AMGBENZ

I sold my SL55 and would like to buy a SL65 anyone that had a SL55 and went to a SL65 miss anything about the SL55?

Or is this a solid upgrade and you never look back ?

Any thoughts on this would be great

AMGBENZ

chadsl55

I'm thinking about doing the same thing.

IngenereAMG

I had an order for the 65 and sold my spot. I like the way the SL55 is a balance of power and handling. I thought that the 65 was overkill and a bit nose heavy for what I like to do. With a couple of tweaks, you can get a better power to weight ratio than the 65 and have a better all-rounder. That was my feeling, and its been true so far.

Juice it

I have never owned a 55 but have driven a few and I would say if you didn't know which car you were in you would never feel the weight difference but you sure would feel the power. Being worth the extra money is a personal issue but at the discounted pricing it sure is to me.

AMGBENZ

Juice IT how do you like the sound of the engine and exaust note, do you have a stock exsaust. My SL55 had a great sound, some have told me the SL65 is a bit soft engine sounds like a sleeper what do you think?

Thanks,

AMGBENZ

Juice it

The 55 sounds deeper, more muscle car like. The 65 sounds a bit muted from the turbos but it still sounds ok. Mine has a stock exhaust.

Schiznick

The only thing that I miss about my SL55 is the sound. The turbo's do muffle the exhaust a bit but the power more than makes up for it.

When you can buy a slightly used SL65 for the same cost as a SL55 030 car, I would take the SL65 all day long.

The SL65 is a monster and on the track it handles 99.9% as well as a SL55. Once you get used to the turbo power delivery you are golden.

Enjoy!

JR.

i too, thought about moving up to a 65.. if i remember correctly, the 65 (12) is at least 200 pounds heavier than the 55, at exactly the wrong place.. that said, i could still see myself in a 65 in the near future..
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Schiznick, what does this mean? "Once you get used to the turbo power delivery you are golden".
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lag?
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Scruffyone

I was lusting for the 65 but decided to get the Kleeman K2 instead. I'll get more sound and almost the same power. Works for me. I also could not make any sense out of turning a car over in a year with only 7000 miles on it. Far to big of a $$$ hit.

Schiznick

Having driven the cars back to back on a race track multiple times (Road Atlanta and Road America) I could turn faster lap times in the SL65 all day long. My typical track car is a GT3 as a frame of reference.

Yes the SL65 is a bit heavier in the nose and that does create slightly more understeer but not all of the additional weight is in the nose.

The car masks the additional weight very well. As fo rmy comment on the turbo's. Even with the twin turbo set up there is a slight lag in power delivery. The Kompressor motor is a bit more direct on the track just as a NA motor would be. As with any car, once you get used to the chrs of the car it is fine.

Perhaps it is me, but all of the negative comments about the SL65 tend to come from people who have only driven the car for a limited amout of time and never on a track.

Let's be clear though, it doesn't belong on the track! It is a great touring car, as is the SL55.

I would say for any normal driving situation, including spirated mountain road drives, the difference you would notice between the SL65 and SL55 is the sound of the SL55 vs the blinding torque and acceleration of the SL65.

Just my humble opinion!

Enjoy!

Juice it

I would agree with this based on new pricing but with the price you can get a 5k mile 65 for you shouldn't lose anymore money than you would with a new 55 at this point. Decent used car buy right now.

JR.

Schiznick,
thanks for the reply.. i have never seen any SL on any racetrack.. if my Porsche mechanic thought my 996 turbo wasn't the greatest track day car, (too much power and too heavy, he is a GT3 guy) imagine what he thinks of an SL at the track.. he has a Porsche race shop (Perfect Power) outside of chicago but thinks the AMG motors are gifts from God..
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what kind of times were your SL65 and GT3 at Road America?
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would an ecu remap help the turbo lag?
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last weekend i tagged along a portion of the gumball 3000, from Vegas thru death valley, on one of my bikes. .. all i could think of of was my SL 55 and maybe a SL65.. if the bentleys could blast thru the mountain corners, the MB could as well..
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https://mbworld.org/forums/sl55-amg-sl63-amg-sl65-amg-r230/147804-gumball-3000-mb-well-represented.html
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http://www.gumball-3000.com/rally/
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thanks..

JR