You've seen the Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Series' delectable curves and its prodigious amount of horsepower, but  the question on everyone's mind is whether or not the SL's real world performance matches its on-paper stats.  To find out, numerous publications recently took their turn behind the wheel of the latest model to make its way out of Affalterbach, and the result is yet another installment of our infamous Mercedes Review Roundup installment.

In total, five publications weigh in on the Mercedes SL65 AMG Black Series, so if you're contemplating whether or not to purchase one of the 350 units scheduled for production, there should be plenty to keep you occupied.  As usual, you can find excerpts from each review as well links back to the full articles immediately below.

Enjoy.


Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series (via Motor Trend)
Reviewer's rating:  

"Presenting a few figures to unclog your arteries: 661 horsepower, 738 pound-feet of torque, a $300,000 price tag, claimed 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, a top speed electronically limited to . . . 200 mph. Ahhh. You may now skip tonight's dose of Lipitor.

The new top model in the AMG lineup, the twin-turbocharged, V-12 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series will slip into American traffic this January as inconspicuously as a librarian redecorating her desk with a chain saw. From the front or back, the Black Series resembles a mad, robotic bulldog, its leviathan fender flares stretching overall width to nearly six and a half feet. Every body panel except the rear fenders and the doors is made of lightweight carbon fiber -- including the new fixed roof, which hides an integrated roll bar. The rear apron incorporates an underbody diffuser for improved downforce; also assisting is a rear wing that automatically rises above 75 mph.

AMG employs 60 engine-builders, 40 of whom are trained to produce V-12s. Each SL65 Black Series powerplant is assembled by one of those men from start to finish, a process that takes about seven hours (including testing). Compared with the "normal" SL65, the Black Series gets redesigned, better-breathing turbos; a modified intake tract; and a reengineered exhaust with reduced backpressure. The resulting 6.0-liter monster produces so much torque, AMG uses an electronic limiter to keep the madness in check. Without it, the blown V-12 would produce more like 885 pound-feet. Incredibly, despite the power boost, the Black Series delivers five percent better fuel efficiency than the standard SL65.

Step on the throttle, and your own vocabulary will momentarily lapse into mere grunts and screams. So much torque floods the 325/30R20 rear Dunlops, the Black Series nearly stands on end. You'd never move an inch forward without traction control.

Running high-speed laps around Laguna Seca, I left the stability system in ESP Sport, which allowed the tail to wag just a little and kept the revs from bogging down, as happens with full ESP on. This is an explosive automobile, not a finesse machine. Lots of handling grip, with surprisingly little understeer, but it's no match for the nimbler, V-8 SL63 AMG.

The power is fantastic, real head-banging stuff. Imagine the egos you could crush on the autobahn with this two-seat sledgehammer. The five-speed auto proved a little clunky at times, though. Hit the rev limiter, and before you can upshift the transmission pauses. The engine almost seems to reboot. Rather than simply bouncing back to life as revs drop, it stops, takes a breath, then reawakens as you get your upshift. I'm talking blink-of-an-eye timing here, but on a racetrack even mere ticks are confounding. And, obviously, you can avoid the whole issue by simply staying clear of the redline."

Read Full Review »



Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series (via AutoWeek)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"Mercedes-Benz must respect its best clients. How else to explain the 2009 SL65 AMG Black Series, a limited-edition (350 cars worldwide), megabucks ($300,000 estimated) supercar that makes you forget its origins--it feels almost nothing like the SL on which it is based---within, oh, three seconds after you lay eyes on it, let alone turn the key?

In one day spent driving the Black Series from San Francisco to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for hot laps, the car impresses as much as it surprises. Its striking looks cause double-takes of intimidation whenever the big Benz pops into another’s rearview mirrors, the SL appearing to occupy most of the lane width. The suspension-with adjustable ride height, toe and camber-feels as though it has virtually no travel. This is one of the hardest-riding, flattest-cornering and most fun to drive Mercedes road cars of all time and bears no resemblance to the coddling comfort of lesser SLs, even the well-respected new generation of AMG models.

The driving experience involves occupants at all times. The downside for customers used to other renditions is that even the smallest of bumps channel directly into the cockpit. The impacts are not overly harsh and the car never feels as though it is on a knife edge, but the chassis moves around and tends to porpoise up and down on uneven surfaces, a potentially tiring characteristic on long drives.

Jump on the throttle and, after perhaps a split second as the turbos spool, the world may as well come to an end. The accelerative force is stupefying, and it provides no reason to doubt the manufacturer’s claims of 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, 0 to 124 mph (200 kph) in 11 seconds flat. For the record, top speed is electronically limited to 199 mph. The exhaust note, heretofore unobtrusive and mostly drowned out by a relatively high-decibel track of tire and road noise (muted in other Mercedes and AMG offerings by heavy sound-deadening material) suddenly bellows a flat, wild, baritone whoooosh. Keep it planted and it sounds as though you have ripped the space/time continuum wide open.

Even with ESP stability control switched off, the traction-control icon flashes madly and often as small but quick steering corrections keep everything together. Suddenly, it is not hard to imagine the sense of invincibility an armored battleship commander might feel if ordered to engage an armada of catamarans. The world is at your feet--especially your right one.

On the sweeping Laguna Seca road course, the Black Series remains a heavyweight GT prizefighter rather than a strung-out, nimble ballerina, and it is easy to overestimate early throttle applications to produce grinding understeer. On the other hand, carry speed well and smoothly into a corner, hit the pedal hard on exit and take heed: power-on oversteer is predictably in plentiful supply, especially with ESP switched off, but it is remarkably controllable."

Read Full Review »



Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series (via Auto Express)
Reviewer's rating:  

"With its huge swollen wheel arches and gaping air vents, it’s wide, solid and low and oozes aggression even when standing still. The track has been widened by 115mm at the front and 103mm at rear, while the standard SL’s folding top has been replaced with a lower profile fixed roof.  Like most of the new body panels it’s made from carbon fibre reinforced plastic to save weight and as a result the Black Series is 250kg lighter than the SL65.

The chassis has been reworked as well; you get race-derived suspension, plus a retractable rear spoiler that extends by 12cm to help high-speed stability. The brakes and tyres have been up rated too, which is crucial because in the Black Series the SL65’s mighty 612bhp 6-litre bi-turbo V12 has been tuned to offer a massive 670bhp. To preserve the gearbox torque has been electronically limited to 1,000Nm – unleashed it generates an incredible 1,200Nm.

But even restricted the effortless nature of the Black Series’ incredible straight-line acceleration is hard to believe. Few other cars can deliver performance like this. Unsurprisingly, the traction control system has to work hard but there’s a Sport mode that allows more slip before intervention, while for track use it can be turned off fully.

In this configuration the accelerator needs to be treated with respect but the huge 20-inch rear tyres and the high levels of mechanical grip mean the SL punches out of corners very rapidly. The body control is very impressive too, the big Mercedes corners with a very flat stance, unfortunately despite an eight per cent increase in sharpness over the standard SL65, and the steering doesn’t have the feedback of rival super cars, while the very powerful brakes feel a little dead under the foot.

And crucially despite the weight savings the mass of the large V12 engine can still be felt on the track, as a result the Black Series doesn’t turn in with the incisive precision of cars like the Porsche 911 GT2 and there’s a fair amount of understeer on the entry to bends. However, the cars grip levels are so high that this is only apparent on the track; on the road it never feels anything other than planted to the tarmac."

Read Full Review »



Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series (via car)
Reviewer's rating:  

"The standard 6.0-litre twin turbo V12 is boosted from 612 to 670bhp thanks to improved cooling and larger turbos. Torque remains pinned at ‘just’ 737lb ft because the standard five-speed auto can’t cope with the there-for-the-taking 885lb ft. Apparently an extra 50bhp would be an easy tweak too, with no negative consequences for reliability. A stronger seven-speeder is in the pipeline, but it won’t see service in the Black, which makes do with revised software and an uprated hydraulic system to deliver 25% faster shifts.

The suspension, meanwhile, has been fettled by motorsport-proven experts KW. It’s not adjustable in-car, but it is a fully adjustable set-up that can be tailored to your requirements. New wheels were naturally required to fill those gaping arches (relatively narrow 265/35 ZR19 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GTs up front minimise tramlining at the expense of a little understeer, 325/20s at the rear give the SL some hope of gaining traction). Yet the brakes remain standard, AMG claiming that the weight loss more than offsets the extra horses the stoppers have to restrain. Fewer kilos no doubt also help account for the marginally improved mpg.

How does it drive?  The SL is epic. As you’d expect, it rides so firmly that passengers of a weaker constitution will soon feel sick. This means body control is extremely good, yet the firmness is at least underpinned by enough suppleness to stop the ride feeling too crashy.

The brakes don’t quite have the initial feel you’d expect, but do offer plenty of retardation when you need to lean on them. And the throttle might be edgy during low-speed manoeuvres, but the gear shifts manage to be both refined and pretty quick – thank that uprated hydraulic system and the fact that the torque converter locks up entirely from first gear, making for cleaner, faster shifts. There’s a choice of sport and comfort in full auto mode, and two speeds in the manual setting. The latter differentiation seems surplus to requirements. Drivers have two auto modes to choose from already, so why not just make manual as fast as possible?

Prod the throttle and there’s a little lag – blame those larger and slightly slower to react turbine blades – but the boost soon comes in with such unrelenting, linear ferocity that you’re at the 6200rpm limiter before you know it. The soundtrack is of hard-blowing turbos, so it’s less characterful than AMG’s brawny naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8, but you do get that invigoratingly sudden release of pressure come gear change time that characterises big boost race cars. And then it all happens all over again with equal intensity. The lag is actually something of a blessing on the road, giving you as it does a little warning of what’s to come and the chance to accelerate early in bends without fear of an international sideways incident."

Read Full Review »



Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series (via Inside Line)
Reviewer's rating:  Unspecified

"The power-to-weight numbers say that the SL65's acceleration shouldn't be as crushing as that of a Corvette ZR1, but once both cars are hooked up we'd wager it would be a good race. With less engine noise than a Vette or Viper and the sense that you're piloting a bullet train rather than a sports car, the 2010 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series sends you a message of ample confidence at speed.

Still, the SL65's driving character is largely a product of its 4,342 pounds, which is 210 pounds lighter than a standard SL65. This much weight in a car this dynamically capable is an unusual and even bizarre combination. This heavyweight package's natural physical resistance to accelerating, stopping and turning is crushed by massive power, huge brakes and a stiff suspension. To a large extent, physics takes a backseat to engineering.

At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where we spent an afternoon lapping this Mercedes-Benz, the SL65 AMG Black Series produced an uncommon mix of emotions among those who took the wheel: sheer joy and utter terror. Even experienced drivers accustomed to piloting hugely powerful cars were reluctant to fully disable the car's stability control. Most utilized the SL's liberal Sport mode, which allows small slip angles before the electronics intervene. Few turned it off completely.

Out of reverence for the SL's outrageous mix of power and weight, we spent most of our laps in Sport mode. But after overshooting too many apexes thanks to stability control programming that doesn't get along with trail braking, we found that running fully ungoverned by the electronics was as liberating as it was terrifying.

There's no escaping the consequences of the SL's mass while cornering or braking. As a result, we found less confidence than we'd like in the steering feel as the car turned into a corner. This SL is also very, very stiff, which hurts front grip. More suspension compliance would likely increase grip in many situations.

The transmission is slow to respond to downshift requests. It has the ability to subtly match revs to reduce drivetrain loads to the rear wheels under braking, but this often happens so late that it's self-defeating. This could be because there's ample torque available to exit any corner in any gear and AMG engineers know it. Still, any car that lacks a direct connection between its engine and rear wheels provides less control than we'd prefer for track driving.

The SL's brake system, which utilizes conventional steel rotors, is incredible. Even after hundreds of relentless laps, we experienced only mild softening of the pedal due to fade — one hell of a feat in a car this powerful and this heavy."

Read Full Review »