[P 5UML]

awesome car mate! love it!

[PhilL]

Looks awesome - won't be driving it far this week though now I bet!

[Richardlkay]

Fantastic read and a fantastic car.

Sorry to hear about the niggles but I'm sure you'll get them sorted in good time.

[Richardlkay]

Originally Posted by MEGA

!!!!

Do you also get really really wound up if both the climate control temps don't match in the 3'er ?
Threadjack!

You're not the only one mate, but I also go one further and never set the climate to .5's either (EG: 22.5).

Always has to be a round number!

Sorry to go off topic.

[phil200tdi]

In for the tunnel run vids!

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[alzieboy]

Great write up, Car looks the Dogs Dangelies !! ENJOY

[zedman]

quality

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

In for the tunnel run vids!

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Andrew, you're welcome to join me a Tim for our regular tunnel run mate

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by Hotcoupe

I'll give it 8/9 mths

As long as that?

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by rich1068

As long as that?

At least that, as the new Jaaaag with the R-engine will not be released before that. Then he'll probably tell us he needs an "optical" upgrade...

Alpina_B3_Lux

[willhollin]

Looks very nice Andrew!

[M3-FAST]

What a car! Awesome and look forward to seeing some proper quality pics of it in daylight.

Your a lucky man!

[SF123D]

I had the pleasure of gawping at a SLS in Cheshire Oaks shopping centre. Didn't get to sit in it as there was a queue.

And that's the closest encounter I have had with a supercar (may change if I win the lottery...)

Congrats on a stunning motor.

[sheps]

Well done mate, good to see someone properly enjoying the fruits of his hard work.
Goes without saying the car is stunning.

[Russ G]

Originally Posted by MEGA

!!!!

So it's not just me.

Do you also get really really wound up if both the climate control temps don't match in the 3'er ?


Threadjack!

And another one here, didn't realise there were so many, my wife just takes the piss.

[Snooky]

Awesome car, Andrew!

Hope you have many happy miles motoring in this one. I remember when we all drove e9x's.....about 275 cars ago for you (quite a few for me too....mine have been far more mundane though!).

[Josh1a1h]

You lucky guy!
Very jealous and it looks awesome.

I wonder what finance packages I can arrange

[Real Thing]

Looks Absolutely Fantastic Andrew shame about the couple of niggles on collection but you sound sorted and well Happy now (Funny how Dealers notice the slightest mark come trade in but fail to notice the obvious when selling) If the weather improves and your around at the weekend do you mind a visitor?

[rickyjones1209]

Mate you've raised the bar here big time! Every time I see you you seem to have swapped cars about 3 times! I didn't get to see the xkrs or the 911 turbo or the Maserati! But I really hope to see this before it gets sacked off! Looks truly awesome but I do wonder what you'll upgrade to next time....Ferrari, Lambo? Both of which I guess are not to your taste. Aston Martin is possibly a backward steps from here. A v10 R8 maybe or a Bentley? You may be running out of options.

You up for the Manx this summer? See if you can keep up with 335i!? Ha ha

[zltm089]

Lovely review!!!!...8/10

Missing a video shoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[briers]

I would probably put £50 in that he will be in an F-Type next year/later this year whenever they come out.

Wether he keeps this until then or not who knows, he's an enigma the way he does all this stuff. I wouldn't want to be out of an SLS anytime soon unless you were forced.

I'm sure he will be on after his supper to put us all straight.

[Palmnuts]

Guys, thanks so much for an overwhelmingly positive response - I don't think any car I've had has generated this much interest or widespread approval!

Driving it to work today felt very special, if slow as it was truly horrendous in the mild snow.

I even popped over to my local Merc dealer today to discuss the seat and other niggles (subwoofer excepted; thats being sorted elsewhere) and they seemed to be really quite good. Within minutes they had the car in the workshop to identify what part of seat to order (so I'm not having to book it in for diagnostics etc) - I'm either getting a new base, backrest or both if required.

Also, with regards the buzzes from the back, as they're intermittent I didn't fancy trying to replicate them for the dealer. In fact, I want to fix it myself as I reckon I can do a better job first time and, amazingly, they agreed to remove the bits of trim that I wanted to get access behind and then leave me to it to felt / pad out the ares I want (I can't do it all by myself as the passenger seat needs to come out to gain access). I then return the car to have the seat reinstalled and any trim that I can't put back myself done for me. I'm really happy with that as it means no frustrations going back and forth as I'm confident that when I've padded everything out, it won't be rattling!

Originally Posted by rogerxp

Yup, the colour is great, in fact I had to check my photos as its very similar to what my Masser was wearing. That first piccie does it for me - head on/doors open - what speed do you need to achieve for it to take off?

Thanks Roger....I actually prefer the look of it head-on with the doors shut! Take off speeds are far in excess of what I've driven it as it is absolutely rock solid at speed.

Originally Posted by scottc

I love the colour combo and the interior looks a very nice place to be, one question I have (I know you have only had it a couple of days) but do you think it's worth the £150k that it is new? I am just wondering if it feels £50k better than say a 997.2 turbo or Jag XKRS?

Thanks Scott and good question. Had it not had the few niggles, it would be an unreserved yes - the Porsche and Jag were very good and very similar to each other....the material quality and construction in the SLS feels almost Bentley-like so, my documented niggles aside, it does feel measurably better. The door shuts with a solidity not felt in the others, the buttons, handles and all the touchpoints are all top notch (aluminium paddles a prime example but it applies to most touch points), the seats hugely comfortable...I could go on. Then theres how it feels on the road - solid, composed and generally very 'tight'...the 997 was somewhat similar in this respect though. It's hard to say if it;s £50k better as I guess when you get a certain quality standard and price-point, it takes some considerable step up to demonstrate a noticeable difference (which may not always be possible when using the same fundamental materials!).

Put it this way, in the XKR-S there were a few things not 'perfect'....cheap feeling buttons from an XF, stalks from a Ford, very dated telematics, plastic showing on the door trims (although this was the only area my hands didn't touch cow in that car). In the SLS, whilst it also utilises buttons and stalks from the wider Mercedes range, those basic things are of a higher quality in the first place so it's fair to say I can't (currently) find a single thing in the design or materials that I don't like. I particularly like Mercedes buttons...they have a beautifully engineered feel that no other make can quite manage.

(The Alcantara headlining is not quite as extravagant as the leather one in the Jag but it does give the interior a warmer and less echoey feel).

Originally Posted by davyk31

If you kick up a big enough fuss about the seat etc they will replace it with a brand new one maybe !!

And so it seems....I'm certainly getting replaced whatever needs to be to fix it. Without any fuss or hassle too

Originally Posted by Ste133

Excellent read, as usual. Credit to you for always being honest too.

I was sad to read about the little 'niggles' but you sound like you are much happier now that you've put some TLC into her..

I look forward to seeing the car at a meet one day (unless you have moved on to something else by the time one happens )

Enjoy the car .

Thanks - may as well be honest because lets face it, if everything was always perfect in a car, there'd be little need to ever change them! My niggles aside, I am struggling to find fault with this one though!

Originally Posted by briers

So where do you go next, who knows but for the time you have this I hope you enjoy this supercar, its a stunner.

Originally Posted by MEGA

We all know that you are quick to make a decision and I wouldn't want you trading in such a stunner just because of a creaky seat, the next time something else comes along!!!

Last question, if and when it does go: Where on earth could you go from here? It'd have to be a step back down surely. Which begs an aside: Maybe this means you'll keep it quite a while?

Thanks guys. Not sure where I would go from here - I would probably do my usual thing of downgrading for a bit when I feel I've hit a peak (it happened post 997/Maserati) but I honestly hope I don't feel the need to.

I haven't thought about what could replace it because this being my dream car, I currently don't aspire to anything else (car related...other than the ability to own more of them at the same time!). This will in all likeliness change at some point! Don't worry Dave....I won't be 'rushing' into any future change and, to anyone who hopes to see it at a meet, I aim to enjoy it as much as I can going to such events this year!

Originally Posted by m@rk

I'm not sure what has happened with Mercedes and trim in recent years. I don't know if it's a quality control problem, a design problem or a choice of materials problem (which is what I personally think it is as part of cost cutting measures)

On a C Class I get where they are coming from especially when you look at how they are discounting them to get them out the door. Those savings have to be made somewhere but on an SLS? This is without doubt right at the top of the range and no compromises should be made anywhere.

MB announced last year that they will reduce their production costs in 2013 by €1 billion. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going to happen moving forward especially when BMW and Audi have announced significant investment for the same period.

But the good news is that with that engine you can just wind down the window and hopefully drown them out and besides, just look at it. A stunning looking car that will get you a lot of attention.

My money is on a change in 3 months but it's going to be a fun 3 months.

BTW

Have you got your winter tyres on it?

I don't really see this myself with Mercs as I still think my C63 was one of the best built cars I've had. This perception is supported by my recent drives in a couple of E coupes in the last couple of weeks as I thought them to be really very solid.

We can all have a bad'un as we both well know...but this could happen with any make and in the end, I do think the issues in my SLS are likely from careless previous ownership.

I guess we'll see how this progresses over the coming months and with the new E coupe too.

No winter tyres on....have you seen the price of them!!! It was shocking this morning!

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

Great review as usual. If that sounds even better than the C63 it must be really mental to hear from the outside.

The interior is great too, that's one fine colour combination. Exterior isn't my thing, but I can understand people that are into the retro-thing love it.

Looking forward to driving it later this year. But dude, the 'Ring! This thing just calls for it.

Alpina_B3_Lux

Thanks...although it's going anywhere near a track unless suitably covered. A drive out to the ring is definitely on the cards and I might pop over there one Saturday soon for steak on a stone with Uli and your good self. As one does!
Can't think of better use for the car and my stomach

When I sent Uli a picture it's the first car of mine has appears to wholeheartedly approve of! And reckons the non-cermaic option is the right choice (or doe she think he can now sell me a set )

Originally Posted by dxb335d

I think it looks very special, what's the list price on them? 200k+ certainly lookalike a 200k car.

At Silverstone for the GP last year, the safety car was nailing it around followed by the C63 estate medical car and the C63 was louder which I thought was strange.

New yes....mine was spec'd to £192k as it has every option bar ceramics. Needless to say, that first owner is now either very poor or incredibly rich to absorb that kind of loss in 3k miles!

C63 is definitely not louder unless those safety cars have different exhausts....this SLS is ridiculously loud and pops and bangs much more (like all the time you lift off ).

Originally Posted by Hotcoupe

Lovely,lovely car Andrew,just a shame about the niggles.

For that reason,I'll give it 8/9 mths,but I'm not sure where next,could you stretch to a Veyron?

I wonder if anyone buys a Veyron on finance. I would give that a go....but I don't like them much! No, if it was money no object it would 100% be an Audi, sorry Aventador for me!

Originally Posted by rogerxp

Andrew, you're welcome to join me a Tim for our regular tunnel run mate

Oh, you don't think you'll find this one 'tinny' like my Jag then? Long way to go for a tunnel!

Originally Posted by Snooky

Awesome car, Andrew!

Hope you have many happy miles motoring in this one. I remember when we all drove e9x's.....about 275 cars ago for you (quite a few for me too....mine have been far more mundane though!).

Thanks.....and don't forget I went back to an e92 just 18m ago (for a very short spell).

Originally Posted by Josh1a1h

You lucky guy!
Very jealous and it looks awesome.

I wonder what finance packages I can arrange

Originally Posted by Real Thing

Looks Absolutely Fantastic Andrew shame about the couple of niggles on collection but you sound sorted and well Happy now (Funny how Dealers notice the slightest mark come trade in but fail to notice the obvious when selling) If the weather improves and your around at the weekend do you mind a visitor?

Thanks mate....I'm having it detailed on Saturday and, if I can get it in my garage, my detailer is doing at my house all day and you're welcome to pop round

But, if I can't get it through the garage doors, it's off to Nottingham to the guy's unit....although I'm more than happy to pop up there with you if you fancy giving me a run out in one of your beasts?

(Garage problem is short term...I currently have two doors and a centre pillar which makes the two opening very narrow. Next week, the pillar is being knocked out, new RSJ put in and a new BIG door put in place instead )