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Mercedes
SL500 Performance
© 2006
KenRockwell.com
Montaña
de Oro, California, July, 2004
Torrey Pines,
California, July, 2004
skip straight to comparisons of model years
Palm Desert,
California, May, 2004
The only convertible that looks sharp with the top up. Note the perfect flowing line from the top of the door moving rearward.
Cambria, California,
July, 2004
Projecting perfect proportions from every angle, the R129 SL500 is the crown jewel of the automotive designers' art. Designed with passion and vision, the R129 SL500 looks as astonishing today as when it was introduced.
San Luis Obispo,
California, July, 2004
1997 SL500 with almost unheard of brown soft top (click to enlarge)
PERFORMANCE
Road and Track got this from the 1997 SL500:
| MPH | Seconds |
| 0 - 30 | 2.4 |
| 0 - 40 | 3.5 |
| 0 - 50 | 4.8 |
| 0 - 60 | 6.2 |
| 0 - 70 | 7.8 |
| 0 - 80 | 9.7 |
| 0 - 90 | 12.1 |
| 0 - 100 | 14.7 |
| quarter mile | 14.5 s @ 99.2 MPH |
| 60 - 0 | 125 feet |
| 80 - 0 | 217 feet |
| skidpad | 0.80 g |
Motor Trend (September 1996, page 18) got 0 - 60 MPH in 5.9 seconds, a 14.3 second quarter mile at 99.6 MPH and 60 - 0 in 117 feet from the 1997 sport version. The sport version is the same car and powertrain just with fatter tires. Car and Driver took 18.3 seconds to hit 110MPH, 22.3 seconds for 120MPH and 28.3 seconds to hit 130MPH in the slightly slower 1990 model.
The car is so powerful that the fatter tires help, since the SL500 has more power than the regular tires can handle off the line. Watch it: if you replace the original Z-rated tires with cheaper, longer wearing ones you'll be spinning the tires all the time and the ASR will keep kicking in and throttling you back as you try to launch.
EPA rated at 15 MPG City, 23 MPG Highway on premium unleaded. I get much better: 24 MPG on the highway with the top up and 17 MPG blasting around town like an idiot and coming to full stops at stop signs with the top down. Most cars and people get less than the EPA ratings, this this article explains why. This is incredible for a 300+ horsepower, 2 ton+ behemoth. This is a benefit of the 5 speed overdrive added with the 1996 model year and Variable Valve Timing. I'm unsure why the 1997 model is unique with only 15 MPG EPA city, since the other models are rated at 17 MPG city and that's what I get driving hard, and people usually get much worse than the EPA ratings. I suspect something was different in the test procedure that year, not the car. EPA ratings are with professional drivers, top up and the air conditioning turned off. I'm an amateur and leave the top down and the A/C on.
Earlier models with the inferior mechanical 4 speed automatic transmission which lacked overdrive and took forever to downshift when you stepped on the gas only got EPA ratings of 14 MPG city / 18 MPG highway (1990 - 1993) or 16 MPG city / 20 MPG highway (1994 and 1995). It had just about the same ratios for the first four gears and lacked overdrive. It may also have lacked lock-up.
The drag coefficient (Cd) is 0.32 for the cloth top, 0.31 for the hard top, and unspecified for the top down. Most convertibles are about a Cd of 0.7 with the top down, which is why Mercedes chooses not to publish it. It is laudable to have a cloth top with such a low Cd, this took a lot of work on their part. As the charts below show, the 1996 - 1998 models have the best Cds of any of the SLs, from 1954 through 2002. By comparison the 2006 Corvette Z06 that's been optimized for low Cd to run at 187 MPH (300 km/h) has the same Cd: 0.31 (AutoWeek, 10 January 2005, p. 28.)
MODIFICATIONS
The SL500 is an out-of-the-box supercar, no tweaking required. If you need to spend an extra couple of hundred thousand dollars to make it something even less likely your neighbors might have, try Brabus. Only thing I'd suggest is sheepskin seatcovers above and a mechanism for storing your hard top.