sound 8

Picking up my car yesterday there was a black SLS in the show room. A friend
was with me and we studied it from all angles.
Now the view from the back ( what most see LOL ) is stunning, but neither
of us rated as super lookin. Basically the nose is too long, then to my surprise
the sales guy opened the bonnet ( hood) and I gasped. There is enough
room to put another V8 in front of the one fitted, now if you could cut
4 feet off the front I think it would look stunning. Why is there so much spare space in the front, perhaps they were going to put the spare wheel there
like the old Citroens.

dharrar

The answer is simple... weight distribution. Car manufacturers try to obtain near equal weight on front and rear wheels. Where many performance cars have the engine literally sitting over the front wheels, the SLS moved the engine back. This removed weight from the front and essentially transferred it to the back wheels acheiving near perfect 48% front and 52% rear. Yes, it looks somewhat silly when you open the hood but when you drive the SLS on a track, and through high speed turns, you experience the benefit in terms of high speed handling! Even at lower speeds in a slalom the SLS can outperform smaller, shorter, smaller performance vehicles.

sound 8

I agree, there trying to make a mid engine design from a front engine car.
However it hasn't worked, not only does the nose look to long it does not
corner very well, as they found out on Top Gear.

Nstar

It corners far better than an SL63. I haven't seen the test you're referring to but (unrelated to your point) Top Gear has become largely an "entertainment" show, unconcerned with accuracy.

jacob502

It ceratinly does. I drive an SL63, my brother's SLS corners and handles better. you can pick up more speeds on turns and curves even better than a porsche. Hand down, this car is absolutely amazing. Our SLS killed a 458 two days ago and an SLR

sound 8

WHO MENTIONED SL63, I never said ooh my SL63 corners better than an SLS. Why does eveyone leap to the defense of the SLS when all I said was it wasn't that great at cornering, Mercedes never are! It's a fast cruiser and not a track car. Top Gear by the way is THE most watched motor
programme whether you like Clarkson or not. The edition I refer to was when
all 3 presnters went cruising in a Ferrari, a Porsche GT3 and Clarkson in a
SLS. They finished on a track where the Ferrari and Porsche left the SLS
for dead and raced each other, Clarkson just kept spinning off, and scrubbed
through 2 sets of tyres. Now don't answer in defense and say, "yes it does
corner" compared to many cars it does corner, as does my SL63, but against
rivals I mention, no chance.

Bones

Well you might want to watch that episode again. Clarkson gets bored driving around the oval and decides to try "kick the back out" of the sls for ****s and giggles. Its right there.

Is this one of your posts to provoke responses by giving half the story. You do realize top gear is entertainment first.

Also the sls and 458 lap the N ring at the same exact time 7.40 if I recall. (my apologies 458 italia at 7.38).

So please stop with your posts.

sound 8

OH PLEASE, don't tell me to stop my posts, this is a forum where everyone is
entitled to there opinion, and to facts. Drifting round corners doesn't make
it a fine handling car, see the episode where an M3 vs a C63, the 63 drifted
beautifully, whereas the M3 was hard to drift because it wanted to corner
rather than burn rubber, the result was the 63 was marginally faster in a
straight line, but the M3 was over 2 seconds faster round the track. At the
end of the day I would still buy the C63. When mixing with the likes of Porsche and Ferrari on a track I'm sure the SLS wasn't designed to out corner
them, but in a straight line, that's a different matter. You guys are so biased
to everything MB/AMG . I too have 3 Mercs and love them, but they aren't
always the best at everything. If I had to choose between the 3 cars, then
it would be the Ferrari, that's because I can't get into the SLS, and I don't
like Porsche. In your mind the SLS is the fastest, the best cornering, the most
comfortable and the best looking, if only..

bigben320e

Not one of these threads on the SLS again....

Looks to be quite simple. The question was answered about why the SLS has a long nose.

The SL63 was brought up as a comparison in handling via the reason why the SLS has a big nose, which was also explained.

The discussion is done, correct?

BTW- Jacob and dharrar, thanks for your replies, gives some more insight on the SLS and how it handles/drives.

MercedezBMW

I strongly disagree I own a porsche and benz and I think the porsche is better by a lot. Its much faster than your 63 and sls

jacob502

I used to own a 2009 Porsche GT2. On cornering I feel the SLS is better.
And I don't think the GT2 is faster than the SLS .
Yes GT2 is faster than SL63 and way better in cornering, but not better than the SLS.

jacob502

You need to find more sources and than top gear

You seem to always qoute top gear

jacob502

No problem man. I'll show you a video really soon

MercedezBMW

Yes in terms of speed the sls is much faster but I think the driving experience for the GT2 is much better
The sls feels like a standard race car, when I'm in it I just don't feel the luxury. But hey it's still a good car

jacob502

Have you driven both the SLS and GT2

absent

Moving the engine behind the front axle makes the car (effectively) a mid engine layout.
Huge benefits for handling but leaves a bit of space under the hood,a small price to pay IMO.
599 went the same route and it made wonders for the handling of such a heavy GT.

MercedezBMW

Of course my dad owns an SLS.
I have driven almost all the sports cars and my favorite is my BMW M5.
By the way, you never owned a gt2

jacob502

really

oh and by the way, you have never driven an SLS

AugustWest

BMW M5?? Hmm. It's a good car. I drive an SLS and love it to death, but I admit that, though the general handling is fantastic, tearing around a corner isn't quite as good in the SLS as an Audi R8, with it's short nose. I have the standard suspension, so it's probably pretty good if you have the sport suspension. Still the SLS is such a stunning looking car (iridium silver with red interior and B and O stereo and carbon fiber) in the flesh. The long nose is just awesome. It looks like a rocket. It just looks better than every other car out there.

jacob502

Cant agree more. Just by driving it around for a couple of minutes on the road, you cant get away from people's attention, especially the ladies

503C43 ////AMG

You guys are LUCKY to own and drive an SLS. I aspire to one day RIDE in an SLS never mind own one.

Keep those ladies clean and in good health

P.S.
M5 can't be compared to an SLS, apples and oranges.

MercedezBMW

I didn't compare the two read my post I said it's my favorite only.
And how many sports cars do u own?

jacob502

That has nothing to do with anything

you didnt compare the two, you did something worse, you prefered the driving experience of an M5 to the SLS. I REALLY DONT WANT TO START WITH YOU

Have a nice day and cheers

1st amg

Hey Jacob, have anymore pics of your brothers Lemans SLS, its a color that I think looks one of the best on this car, please post them if you can, Thank you.....BTW, I have driven a couple of AMG driving academy events and the SLS was a car that I fell in love with, its sounds insane and felt like a race car. I still think about it daily!

jacob502

No problem, I will post some for you tonight

we Just finished covering the wing with a carbon fiber 3M vinyl and it looks fantastic