2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

EDITOR’S NOTE: We get by with a little help from our friends… We deemed it apt that for our Fast, Present & Future theme, we include a story on one of the fastest cars that we are bound to see on our streets in our immediate future. C! Magazine’s publisher Kevin Limjoco gladly obliged with a test drive story on the most exciting Mercedes-Benz model to arrive in recent memory, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG…

MANILA, Philippines – The Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR has come and gone without too much drama. It was an astonishing 722bhp supercharged supercar that was more underwhelming than mind-blowing. Though it had all the supposed right stuff to make it incredibly desirable: its weight, price tag, difficulty to maintain, nervous handling, design, and size ultimately compromised it. With only 1,700 units ever produced and sold, less than the projected 3,500 run, it is Mercedes’ and owner’s hope that its value will appreciate in time. So far though it’s fetching less than half its value on the gray market which is a dire indicator. The all-new Mercedes-Benz SLS is everything the SLR wasn’t. Where the SLR was about the future, the SLS is about embracing the past engineered with tried and true current technology.

The result is a true supercar that costs less than half of an SLR, is about .2 seconds slower to 100km/h and 15km/h short of the top speed but has the ultra desirable Gullwing doors, a vastly smaller footprint, more comfort, better fuel efficiency, and better handling. So much so that the SLS is the new Safety Car in this season’s Formula 1, a fact that the SLR with all its Formula 1 inspiration and pedigree never accomplished.

I test drove the all-new fully AMG-built-from-the-ground-up Gullwing at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France after getting a multi-hot-lap taxi ride by Bernd Schneider, the most successful DTM Champion of all time and now Mercedes-AMG Ambassador, instructor and test driver. Along with us was CATS Motors president Felix Ang and his lovely wife Grace and ex-race car driver Boy Ochoa, representing VIP customers.

After a series of instructed modules to familiarize ourselves with the SLS’s expansive performance abilities, Boy and I were each let loose on the famed 3.8 kilometer GP short circuit to fully explore the supercars. With over 20 very hot laps accomplished with a very sick photographer (Isabel) by my side, I can conclude with total resolve that the 571bhp 6.2 liter V8 powered SLS combined with its brilliant chassis, brakes and sensational 7-speed dual-clutch transmission is the greatest Mercedes Benz I have ever driven! The SLS is a bonafide challenger to the Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini supercar hegemony to be sure. The rest of the numbers only tell half the story, 0-100 km/h in 3.7 seconds, a governed top speed of 317 km/h, and approximately 20 mpg overall fuel efficiency, wrapped in an all-aluminum chassis with the signature Gullwing doors! The SLS AMG is the ultimate Mercedes-Benz; it is the culmination of all the principles, class, longevity, value and technology of the prestigious marque.

CATS Motors is officially importing the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and it will have its public debut during CAMPI’s 3rd Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) from August 19 to 22, 2010.