http://www.flixvault.org/topgear_video/150.zip


not the best quality unfortunately, but doesn't Top Gear just love Mercedes?

Re Post!!!

That show (and I think you mean "Fifth Gear," which is a video version of the magazine "Top Gear") seems to bash everything non-British. They're doing the patriotic thing a little too obvious.

They need reminders of the woeful junk British cars (especially from British-Leyland) used to be.

I'll check the video out now.

No, the program is Top Gear. Fith Gear is completely different program which is no where near as good. But your right, that there is also a magazine called Top Gear.

And about bashing everything non-British, Jeremy Clarkson (the presenter) loved the cl65, and thats made in Germany. He just doesn't like American cars that can't turn round corners!

Although I admit his favourite cars are the Aston Martins, Jaguars, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, McLarens which are all made in England.

Yet, Clarkson owns a SL55.

Think he owns a Ford GT now

www.fordvehicles.com/fordgt/index.asp

First of all, that video is funny. Second of all, that video is funny. I don't care what it says about the CL65, it is funny. And, he makes a good point. For $187,000 would it really have killed AMG to install their "off the shelf" limited slip differential? I don't know about you, but 730+ lb-ft of torque and open-differential with sub 300mm tires doesn't make sense.

Counterpoint1: for under $3000 installed, kleemann will install a 60% torque bias lsd on your car and you can just watch the performance times drop. On the 55 kompressors you can drop your 0-60 by roughly .3 seconds all day long, just imagine what it could do with a couple hundred more lb-ft of torque to use.

Counterpoint 2: for $187,000 you can afford $3000 for an aftermarket, yet OEM quality, LSD.

Counterpoint 3: the answer to his question as to why they built the car? It is simple. They built the 65AMG series for people who regularly drive super high speeds on the autobahn and other famous high speed transit routes. The whole setup on the car is much more for cruising than on the 55's. Honestly, I could at least see someone's argument for having a CL55 and a CL65 in the garage. Although, I would go with a CL55 and a S65. The 55 and 65 are that different in purpose. Big Smooth V12 with sporty yet supple suspension Vs. Big torquey, adrenaline rush supercharged V8 with sporty and quite firm suspension.

Lastly, if they did a rematch with the tug of war team with a LSD, the team would either be pulled off their feet almost instantly or have their arms ripped right out of their sockets. I am not really sure which would happen first. I guess it would depend on how strapped in to the rope they were.

By the way, you do realize that the torque produced by those engines could reverse the turbines at hoover dam and pump water back up into the reservoir, right?

I'm not sure a LSD would have made that much of a difference..
The problem is that you can't get power down to the road with 275's on wet pavement. You won't even get half of the pulling power on wet..

Who's he and why should anyone care what he drives?

...i thought i was the only 1 who noticed the pavement was WET

I think the LSD would get the car moving, and once the car was moving, it would do the aforementioned.

Obviously, these are all just speculations, but the point of the LSD is to improve traction. They work great on wet and snowy roads. They make it possible to drive a mercedes in much worse conditions, especially when paired with a competent snow tire.

Once one tire slips, the other gets 100% of the torque on the CL65. This would prevent this by never letting more than 60% to any one wheel. That way, when you lose traction, you have a much better chance of regaining it.

This was the reasoning behind my thinking the outcome would be different. Obviously, tread width, depth, and pattern play a huge role in the outcome. That is why I mentioned the inadequate tire setup in the first paragraph of my last post.

Yes, of course it's better to have a real LSD.
But you can still get some of the same advantage with an "ASR"-system, braking the tyre that looses traction. That also makes more of the power go to the other wheel with more traction.

Still the far biggest difference would have been dry pavement.

I agree that the biggest difference would have been a dry road.

I was just playing along with their conditions as they had the traction and stability systems turned off in the experiment. Or, at least they appeared to be off.

I think the system was on though.. it looked like the system was working I think.. periodically letting of the brakes a bit when a tyre regained traction.. and then braking it again as i lost traction. With the amount of torque the engine delivers it will take a short moment before the system applies the brakes hard enought and cutting the power to the engine to stop the tyre from spinning.
But of course a LSD would have made the whole thing more effective since it works instantly.

also one of the first time in 10 years i have caught clarkson making a mistake.
the cl65 is a 6.0 -liter and NOT a 6.5-liter

This is noteworthy. Sometimes one gets the impression that far too many accept (Clarkson) and his associates as more authoritive and inerrant than they truly are. Therefore, beyond any mere color commentating on their end which often reveals its baised perspectives, one must also leave room these people to make mistakes straight up, too.