my warranty was due to expire on m3 smg and missed the torque of my old mtm'd rs6, and like many a fellow petrol head, always hankered for a 911 turbo since i was a kid. so i started to look into getting one.

my back up plan was an sl55 amg, a car ive always really liked, never had one, but it was plan b incase i couldnt find the right 996. but a strange thing happened....

the more i looked at clips on youtube and researched both cars on forums etc, the more i thought the sl looked and sounded the better car, shock horror!

so off i went to mercedes, had a go in one, and **** me, what a corker of a car! more kit than you can shake a stick at, more grunt than you''ll ever need, and imho looks the bollocks! was 99% sure this was the car for me, but to be definate, i popped down to the local porsche dealer, and thats when it happened, one of the saddest car experiences ever

i sat for the first time in a 911, a 996, ive waited all my life to do it, and i ****in instantly hated it! claustrophobic, poorly equipped, a dash that looked dreadful, no storage, a 'boot' thats ****in useless, and it felt 'cheap'.
i couldnt wait to get out of it!! i didnt even bother driving it, coz no matter how good a drive it is, i couldnt live with a car as overrated as that. if i wanted a fast car with a **** interior id have kept my tuned evo6 or skylines!

so ive bought an sl55 amg. got a great deal on it,a good and fair trade in price on my m3, the dealer was superb and friendly, got a free 6 disc dvd player thrown in, they took my milltek exhaust off my m3 and put the stock one back on free of charge, freebie mugs, and shiny stuff, nothing was too much trouble for them.

i know some people will think im mad choosing a merc over a porker, but hand on heart, i dont see the appeal of the 911 anymore. sad eh!

 

My "other car" is a 1992 600SL, welcome to the club, though I have LPG converted mine to help the wallet out as it is my daily driver. I have fitted sports cats, K&Ns, and a chip to my V12 and power output is now 440bhp and 480lb/ft. Nice

 

My wifes uncle is on his second SL500 and they are lovely.
I was looking at these with a bloke at work who's looking at 20k ish and they're starting to get there.
They are certainly a lot of car for the money, please tell us you managed to find a non silver one...?

Any pics?

 

to be honest,i only wanted a silver one, with berry red interior, and thats what they found me. didnt want tellurite silver, which looks pale blue in certain light, prefer brilliant silver.
ive got couple of pics, but cant see how i can attach them to my reply

 

I like black and the darker grey (tenorite I think), deffo not the bluey one.
Not sure if the AMG came in the darker.


You can upload to TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting and then just copy the bit from the "IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards" section.

 

cheers mate, much appreciated! :-)

 

Terrific stuff!

Is that a touch of flocking on the dash?

 

dash is leather, alcantara ontop of pod. swish! ha ha! its a helluva lotta car for the money, someone paid 100k new for this, thank god for depreciation!!

heres another pic, gotta weed my drive though ha ha!

 

Yes, swish is spot on!

Keep us informed

 

Good choice, worth it just for the noise.

Now get some sound clips up driving through tunnels.

 

Nice one Leigh

Good colour combo

The purists will no doubt have something to say, but I agree, the 996 is possibly the least desirable "911" ever made.

 

I think they are superb. Almost nothing sounds better, the have HUGE amounts of power and are well built.
My uncle has an SL500 and even that is great fun - the SL55 is an SL500 x 10!

Also a bit different to a 911 Turbo - I am a real fan of them but they dont suit everyone - plus the SL55 sounds better.

The 996T looks too bloated to me - 993T and 997T are both a huge amount nicer.

 

I think another important point is that the SL is one of the few convertible cars that looks just as good with the top up.

Fabric tops look poop and removable hardtops even worse.

Mercedes are the best at it - Boxster looks good topless but stupid with roof up or hardtop, SLK looks great either way.

 

I had a very similar experience. Was looking to get a 997 C4S but ended up opting for an SLK 55 AMG instead.

 

That's well nice spudders

I could have taken the M3 SMG off you!!! That's now top of my shopping list after I drove one - same price as a 911/996, but half the age and half the mileage, and therefore twice the value if the Porsche name isn't everything.

A big Merc is too much car for me - too big, unwieldy and somehow 'remote' to drive. I admired it, but didn't love it much. And monster running costs which ever way you look at it

Can I ask what you paid, and what they gave you for your M3? PM me if you prefer. Thanks

Richard.

 

What dipstick negged my convertible comment?

 

Don't take it to heart mate, there are a lot of numpties on here

 

And I'm proud to count myself amongst them

 

You have just hit the nail on the head mate you have to drive it to love it. love or hate the looks take a 996 turbo out and drive a few hundred miles in one go and you just get it.
Nice merc BTW I would love one but lack of seats made me choose my 996TT.

 

Good choice

The SL55AMG is without doubt a superb car. Its just right in every way.

The only thing that detracts is its automatic, where I always prefer manuals, but then it is a very good automatic and it suits the car to a tee.

911 996. Nope. It should be good, and it is good. But it leaves me feeling wanting something more. Its why I prefer a 1980's 911 over anything newer - its slower, poorer handling, but far more edgy and communicative. Plus it has that dated nostalgic charm which allows you to forgive its quirky ergonomics, which you can't forgive a 996 for.

 

We have an SL55 AMG with F1 pack. It was bought November 2007 with 8k on the clock, all the paperwork showed the car was sold originally for £120k, it was bought for less than 1/2 that, 3 years on and after 8k of miles.

Fantastic car, so understated. Have the black interior on our Merc and a set of those wheels in the garage but it's running the AMG split rims at present.

I still keep thinking of an Aston Martin Vantage V8 though, pick them up for less than £50k with less than 5,000 miles on clock now and IMO the best looking car 'ever'

 

Only thing I didn't like about the SL55 is the ride height, fortunately you can slam them

 

one thing im starting to learn sharpish is that if the roads are even slightly damp, and sometimes even bone dry, this car will squirm like a good un under full acceleration, even with traction control on.

going up a slip road yesterday to join onto motorway,the road was fairly dry, and even at 80 plus, the car was getting its **** out blatting up the slip road, hilarious/scary/fun!

anyone got a sports exhaust on one of these? milltek on my old rs6 was lovely, much better than standard. want to make my sl sound even more like an slr!

 

! but whats your tires and their pressure like????

 

all ok and correct, even had mercedes check them last week when it went in to have central locking glitch fixed.

 

ok.... just a great fan of ~tracking , tyres and tyre pressures !

 

Love your car.
I'm looking at buying an older car, does anyone have any experience of the costs of running they will share or know of a forum which covers this.

 

yep my SLK 55AMG is the same in the damp

 

What brand tyres your running?

Anything other than Michelin Pilots or Continentals and you'll have problems at this time year when its cold and damp. These are the only summer tyres I know that work properly in the cold (although I keep hearing good things about Vredesteins).

IIRC they should have Michelins as factory OEM fitment anyway