There’s a good chance that I have now spent more time behind the wheel of the new Mercedes-Benz SLS Gullwing than anyone else in the country. Not that I’m complaining of course, but having just completed a 3 000 km round trip to Johannesburg, together with some hot laps around Zwartkops racetrack, as well as, the mileage completed while we had the car on review at our Cape Town offices, I feel as though I know the SLS particularly well.
While there are aspects of the car, including it’s head-turning looks, awesome power, impressive handling characteristics and, of course, those doors, that will be familiar to lots of people – journalists, owners, test drivers and dealership principles – I do feel that I have uncovered a few not-so-well-known intricacies of the new Gullwing.
This is what I know:
The SLS’s boot may look small but it’s deceptive. My initial fear that I’d have to ask Merc to either fit roof racks or a tow hitch to their precious car in order to transport mine and, especially my girlfriend’s, luggage up to Johannesburg proved to be unfounded as I managed to fit both bags (packed for a week) into the boot.
Now, with a price tag of nearly R3 million I doubt that many SLS owners are going to undertake a journey of this length and duration, but the point that I’ve proved is that there should be more than enough space to accommodate two overnight, or even a weekends worth, of luggage. As an observation it is a bit difficult for a female with relatively long nails to open the boot lid. It’s easy enough to “pop the trunk” from the key fob but you still have to put your hands under the popped lid to open it.
The seats are actually very comfortable. I was a bit worried that my passenger would get a bit agitated during the trip by the fact that the seats only recline minimally and wouldn’t allow her to get nicely comfortable. The fact of the matter is that the once she got used how the various bolster adjustments worked, she was able to get, and stay, comfortable throughout the trip. I found the driver’s seat comfortable enough, but the bolstering on the cushion didn’t release wide enough for me to stay comfortable for anything longer than 6 hours at a time.
The standard cruise control fitted to the SLS really works. Setting it to 130 km/h (on the clock) the transmission settles into its 7th gear ratio and the rev needle assumes its position just below the 3 000 r/min mark. With cruise control engaged and a full 88-litre tank of petrol onboard I was able to observe a figure that few, if any, SLS owners are likely to see for themselves; the range readout indicating close to 800 km! That same range indicator does however have an annoying trait that I found out about at the least opportune time. It counts down towards empty, which is handy enough, but then below 40 km to go it simply displays an image of the car parked alongside a fuel pump! How does that help me? All I know is that I had around 40 km to go before the display left me guessing – and I’m around 35 km from a filling station! Tense times!
The Gullwing turns heads. Everywhere it goes. I expected to draw attention from curious bystanders during the weeklong trip, but nothing like the looks, stares and finger pointing that I actually witnessed. From passengers in cars about to be passed spinning their heads around once the driver exclaimed what exactly was filling his/her mirrors, to petrol attendants fighting over who would clean the windscreen. It’s also great fun watching unsuspecting people’s faces, especially while stopped at roadworks and fuel stations, when the doors on “that cool-looking car” suddenly open upwards. I can also tell you that three out of five people who take a closer look at the interior of the SLS will knock their heads on the doors!
In an ideal world I would have been able to use the cruise control the whole way up to Johannesburg, and back, but I learned a long time ago that this is not possible. From slow-moving trucks and Toyota Corollas, to fast-moving Opel Corsa Ute bakkies (looking to race!) there are times then the huge grunt of the SLS comes in very handy. There’s nothing like flooring it past slow-moving traffic and teaching that slightly optimistic Ute driver a lesson in cubic capacity.
Oh yes, one more thing. It’s almost worth breathing in some pretty horrible-tasting air while passing through the Huguenot Tunnel with both windows open just to listen to the amplified exhaust note of a Gullwing in full flight.
