Latest news
-
First drive: Mercedes SL65 AMG
Who fancies a 1000Nm twin-turbo V12 cruiser in their life? Then head this way…
-
Mercedes SL65 Black
As the Black rolls off the ramps and into London's early evening gloom, the countdown begins. One single night. For all our begging and cajoling, that's all the time Mercedes has given us in the Black. Oh, and if it leaves London, moustachioed German heavies will turn up at Top Gear HQ and murder us in new and interesting ways. The most powerful AMG Merc ever, the SL65 Black, the car christened ‘Der Beast' by its Frankenstein-esque creators, and we're limited to one night in the most congested, cramped city in Europe.
Just to make things interesting, the previous day has seen the heaviest snowfalls in Britain in 20 years. Snow that's freezing rapidly to sheet ice on the roads, making 500kW and rear-wheel drive look a tad suicidal. Still, one night. The clock is ticking. Let's head unerground.
-
-
Still, one night. One icy, deserted night. Go again. Christ, this thing is quick. Even in these skating-rink conditions, Merc's claim of a sub-four second 0-100km/h time feels eminently believable
Words: Sam Philip
Photography: John WycherleyFor the full story and more awesome pics, grab a June copy of Top Gear Australia magazine, on sale right now.
Want more? Go to our homepage
-
As the lights on the rev counter flash, climb and glow to red, the medley subsides. Now there's raw mechanical noise, a dozen cylinders threshing a metallic, overdriven chorus. Speed, too. The increments on the speedo are ticking off with alarming haste as the Black barrels out of the tunnel and back into the London night.
-
A thousand rings of dim, flaxy streetlight whip backwards over the Black’s flanks as it dives deeper below London. There is noise, and that noise is... whistling. The car is whistling. It’s an ominous, unearthly noise, a murderous chorus, rising and falling as the turbos suck frozen air through the tunnel’s south entrance and spit it out behind.
-
Mercedes SL65 Black
The Top Gear team goes underground, quite literally, in the SL65 Black, beneath London in some tunnels. A twin-turbo V12 produces 500kW, making it the most powerful AMG Mercedes ever. Click through the gallery for the full story...
-
And yet, and yet. For all its too-muchness, for all its bloody-minded, uncompromising bastardishness, there's something magical in the Black. Maybe it shares something with the snow that glints around us in the morning light: uncomfortable, slippery, downright dangerous in parts, but fascinating. You wouldn't want it every day, but you won't forget that one night.
Words: Sam Philip
Photography: John Wycherley -
Rarity alone will ensure the Black's desirability. Just 350 will ever be built, making even the 500-strong Ferrari Enzo look commonplace. Only eight will reach the UK, at a frankly insane amount of money, especially when you factor in the cost of employing your own personal weatherman to alert you to the three days a year when it's safe to actually use it.
-
Even at crawling speed, the Black is a visceral experience. Every shard of grit, dumped just hours before, clacks and pings against the undertray, every patch of lumpy snow crunches audibly under the tyres. Manoeuvring on full lock between the desolate warehouses, the diff clunks and heaves, the roof creaks alarmingly. There's almost zero suspension travel, so the entire car hops and skips over dents and divots.
Still, the Black remains a confusing car. Tough to shake the sensation that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. Elements of it are as focussed and hardcore as they come: the rock-hard springs, the lethal brakes, the sheer stiffness of the thing. But the five-speed auto - even in maximum-attack manual mode - feels numb and slow-witted in comparison. Difficult to know when you'd use the Black: it's just too noisy, too damn uncomfortable for a loping cross-continent schlep, but too unwieldy, too missile-like for the track.
Advertisement
Open Car Bar