SL55Kompressor

Im interested in everyone's thoughts on the SL55 vs. BMW Z8 vs. Ferrari 360 or 550 vs. Porsche Turbo. I feel that although the Mercs weight could slow it down, it will make it much more stable at high speeds. Also the torque rating alone is frightening...

516lb-ft of torque AT ONLY 2,650rpm. And keep in mind it has a paddle shift stlye shifter transmission.

Blue Benz

I think the SL55 will outrun the Z8 and current 550 Maranello (Ferrari is going to update it next year and it will put out over 500 HP), and it will probably outrun a 360 Spider, but not the 360 Modena or 911 Turbo. But if it can't outrun these cars, it will certainly be able to keep up.

bugfighter

The SL55 won't beat the Porsche Turbo and the 360. But I like the SL55 overall, and I think it'd be a better daily driver than the others, although the Porsche can come close in that department.

JamE55

SL55 might not beat the 911 GT2 Turbo and 360 Modena but it should be able to keep up with them!

Maff

The SL55 will beat the lot....

The latest issue of the German car magazine Auto Motor und Sport (AMS) has a comparison between 5 +300 km/h cars. They are all non modified production cars:

Aston Martin Vanquish
Ferrari 550 Maranello
Lamborghini Murciélago
Mercedes SL55 AMG (unlimited version, a DM 3000 option)
Porsche GT2

They test the cars at the Italian high speed track Nardo (where you don't have any centrifugal force on the car when doing 240km/h). They test acceleration 0-100km/h, 0-200km/h, 0-300km/h and topspeed.

The results are surprising:

0-100 km/h:
Aston Martin Vanquish 5.6 s
Ferrari 550 Maranello 4.7 s
Lamborghini Murciélago 3.6 s
Mercedes SL55 AMG 4.6 s
Porsche GT2 4.0 s

0-200 km/h:
Aston Martin Vanquish 17.4 s
Ferrari 550 Maranello 14.6 s
Lamborghini Murciélago 11.4 s
Mercedes SL55 AMG 13.7 s
Porsche GT2 13.1 s

0-300 km/h:
Aston Martin Vanquish 55.0 s
Ferrari 550 Maranello 61.2 s
Lamborghini Murciélago 34.2 s
Mercedes SL55 AMG 32.5 s
Porsche GT2 40.9 s

Top speed:
Aston Martin Vanquish 316 km/h
Ferrari 550 Maranello 306 km/h
Lamborghini Murciélago 330 km/h
Mercedes SL55 AMG 325 km/h
Porsche GT2 315 km/h

The Mercedes Sl55 AMG (with automatic transmission and tons of extra options) is the fastest car to 300 km/h and only slower in top speed than the twice as expensive Lamborghini...

Weight of the cars:
Aston Martin Vanquish 1863 kg
Ferrari 550 Maranello 1732 kg
Lamborghini Murciélago 1819 kg
Mercedes SL55 AMG 1974 kg
Porsche GT2 1446 kg

CW value:
Aston Martin Vanquish 0.34
Ferrari 550 Maranello 0.33
Lamborghini Murciélago 0.33
Mercedes SL55 AMG 0.29
Porsche GT2 0.34

The SL 55 AMG is the heaviest car but also has the best CW value.

Richard

The article mentioned my Maff above is now in English in Autocar magazine ..

For those who cant be bothered to translate from kmh to mph

Top speed:
Aston Martin Vanquish 196mp/h
Ferrari 550 Maranello 190mp/h
Lamborghini Murciélago 205mp/h
Mercedes SL55 AMG 202mp/h
Porsche GT2 196mp/h

Note that the SL55 when supplied is limited to 155, if you ask AMG to remove the limiter they put it at around 170 because thats the fastest tyres one can buy, if you somehow persuade them to remove it completely then you get the 202mph top speed ...

Maff

Another quote:

Bernd Baumann, AMG's project manager for the SL55 states that they have seen 335kph - this equates to 208mph. The tyres are rated at a top speed of 186mph (Rossos P-Zero).

Edited to say - for AMG to remove the V-Max completely costs 3000DM optional extra in Germany.

SL55Kompressor

Mercedes SL 500 vs Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet vs Lexus SC 430
Comparison by AutoUniversum. SL won the first place, 911 took second and Lex the last...


thats all revvinghigh.com said. the article is in german i think