Malibu-CEO

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and I've not seen this link, already posted, so I thought I would go ahead and post it here. It appeared yesterday as news, on Car and Driver.com. There are a lot of official pics and some info that may or may not have already been covered on this forum.

http://www.caranddriver.com/autoshow...mg.html?al=129

teeth

I think it looks nice. I like the profile of my 08 better but it's a nice job. I'm a bit jealous of the new COMAND software and especially the SD slot. Those here who will now complain of a loss of their own resale are ridiculous. Lease next time or buy an Accord if that's what matters. An SL makes a great car but a terrible investment.

SL2003driver

Any non-limited production car will lose value. But based on how ugly the 2009 SL will be the 07/08's might end up retaining more value then normal.

So Cal Sam

It looks like all the spy photos were correct unfortunately. Not a winner in the redesign department. All previous R230's look so much better. We'll see what 2011 brings when the complete redesign comes out. For now it looks like the R230 glory days are over. Glad I purchased when I did.

teeth

Like many designs, it will grow on us all. I thought the 5-series BMW's were ugly when they came out.... now i like them. The '03 to '08 SL's are just so strikingly beautiful and well proportioned that they were instant classics. Hard to duplicate.

Scotsman

Hmm, jury's out on that one. First impressions aren't good but maybe it'll be nicer in the flesh. I won't be changing mine in a hurry.

MBwakeboard

What in God’s name have the designers at Mercedes Benz done to one of the most attractive cars on the road? The SL has always been a car that was a designer’s showcase. A vehicle that harkened back to the days of the old 300SL, one of the prettiest cars ever penned. The SL was more than just a car; it was a rolling piece of art. Now, however, the pinheads at Mercedes have decided that the car needs a bit of a “refresh”, less than two years after it underwent another “refresh”. Adding an additional 80 horses to the engine, stiffing the ABC system by 60%, and adding a larger sat-nav screen seemed to me to be perfectly reasonable advances. Advances that should help carry the car into the end of its current design style. However, less than two years after this mild refresh we are seeing these pictures of this, this thing. It’s just hideous. All the swooping lines, all the beautiful curves, elements that reminded me of that classic 300 SL are just gone! Now were left with a car that looks like it had all the really good bits lopped off and all of this tacky body cladding added on as sort of an after thought.

I know Mercedes thinks that they have to stay current, but speeding through design process on your flagship roadster just so it can sort of match the design continuity of the rest of the brand is not the way to build a beautiful car. Everything about this “new SL” screams stopgap car; Infiniti did this with the first M45. It was a terrible car, but they built it anyway, sold it for a couple of years before going back to drawing board and releasing the car they should have built in the first place. So, Infiniti took their time on the second generation, and boom, the new M35/45 is praised as being better than the BMW 545i. This “new” SL seem to be following exactly that same philosophy, just build it because the “market demands we stay current”, and then in a couple of years release the car that we really should have come out with in 2009.

SSS

.......... but the Infiniti strategy actually paid off right? Keep in mind the first gen M45 was basicly a rebadged Nissan Cedric (which has been around for awhile) with nicer interior. Essentially the first gen M didn't cost Infiniti much money in terms of R&D at all, it's like cheap advertisement. You're right though, that's exactly what Mercedes did with the redesign. I am sure they rather buy some time to delay the launch of the next SL, but the European pedestrian safety regulation made it impossible to carry the current design for another 2-3 years. What I don' understand is why they had to mess around with the headlight design and grill design.

Scotsman

http://www.autospies.com/news/The-20...-Images-25651/
Some more pics. Looks OK inside but the front is bloody awful.
As MBwakeboard said, "Where are the beautiful curves?"

MBwakeboard

Sure, economically it didn’t cost Infiniti anything to rebadge a Nissan an turn into an Infiniti, but what it did cost them was brand credibility. Everyone knew the car sucked, even the few people who bought them, that’s why they came out with the new M so quickly. Mercedes new ad’s for the C class claim that they over engineer their cars because to meet our expectations they must build “nothing less than a Mercedes Benz.” Yeah right….

JackStraw

Look, I know that I have said this over and over (as have others), but the reason for this facelift is to come into compliance with the EU pedestrian safety regulations. To do this, they had to extend the nose a few inches away from the engine and to raise the hood some distance from the engine. These changes lessen the impact to the unfortunate pedestrian who happens to be hit by the car. The EU expects that these changes will save a couple of thousand lives per year.

The changes to the SL were clearly a compromise. They changed as little of the metal as possible to come into compliance. The major changes were to the hood (metal) and the front fascia (plastic) and headlights. Not many people here like the changes that were made, I certainly don't. Could they have done a better job? Surely most of us think so. But by doing nothing, MB would not be able to sell the SL in the EU in 2010. Now that is unacceptable to the company. These changes were not made to stay current to sell more SLs, they were made to sell SLs period. So until they get around to doing the complete redesign with these safety features in mind from the outset, the world is going to have to live with this facelift, however it turns out.

SL2003driver

I think this is a great change for me personally, since I just bought a 2008 SL550. I think these changes will make the 2007/2008 SL550's hold their value better then any other MB. Kind of like the late 90's Porsches did when Porsches came out with the water cooled 911's. 2007/2008's got the improved engines, suspensions, steering and kept the good looks. Thanks MB.

JackStraw

Wishful thinking on your part, in my opinion. I hope you are right though.

gqa

i completely understand the euro pedestrian thing, but why couldn't they make the changes while keeping the headlights and grille the same?
i think its a slap in the face of all the current sl owners to have 2 major facelifts (not re-designs) in 3 years
unfortunately it will lower the value on all previous sl's because they know like we do, everyone will get adjusted to the new look and continue to buy sl's. who cares about their devoted following!! (sarcasm)

don't get me wrong face lifts and updates are great. like the r129 but you can barley tell the difference of the 1st model year and last. also you could always spend a little money on your r129 and make it look updated. but now who's gonna change the headlight, the gille, the fenders, and what else. now some have an outdated looking updated model sl (07-08 models)

Guido1986

I think its kinda ugly but i cant really say anything until i see it in person....I know before when the current SL came out back in 02 i saw it in a magazine and didnt even have to see it in person i just loved it but this car doesnt have the same appeal to it......the article is kinda right tho when it says it looks better when it has the AMG package and there right it does look alittle better in the AMG Kit but other than that the base model is ugly...theres no lines at all and no curves it sits high up and its even worse from the side veiw