Power in a pretty package
The Mercedes SL65 AMG commands respect — both from onlookers and the driver, writes Lerato Matebese
THE Mercedes-Benz SL is arguably one of the company’s most elegant roadsters, what with the SL300 of the 1950s still fetching some handsome sums at auction — if you can find one up for sale, that is.
Since then the range has remained compelling. Back in 2012, we managed to test the current generation SL500 and it left us impressed by its elegance and power, thanks to the 4.7l V8 twin turbo engine. We later managed to try out the SL63 AMG and it seemed to offer another dimension to the range, that of added performance and exclusivity.
Most recently, we got to sample the flagship of the range, the SL65 AMG that packs a 6.0l V12 bi-turbo engine mustering 463kW and 1,000Nm via a seven-speed automatic transmission.
Setting the model apart from its lesser siblings in the aesthetics department is the V12 bi-turbo badge on the front wings, while at the rear that 65 badge sits resplendently on the rump.
The interior offers a similar architecture and layout to the SL63 AMG and, thanks to the quilted leather, you would be forgiven for thinking you were in a cigar lounge instead. Materials used throughout are of the highest quality and structural rigidity is also quite exemplary.
It is all about boulevard cruising in the SL65 and the model does that rather well indeed. Thanks to that V12 engine, there is more than enough power to supplement Eskom’s current loadshedding schedule woes.
To put that another way, the model has double the power and torque of an SL400, which has 245kW and 480Nm. As you would expect from the figures, the SL65’s 463kW and 1,000Nm should be quite astonishing and it is just that. At low revs the engine feels adequate enough to drive to the café with ease. However, keep the throttle mashed to the floorboards and wait for the turbos to spool up, at which point you are firmly squeezed back into your seat as you hurl towards the horizon. Of course, containing all that torque is no mean feat and the vehicle tends to scrabble for purchase before it gets down to the job at hand, that of covering ground with haste.
What the engineers have managed to do is make the model that much more audible than the previous generation. Granted, it does not have the hard-edged staccato howl of an Aston Martin V12, but it certainly sounds more substan- tial than the previous model, if only just. In my view, the biggest credit should go to the gearbox, which has two more forward gears than the previous model’s archaic five-speed automatic.
These present two advantages to the new set-up. The first is the torque can now be more evenly spread through the gears, while the extra two cogs mean that economy has improved substantially. We managed a lowest fuel consumption of 14l/100km which, for a V12 engine, is good and corresponds with the manufacturer’s 13.9l/100km claimed figure.
In essence while there are more exotic models that one can buy at the price of the SL65 AMG, not many can match it for sheer grunt, and that is perhaps the appeal of the model.
That said, at some R600,000 less the SL63 AMG is arguably the more rounded of the two AMGs. Not only is it cheaper, but it is equally as fast as the SL65 AMG in real world terms, and boy does it sound the part, too.
But the SL65 AMG is the ultimate open-top in the company’s product portfolio and for some there is simply no substitute for such bragging rights.