car. It's very fast, and very well equipped and very luxurious, but if you want to go so fast that you install a 600 horsepower engine in your car, and you're OK paying £50,000 for the privilege, wouldn't you want that motor to make its presence felt? In more than just the "oh, I'm going 40mph faster than I thought I was" kind of way?
It was of course extremely competent, but it rather left me cold. One of the driver-passenger pairs put their passenger in the back, whereupon it was judged "amazing", but for driving pleasure the XJ has it destroyed.
So, it turned out I saved the best 'til last.
The SL65 AMG is an hilarious scary ballistic riot of a machine. It's ludicrously epically mentally fast. Huge power, tyres and carbon ceramic brakes make you forget its physical size as you hurtle towards the next corner. The mute biturbo V12 from the S65 has had 14 cans of Stella before being put in the SL65, and is now shouting at the TV. It caused such an adrenaline rush in me that I laughed and laughed and laughed. And then arrived at the next checkpoint a minute in front of the S65 and C63...
What a great way to spend a day.
