HLG600

I have traction issues with my car. I cannot begin to imagine how much fun I would have with the RennTech!

JLP

Well it was a mixed bag, with the esp on it would bog pretty easy. When I shut the esp off I was sideways for 50 feet........fun yes but not the most practical way to put the power down.
But the sound of the motor was incredible!

blk350

makes no sense to me . you lose to a old less powerful carrera, but you can beat a new one.

Jons95c36amg

You race that 560sl? Dont you worry about blowing something? How many miles on it? My C36 runs mid 5 sec and low 14s in the 1/4 which I think is decently fast.

R107SL

haha yea well the SL has around 67,000 miles on it. So not too many for an 18 year old car.

ralphlopez

Not as boast but as confession of fiscal folly, I owned, in order (among many other cars) a 2004 Porsche 911 C4S, a 2003 SL500, a 1999 SL500 and, currently, a 1988 560SL. 0-60 mph is a silly criteria for a sport car. Relevant for a hot rod or drag racer. Otherwise, just nonsense. A supercharged Subaru blows the doors off any non-AMG SL and even a most normally aspirated Porsche 911s. Proving what? That 0-60 is nonsense where sport cars are concerned. Who over the age of 16 (ought to) give a darn? No one but the same fool who would pick a Subaru over a Mercedes or a Porsche if money were no object.

What matters(?): how sporty the car feels + how the car really, truly performs. No non-AMG Mercedes performs like a 911. Fat car versus lean car. Even a twin turbo charged 12 cylinder really doesn't compare to a turbo Carrera. Not in performance. In comfort, style, panache, feel--heck yes, some would say. But not in objective performance. Fat car versus lean car.

When I was younger and less sure of myself I cared more about what other people thought of my cars. So if the "objective" evaluations were that one car was faster, quicker, nimbler, better than another, I tended to want what other people thought was better. Until it dawned on me (near the age of 50) that what matters was what was fun to me. And here's what's fun--what the car feels like, sounds like, smells like and looks like (red absolutely feels faster). On that criteria--of all those great cars (and a few BMW M3s and supercharged Fords), the relatively slow 1988 SL560 takes the cake. It's powerful enough, fast enough, real long in the hood (visual) and low in the seat (visual and visceral). It smells like Germany to me. It doesn't ding easily because the sheet metal is that old too-thick Mercedes skin. It was designed and built when there was no Lexus, Infinity, Acura etc. etc. and Mercedes used engineers out the *** and spared nothing to build cars that could outlast the dealerships that sold them.

If you can get an old Mercedes and adjust your expectations to the early 90s or 1980s or before, get one. If you can get a Porsche from the same era and know someone who can keep it tuned, get one. They are different breeds, but they are the same species: a Stuttgart sport auto guaranteed to give driving pleasure beyond your own mortal lifetime.

Assuming you can get over that Speed Racer, Boy Toy, 0-60, who-can-shift-faster nonsense.

And here's heresy: if you really, truly want to know what the best sport car is for the money---no kidding, it's the Mazda Miata. But it just smells wrong.

GMBALL

Dammit,
you should come to Europe, here 0-60 in low 7 is considered fast.
Some things from US sound to me like you guys live on another planet...
Has anyone ever driven VW Polo 1.4 or VW Passat 1.9 TDI? Call these slow.

who-two

i had to put the cover on my 560 after hearing the kind of words used to describe my baby
my almost mint triple black classic might not be the fastest but o the body lines the sleek long nose leading up to her sparkling crome grill mmm and that short little trunk hahaha i need a cig lol .NOT A TURD

Vic55

Really- this thread is done.


Closed.