Test drive Mercedes Benz SL-class R231 since 2012
Created to delight
Mercedes-Benz SL500 car that you can’t just use. You can own them. Now in Russia.Comparing the new SL with any other car, to approach it with the same criteria for assessments as the machines available in the multitude would be wrong. Because it is not a massive, but piece product, the top of the Mercedes model range, a product for the elect and ideal for many. It is not without reason that the SL model, which has been counting since 1954, has been sold only 490 thousand such cars. Many famous and very rich people became their owners. SL is a lifestyle and position in society. Only a marginal can go on it to the market or to the laundry room, it's like taking tomato seedlings to a garden plot on Lamborghini. His place in the parking lot at the yacht club or fields for playing golf. Well, in extreme cases, an expensive supermarket.
Sophistication in every detail
SL design is a work of art. In the novelty, the spirit of the legendary silver arrows is preserved, it looks simultaneously conservative and fresh, its lines are rapid and at the same time solid. SL literally attracts attention to what I was convinced in two days of dough. The views were enthusiastic, envious, but never indifferent. And at the nuclear power plant there was such an episode.
The owner of the brand new, with a needle, six hundredth, seeing SL, sharply braked, drove up closer, was not too lazy to get out of the car and ask me in detail about everything. We discussed the details when he looked into the salon. Having instantly shut up, the owner of the S-Class muttered something goodbye, headed for his car and, greatly slapping the door, was that. He was upset, obviously. There is no such interior as in SL in other models. There is only expensive skin, wood and metal.
Personally, I managed to detect only three plastic parts of the windows buttons, the steering wheel cover and the original lid of the instrument panel. Everything else, including the ceiling and the front panel, is covered with leather, in the magnificent dressing of which there is no doubt. As you know, Mercedes-Benz SL is a traditionally double car. And these two are surrounded by care that the others never dreamed of. Everything that is possible is regulated. Click one of the buttons and the back massage will turn on, touch the other with a finger and the roof will turn into the trunk. I could not deny myself the pleasure of taking a convertible in winter ...
It’s a pity that winter is worth it ...
Moscow, of course, is not Monte Carlo. The car still reveals itself completely on even and dry roads. It remained to be content with little joy: in the evening on the Moscow Ring Road froze well, and the asphalt was almost dry. On the clock is 1.30 in the morning. I leave the city, slowly and smoothly, at a speed of about 80 km/h, the traffic police post, and forward, the gas pedal is completely drowned. The reaction was instantaneous, and now the back was already stuck to the chair, and the smile on the face broke somewhat.
The speedometer arrow began to move at a breathtaking speed of 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240 ... The account could be continued, but winter tires have a high -speed index N (210 km/h), which did not slow down to affect handling. The steering wheel just ceased to be felt, and this is already dangerous. Most likely, the matter is not in the feedback, but in tires. At a speed of 160-180 km/h, everything is in order.
Having turned off the music, I listened to the noise. The configured and solid sound of the exhaust system, the hiss of the mirror is everything that is heard. A 8-cylinder engine with a volume of 5 liters and a capacity of 306 hp. Provides amazing pickup from almost any speed. The 5-speed automatic checkpoint, first installed on this model, does not suffer from thoughtfulness. At the same time, the programs switch quickly, but without jerking.
Who at such a time decided to rebuild in the left row? I quickly remove my leg from the gas pedal and press the brake. Slow down is no less effective than acceleration. The merit belongs to the Sensotronic Brake Control system. If the driver abruptly removes the leg from the gas pedal, SBC immediately increases the pressure in the brake system, preparing for a sharp inhibition. In addition, it distributes the brake efforts between four wheels, which makes braking in the bend more effective and safe. Add to this ABS and ESP systems that insure of skidding, and the active suspension Active Body Control (ABC), which reduces the cranes of the body in turning to a minimum, and you will get almost the safest car. However, quite racing, I turn on the adaptive cruise control (it supports a safe distance to the walking car in front) and I dwell to the house.
The next day was no longer pleasing to the weather. Snow, on the roads of ice is not a time for traveling to Mercedes-Benz SL. Nevertheless, all the same electronic systems made it possible to move confidently and not particularly thinking about the insidiousness of the rear -wheel drive. Only a light bulb blinking with a yellow color on the instrument panel indicated that such road conditions did not like such road conditions. But the driver is calm.
Who will buy SL?
Returning the car, I dreamed of a sunny day in the summer, when it would be possible to lower the hard roof on SL and rush along empty roads. Together with a good fellow traveler, and better a fellow traveler. But only you need to buy a suit by then for a couple of thousand dollars, otherwise they will definitely not take such a car for the owner of such a car. After all, SL is a symbol of well -being and a certain situation in society. His owner should not have any financial difficulties. Service? The cost of service? Have mercy, these questions cannot interest the owner. And the annual mileage cannot be more than 10 thousand kilometers. That is, even mechanics should be shown this car no more than once a year.
Competitors? Yes, perhaps they are not. Buying a car worth 120 thousand dollars means a love of a brand, and uncompromising. But what about Ferrari, Lamborghini or Bugatti? All this is already from another life, which you can probably get to Mercedes-Benz SL ...
Andrey Osipov
