2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

First seen at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG takes over for the SLR McLaren at the top of the M-B food chain when it goes on sale in the spring of 2010. The SLS is making its U.S. auto show debut at the 2009 L.A. show, and we'll have more photos of the gullwing supercar from the show floor.
We've already driven the SLS twice. In July, editor-at-large Arthur St. Antoine drove a camouflaged pre-production version of the all-aluminum 563-hp SLS around the Nurburging Nordschliefe. He writes:
I'm not sure how I expected the SLS to drive; perhaps, I thought, it would feel like a smaller, nimbler version of Mercedes' other exotic, the McLaren-bred-and-built SLR. In those first few flying corners of the Ring, though, I realized any SLR-like expectations were entirely wrong. The SLS feels nothing like the SLR -- and, given how little fondness most of us have for the admittedly fast but hulking and numb McLaren, that's a very good thing indeed.
2010 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Cockpit
The SLS feels like...well, a race car with manners. After I'd cracked off a few thunderclap shifts, listened to a couple of full-throttle crescendos from the unbridled V-8, and experienced the bite and poise of the AMG-bred chassis through two or three bends, any and all SLR comparisons were long forgotten. Don't let the retro-year gentility of the gullwing styling deceive you: The SLS is a purebred athlete -- a true sports car -- that simply hungers to run.
Several months later, Mercedes brought the SLS to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where Senior Editor Ed Loh got behind the wheel of the new supercar, this time without any camouflage hiding the bodywork:
Foot on brake, T-selector back to drive, transmission selector to Sport Plus, and you're off. Down into turn two and already you know this is some of the best steering feel of a Mercedes-Benz production car to date, possibly the best of any AMG. It's direct, but natural feeling and moderately weighted -- but not artificially so. What's more, it pairs deliciously with the suspension tuning.
Front grip is tremendous; right at turn three, again at turn four -- the nose just darts to eat up the apexes. The rear ain't bad either, on the uphill left of turn five, 20-inch-tall, 395/30-profile Continentals serve up wave after wave of torque as the SLS blips through the gears.
Speeds rise with the increasing elevation, and it sounds just glorious; redline is 7200 rpm for this monstrous engine. You're flat out now toward the infamous turn six, hugging the curbing before going hard on the ceramics discs at the second braking cone and dipping low toward rumble strips and hammering up and out at the exit.