SL 55 or SL600

[mark11]

Ok, I'm back!! Sorry I've ben gone so long but my business has been really demanding of my time lately. I sure have enjoyed catching up on all the chatter. Tiggerfink, Scruffyone, Lovin, how are you all doing? Anyway Scott, to answer your queston. Or rather, to provide you with additional input so that you can answer your own question, I offer the following for your consideration. As did Lovin, I choose the SL600. Also, for all the reasons Lovin did plus one more. The SL600 is the most upgradable SL of the entire MB SL line. That's right, RENNtech, Brabus, Kleeman, you pick the company, the gains in total HP and torque are enormous. I choose to do the ECU & TCU upgrades from RENNtech. (Currently about $6,400) My dealer still services the car and warrantees it. Since the upgrades are not mechanical alterations, they can be easily returned to original factory specs. at any time. (Takes 2 days with overnight mail to RENNtech) So, you get great gain with little pain and piece of mind to boot. Hard to beat! As for the actual gains...about 125-150 HP & 150-200 LBS of torque!! That's alot of extra bang for the money my friend. My car is very fast, faster than a stock SL65 and has all the same luxury features but with a better ride and fifty thousand dollars less!! Besides, there's just something uniquely awesome about a V12. It's different, it's exotic, it's sexy, strong and sophisticated. This is a "refined" sports car that turns beastly upon command. If you like the more muscular appearance of the SL55, than you can easily add the AMG sport package to the SL6oo. There, no compromise! You have it all with the SL600. Good luck with your decision. Sincerely...

[tiggerfink]

mark11 - 10/24/2005 12:32 PM

Ok, I'm back!! Sorry I've ben gone so long but my business has been really demanding of my time lately. I sure have enjoyed catching up on all the chatter. Tiggerfink, Scruffyone, Lovin, how are you all doing? Anyway Scott, to answer your queston. Or rather, to provide you with additional input so that you can answer your own question, I offer the following for your consideration. As did Lovin, I choose the SL600. Also, for all the reasons Lovin did plus one more. The SL600 is the most upgradable SL of the entire MB SL line. That's right, RENNtech, Brabus, Kleeman, you pick the company, the gains in total HP and torque are enormous. I choose to do the ECU & TCU upgrades from RENNtech. (Currently about $6,400) My dealer still services the car and warrantees it. Since the upgrades are not mechanical alterations, they can be easily returned to original factory specs. at any time. (Takes 2 days with overnight mail to RENNtech) So, you get great gain with little pain and piece of mind to boot. Hard to beat! As for the actual gains...about 125-150 HP & 150-200 LBS of torque!! That's alot of extra bang for the money my friend. My car is very fast, faster than a stock SL65 and has all the same luxury features but with a better ride and fifty thousand dollars less!! Besides, there's just something uniquely awesome about a V12. It's different, it's exotic, it's sexy, strong and sophisticated. This is a "refined" sports car that turns beastly upon command. If you like the more muscular appearance of the SL55, than you can easily add the AMG sport package to the SL6oo. There, no compromise! You have it all with the SL600. Good luck with your decision. Sincerely...

We are hanging out at the other forum. They are more SL owners there. mbworld

[Scruffyone]

tiggerfink - 10/25/2005 2:41 AM

We are hanging out at the other forum. They are more SL owners there. mbworld

Heya Mark, long time no post. My SL55 is running/roaring like a dream. 6600 miles so far.
See ya here or over there, like Tigger says....

[cxt32]

You definately made the right choice... I'm enjoying mine just as much!

[MrBenz55]

Id go for the SL65 unless u cant afford it and thats why u are asking between the 55/ 600 then if thats the case go for the 55 !

[93500sel]

I own a 2003 SL55 and I love it more than any car ive ever owned. By the way its the 10th benz ive owned and the 117th automobile. Needless to say I have a car fetish. I will not own another 12 cylinder Mercedes. The Mercedes tuner shop I take my car to has a long history on servicing performance benzes. I owned a 2001 S600 and couldnt get the thing do quit leaking oil. The tuner told me that all mercedes 12 bangers leak oil and even if you fix the leaks, they will return. So if you do purchase one buy the extended warranty for as long as you can. The 600 is faster out of the box 11.9 sec 1/4mi vs. 12.4 in the AMG. My tuner shop reprogrammed the ecu and a kleeman kompressor pully. My last run in the 1/4 netted a 11.57 sec. Also a AMG will hold it value over time where a 600 will depriciate like a conversion van.

[france2112]

Hi,
I've been reading benzworld and mecedesbenzworld forums for a while but this will be my first post here. I just bought a 2005 Pewter SL600 Sport last week and added the Renntech ECU. I read all the posts before I made my decision and I went with the SL600 because of the rareness and easy upgradeable horsepower. I do not have any remorse in my decision. I absolutely love this car. I love the V12 badge and the Renntech upgrade makes this car a total torque beast. I just sold my 2003 CL55 and I can tell you this car will smoke it easily. Probably is the fasted car I've ever been in and it rides so smooth around town. Don't get me wrong, I love the SL55 also and I think it is a great car. I drove both and hands down the SL600 is the better of the two IMHO. I can't wait to race a 55.

[sl600fanatic]

I hope you have not made your decision yet because the SL600 is the ONLY way to go, and here is why: 0-60 in 3.6 seconds same as the Mercedes SLR.

The Vanquish S is actually a poor performing car compared to the sl600. Car and Driver rated it's 0-60 at 4.2 seconds, and 1/4 mile at 12.6 seconds compared to the sl600 of 3.6 and 11.9 respectively. Here is the Vanquish S article:

http://www.caranddriver.com/previews...h-s-page2.html

Sure the Vanquish S may feel faster but that's because of the exhaust note and general car characteristics of the S. Just how the Jaguar XK at only 300HP feels much faster than its embarrassing 0-60 time of 6.0 seconds.

Mercedes screwed up marketing wise with the SL600. They had to have a 600 car, and they had to have an AMG car, but what they ended up with was an engine that produced massive amounts of torque, which ended up being faster than both the SL55 and SL65. So what did they do? Well they misrepresented the true performance of the SL600 and advertised it as 4.7 seconds from 0-60 so they would marketingwise have a car that was on par with the SL55, when in fact it was much faster. Car and Driver tested it at 3.6 seconds and here is the article to prove it:

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...enz-sl600.html

Do you know what a disaster it would be if people realized that the SL600 was as fast as the $500000 MacLaren SLR, tested at 0-60 in also 3.6 seconds? Well it was, and here is the Car and Driver article to prove that figure:

http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtest...r-mclaren.html


So now the SL600 is just as fast as the SLR and even faster than even the SL65 which has even more torque (0-60 in 3.8). Why? Well because the SL65 has TOO much torque making the wheels spin, loosing traction and time. Here is the Car and Driver article to prove that the SL65 is slower:

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...-sl65-amg.html

So with the SL600 they made a true supercar but one that was not appealing to the AMG buyers because it did not have the AMG looks to it (who cares? buy the SL600 and add some wheels and a body kit and save money off the overpriced AMG kit anyways). The average SL600 buyer is a different part of the market. That's why so many people buy the SL55 because they are uneducated buyers who dont know about this huge secret of Mercedes. But with a little investigation it is clear that the SL600 is the best SL out there. EVER.

It's amazing how uneducated car buyers can be. Even people who own these supercars have incorrect perceptions of what their car truly is. Sure, Aston Martins are sexy and girls love them. There is no question about that. But when it comes to performance, they are very average in the supercar world. The SL600 is the true supercar and best kept secret out there. Buy one, and leave every car including the Vanquish S in the dust!

[france2112]

Originally Posted by sl600fanatic

I hope you have not made your decision yet because the SL600 is the ONLY way to go, and here is why: 0-60 in 3.6 seconds same as the Mercedes SLR.

The Vanquish S is actually a poor performing car compared to the sl600. Car and Driver rated it's 0-60 at 4.2 seconds, and 1/4 mile at 12.6 seconds compared to the sl600 of 3.6 and 11.9 respectively. Here is the Vanquish S article:

http://www.caranddriver.com/previews...h-s-page2.html

Sure the Vanquish S may feel faster but that's because of the exhaust note and general car characteristics of the S. Just how the Jaguar XK at only 300HP feels much faster than its embarrassing 0-60 time of 6.0 seconds.

Mercedes screwed up marketing wise with the SL600. They had to have a 600 car, and they had to have an AMG car, but what they ended up with was an engine that produced massive amounts of torque, which ended up being faster than both the SL55 and SL65. So what did they do? Well they misrepresented the true performance of the SL600 and advertised it as 4.7 seconds from 0-60 so they would marketingwise have a car that was on par with the SL55, when in fact it was much faster. Car and Driver tested it at 3.6 seconds and here is the article to prove it:

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...enz-sl600.html

Do you know what a disaster it would be if people realized that the SL600 was as fast as the $500000 MacLaren SLR, tested at 0-60 in also 3.6 seconds? Well it was, and here is the Car and Driver article to prove that figure:

http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtest...r-mclaren.html


So now the SL600 is just as fast as the SLR and even faster than even the SL65 which has even more torque (0-60 in 3.8). Why? Well because the SL65 has TOO much torque making the wheels spin, loosing traction and time. Here is the Car and Driver article to prove that the SL65 is slower:

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...-sl65-amg.html

So with the SL600 they made a true supercar but one that was not appealing to the AMG buyers because it did not have the AMG looks to it (who cares? buy the SL600 and add some wheels and a body kit and save money off the overpriced AMG kit anyways). The average SL600 buyer is a different part of the market. That's why so many people buy the SL55 because they are uneducated buyers who dont know about this huge secret of Mercedes. But with a little investigation it is clear that the SL600 is the best SL out there. EVER.

It's amazing how uneducated car buyers can be. Even people who own these supercars have incorrect perceptions of what their car truly is. Sure, Aston Martins are sexy and girls love them. There is no question about that. But when it comes to performance, they are very average in the supercar world. The SL600 is the true supercar and best kept secret out there. Buy one, and leave every car including the Vanquish S in the dust!

Hi,
I couldn't agree more! I love my SL600. I had Renntech do the ECU upgrade and this car really moves. I raced a CL65 two days ago from a stand still and a 20 MPH roll. I actually was impressed how fast the CL was! From a 20MPH roll we were dead even up to a max speed of 130 MPH and we ran out of room. From a stand still I beat the CL65 only because of traction issues. The CL lost traction both times in 2nd gear so I pulled ahead slightly. Other then that we were even. Not bad for a SL600 to keep up with the 65. I have to believe an ECU upgrade for the 65 is almost unbeatable.

[jmf003]

Originally Posted by sl600fanatic

I hope you have not made your decision yet because the SL600 is the ONLY way to go, and here is why: 0-60 in 3.6 seconds same as the Mercedes SLR.
...
Car and Driver tested it at 3.6 seconds and here is the article to prove it:

http://www.caranddriver.com/shortroa...enz-sl600.html

Actually, no one has been able to duplicate the Car and Driver numbers. At least not that I've ever seen.

For example, Germany's Sport Auto TV ran the SL55 and SL600 head-to-head. The cars posted identical 0-100 KM times of 4.6 seconds. The SL600 was faster to 200 KM, 13.9 seconds versus 14.3 seconds for the SL55.

I've attached a copy of the results screen.
ScreenHunter_2.jpg

The full video is available here: http://videos.streetfire.net/hottest...5832841dbd.htm

So why was Car and Driver's SL600 so much faster? Speculation is they were given a tuned car rather than a stock car.

Mind you, I only know what I've seen. If you've seen someone other than C&D run sub 4.0 0-60 times with a stock SL600, I'll gratefully stand corrected.