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| 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupe |
Elegance, luxury, and sportiness: These are key ingredients that come to mind when designing any luxury sports car. Elegance makes you feel proud to own such a beautiful thing. Luxury encompasses the wide range of comfort and convenience items that make such a car useful as well as enjoyable. Sportiness is self-explanatory, a spirit of fun that makes every drive an occasion. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG established a new standard for the German company when it was introduced as a 2011 model, and now the roof has been peeled away to create the new 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster.
Based on the Mercedes-BenxSLS AMG Coupe, the Roadster doesn't have any gimmick that sets it apart from its competition, as the coupe's gullwing doors have been exchanged for a convertible roof. Yet like the SLS coupe, the new convertible has managed to preserve the nostalgia of the 300SL convertible from the past while incorporating a power-operated fabric roof that can be raised or lowered automatically in about 11 seconds at speeds up to 31 mph.
The powertrain for the rear-wheel-drive roadster will be the same AMG-engineered, hand-built 6.2-liter V8 seen in the SLS coupe, rated at 563 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. As expected, the seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission with shift paddles on the steering wheel is paired to that powerhouse. Although a convertible tends to be heavier than a coupe because of additional structural reinforcements and the folding top mechanism, the Roadster's weight gain is just 88 pounds thanks to the use of ultralight yet strong aluminum. As such, performance is virtually the same as the coupe, with claimed acceleration to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 197 mph.
The suspension setup, safety equipment and basic amenities are likewise identical to the coupe, although there is now also the option of an adjustable suspension that offers three settings: Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus. A new option is AMG Performance Media, a multifunction display that can show data such as oil/coolant/transmission fluid temperatures, acceleration times (0-60 mph and quarter-mile), lateral acceleration and even racetrack lap times.
Thanks to a clever folding design, the soft top SLS offers virtually the same trunk capacity as the coupe - 6.1 cubic feet versus 6.2 - whether the top is up or down. The SLS Roadster also offers Mercedes' unique AirScarf feature, which can blow warm air on the head and neck of those who choose to drop the top on a brisk day's drive.
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