CtheDREAMER

Hey now, I might be in an MB form, but no matter what car I get next, I will never stray from my Bimmer roots. I grew up with Bimmer's and I still love them to death. I love Benz nearly just as much... which is making it hard for me to decide.

Both compaines have their pros and cons. I happen to think that the very fact that Benz never came out with a SL500/600 with a manual transmition is ludicrist. If I was in the market for that class of car, I would get the Z8 in a heartbeat over the SL, nothing replaces a stick shift in a sports car. Not even a tiptonic tranny (I forgot was MB calls their automatic with the clutchless stick option. I call them all tiptonic, since that's what Porche calls them.) On the flip side, I dont' like where teh BMW styling is going.

Anyways... I wanted to respond to the comment: "get that lime color its dope!"

Thanks for your input... but my next car, no matter what it is, is going to be red with black leather interior.

JustinTRW

Well, first off the SL was not intended to be sports car. While there are many enthuisiasts who would like a manual, the fact of the matter is that there is no market for a manual SL. Try and compare a Z8 to the SL and tell me which one you'd rather have.

Oh, it's tiptronic and Porsche. Not tiptonic and Porche. And yes, there is a replacement for a stick shift in the sports car...it's called SMG.

Kal Rubinson

Don't try to correct his spelling; it's ludicrous.

young

well, i like bmw and mb also.

but to compare the Z8 to the SL??? dooood, i would cut off my left pinky for the SL55! ok, i know many purists like the stick, but i think i can convince myself that the 4.5seconds from 0-60mph is good enough.

i did a konfigurator and my SL55 comes to $129,000
(gotta get the panoramic roof, keyless go - no distronic)

(the z8 is an awesome car, but i love the new SL55!)

vadim

Panoramic roof in an SL? That's like a swimming pool fitted in a yacht.

young

well, a glass roof is not just for the sun and wind. rain is music. sometimes, i just sit in my car w/ the rain drumming against the glass and it calms my soul. the feeling is not the same in a steel roofed car. i love watching snow fall also.

yacoub

After treatment from MB dealers, lying cheating, etc... BMW looking alot better, or even more, what about the other luxury brands!
wake up MB!

JeT

I dont' know who your dealer is but I can certainly say they aren't all like that.

CtheDREAMER

sorry about the spelling errors, I type too fast for my own good some times. Plus I plain just wasn't thinking. I currently drive an automatic with the manual option, and it's nothing like a manual. It's a cheap imitation. I still have fun with it, but it doesn't compare with the real deal.

I know that in some respects that an SL and a Z8 cannot be compared. But you also have to realize that they are in the same price range and catagory as two door sports cars. You also have to remember that the SL is regarded as a sports car, Automotive actually took it on the super sports car excursion to the Italian mountians with the makes of a Porsche turbo, a Lamborghini Murchielago, Ferrari 575M, and the Aston Martin Vanquish.

Why BMW wasn't invited, I don't know, but that does support my opinion that the SL NEEDS a manual transmition. Who would buy an automatic Ferrari or Lamborghini? I know of a few people with manual Porsches, but no one with a manual turbo.

I've been told that it is just a car for crusing, and I'm going to go and **** off more people right now, but crusing cars need a better system. I've test driven a 2000 SL and in my opinion the sound system can use a major upgrade. I woudln't even call that a system.

I've never bought a MB, so I can't speak for their sales people. My experiance at the dealerships has always been enjoyable, but I have heard a few complaints. I like that they give free car washes, benz rentals, and great discounts on hotels and such, but even so, that doesnt' make up for bad salesmanship. All dealerships have their share of bad salesmans, and unfortunatly, there is hardly an exception to that rule.

CtheDREAMER

"but i think i can convince myself that the 4.5seconds from 0-60mph is good enough."

I don't think the SL55 does that speed. MB's fastest car at the moment is the SLK32 AMG Kompresser, and that does 0-60 in only 5.1. I don' t know for sure, but I think the sales man woudl have brought up that car up if it did zero to sixty at that speed.

dswildfire

it sure does go 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. it's the fastest production benz, now.

FrankW

Motorweek tested the SLK32 to run 4.6 0-60 time and the M-roadster at 4.8 0-60.

the SL55 does 0-60 in 4.5-4.6 as MotorTrend invited Mario Andretti to test four of the world's fastest drop top, which they are the SL55, Z8, DB7 Vintage, and 360 Spyder. btw Mario's pick was the SL55, his reason was because SL55 has the automatic which you can drive everyday as a daily, most hps/torque, and of course the hardtop coupe/roadster design.

If it's me, i pick the Z8 because it has to be the most beautiful car i have seen.

vadim

here's a quote from the MBUSA.COM website:

Performance Acceleration 0-60 mph 4.5 seconds
Fuel economy EPA estimate 14 mpg
Highway estimate3 20 mpg
Emission certification Low Emission Vehicle (LEV).


Do you really think they would by lying?

tommy

Kiddies, a sportscar isn't 0-60 times alone. It's about fun. A slushbox is just not fun. I'd take a Miata over an SL. Honestly.

The new Cayenne (sp?) will have scary 0-60 times, but I wouldn't call that a sportscar either. And please stop it with the "F1 cars have autos" argument. That doesn't fly. Mercedes makes fast cruisers, not sportscars. Every single review of MBs that I've read in the last 5 years has pretty much boiled down to that.

As far as dealers, there are bad dealers out there, there are bad salespeople. He!!, there are even humane lawyers. Point is that you can find an example of every range of the spectrum. If you're not comfortable with a salesperson/dealer, go somewhere else. Is that difficult?

young

the scary thing is that the new E55 and CLK55 have very similar times. the australian mb site has the E55 doing 0-100 kmph in 4.7 seconds. that's more than a full second faster than my car!

i read that the SL55 was re-tuned after the new clk55 tested to be faster.

Silver_Lana

The SL55 was re-tuned because the new E 55 turned out faster on track tests. The CLK55 is stuck with the normal 5.5 AMG engine. The E55 gets the 5.5 Blower with 476hp while the SL55 is tuned to closer to 493hp.

young

is the Z8 still in production? i wanted to look at the specs.

TimmyC230boy

yeah its still production.

Now if MB put a SMG style tranny in would that satisfy you hard-core manny lovers

Boo2

Hey shortee, you better believe the Sl55 hits it in 4.5s. The SLK32 has nothing on this car, which makes sense since you could buy three of them for the price of an SL55. The SL55 will have around a 40k-50k premium over list (depending on location too). In a straight line, the SL55 has a slight advantage over the 360 Modena. My dad has a 360 and said he bought an SL500 instead of the SL55 cuz he didn't want an everyday car ruining his weekend driving experience. Based on that theory, I told him that his XKR may ruin his SL500 experience (but wasn't enough to convince him to trade up).

As for BMW, I love them. If you are switching from a 740i to a C230 you might have some major adjusting to do. BMW's 4.0 liter V8 is just perfect. My former car was a 540i 6-speed with Dinan modifications. Even though my current car is faster, it doesn't even come close to the feeling that the BMW V8 gives you when you hit the throttle.

As for adding a manual tranny to the SL, it makes no sense for Mercedes. The typical high-end Mercedes client prefers automatic. The main reason that AMG cars only come in auto is that only 5% of current AMG customers want a stick shift. In the case of the C32, only 1000 cars were allocated to the U.S. in 2002. 5% would be 50 cars spread out in the U.S. The low number of vehicles didn't justify the cost to train techs how to repair a supercharged manual tranny (Based off of a magazine article for those who are thinking of arguing )

BMW & MB. Both good cars, both have different types of buyers. Can't go wrong with either.

tommy

The only quibble that I have is that MBs with mannies is a chicken-egg debate. I think that if MB had not already forced people who would otherwise buy their cars with mannies to buy from other makes, their audience wouldn't be so skewed towards slushboxes.

I agree, though. I don't think that their audience really much wants to buy a >100k car with a manny. They can get a 911 for that, why would you go with a Benz at that point?

JustinTRW

CtheDreamer,

You seem to have driven the previous generation SL, so that could be the reason. Also, the new SL55 is sold out for years to come, so salesman do not have to create much interest for the AMG version.

GTIDAN

Regarding salespeople. Sadly salesman don't rank at the bottom of the trust list without a reason.

It's not the car silly but the salesperson that suck. As the man said there are good and bad car folk all around the world.

I've never owned a 'bimmer'. The one time I was interested I went into Saddleback BMW located in Irvine, CA. The punk won't even give me the time of day. Spent his time chatting up some girl on a cell phone. The experience was enough to make me not go back.

I recently purchased a C230K, Brilliant Silver with automatic. After ten years of shifting gears in So. California's traffic I'd had enough. More than happy to let the beautiful five speed auto do my thinking for me.

BTW: I puchased my car from Fletcher Jones located in Newport Beach. The largest dealer in the states if not the world. I've never been treated better. The whole buying experience was beyond any I've ever had before and that means something since I am 63 years old.

Boo2

The old SL300 came with a manual tranny. It didn't sell to well so I guess that's why MB decided against it for its higher-end products (at least in the U.S. not sure if there is a new manual SL500 in Europe).

dasMafia

once again, I missed the fun stuff.....

oh well, this seemed a little more civil than normal, making progress, eh boys?

FrankW

haha