The AMG SL55 is not really a luxury autobahn cruiser. The S55 or CL55 is. The S- stands for Sport, hence the SL is meant to be the best sports car that Merc have got, save for the Mac.
It doesn't weigh 2500 kilos, it weighs a shade under 2000 kilos.
Yes there is a problem with the SL55, but the real question is, is the handling as represented in GT5P REALLY that bad?
I say no. A lot of grand tourers these days are tipping the 1800-1900 kilo mark and a lot of them can handle very nicely. I can't see why a hand-fettled AMG appears to be such a barge in GT5P. The front-end skitter must be overpronounced.
Speaking of the front end, anyone found a way to settle the bounce? Holden? You're our tuning meister, surely you've tried some tricks on it?
While I would agree with you on the weight side of things, the AMG SL55 weighs in at 1,960 kilos, that is still a lot of weight for a car to handle. After all the E63 AMG Estate car weighs less (1,955 kilos).
Simple physics, weight kills performance. While AMG can counter this with 517 bhp and 720 Nm for the straight-line stuff; it becomes a whole other ball game to control that degree of mass moving around.
Every review of the AMG SL55 has commented on how it struggles once you hit the track (an environment that this car was not designed for), while it is indeed a potent car in engine terms (arguably AMG's strongest area) it was designed to be at its best on the open road. That very factor dictates its suspension set-up, which has to be compromised to allow comfort given the mass it has to support. Stiffen up the suspension to the required degree to control some of that load transfer speed and you would end up with a car that would rapidly shake teeth loose (and Merc customers don't go in for that kind of thing).
You mention other Grand Tourers that handle "very nicely", and they do, on the road. Grand Tourers again suffer from handling issues when on track, the limits pushed to in this environment are quite different to those of the road.
The old M3? Great car, awesome car even. Much better chassis, but the M3 will get left for dead in a straight line and I'm not convinced that the BMW has that much of an advantage through corners to make up for a 130hp engine deficit.
Misleading. The the last M3 may loose out to the AMG SL55 by 179 bhp (not 130 bhp - AMG SL55 = 517 bhp, M3 = 338 bhp), but its also 390 kilos lighter than the AMG SL55.
So both these factors need to be taken into account, so comparing Power to weight ratios would be far more useful, and the are as follows.
AMG SL55 - 1,960 kilos & 517 bhp = 263 bhp per tonne
M3 - 1,570 kilos & 338 bhp = 215 bhp per tonne
Which gives the AMG SL55 a Power to weight advantage of 48 bhp per tonne, a lot less of an advantage that you implied and one that the massive advantage an M3 gains around the corners would more than claw back.
What has also not be yet mentioned (that I have seen), is the problems the AMG SL55 has in laying power down, the stupid levels of torque it produces (720Nm or 531 ft/lbs in real money). As torque is multiplied by gearing this increases directly in relation to the gear ratios, final drive ratio and wheel/tyre size. I've been in a AMG SL55 (many thanks to Daimler in Stuttgart for that) and its practically impossible on road tyres to use the entire engine range in first or second without the TC kicking in constantly. The AMG SL55 (and to a greater degree the SL65 and to a varying degree most modern high torque AMG's) has a know reputation for being almost impossible to use all the engines power in lower gears.
Now don't get me wrong on any of this, I love the AMG range, working with Daimler over the years I've come across a lot of them, my dad has also owned a fair number of Merc's over the years. I am however also very aware of the target audience behind this car and the environment it was developed for, and that environment certainly wasn't a track.
Quite frankly a hell of a lot of less powerful, lighter cars from that era will had the AMG SL55 its backside on a plate around the vast majority of tracks, and that most certainly includes the last M3.
Regards
Scaff
) due to PD screwing up the brakes again? Or is it because in the game is handles like the rather gooey GT car that it handles like in real life?
