Just got back from the Detroit NAIAS, and as all genuine SL lovers would do, the first thing that I did was run to the Mercedes booth where they had the incredible SL600 on display. The SL600 has been my dream car since 6 years ago, when I first incountered some information and spy photos leaked out before the porduction stage. The pictures that I saw back then had very little detail, but the word was out about the retracktable hardtop and what kind of a great machine it was going to be. Well, the real thing didn't disapoint m when Mercedes officially launched the R230. I am a fan of V12s, and becuase of that reason, the SL600 always was on the top of my list. I hope I was fortunate enough like some other people on the board who share their stories about how great it is owning one, but at this moment it doesn't seem like it will be happening in the near future. Well, enough about me, and about the SL600. As many of you already may have seen, the car was a black car with grey interior. I have seen the car in real life a few times, and every time I see it, the fact that it's a lot different from the pictures I see strikes me. The pictures do not account for the amazing and magnificent presence the car has in real life. It's gracious lines, and sculpted body with the 18 inch wheels really show that the car is a special car, and it was meant to be a very special car. Unlike the pictures I have seen of the car on the internet and so forth, it feels larger in person, as well as heavier. To be honest, sometimes i was disappointed with the car's appearance on some angles, but in real, the car was pleasant from every angle. I just stood there next to the car, not even realizing that I was drooling like mad and found my self in awe. I did take some pictures, but I am reluctant to post them on the board because of two reasons right now. One is that the pics that I have taken today does not do justice to the car, and secondly, I need to resize the pics because they are too large, and frankly I am a little bit too tired at the moement to put my self to do that. I will, however, post pics if everyone wants to see them, and as soon as I regain some energy, which will probablly be tomorrow. Well, good night to you all. I will be going to dreamland to see my love, the SL600.

 

I will be at the show one of these days. Just as a curiosity, was the Sl600 an open car - meaning, can you sit on it? Or will it be closed and cordoned? What else was on the MB display? Will I be able to see the S/CL600? I know there is an AMG CL in there.

 

Sorry to say that the SL600 was a closed car. Eveyone seemed to want to sit in it, but when I was there, no one was able to. I remember last year, when the SL500 was on display, some people were able to sit in it, and the MB official was showing how the car's top worked, dispite it being a closed car. The other amazing cars on display were the CL55 AMG, which you could actually sit in. The car was amazing. There was the S430, and also a G-class on display, although I really didn't like the color of it, which was as I rememver, green. Well, have fun at the show, I know you will. It's been a blast for me, and I am considering going there again soon.

 

Here's a pic of the interior of the SL600. The exterior shots turned out to be terrible, as I am not that great of a photographer.

 

Here's another.

 

I think as we expected, this car looks just like a loaded 500 - the main thing to notice being that it has exclusive nappa leather - you can tell by the texture and sheen of the dash - and it also had the wide screen command we've seen in the revised S and CL so that would suggest it will come to the other models of the SL in due course.

This car also has keyless go, distronic, linguatronic, wood rim steering wheel, all of which are options on the SL500. Some may still be options on the SL600 but I think its list is going to be very short...

 

youre not only paying fo rjust the options but the V12 also too,
it will be xpensive, I am just curios as to what kind of soudn it ill make.

 

My guess is that the MSRP of the SL600 will be over $120k....

 

nice pics, Thanks

 

There has been a couple of references to an AMG version of the V12. Automobile magazine just did aa article on the S600 and the 760i. The last paragragh alluded to the performance gap getting wider with the forthcoming S62 with 600!!!!!hp. Does anyone have any information on the AMG version? I have an R230 V12 on order, I'd wait for the AMG.

TIA

 

I wouldn't hold my breath. Unless you live in Europe you will most likely never see any V12 AMG's.

They have had them for years and were never imported inot the US and I can't see any reason why they would change that.

In Europe they had the S63, CL63 and the SL73.

Wolfman

 

I was at the show today. Yes, the Sl600 was absolutely awsome, and I liked the color. The car just felt carved froma piece of rock. The wheels and the color made a possible sport package seem redundant. One thing that made made me raise an eyebrow through! Seemingly, the portion of the dash over the spedo and tach was not in alcantera leather as in the SL55 (at least) but rather plastic like in the SL500. I may have bene wrong, but I checked this thoroughly, as much as you can do so without getting in.
The CL55 was a blast as well. Although I could not help but notice that the steering wheel was a lot skinnier than the normal wooden one. Any reference elsewhere in this forum that the sport steering wheel is thicker sort of surprises me.
I have actually started liking the & series, especially after i sat in the 760.

 

benznut, I think you need to lie down on the floor in a darkened room until you feel better....

The SL600 has nappa leather which covers the entire dash in leather and I'm sure that will include instrument cowls.

 

I agree with BlueSL on the instrument cluster.

On these pre-production cars put together for shows they do sometimes use other model parts and it may have been a SL500 dash, but on the real one it will certainly be covered.

BTW, given the release date of the car as end of Q1, 03 in Europe there might be a chance that they will already include the DVD nav. system. The one on the showfloor certainly has still the old one.

We'll see...

Wolfman

 

Am I misunderstanding you, Wolfman? Does the show SL600 car have a different screen, possibly COMAND II, or is it the old (current) screen?

 

From what I rememver seeing at the auto show, the nav system had the version that was on all current R230 SLs, not the new one. And good observation on the "lack" of alcantara leather. I was also puzzled by it, and also I was also hoping the car would have alcantara headliner, but it didn't. Maybe on the production version it would all have alcantara. Also, was it just me, or did anyone else notice the terribly cheap looking plasticky silver lining on the extrior door handle?

 

I wasn't there, but from the few pictures I was able to find, it is the current cd-based command as the screen size is still the same and the button layout as well

What I was referring to was that I heard that the DVD based model is at least a quarter away, but that date could fit into the SL600 launch window. Mabe just wishful thinking...

Unfortunately, Mercedes information on this is non-existent, leaving everyone to waste time on speculation. Also as you may know, the US command is different with its capabilities than Europe. So whatever you'll hear about DVD maybe different when it arrives here.

For those who don't know, here are some differences on the current comand:
No TV tuner option available.
Radio has no RDS capability (Dual-tuner: RDS identifies the station by name, allowing for text streaming across the screen and in the case of a radio station transmitting at different frequencies in different areas, the radio would autmatically switch to keep the station signal strong; not used in the US)
Radio has no Traffic Info (when selected and traffic info is transmitted, the radio would switch, cd or tape would mute during the info).

Dynamic Navigation: A very cool and useful feature that uses the route info from the system and combines it with live traffic info to re-route you the fastest way possible.
In the US they only have a rediculous step by step voice service (TeleAid Premium).

This is what I heard about the new DVD-based system (for Europe):
RDS-Dual tuner-Radio
16:9 6,5" screen
Integrated DVD player (plays DVD's and audio CD's, no mp3's)
external audio input (as current one)
Second DVD player for the navigation (not sure about that one)
Three display option on the navigation:
2D Map, 2D Map and arrows (split screen), 3D map

Options:
Linguatronic-Speech recognition for navigation & short message recording.
TV-Tuner
Dolby-Surround System
Bluetooth phone with wireless headse.
The phone actually adds Internet, SMS, WAP and e-mail functions to the comand system and is usable via voice recognition.

Wolfman

 

HAVE THEY ANOUNCED THE SL600 AMG VERSION, IS IT CALLED SL63 and when will it be available?

 

I was at the Detroit Auto Show and spoke to a Mercedes rep. (not a salesman). I specifically asked him about the Command II intro date for the 2003 SL. I was able to push him enough so that he made a call to someone (in New Jersey?) who supposedly knew "it all". That someone said...NO CHANGE IN THE SL COMMAND SYSTEM FOR THIS MODEL YEAR!!!--Straight from the horses mouth!!

 

Sounds very plausible to me. With the production line busy round the clock and a huge order backlog to fill, the last thing they will want to do is risk upsetting production by introducing non-essential widespread changes in the middle of the model year. And it's not just production; all the diagnostic and maintenance facilities and training need to kept in sync.

That line is generating something like $8-$12 million revenue a day and just think how much of that profit is going to prop up Chrysler. With a changeover of model year in the summer, there's more scope for doing this sort of stuff.

 

Well, interestingly, I had to firm my order today.

Specified COMAND II - DVD and it was accepted (to the best of my knowledge!).

Spoke to a KIA in MBUK who said COMAND II was going to be fitted to all E-class from March build, but the SL build date had not been specified. They had previously said definitely March for all cars.

If they were interrupting their busiest line - (the E-Class & estate) - for COMAND II I would have thought they might have a factory -wide introduction to save costs. (inventory, shipping etc).

Mixed messages, but guess it keeps us punters interested and drives this forum...

 

Somewhere else there are talks about a Sl65 being introduced in March in Geneva. Also there are roumors that the AMG version of teh V12 will have 600+ horses. Honestly, who would need more power than the regular twin turbo? Let us see how the next generation CL will look like, and that would be a good car to drop this new AMG on.

 

Well, there'll be disagreements, but a 600bhp+ (650 rumoured) SL is just totally OTT. The SL65 will be at Geneva. What for?

I get to 130 mph on some European roads, and plenty of cars will do that, but there are very few autoroutes you need to , or can, accelerate to 100 mph in 9 secs, or use that amount of power. The autoroutes in France I travel frequently are most often virtually deserted, so top speed is all you can use. And IMHO 130 mph is plenty fast enough on those.

What are we doing? Its the companies driving each other and charging us. The supercar thing is imploding here - I've heard of top Ferrari's and even Murcealago's not being sold, customer bail-outs - and a couple of forced SLAMG sales that are below list, and falling. Its happened before, with both supercars and classics, and it will again. We are at that point.

I (personally) think its macho stupidity. Take the SL55, the SL600 if you want the kudos and can afford 10 mpg, but a V12 AMG? Forget it!

 

My friend, there will always be a market for people who want to explore the limits. If there was a limit, we would not have the Maybach, the Dodge tomahawk, or even the Mclaren F1. Due to all these reviews and good sales and attention the SL55 is getting, and the fact that it beat supercars for price and performance ( i mean I could go on and on), Mercedes thought, I know, lets crush the bast**ds altogether and hey presto, rather than a car with 500Hp and 0-60mph time of 4.3 seconds, we will add another 120-150 more HP and lets see what this little cracker can do.

if I had the money, no question, gimme the most expensive car that Mercedes makes...

 

All of that is perfectly true, Bilal but where on earth will you even begin to exploit the limits of a 600+ bhp+ V12 twin turbo? A track, once or twice just for the experience, perhaps. Away from lights to 50 mph, maybe. A deserted motorway at two-thirds the limit, well, OK.

Its all egomania, and company egomania at that. There'll be a backlash from the lobbies, and we'll all suffer, mark my words.