LukasBMW

I must ask the question.

First off, I TRULY bought both my SL55 and my SL600 because they were my dream cars. I used to work as a valet in college from 2002-2006 and whenever a SL55 would pull up, I would always try to out run the other valet’s to get the car. When I actually had a chance to buy one in 2009, I jumped all over it.

I bought my SL600 because I figured with Obama in office, my time to own a V12 bi-turbo might be in jeopardy AND I also realized that aftermarket warranty companies may soon wise up and stop covering the AMG/V12 cars since they are so expensive. Additionally, I wanted to own one of the most incredible engines ever produced. Other then the Buggati W16 engine and the AMG enhanced 6.0 biturbo v12, the 5.5 biturbo V12 may be the most advanced engine in the world. It’s at least the most advanced and powerful engine available on my budget.

Anyway, that said, I always get teased by my family and friends about “buying my car to get girls.” Quite frankly, they don’t seem to give a ****. I get more attention from girls when I take my dog for a walk. If I borrow my friend’s puppy and take that for a walk…forget it. I’m’ ambushed.

95% of my attention comes from 18-25 year old males who ask me all kinds of stupid questions.

A few girls have asked me how much money my car costs. RED FLAG!

But what has surprised me is the amount of negative attention and hate I get when driving the car. I’ve almost exclusively owned BMW’s and those cars can be pretty flashy. But the comments and hate I get in my SL is ridiculous.

Anyone else experience this?

andy_meng1024

Older male love the car and give compliments all the time and younger guys usually have the hate. Girls usually don't give a xxxx about it, although I did get hit on by a couple girls before in a club after they saw me parking in the front, lol

abiazis

Guys both young and old compliment me on the car....often rolling down their windows to say the car looks awesome, nice car.....

Women will say something time to time.......

I have never got a negative comment to my face on the 65, etc......

American muscle car drivers, except most Vette drivers, always seem to want to race, revving their engines at lights or as they pass, tailgating, etc....even if I am just plugging along.....

Japanese ricers don't have a clue of what I am driving and don't provoke......

As far as imports, IN GENERAL, BMW guy drivers, all ages, always want to provoke a race just like the muscle car guys without the revving action......they must be overly insecure and want to prove something all the time about themselves and their cars, 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 series doesn't matter.....

I had a BMW or two, buy always wasted that aggression only on track days .....

SL65amg

With my SL 55, it seems like there are alot of haters, but the haters are exclusively dudes. All women like my car though, almost all my friends are pretty girls and they all tell me its very masculine and sexy..... some people try to street race me, but most back off when they see me rolling up....last week a modified and very loud CTS-V tried to race me on the highway but he really couldn't keep up that well....but at least he was cool about it and after I slowed back down he rolled up next to me and gave me the thumbs up ........
Corvette drivers like to give it a go, but they are cool about everything and we have mutual respect for eachothers cars...I love Vipers too but they won't even look at my car...don't know why cuz I'm sure they could easily outrun my car.....

You're right though it does draw a lot of hate but it seems mostly from guys who own non M or AMG or RS or V cars...most of the hate for some reason is coming from Porsche, SRT-8, non M BMW drivers....and for some reason heavily modified M3's like my car and give it respect but the M5 drivers won't race me and just turn their heads when they see my car and act like I don't even exist. Same for the M6 drivers, they won't acknowledge my car exists. Weird, but hey its all good I just like to enjoy driving my car...

I'm wondering how well my car will do against the new M5's and M6's after I finally install the Kleemann headers, Shardul belt wrap kit, and 180 mm pulley and fresh Jerry tune for my ECU and TCU again in a couple weeks.....these with all that I've already done should make it an interesting run.....

alx

attention is generally zero around here (east coast).... and that is just the way i like it.

my sl65 is silver, lowered and runs big wheels (315/20/20 in the back). nobody seems to care.

if you want attention, an amg (unless an sls or slr) is not your choice.

on hate- not sure about it, but there is definitely a quiet animosity for sure- like when you are waiting to merge or something.

overZealous1

i seem to get about as much attention with my sl55 as i did with my gts venom 650r. the viper was pretty highly modded and blue with white stripes, so no wonder it caught tons of attention. i do kind of like the attention, but, most of the time i just want to drive the car and relax and not have to answer everyones stupid questions! i get and modify cars for my enjoyment, not really for everyone elses.
i was hoping to be a bit more incognito in the sl55. it seems to get close to the same amount of attention, but, i think the car is a little less approachable. i have been in resturants and can see the car from inside. people start gathering around it looking. then i come out and hit the unlock button and they scatter. haha.
girls pretend they don't care. they surely do though. just as long as your first line isn't "wanna ride in a benz baby?" actually, ya never know, it might work. haha

Capn

kustom2k1

I could give a rats *** about people, as long as the cops pay me no mind, its all good.

jrgator

It doesn't seem to generate much attention, and I certainly don't get any haters. Early Porsche Turbos and 2 Ferraris got a lot more attention. I have a friend with an orange Lambo Murcielago. It generates crowds.

cal1

My SL gets a fair amount of attention and it is 98% positive. I have had a number of women comment on it.

When I lived in Indianapolis, I would go to a dragstrip literally in the corn fields around Muncie. Almost exclusively American Iron with the occasional ricer was all that was ever at the track. I ran into a bit of smack talk about why I was running an MB at the track. The respect came after a couple of sub 12 runs.

BMW guys seems to be kind of dumb when it comes to MBs. I have had a number 3 series want to race. I ran an M5 this past summer. I guess he was embarrassed about being beaten so badly, he found the first exit he could and disappeared.

C280 Sport

I have seen younger men comment negative about SL AMG at meets and stuff as well. Mostly because they dont know anything about it and also with young and immature kids there is jealousy when it comes to someone with a nicer, faster or more expensive toy. I shake my head and walk away when I hear ricers, teenagers and jealous middle aged men who wish they could have one talk bad about it. Some people just do not appreaciate quality, style or power all in one.

RonnieRenaldi

My car is red with bright yellow calipers and 20s, very loud when I floor it....not sure what attention I get

fxschneider

I'm also on the east coast like alx and I have to agree. I don't get much attention at all. AMG's aren't really well known or understood by the average person. Think about it, most girls don't know the difference between an sl65 and a slk280. Guys don't know or refuse to believe that you could blow the doors off a C6 at will.
NO RESPECT. AND THAT'S THE WAY I LIKE IT!
If I want to draw a crowd I take a ride in my CRX. The young ricers think I'm a god and all the girls think it's cute!

Earl J

Hello guys,
I’m new to this forum as I’ve only had my 07 Iridium Silver SL55 w/ 030 pkg a week yesterday. It was our way of upgrading to the SL class from our previous 06 Mars Red SLK55. It’s funny you want to talk about attention. In this past week I have heard comments from folks saying; very elegant, fast car, the proverbial head nod acknowledgment.

Where as in the previous SLK55 which I owned since new, seemingly every M wants to see what I got for “quehonies” (*****) and only the supped up ricers will attempt to egg me on. I would on occasion feel the need to shut them up.

A little about me though. I so happen to be the current Vice President of the Northern California Shelby Automobile Club (SAAC). And of course I so happen to have one 1965 Shelby GT350 with 48 IDA downdraft Webers. We are predominately an Open Track Club similar to Hooked on Driving or the SCCA.

Attention? You want attention drive one of these. I showed it to my service advisor at my regular MB dealer one day just for kicks. And it pulled the entire service technician staff from the service dept as well as some management. It did the same thing at the BMW dealer where my wife and I bought the SL55. Out on the open road or street it has the same effect from all ages and generations. I drive it like an old lady 60-65 mph only in the second to slow lane. I have nothing to prove to anyone. I get guys driving Ferraris and Porsches giving me the thumbs up. I just smile and wave and let them go. Some people will follow me for miles on the freeway and use the cell phones to take pics. This is a different animal though.

I’ve attached a few pics to took today for cal1 here on this forum and anyone else. I know folks on the forums like pics too. So I took some comparing my new (to me) SL55 and my vintage car. Here is a link to my photos of my GT350 on the other forum if you’re interested.

http://saacforum.com/galleryc/index.php?cat=10858

As for MB AMG’s vs American Muscle cars I haven’t seen any confrontational spats with the exception of vettes. But I guess it’s the age group.

Cheers,
~Earl J

overZealous1

awesome looking shelby. the webers really top it off, literally!

my mom had a 68 shelby gt500. fresh off a frame up restoration. i asked her when i was about 12-13yo if i could make payments to her and buy it at 16. she said yes! but, she sold it (for $16k in late 80's) before i turned 16 and the guy crashed it in 4 months. one less and more value to yours! lol

Happy2th

The attention I get in my SL65 is minuscule compared to the attention I get in my UGR Lambo Gallardo.

kustom2k1

You dont say Happy! I read somewhere, Lambo owners are more likely to contract a venereal disease. All kidding aside Rich, lets see this bada55 TT G!

Happy2th

kustom2k1

Nice combo Happy. Had the chance to witness a TT Lambo here in Florida recently, left me speechless.

cyaford

That is CRAZY!! Maybe it's because I live in TN, but I hated stopping for gas when I had my '97 B/W GTS. Non-stop questions and pictures. I've had the SL55 for about 2 months and I am no longer a celebrity at the pump. lol I think most people here just look at it as a convertible Benz and have no idea of the performance. There's some that do, but they're the minority.

overZealous1

the viper got more attention on the road, but still get lots of questions at the pump. i didn't even know how fast these things were till less than a week before buying mine! once i saw they had 493hp stock i immediately looked into aftermarket parts and costs. once i saw what could be done, and all the options the car had and a drop top, i didn't have a prob trading viper for it. viper was awesome to look at and a great piece of american automotive history, but i don't miss sweating my nuts off while driving it!! lol
my sl55 as of this afternoon is faster than the viper was!! WAAAYY more refined and fun to drive imo. if i get another viper, it will be a little bit newer one.

BobLibSL55

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity after a Cars n Coffee meet to follow a 2012 Lambo Aventador as we went to grab some lunch.

I can honestly say of all the people we passed the majority of them looked at the car. I had the best seat in the house as people walking and driving the other way literally stopped what they were doing and stared at the car until we were out of sight.

That thing got so much attention that it made the 3 Gallardos that were there too seem irrelevant.

And the exhaust note was so hypnotic that I was scared that I was going to be lulled into a trance and rear end the guy.

The owner has a YouTube channel with a bunch of videos of his Lambo including some reaction videos where you can see the attention he gets. Its truly amazing how people react to that car.

http://www.youtube.com/user/doctam3?...e=results_main

kustom2k1

Aventador = Panty dropper

BobLibSL55

As far as attention I really don't get much and what I do is all positive. At the meet above the car behind me was a Porsche 911GT3. When we stopped for lunch he said he surprised at how fast the car was and was even more surprised to find out that it was pushing 500HP.

Ive owned the car over a year and have never been in a street race (although my wife has been in 2) and only had an EVO and older 3 series mess around a little (both times were in a lot of traffic). I think like someone said above, a lot of people, mostly the ricers, have absolutely no clue what the car is. And I kinda like it that way.

SpiritR230

My windows are tinted real dark, debadged expect the front and back logo, no front plate, Black Opal (yea right, it's Green!) I get 0 attentions, not even from cops, since the police station is only a block away from my home and I had to drive by it all the time, you must wonder, I should get pull over for the windows and front plate right? NO! I was at this stop sign and this cop car is right next to me, I looked at him and he's looking around like I'm invisible!