SL/R230: Exercising our SL
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Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 284
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From: San Francisco, The City By The Bay
2004 SL500R / 2003 BMW M5
Exercising our SL
This is more detailed description of our excursion. We took a trip in the SL over the July 4th holiday from SF down I-5 to San Diego. This was one of the most fun drives in a long time. The SL performed even better than expected and was extremely stable at 130. On the way down there was an Acura RL which wouldn't move over but finally did. I started to accelerate to 85 to pass and he tries to race. I step on it and let off at 120 going up hill just putting a ton of real estate between us. Very smooth. The valley was 105+ and the SL never felt warm at all inside. Coming back on the 4th at midnight, A Mustang GT, Suburan, and our SL hooked up and made multiple runs at 100 for 10-15 minutes. Not racing but taking turns leading. There was virtually no traffic so it was very safe. Made one last pull to 130+. Overall, a great driving trip. The wind noise in the SL was almost nonexistant till over 100. Made the 500 mile trip back in 7 hours with traffic in LA and one gas stop. The computer says mpg was 23.3! We're happy campers.
Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 164
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From: Upper Marlboro, MD
2006 SL500/2006 Porsche Cayenne S Titanium
Sounds like a great trip. Glad to hear that your ac kept up with the high temperatures. You made excellent time, I've made that trip before and was never able to make it in 7 hours. Happy Trail's
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 337
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From: Montrose, CA
2007 SL550
I definitely recommend taking CA-1 on one of your trips. Just did that this past weekend, and this is a fun car to take the turns in! Something nice about passing people in the 30MPH corners, and of course this is the road to take with the top down. 
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 284
Likes: 1
From: San Francisco, The City By The Bay
2004 SL500R / 2003 BMW M5
Yea, highway 1 is a beautiful and fun drive. We don't take 1 when going down to So Cal, takes 2 more hours and we usually just want to get to San Diego as fast as possible. We get our twistie fun when we drive to our place in Clearlake. The mountian roads give us about 1/2 hour of winding roads!
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 337
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From: Montrose, CA
2007 SL550
Damn, yeah, I remember being a passenger on the road to Clearlake from over a decade ago. You win. 
Man, I did that 8 years ago in my old Accord. I definitely need to do that again now that I've got an upgrade.
