All-new Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG

Soon after the release of the new Mercedes-Benz SL, and the SL 63 AMG, comes the SL 65 AMG – lighter, faster, smarter and more economical than ever. Roadster wise, this one is the top of the top by AMG at this point.

The first thing, the company wants to brag about, is the "intelligent, weight-saving construction" - Not much different from the new standard SL, the SL 65 has an aluminum body. There are also bits and pieces of carbon fiber scattered around but one would have to look hard to them. The underside of the boot lid would be a good place to start. Many pieces of the front and rear suspension are also made up of aluminum. As an end result, the new AMG roadster weighs 170 kg less than its predecessor. Mind you, that still means a total unsprung weight of 1950 kg – a cosmic figure for today's performance open tops. Nobody sounds worried though.

This could be due to the fact that, under the hood, the SL 65 hides a 6.0 liter biturbo V12 bomb. They used the same one in the previous SL? Well this one is better. 18 hp better to be exact. Thanks to the new, larger turbochargers, new manifolds and optimised flow wastegate ducts, there is a 630 hp figure awaiting for you in the spec list. Torque stands at 1000 Nm and thus the time from zero to a hundred is reduced to 4 seconds. Top speed remains 155 mph – bound not by the restrictions of the laws of physics but rather by road law.

It's not all raw power though. The AMG SPEEDSHIFT PLUS 7G-TRONIC is clever enough to increase the fuel economy of this top-of-the-range stallion. 7 long-ratio speeds will let the V12 do its thing at lower revs while a new fuel economy torque converter, bearings designed for reduced friction loss and the transmission-oil thermal management system further increase the efficiency. Also, because it's so modern these days, the whole drivetran comes with an ECO start/stop system that will save you pennies, especially in urban environments.

The SL 65's manners on the road will be greatly dependant on the AMG rear differential, the AMG brakes and the Active Body Control, which surprisingly has only two settings and not ten – "Sport" and "Comfort". They are quite self explanatory really. Apply the former on track days and switch to the latter upon returning from track days.

For the interior, much inspiration was drawn by the AMG SLS which is the definitive product of the Daimler subsidiary. The list of options alone, is big enough to render the 170 kg loss rather useless but at least you can be picky. Price tags have not yet been issued but time is all we have, as the SL 65 AMG will hit the markets somewhere around the second half of this year. Until then, feel free to check out our gallery.

Mercedes Benz AMG SL 65 (2013)

Source: Mercedes-Benz