Hello! for those who don’t know, My name is Tyler and I am a motoring journalist. This month will see the announcement of the new Mercedes-AMG GT which will no doubt be impressive, however, that also means that the SLS AMG is out of a job so to speak. Today I drove a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT for the last time and I thought you guys might be interested…
“The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is an analogue hero for our digital world, a car that needs you as much as you need it.”
Really, a car that cost more than most people’s house? A car I’ve only seen in autoshows (and I’ve seen some impressive cars on the street)? I’m not saying the SLS isn’t a great car but the “analogue hero for our digital age” already exists, it’s called the FRS. And I can park that car at a local Walmart without being terrified at what I’ll find when I return.
My point is that modern day supercars are so computer driven, so easy to drive that you don’t really have to work at all in the cockpit to set a respectable lap time. The SLS is the last of dying breed of cars that need true driver input. It is raw, mechanical and a symbol of what we are losing in an ever technologically focused world. True enthusiasts need cars like this, as cars like this need enthusiasts to keep buying them.
I understood your point, and on face I even agree with it, but the reality of the car and its market doesn’t fit the narrative Mercedes, others, and literally yourself (said with respect) try to sell.
The SLS isn’t primarily purchased to produce “respectable” lap times. If you wanted a track car you could run all day and produce respectable lap times with for SLS money, Porsche would gladly sell you a 911 Cup car that would humiliate basically every road car ever created…it’s safer at track speed, too. No, the SLS, and other supercars, are bought for one reason and one reason only…lust, or stated differently, because someone wanted them. There is nothing wrong with that. However, Mercedes and various publications including yours (said with respect), would have us believe that the life of the average SLS shall be hunting for apexes and not sitting for long stretches of time with maybe, maybe a high speed blast or two every other year for fun before being traded to the next executive, prince, whatever, like an expensive stripper at party for a superbowl winning football team.
There have been many front engine GT cars that are “heroes.” To name a few BMW Z8, Ferrari 550/575 (always loved how they looked), Mercedes Mclaren SLS, Ferrari 456. Yet, for as great as they were, and for as heroic as they may have been to some, they only saved a moneyed few, and will be remembered mostly as magazine articles written by people like yourself or played in video games like Forza…if they are even included.
To put everything I just said in a different perspective.
12 year olds argue Ferrari vs. Lambo
20-30 year olds argue Mustang vs. Camaro or if you prefer Evo vs. WRX
40-50 year olds argue Corvette vs. Porsche of if you prefer GTR vs. Porsche
The hyper elite of all ages just buy what they want then trade it when they get tired of it.
Ironically, you praise the SLS for being an analogue car in a digital age when it will be mostly experienced through a digital medium (video games). “My digital representation of this analogue car is ‘purer’ than you digital representation of that digital car!”
I will be sad to see it go. It’s currently my favourite money-no-object chariot of choice and I’m not entirely sure the next “911-rivalling” GT offering will quite fill the old car’s boots, especially given the swap to forced-induction.
As for the OP’s verdict - I agree with the “analogue hero” part but not that “the car needs you as much as you need it”. The average Mercedes is crammed full of enough technology to mollycoddle the driver in any given situation, and high-performance AMG models are even better/worse (depending how you look at it). In fact if I’m not mistaken the current S-class has the ability to drive itself for short periods of time.
However, that having been said, I do agree with “analogue”. Drive an SLS and instantly you are gleefully reminded that the recipe is simple but still very, very effective. Where the keyword behind most performance cars on sale today is efficiency, the keyword for the SLS is simply event. Acceleration is an event. Braking is an event. Cornering is an event. Even opening the Gull-wing doors is an event. (And if you’ve ever seen one in the flesh you’ll realise that washing the 45-foot long bonnet is also likely to be an event!) It’s this which makes the SLS such a refreshing alternative to it’s rivals. It feels like it’s very conception and construction is from a time-gone by, not in such a way as to leave the car feeling tired or outdated, but rather to suggest a golden-age of motoring. A time when driving was more than a mundane everyday occurrence but instead a spectacular and glorious “event”!
This world needs more analog cars, and less digital ones. Too much digital this, digital that, automatics everywhere, blah I say. SLS AMG with Gullwings will be missed. As will all the fine manual driven automobiles of the past. The real fun, in my personal opinion, has left the industry.
