Lee Ferguson

Where is the SL65?

I thought it was to be introduced at the Geneva Auto Show.

Bilal

I actually forgot as well! You're right it should've been debuted by now....somethings not right....

BD1

Is it possible that it has been delayed for the new SLR look front-end like the new SLK?

shoes

My dealer was at his regional meetings on Friday of last week. He received confirmation that they are expecting the SL65 for an August arrival. This would make it a 2004 without the SLR nose to start and then perhaps with a revised nose come the 2005 model year if all our speculation is right.

Pricing is still around $175,000.

Mercedesfan

With an August arrival I can't imagine the SL65 would be branded as a 2004. Heck, the new diesel that is already on the boats to the VPC is a 2005.

MadC32

SL 65 isn't until Fall '04..

dNA3D

Why confuse yourself with these speculations... How 'bout the fact that its just not coming??

vraa

Come on dNA3D, we all know it's coming.

Chappy

According to The Star, the SL65 will be on display at the New York Auto Show in April (to commemorate the 50-year anniversary model since the 300SL was shown at New York). This SL65 will be painted in the special (code 777) Silver Arrows paint with special trim package. Only 50 will be available.

IngenereAMG

I have the #2 spot at my dealer in AZ for the SL65....and I've been told that it will be available in the fall and I will have to finalize the order with colors and options at that time for the final build. So I would expect delivery 4-6 weeks after that.

I suspect that it will be an '05.

SL65amg

My SL 65 is supposed to be here by next Spring as an updated 2005 model, and all 2005 model SL's will receive updated interior, sound system (either Harmon Kardon or Bang & Olufsen as in the all-new 2006 model S & CL's will have), updated exterior, new color options, interior options, etc..

I've been hearing from insiders that it could have an updated 65 engine with somewhere between 700 to 800 horsepower with anywhere from 850 to 922 lb/ft of torque(there was one British auto magazine some months back that confirmed the talk of 922 lb/ft of torque with much more horsepower). Obviously, if they're going to up the power, the trans is going to be much more reinforced, which AMG has been for sure working on this past couple years on newly strengthened transmissions to handle all the power that this and many other future AMG models power levels will require.

With Car & Driver magazine getting a Zero to 60 MPH for a completely stock SL 600 with street gas and stock tire in 3.6 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 11.9 @120 (the link is: http://www.caranddriver.com/article....rticle_id=7782) it seems perfectly logical that the SL 65's acceleration times will be astounding (especially with the much much wider tires I'm gonna put on mine, but I'm going to have to have the fenders widened a lot all around to handle the much bigger width tires, probably 345/25ZR-20 on the back Pirelli P-Zero Rosso Corso). I also have heard insiders say that Carbon ceramic brakes will either be standard or atleast an option for the '05 SL 65's. Hope so, gonna need it, if not then gonna have to put StarTech 405 millimeter light alloy brakes on there ATLEAST.

Anyways, we'll just have to wait and see what comes about.
Exciting though to say the least, especially can't wait to see what Renntech, Kleemann, Brabus, MKB, Vath Motortechnik, Carlsson, Lorinser are going to offer for upgrades on the SL 65.
P.S. --- There is a man on the AMG Forums online who had his SL 600 get an ECU 3 reprogram from Renntech, and this alone has got his power up to 625 Horsepower with 750 lb/ft of torque !!! Combined with his other performance upgrades, his car is one extremely fast Benz for sure !!

Ru55e11

I posted a message stating that the sl65 was going to have all this power and styling modifications a la slk/slr about a month or two ago and got flamed for it.

Still believe it though. Why else would AMG be "dragging their feet" with this one. I don't know about you, but it will have been much longer from announcement to production than the s and cl versions.

I was also wondering about 7g making an appearance, but that much tq and hp probably dictates the 5 spd albeit uprated beyond belief.

BD1

SL65amg: where did you hear that there will be interior and exterior changes for 2005? I would like to confirm this.

I am trying to decide if I should buy a 2004 SL55 or wait to see if there are these changes for 2005. I discussed with my dealer yesterday and he didn't know anything. He did say there is a dealers meeting in a few weeks (in the US) where they all had to sign non-disclosure agreement to attend.

Twinturbo

i was expecting the 7g tronic to make an appearance too, as it has had time for re-inforcement. I'm not sure what those torque figures convert too, but the 5 speed can only handle 1000nm, while the 7g tronic from what i heard will be able to handle 1200nm. Therefore i would think that the sl65 will have the 7g, unless they further re-inforce the 5 speed, which would be pointless as all the other models will be replaced with the 7 speed soon.

SL65amg

You have a good point about the 7g being on the 2005 model SL 65's. I have also read in a couple magazines and been hearing alot of rumors from Benz insiders about the new 7g tronic being in the 65's for 2005, as well as many other models also.

And yes, it's true that MB is continuing to work hard at developing a reinforced 7g that should be able to handle even much more power than the current CL 65 . There is much speculation around, but some say the next reinforced 7g will be able to handle anywhere from 700 to 800+ horsepower and torque figures anywhere from 800+ to 900+ . That would be no small feat, but I hope that these rumors are true and that they will be able to achieve this, and I hope this new 7g is put into my 2005 SL 65.

to BD1: I heard about the 2005 Model SL updates from several Benz insiders, plus couple international auto mags, and mbspy.com, and possibly another site ....
But, needless to say, there is almost 100% chance of all these updates to the 2005 SL's.

SL65amg

You have a good point about the 7g being on the 2005 model SL 65's. I have also read in a couple magazines and been hearing alot of rumors from Benz insiders about the new 7g tronic being in the 65's for 2005, as well as many other models also.

And yes, it's true that MB is continuing to work hard at developing a reinforced 7g that should be able to handle even much more power than the current CL 65 . There is much speculation around, but some say the next reinforced 7g will be able to handle anywhere from 700 to 800+ horsepower and torque figures anywhere from 800+ to 900+ . That would be no small feat, but I hope that these rumors are true and that they will be able to achieve this, and I hope this new 7g is put into my 2005 SL 65.

to BD1: I heard about the 2005 Model SL updates from several Benz insiders, plus couple international auto mags, and mbspy.com, and possibly another site ....
But, needless to say, there is almost 100% chance of all these updates to the 2005 SL's.

BD1

Thanks for the update. There sure are a lot of conflicting posts about changes, in particular to the front-end for model year 2005.

When will we officially (or almost officially) know what changes (7g, slr front-end) are coming for model year 2005?

Is this in the summer? June? July? August?

benznut

AMG recently acquired a testing bench for its engine, that can handle up to 1000 hp. The same article said that we were to see a lot more outrageous power from AMG.