All Entries Tagged With: "amg"
Replacement For Displacement: Mercedes S63 AMG
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Daimler, AG ::: Mercedes 300SEL 6.8 & S63 AMG
CUTTING against the grain of precedent – as pictured above-left with this 1971 300SEL 6.8 AMG in full racing regalia (yes, 6.3 fans, there was such a thing as a 6.8 AMG) – Mercedes-Benz has integrated two turbo chargers as part of the 2010 S63 AMG’s V8 powerplant.
AMG, Mercedes’ tuning power-haüs, has long been the champion of that tried ‘n true maxim, no replacement for displacement. But BMW’s M Division introduced bi-turbos to their V8 range which have managed to do what turbocharged engines do best – increase torque while simultaneously decreasing fuel consumption.
Mercedes had no choice but to follow, you see. Theirs – 5.5 Liter, Twin-Turbo V8 producing 571 bhp @ 5500 rpm and 900 NM of torque between 2500-3750 rpm; displacing 5461cc’s and making the S63 go to 60 in 4.5 seconds.
For gluttenous historical context: the 300SEL 6.8 AMG boasted 428 bhp @ 5500 rpm and 600 NM of torque; displacing 6835cc – 505 more than the 6.3.
Coming Down From Heavenly Perch: Exotic “Bargains” on eBay
- ‘Tis the season to be inventive with your car purchases
- Bargains by the Bentley-full
- Maserati Spyder for $38K? SL55 AMG for $34K?
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via eBay
BARGAINS to be had! Bargains to be had!
It would seem that with a little money, poseurs and the thrifty rich alike have options this Christmas season.
The exclusive toys of the last decade are about to avail themselves to a new clientele at clearance prices. But caveat emptor! These are entry prices – maintenance, insurance, taxes, and even petrol will take their pound of flesh, to be sure.
Let’s do a little window shopping shall we?
2000 Bentley Arnage R with 36K miles on eBay. White on Tan. Buy-it-now price: $49,888.
Not keen on chrome matrix grilles for newer generation Bentleys, but this Texan example has an interior that’s been well loved – which sadly isn’t common among older Arnages.
2004 Maserati Spyder with 24K miles on eBay. Blue on tan. Buy-It-Now Price: $38,990.
Let’s see. A droptop equipped with a modern Ferrari V8 plus exotic Italian cache to be had for less money than a new Boxster? Si, grazie!
2003 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG with 65K miles on eBay. Black on ash. Buy-It-Now price: $34,988.
For the price of a stripped, year-end C-Class, you could have a drop top that’s faster then everything else on the road. Sexier than most everything else, too. This particular car’s had couple of fender benders, though… Used means used.
2003 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage with 10K miles on eBay. Silver on gray.
Pluses: It’s an Aston. Droptop. Only 10K miles. 5.9 liter V12. Minuses: Silver on gray? It’s got an Automatic. Summary: Did I mention it’s a V12 Aston for $57K?
Take Two: Mercedes SLS Gullwing Is Go
Perfect timing.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler, AG
RUNNING with a group of prancing horses this past weekend (post to follow) between Connecticut and Massachusetts, I managed a little time between shots and breaths to consider Mercedes-Benz’s 2010 SLS AMG “Gullwing”.
A half century on, the fly-away $250K+ production car stands as heir apparent to the 300SL legacy. And I had decided, after some deliberation, that Mercedes-Benz needs to sell this car. You know, IMHO.
You see, sprinkled in among these glorious Ferraris and quite a number of Porsches, were a gaggle of BMWs, a few gorgeous Alfas, and the odd Vette.
But yours counted only two Mercedes-Benzes. Two.
One, a new SLK350 and the other an R129 generation SL with the sport package.
Boulevardiers with torque.
And as I watched the lovely silver Sacco penned SL take its place modestly on the shaded side of a long line up of Italian exotica, the thought came to me: Mercedes would be missing out if the company didn’t turn out the SLS.
You see, as powerful as a current generation AMG tuned SL is – and 738 lb-ft of torque is herculean by any accounting, the car is like a jackhammer delicately wrapped in a turqoise box from Tiffany & Co. The SL convertible’s a heavy car with big proportions and cushy air shocks made for 8/10ths driving and with power to be applied when the road goes straight ahead.
For years, one can safely argue, Mercedes has needed a purist’s machine with some flamboyance, zest, flair, bravado but, crucially, in a context that wouldn’t appear contrived.
Hence the new SLS Gullwing. And what timing!
BMW’s not doing the M1. Or at least they say they’re not doing the M1. And Audi already has the R8 + droptop. What better way for Mercedes now to barge in and seize the German stage against a small by highly visible market dominated by the Italians; ruled from Modena.
And to do so with pedigree!
Audi may have whipped the R8 out of thin-air – but what is their exotic heritage? An all-wheel drive hot hatch from the 80s? Mercedes owns the historical rights to the most righteous super car in history.
Suddenly, the playing field feels a bit more level.
Since the McLaren SLR is a sad and sadly overpriced halo from the unlamented near-past, there’s no time like the optimistic present for Mercedes to strike again while the striking’s good. The SLS AMG’s a clever car and business concept, even if borrows heavily on yesterday.
Perhaps on any given Sunday next autumn maybe, just maybe, we’ll see one of these tri-star thoroughbreds make into the pack.
Dropping The Hammer: E63 AMG
By Gunnar Heinrich
HUNKERED low with the same time melding intensity as a racecar, the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG has made its debut. It’ll be a miracle if the air dam clears a speed bump without popping the LED accent lights. Forward lean aside, Sir Isaac would praise the AMG’s 630 newton meters of torque. Oh, and there’s no torque converter – co. statement after jump.
Drive An AMG Look-Alike Until The Real Thing Arrives
A subtle poseur, to be sure.
By Gunnar Heinrich
GIVEN that previous AMG packaged E-Classes have made the mild looking Mercedes-Benz sedans look as though they could fart fire through chrome ringed exhausts, it’s surprising that the AMG package offered for the 2010 E Class is so, um, restrained.
An End Of An Era: The Mercedes V12
By Gunnar Heinrich
TWELVE is such an exotic number.
In the car world, the number of cylinders gives a ready indication of performance. Four is frugal, six is slick, and eight means power.
But 12 is other worldly.
Precious few automakers still produce motors with opposing banks of six cylinders. The marques that do manufacture their own V12s are bound to be, asThe Robb Report might say, “the best of the best.” And surely no such penultimate list would exclude Mercedes-Benz?
Well, according to Autobild, it will.
German print reports that European emissions standards are forcing Benz to abandon its 12 cylinder engine in favor of focusing on more efficient twin-turbo V8s.
If Autobild‘s reporting is accurate, it is a sad day for Mercedes-Benz and the automotive world in that Green politics have triumphed in scaling back the performance ambitions of Germany’s leading automaker and hastened the demise of the horsepower wars (which us auto scribes continue to enjoy immensely).
But it isn’t all bad.
Mercedes-Benz has more history with the V8 than the marque does the V12.
The first postwar V12 Benz built was put in the W140 gen. 600SEL (later S600) in 1992. Accommodating six liters while making 408 horsepower, the mighty three-box flagship boasted more than 100 horsepower over its predecessor – the V8 powered W126 gen. 560SEL.
But there was a catch to this monstrous new machine: the 600SEL was 700 lbs portlier than the 560SEL thanks largely to the weight of the bigger engine. That meant that performance times were only slightly improved and at cost: less than a second difference from standstill to 60 mph with the 600SEL averaging a combined 11 mpg versus the 560SEL’s 13 mpg.
Present Benz V12′s overkill by a similar pattern.
The current S600′s biturbo V12 makes mammoth power; 510 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque. AMG’s S63 does similarly well with four fewer cylinders and no turbo chargers: 518 horsepower with 465 lb-ft of torque.
Both sedans lock in at a dead heat from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds; the difference say those who’ve driven both is that the AMG V8 – like Stuttgart’s old big blocs of yore – provides a far more satisfying experience in getting there.
And while, true, AMG does produce a biturbo V12 for the S65 AMG, there’s every reason to believe that the tuner’s boffins will be able to match or beat that engine’s 604 bhp with 738 lb-ft torque figures down the road with another biturbo V8.
Not as exotic a performer as the V12, to be sure, but it’ll be more effective at making swift progress.
[Linked: Mercedes AMG | Autobild ]
RennTech SL65 Burning Up
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via YouTube
SMOKE ‘em if ya got ‘em.
There’s an art to the righteous burn out. But from seeing this YouTube video, I’d say that RennTech’s boffins have taken that art to a Dali-esque level of the absurd.
Shot on a “closed course” (a.k.a. some back parking lot) somewhere in southern Florida, a driver with a certain flair for smoky showmanship lit the rear tyres of a RennTech modified Mercedes-Benz SL65 – with no fewer than 685 horses and 810 lb-ft of rubber shredding torque.
The result, as you might guess, was volcanic.
[Linked: RennTech]
Curtain call – the McMerc SLR Speedster
By Steane Klose
The Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR is preparing to take it’s final bow.
With the exception of Paris Hilton, the SLR has been regarded by most to be overpriced and underdone in the looks department. Folks paying super car coin want super car looks – not a funky looking Mercedes SL – even if it does sport gullwing doors, carbon-fibre panels and enormous horsepower.
As Mercedes-Benz and McLaren prepare to part ways, the final product of their brief affair may be just the car that was needed all along – the SLR Speedster.
Seen here lapping the Nurburgring, this final version of the SLR (even in black and white drag) – looks fast, unique and most importantly exotic. Expensive is of course a given.
Tipped to weigh some 400 pounds less than the coupe and with a top speed of around 217 mph the SLR Speedster promises to be one rather loud and proud swan-song. Only 75 will be made before the AMG SLC assumes the throne.
[Images courtesy of Bridge to Gantry]
