Rev 2 GT vs Merc SL500

[Mike]

Myself and the Merc were stuck in slow moving traffic along typically frustrating Norfolk roads for the best part of 20 miles. We eventually got to a dual carraigeway, now intrigued though I was by the SL's performance I didn't want to instigate anything mainly because I'd been forced to put crappy Murco Super Unleaded in my tank so the car was running badly. So I sat back a little and waited for him to make a move which he did. We accelerated hard from about 25/30mph up until the point at which we were both making very good progress.
To my surprise, despite my car boosting slightly erratically I stayed right with him, didn't drop back, nor did I close the gap until he apparently backed off.
I looked up the stats, 5.5 8cylinder engine, 383bhp, 391lbs/ft, 0-60 5.3sec 155mph limited, 1900kgs. So I dont think I did too badly considering my car wasn't 100%

[matt_mr2t]

The sheer size and weight of these things slows them down. Even the SL55 AMG's arent exactly superquick for a £100k car.

Still, they look nice, probably unreal in terms of comfort and luxury. I'd have one.

I had a play with either a 500 or 55 in my old tubby on a national speed limit 3 lane road. He wasnt getting away from me, if anything I was nudging it along in the end. (the old tubby was a shade over 300bhp)

[Olly P]

I had a play with either a 500 or 55 in my old tubby on a national speed limit 3 lane road. He wasnt getting away from me, if anything I was nudging it along in the end. (the old tubby was a shade over 300bhp)

No offence, but that wouldn't have been an SL55 then.

There was a story on here a while back where a fellow member raced his 400bhp tubby against Jeremy Clarkson in his SL55. Up to 60 or 70 is was even, but above that the SL55 stormed away. 300bhp will never compete with 500bhp when up to speed, no matter how heavy the 500bhp car is.

I've had a couple of run ins with AMG Mercs, and even with me running 300bhp, it was pretty embarassing.

[gnzyza]

Having driven the SL55 AMG i can say its deceptively quick, esp on the straights. Not much can touch an AMG like for like down a straight.

Dont know about other variants

[Kongaroo]

There was a story on here a while back where a fellow member raced his 400bhp tubby against Jeremy Clarkson in his SL55. Up to 60 or 70 is was even, but above that the SL55 stormed away. 300bhp will never compete with 500bhp when up to speed, no matter how heavy the 500bhp car is.

I've had a couple of run ins with AMG Mercs, and even with me running 300bhp, it was pretty embarassing.

The guy that raced Clarkson did surprisingly well considering he only had a stock rev 4 tubby with exhaust, filter and running just 16psi

[matt_mr2t]

I must have looked at the wrong stats, I thought it was the AMG that was around the 390bhp mark for some reason

It must have been the SL500 in that case.
http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/ ... car=142274

If it was a 55 it would have been this one:

http://www.carfolio.com/specifications/ ... ?car=91696

Both seriously nice cars IMO and wouldnt say no to either.

[fizz]

The 55 AMG is a car that has left me for dead on a few occacions while accellerating on the motorways. They truely are beastly.

[stiggy]

Must say, you really shouldn't be putting anything but V Power in your car in the first place, but you really REALLY shouldn't be boosting hard without it!

[mr2nut123]

There was a story on here a while back where a fellow member raced his 400bhp tubby against Jeremy Clarkson in his SL55. Up to 60 or 70 is was even, but above that the SL55 stormed away. 300bhp will never compete with 500bhp when up to speed, no matter how heavy the 500bhp car is.

I've had a couple of run ins with AMG Mercs, and even with me running 300bhp, it was pretty embarassing.

The guy that raced Clarkson did surprisingly well considering he only had a stock rev 4 tubby with exhaust, filter and running just 16psi

Correct. It was nowhere near 400bhp! If it was, I dare say it would have beaten him down the strip

[Olly P]

There was a story on here a while back where a fellow member raced his 400bhp tubby against Jeremy Clarkson in his SL55. Up to 60 or 70 is was even, but above that the SL55 stormed away. 300bhp will never compete with 500bhp when up to speed, no matter how heavy the 500bhp car is.

I've had a couple of run ins with AMG Mercs, and even with me running 300bhp, it was pretty embarassing.

The guy that raced Clarkson did surprisingly well considering he only had a stock rev 4 tubby with exhaust, filter and running just 16psi

Fair enough. I thought it was highly tuned.

I must have looked at the wrong stats, I thought it was the AMG that was around the 390bhp mark for some reason
.

I think there have been a couple of engine revisions along the way.

[matt_mr2t]

Must say, you really shouldn't be putting anything but V Power in your car in the first place, but you really REALLY shouldn't be boosting hard without it!

Wrong, you should put what the car has been mapped to or better. If they only ran on V-Power about 99% of them would be dead by now.

I ran mine happily for 5 years without ever seeing V-Power let alone actually putting it in the tank.

Tesco 99, BP Ultimate, Esso Super, Shell Optimax and pretty much any other Super is fine and will work fine.
And if you read the first post, he does actually say it was Murco
super he used. Probably very low on the scale of super unleaded fuels available, but still not likely to cause his engine to blow up at the first sign of boost.

[Mike]

Must say, you really shouldn't be putting anything but V Power in your car in the first place, but you really REALLY shouldn't be boosting hard without it!

I was in deepest darkest Norfolk with no fuel, at least 25 miles from the nearest Tesco 99Ron pump. Having owned my car for 5 years and used 97Ron on plenty of occasions with no problems the Murco Super seemed like a God-send at the time.

[mr2nut123]

Wrong, you should put what the car has been mapped to or better. If they only ran on V-Power about 99% of them would be dead by now.

If it's a standard ECU then you do. It can't be mapped for 95ron so the closer to 99ron the better.

But yea, any 99ron will do

[Nick86]

i think stiggy meant any super unleaded is a must?

[matt_mr2t]

Wrong, you should put what the car has been mapped to or better. If they only ran on V-Power about 99% of them would be dead by now.

If it's a standard ECU then you do. It can't be mapped for 95ron so the closer to 99ron the better.

But yea, any 99ron will do

The car has a knock sensor, if detonation is detected the timing is retarded to protect the engine. While it's not recommended to put low quality fuel in there, the fear that the engine will blow up at the first sign of low grade fuel is a big misconception.

And 97ron will work perfectly fine on a bog standard ECU all day every day.

[RobCrezz]

Wrong, you should put what the car has been mapped to or better. If they only ran on V-Power about 99% of them would be dead by now.

If it's a standard ECU then you do. It can't be mapped for 95ron so the closer to 99ron the better.

But yea, any 99ron will do

The car has a knock sensor, if detonation is detected the timing is retarded to protect the engine. While it's not recommended to put low quality fuel in there, the fear that the engine will blow up at the first sign of low grade fuel is a big misconception.

And 97ron will work perfectly fine on a bog standard ECU all day every day.

Its pretty well documented that the JDM rev1/2 turbos arent that tolerant of lower octane fuel. But Rev3+ are better at compensating apparently.

For a minimal difference in price, I wouldnt put anything but 99 in IMO.

[matt_mr2t]

Tbh, I ran mine entirely on super. But when I bought the car the only super I could get was BP Ultimate, which as you all know, is 97ron
The car hardly missed a beat. The worst that happened to the engine in the whole 5 years I had it was a broken knock sensor which was directly after the newly fitted Unichip was fitted and went on the drag strip.
Eventually Tesco introduced the extra value rocket fuel but the nearest Tesco was a 20 mile round trip so it only saw that half the time at best. So for probably 80% of the time my rev2 was in use it had 97 in it and ran perfectly ok.
I think people are quick to blame fuel quality when the truth is, a knackered engine will blow what ever you put it it.

Oh, and the bloke I bought mine from freedly admitted he ran it on 95 ron and rarely ever put super in it!