BERNIE

It seems that rumours are going on about new engines to replace the V8 of the Sl500 from next year.

Can somebody confirm and give more info ? Thanks

Ronald

The whole 3-Valve V8 line is about to be replaced by a new 4-Valve V 8 generation which will be introduced in some models in 2005 (my best guess: in the new S- and ML-class). But as with the 350 V6 it's going to take quite some times until these new engines are available everywhre (i.e. there's still no SLK / C / CLK 350 yet). So don't worry - the SL 500 won't get a new engine within the next couple of years.

Ronald

northbenz

Ronald - I see you reference the 350 engine's slow availability to date. I see you are located in Germany. Is it official there that MY2004 E Class 320 will convert to the 350 engine at inception of the model year production beginning July 2003? This is what is being reported by at least one Canadian dealer but there is no official word from MBUSA to date.

Ronald

It's not yet official and I bet it is just going to be announced a few weeks before the firs E 350 gets delivered. Mercedes doesn't want to ruin it's business with E 320 just because people are waiting for the new 350.

Ronald

BERNIE

Thanks guys for your valuable info.

It might be true that MB is not going to release/announce new engines before 2005 for various reasons, but in my opinion this could come much earlier for simple reasons such as :

1. from a power point of view a V8 of 5Lt with only 306 horsepower is a bit short versus competition

2. the gap between the standard SL (being either S, SL, CL and even E class) with the AMG 55 version is too big. This gap has to be reduced.

Just my opinion and all others comments are welcome

Ronald

Name one other 5.0l V8 with more hp which is guaranteed to last 300,000+ km.

Why? AMG still has to be something extraordinary if not even something unreasonable.

And don't forget: AMG engines are based on the standard Mercedes-Benz engine blocks. So if Mercedes increases the size of their V8, AMG engines will have more power as well.

Just think of the AMG V6 Kompressor: Once the 320 engine block runs out due to the 3.7l 350 - AMG will have to announce a successor to the 3.2l V6 Kompressor. Basically the same thing happened when the E 55 (W/S 210) replaced the E 50 (W/S 210).

Ronald

BERNIE

The info I've seen and somehow confirmed by my dealer is that these new engines will have a smaller engine but equipped with a compressor.

Near future will either confirm or not

Ronald

I think Mercedes will continue to equip V4 engines with a kompressor. But definitively not the V8 line. We will either see slightly larger cylinder capacity (500 -> 550) or turbo charger(s) like the V12 line received them. But the decision isn't final and both systems are currently being tested.

Ronald

blueSL

I agree; the existing 5 litre engine dropped about 20 bhp from the previous 4 valves per cylinder model and the 6 litre engine which was in the pre-facelift S and CL also dropped power compared to the 394 bhp engine which preceded it, which is the one in my SL600.

It's no wonder few people got excited about the S600/CL600...