12/18/2010

New Marsedes Benz SLS AMG 2011

The aluminum structure weighs just 531 pounds, Mercedes says. Keeping the 182.6-inch long, two-seat SLS’s mass in check is its entirely aluminum construction (save for that driveshaft and steel A-pillars), a first for Mercedes Benz. Our SLS weighs only 3572 pounds, he says, nearly 300 pounds lighter than the McMerc. The SLS is a serious super sports car, says AMG chief of development Tobias Moers before taking a shot at the SLR, a carbon-fiber-bodied car that still managed to weigh in at 3858 pounds.

It is, down to its churning carbon fiber core, AMG’s first dedicated automobile and the very antithesis of the overly complex and overweight half million dollar Mercedes SLR McLaren. It is not simply a Mercedes with bigger wheels and a breathed upon V-8 or V-12. We note this here because, despite the car’s retro-gullwing looks, the SLS is utterly bleeding edge both in terms of its technical attributes and what it represents for Mercedes’ in house tuner. Height of an adult female, weight of a gallon or so of gas these are the critical dimensions of the carbon fiber driveshaft running between the engine and the rear-mounted transaxle in the new Mercedes SLS AMG. It weighs 8.8 pounds.  It’s five and a half feet long.

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