Category: Mercedes-Benz

Like me, you have probably never heard of Dan Neil either. That aside, here he gets to do something I’m sure many AUSmotive readers would love to be do—drive the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG ‘Gullwing’.

The clip is short and to the point. On the surface, at least, Neil does a competent job of giving a good intro to the new supercar. Perhaps all it really needed was footage of some more spirited driving. I guess we will have to wait for Clarkson to see that.

You can watch Dan’s clip after the break. Also included is some crash footage which shows the explosive doors Neil refers to in his review.

Here’s one for our Sydney readers looking for a Sunday morning activity. The Mercedes-Benz Club of NSW will be staging a convoy of Benzes from all eras, with as many as 150 cars crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge tomorrow.

Apparently there’ll even be a 300 SL ‘Gullwing’ in attendance. The original Gullwing is one of the most beautiful cars ever made, surely this is enough cause to check out the day if you can. You’ll need to be up bright and early, though, as the club plans to leave their Hickson Road departure point by 8am. Full details below.

Last Friday a spectacular temporary exhibition at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart came to an end. The exhibition featured Mercedes’ new über car the SLS AMG “Gullwing”. Apart from the car itself there’s nothing too special about that. Until you see the car was on show on the museum’s roof, some 42 metres from ground level.

German engineers usually do think of everything, but, strangely, they did not think of installing a car ramp leading to the musuem’s summit. An oversight that meant the 1620kg SLS AMG had to be lifted by crane onto the roof.

Like me, you probably missed all the fun. But, fear not, here is a video and some pics of the installation process. Sure, countless more astounding engineering feats are probably completed every day, but there’s something quite cool about seeing one of the world’s most desirable cars hanging from the sky.

Fast wagons are cool. There is no denying it. Doesn’t matter who makes ’em. Avant, Estate, Station wagon, doesn’t matter what you call ’em, either. They are the best. Audi RS4, RS6, the BMW M5, hell, even a V8 Supertaxi Holden Sportwagon is a nice bit of kit. The desirability of stupidly quick estates can be traced back to the awesome Audi RS2.

This E 63 AMG, then, raises the bar once more, taking the Soccer Mum Grand Prix right up to BMW and Audi. You either get it, or you don’t. The E 63 AMG Estate has something extra that the saloon is missing. It’s more than the obvious storage capacity, too. There’s just something so right about a practical car like this that has the herbs to dent the massive egos getting about in those two door coupé things.

When you’re in an Estate that has 525bhp and can sprint to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds it is just much more satisfactory than having to prove the same thing in a “sports car”. A real shame, then, that we won’t be seeing this AMG hyper-Estate in Australia. Well, unless you can convince Mercedes-Benz Australia otherwise.

The European press release is all yours after the jump. And more pictures, of course!

When we last spoke about the Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG it was thought Australian deliveries would commence in the first quarter of 2010. Well, good news if you’ve got a lazy quarter of mill lying around, because you will be able to get your grubby little mitts on a 520bhp E63 AMG before Christmas. Well before, as it turns out, with the press release below claiming you’ll be seeing these cars in Aussie showrooms from November.

List pricing, before all the tiresome taxes and delivery fees, is $234,900. Australian delivered E 63 AMG models come with 19″ alloys, a rear boot spoiler and a sun protection package as standard fitment. Such items are usually optional extras.

As is to be expected there is heaps of electronic trickery going on under those angular body panels. But all you really need to know is the combination of a 7 speed MCT transmission coupled to a 6.3 litre V8, punching out 630Nm of torque to go with its 386kW of power, will get you from zero to the speed limit in a tiny 4.5 seconds. Not bad for a big lump of metal.

More pics, more detail and more info down below.

Bernd Schneider, five time DTM touring car champion, takes Mr Giggle for a spin around a track in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing. You do get a some feel for the car’s aural delights, even over the cheesy German to English voiceover.

Also, after the jump, you can see another SLS clip (in German), sourced from IAA TV.

The Gullwing has landed! Just a few days out from the car’s official debut Mercedes-Benz have released a suite of images showcasing the SLS AMG ‘Gullwing’.

There is an extensive press release below that outlines all the goodies you would expect such a car to have, from creature comforts to technological details. Of course, the gullwing doors get plenty of mentions, along with the awesome (on paper at least) 570bhp 6.3 litre V8 engine from AMG. There’s even a couple of trick new paint colours including AMG Alubeam silver, which is said to “shine like liquid metal”. There’s also two matte colours in designo magno Allainte Grey and AMG magno Sylvanite Grey. They sound pretty cool too.

This is one car that has had plenty of previews out there in internetland, including a leaked ordering guide. So, without further ado here are 36 45 wallpaper-friendly images of the big Benz supercar which is due in Australia around the middle of 2010.

UPDATE: Nine more pictures added!