Benz Family Hip To New Generation

Newcastle Herald

Saturday June 28, 2008

Brent Davison

IF there is a real problem with aiming a thoroughbred sports car at a challenging piece of mountain road it is the mobile chicanes that get in the way every now and then.

It is not that the other road users are doing anything wrong, more that the car cocooning me is doing everything right and the twin-turbocharged V12 snuggled under that oh-so-long bonnet has the power to spin the world off its axis.

The feeling of smug superiority as I pick off the speed-hump rental cars is mine to enjoy and the bizarre thing is I don't need to break one single speed limit to do it. Just push the pedal that opens the taps on that delicious engine and pour the full 450 kilowatts and 1000 Newton metres of torque through the back wheels via the five-speed automatic.

My drive of the mega-Mercedes has come at the end of a program that has had us sampling a cross-section of the facelifted Mercedes-Benz SLK and SL range, an eight-car family covering every base from four cylinders to 12 and from below $100,000 to just below $500,000. And before you ask, the 6.0-litre V12-engined SL 65 AMG is at the very top of the scale with little change left from $470,000.

The changes are subtle but important and are, not surprisingly, mostly confined to beneath the metal.

Starting with the entre model, the SLK, Mercedes-Benz has done detail work on engines, interiors and sheetmetal.

The big news is under the bonnet, where more power has been extracted from both the 1.8-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder used for the SLK 200, and the 3.5-litre, naturally-aspirated V6 in the SLK 350.

Power for the 1.8 is now a healthy 135 kilowatts (up 15 kilowatts) and torque is out by 10 Newton metres to 250. Despite the improved performance, fuel consumption has been improved to an official 8 litres/100km combined average and carbon dioxide output dropped to 190 grams/km.

Similar gains have been made with the V6 which now musters 224 kilowatts (up 24) and 360 Newton metres (up 10), all courtesy of an increased compression ratio, a new intake manifold, valve gear improvements and an increase in maximum engine speed. Despite the power boost, fuel consumption and carbon-dioxide outputs have improved by 2.3 litres/100km and around 50grams/km respectively. In its SL application the engine gets more power with 232 kilowatts but the same 360 Newton metres of torque.

The 55 AMG? The 5.4-litre, 265-kilowatt V8 rumbling away beneath the bonnet remains unchanged.

Both cars get the new Bishop Steering-designed Direct-Steer system, a development of the familiar speed-sensitive steering system but with a new variable rack ratio that adjusts in line with the steering angle and increases sharply once that exceeds five degrees, greatly increasing steering accuracy while minimising wheel movement.

If the SLK looks stylish and brisk then the SL can only be described as stylish and tough, a charming, muscular bovver boy from the wealthy suburbs. This time around it gets a new front-end design dominated by the V-shaped radiator grille and bonnet-mounted power domes offset by air outlets in the front mudguards to give a link back to the original SL from the 1950s that isn't at all schmaltzy.

The changes will be appreciated by a small buyer group but they are enough to carry both SL and SLK through to their next model cycle in about four years' time.

WHAT THEY COST

MERCEDES-BENZ SLK AND SL PRICES

SLK 200 ..............................................$86,780

SLK 350 ............................................$112,380

SLK 55AMG .....................................$164,900

SL 350 ..............................................$223,000

SL 500 ..............................................$306,000

SL 63AMG ........................................$382,000

SL 600 ..............................................$385,000

SL 65AMG ........................................$468,000

(not including on-road costs)

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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