Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is like nothing else. It is effortlessly cooler than the SLR McLaren that preceded it, and an unashamedly different character to any of its peers, which range from the Lexus LFA to the Ferrari 599. There’s something almost art deco about the SLS’s lines and the arch of its gullwing doors when raised – particularly in its standard guise rather than the Black Series we have here, which drips machismo from every wing and vent.
The SLS marked the start of AMG’s evolution into a sub-brand in its own right. Developed entirely by Mercedes’ performance arm, the front-mid mounted 563bhp 6.2-litre V8 was claimed to be the most powerful naturally aspirated engine in production at the time.
It even lived up to the Super Light Sport moniker. A kerb weight just north of 1600kg – or just under for the Black Series that shaved 70kg off of the standard car – is impressive for a car this huge. The bonnet alone is so long that it creates its own horizon. Such is your distance from the car’s nose that, initially, it feels like you need a rudder more than a steering wheel.
However, in practice, the SLS AMG is a deft and vigorous steer. Even the standard model has a poise to it that you might not expect of a sporting grand tourer. The Black Series injects more aggression – but it’s aggression that just 15 lucky individuals got to experience from new.
With 622bhp and a rev limit raised from 7400rpm to 8000rpm, the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic ‘box mounted physically lower, and a tauter take on the dual-mode damping, it eggs you on in a way that the more laid-back standard car doesn’t.
With oily, beautifully weighted steering that’s responsive without being neurotic, it is easy to get carried away with the visceral-feeling SLS AMG Black Series. But it will make you pay if you take liberties. There’s plenty of grip at both front and rear ends, but when it does decide to let go, it does it quickly and with little care for the consequences.
On the track, it’s more manageable and epically entertaining to drive hard, but on-road, the firm ride and hair-trigger throttle response of the Black Series can quite easily cause the otherwise impressive lateral traction to break. At which point you will clench every part of your body.
But that’s not to say that you can’t drive it and enjoy it in all conditions. It is, at heart, a grand tourer and it will eat continents with remarkable ease – even if the Black Series’ anti-socially loud exhaust never quietens down. And, frankly, why would you want it to?
The SLS AMG is, more than anything, just a strikingly beautiful vessel for that extraordinary V8 motor. When battery power takes over and we look back to the finest moments of internal combustion, this will be one of them. The noise. Oh, the noise…
Yes, this is already an expensive and rarefied car. But if you can, you should buy one, because they’re only getting more expensive and rarer. And if you do, make sure you drive it and drive it properly. You’ll be doing a fine service to all of us in earshot.
2014 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series
- Engine: V8, 6208cc
- Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic, RWD
- Power: 622bhp @ 8000rpm
- Weight: 1550kg
THE HAGERTY VALUATION TEAM SAYS
- Hagerty value condition #2: £166,500
- 2019 Hagerty value condition #2: £167,000
- Hagerty 12-month value change: -£500 (0.2%)
The spiritual successor to the 300SL. As with most modern performance cars, values tend to dip at first and until very recently, according to statistics provided by Auto Trader, advertised prices of both body styles were dropping each month compared with 12 months previously.
Then, from September 2020, asking prices rose: the convertible by 2.3% and the coupe by 2.5%. Values range from around the £100,000 mark to about £600,000 for the rare Black Series. As Mercedes gears up for the era of electrification, the SLS could be a high-tide mark from the petrol era.
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