Mercedes-Benz has a new supercar called the SLS AMG. With starting prices of around $ 180,000, it’s priced to compete directly with brands like Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Aside from all the usual performance comparisons, there’s one thing this car has that the others don’t – the gull-wing Mercedes is back. Entertainment: Well, there’s a 6.2-liter engine up front that provides a rumble to match anything that comes out of Detroit. With more than five hundred and fifty horsepower, the SLS would be an entertaining ride even if the handling was poor. Fortunately, that is not the case. It’s agile, balanced, and while it feels pretty stiff on the road, the combination of engine and handling provides a fantastic ride.
In terms of practicality, the car is a bit of a mixed bag. Obviously, Mercedes has considered how this car will be used and the SLS comes with typical features to provide everyday usability like satellite navigation and a decent stereo. However, the gull wings, as iconic as they are, make it a pain to get in and out of the car, they make the car very wide, and you really have to reach down to lower the doors once you’re inside. The design also means that headroom is quite tight.
The gearbox is dual clutch and works very well. There is a slight lag when you move the paddles, but overall it feels very sharp and responsive. Obviously, the car has rear wheel drive. The seating position is very rearward and harks back to old-school GTs and combined with the precise steering, you have total faith in where the front of the car will go. This car can turn corners very, very fast; If you tried hard enough, you could probably keep up with a four-wheel drive 911 Turbo. It’s also insanely fast in a straight line, which is very impressive for a front-engined heavyweight Grand Tourer.
In terms of value for money, can any car at this price be considered reasonable? Probably not, but alongside its peers it is competitively priced. Let’s look at it another way: against the Mercedes McLaren SLR, the SLS is faster, handles better and is less expensive to the tune of almost two hundred thousand dollars. So the SLS is a noisy and garish affair dominated by the enormous power of an engine, but at the same time civilized by the usual high standard of refinement and ease of use that you would expect from a Mercedes-Benz.