If I didn’t know that my editor would edit it out, I would have started this article with an expletive – a word I waxed lyrical for a long time behind the wheel of one of the best cars the world has ever seen. A car so beautiful that “panty dropper” would be a hideous understatement to describe it. A machine so purposeful, so well-engineered and so explicit that sanity disappears out the window the second you start it. This, people of the South, is the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster. And this pokey little “alternative” magazine was given the golden opportunity to take it for a drive!
Based on the achingly gorgeous SLS AMG Coupe, which Christo tested at the beginning of the year, the new Roadster has been given a canvas folding top (which folds away in just 11 seconds) and (sadly) lost the signature Gullwing doors. I always thought that would bother me, because the silhouette of the Coupe with its doors up is one of the most beautiful things ever to find my retina. But no, none of the beauty has been lost with the soft top. The Roadster is still svelte, low-slung and with such an enormously long bonnet it’s like a speeding bullet making its way through the air. Pert, taut, sleek and wide – the Roadster is amazing to look at from every conceivable angle.
The best angle of course is from behind the steering wheel. A purposeful interior reveals a mix of leather, carbon fibre and aluminium, making this car a glorious thing to plant your backside in. The sports seats are superbly comfortable while being extremely supportive, with tight bolstering to ensure you stay firmly set behind the wheel. The jet engine-inspired air vents are my favourite bit, slightly pipping the optional carbon fibre hang down and centre console only marginally (the car comes standard with a matt aluminium-finish console, which is also beautiful). Once comfortable, a glaring red button lurks next to the gear lever, with “Engine Start” illuminated on it. Click, rumble, and then your heart melts as the engine fires up for the first time.
The 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 petrol engine, which sits snugly under the aluminium bonnet, is exactly the same as that of the Coupe and it’s quite a piece of engineering. The most powerful naturally aspirated V8 in the world, it produces 420 kW and 650 Nm – figures that only astronauts would dismiss as “not enough”. The result is a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 317 km/h – and all of this achievable with the roof down (and believe me, the in-cabin aerodynamics are exceptional at high speed). The acceleration is stupendous and quite civilised in fact, making the SLS AMG Roadster quite an easy car to drive fast. No fuss or frills, just fast.
The power is sent to the enormous 20-inch rear wheels through a “torque tube” – a carbon fibre prop shaft which ensures minimal power loss between the engine and the gearbox. Mounted over the rear axle, the 7-speed AMG SPEEDSHIFT dual-clutch automatic transmission features four drive modes – Comfort (like any other auto), Sport (holding the revs a bit higher between shifts), Sport+ (like Sport, only more and harder) and then Manual, which allows the driver full control of the cogs, with manual shift paddles mounted on the steering wheel. A Race Start feature is also installed, for those moments when you need to get off the line exceptionally quickly.
Efficiency is never going to be the first question on your mind when looking at a car like this, but it’s worth mentioning that even with its mammoth power and stupendous performance, the SLS AMG Roadster’s engine was also engineered with a fair dose of ecomentalism in mind, which Mercedes-Benz translates into average fuel consumption claims of 13.2-litres/100km, and carbon emissions of 308g/km. It might not sound terribly tree-conscious, and yes, if you floor it all the time the fuel gauge will drop faster than a rollercoaster, but I have it on good authority that on a long cruise the SLS will drink fuel around the 8.0-litres/100km mark – making it a fabulous grand tourer too.
The sound that emanates from the dual exhausts is something that is hard to describe. It starts as a deep rumble and turns into a high-pitched shriek all the way past 7000 r/min, at which point the F1-style shift indicator lights tell you to hit the “+” paddle and do it all over again. Shifting up releases a loud “crack” from the exhausts as if someone’s hit the gearbox with a sledgehammer and the only way I can try to describe it is to imagine someone physically pulling the power out of the engine, changing fists with every shift. And, with the roof down, the sound is amplified to make love to your ear drums (and possibly make you cry, as I did). On the over run, the SLS seems to dump great wads of petrol into the exhausts, creating mind-boggling backfires that are pornographic enough to warrant a fluffer.
Handling, of course, is also a huge strength of this car and, after having some fun on a gymkhana course and the twisty roads out in the Cradle of Humankind, I came away impressed and shaking with adrenaline. As with any convertible, the body has had to be strengthened to increase rigidity and prevent “flobbery” handling, so the SLS AMG Roadster features beefed-up A-pillars and thicker side sills for extra strength. While this does add a fair amount of weight, as does the roof mechanism, the removal of the heavy Gullwing doors means that, on the whole, the Roadster is only 40 kg heavier than the Coupe.
Order books for the new Roadster have opened at Mercedes-Benz dealerships and, if you want one, you’d better be quick. The car is due for official local launch around March next year and with pricing projected to be around the R2.8-million mark, this machine should have an enormous waiting list before long. If you think I’m saying it’s cheap with that verdict, I’m not. But there is plenty of big money in our country so the prospect of seeing one of these beauties hanging around your local golf course or cigar bar is good and highly likely.
Going home after driving the SLS AMG Roadster, I was left with the thought that I am one of a handful of people who will ever get to drive one. It saddens me that, at the end of the day, I’m not a high roller, ready to do an EFT as soon as I’ve chosen the colour of my leather interior. This car left me on a high like no other and, while it may not be the fastest car I’ve ever driven and you might argue that a Lamborghini or Ferrari offers a different level of awesome, I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that this is the best car I’ve ever driven, and that it will probably stay in that spot for a very long time. I wanted to start this article with an expletive; a word that sums the SLS AMG Roadster up in every way, shape and form. That word begins with a capital “F”…
- Brent Ellis
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