Mclaren SLR
01-12-2007, 10:17 AM
#16
Girlfriends father has had two, and early model and a later 'sport' model. The first car was black/red, second was silver/red. I only drove the black/red, never the silver/red 'sport' model. I have a ton of pictures of it on another computer that I can try to upload if anyone wants to see a picture next to cars like a CGT and F430.
This is an opinion, so take this with a grain of salt. The car is VERY luxurious, reminds me more of a Bentley than a Mercedes when you sit in it...maybe even Bugatti'ish. Everything appeared to be built with the upmost care. The smell of the entirely leather interior is almost intoxicating. When watching the review from TopGear, the magazine articles, etc...I was never impressed with the looks. Wait until you see one in person...absolutely stunning. Its a massive car though; would not want to park it in a 7ft wide Wal-Mart spot. The details are immaculate on the exterior as they are on the interior. The exhaust exiting right before the doors gives the ride/drive a sound that you can't hear on most cars. Now...to that drive...Well its funny because he owned the CGT and the SLR at the same time and it was a back to back ride/drive. There really is no comparison. As Magwheel said, its a car you will want to drive every day...and a car you could. CGT is much more brutal, more hardcore of the two. And then theres the power...there aren't many cars that offer that much thrust without getting into jet engines...its amazing. Any RPM, any gear, anywhere there is enough torque to make you wonder if the chassis bolts are tightened enough. At the same time, it rides so smooth that you would think your in an SL600 or SL65.
Exceptions - the black car that was delivered early 2006 (unsure of the model year) had quite a few paint problems. The clearcoat was flawed and there were numerous scratches when it came off the truck. I don't think any of this happened at the factory, most likely the ride over, but who knows. The problem is that if you thought Porsche was hard to get anything out of, try Mercedes. Because we took delivery of the car (paint not notted in PPI), Mercedes didn't want to help. The dealership also wasn't willing to help as Mercedes wanted about $50k to repaint the car, and they weren't going to foot the bill. Nothing ever really happened, even when lawyers got involved. Car was sold to a professional basketball player for a net loss of not much. Silver car came in impeccible.
As you can tell I like the car. Mercedes has twice given us trouble, the SLR and then about 2 months ago with an E63. There aren't many times the same owner has an E55 and an E63 to dyno at the same time. E55 put down 427rwhp and some 450ft/lbs of torque. The E63 dyno'ed 351rwhp and 330ft/lbs of torque. When we confronted Mercedes about this they again denied everything. This time lawyers got involved again and the car was bought back at MSRP, no loss. Its said that you have to hire lawyers to deal with the company though.
Wes
This is an opinion, so take this with a grain of salt. The car is VERY luxurious, reminds me more of a Bentley than a Mercedes when you sit in it...maybe even Bugatti'ish. Everything appeared to be built with the upmost care. The smell of the entirely leather interior is almost intoxicating. When watching the review from TopGear, the magazine articles, etc...I was never impressed with the looks. Wait until you see one in person...absolutely stunning. Its a massive car though; would not want to park it in a 7ft wide Wal-Mart spot. The details are immaculate on the exterior as they are on the interior. The exhaust exiting right before the doors gives the ride/drive a sound that you can't hear on most cars. Now...to that drive...Well its funny because he owned the CGT and the SLR at the same time and it was a back to back ride/drive. There really is no comparison. As Magwheel said, its a car you will want to drive every day...and a car you could. CGT is much more brutal, more hardcore of the two. And then theres the power...there aren't many cars that offer that much thrust without getting into jet engines...its amazing. Any RPM, any gear, anywhere there is enough torque to make you wonder if the chassis bolts are tightened enough. At the same time, it rides so smooth that you would think your in an SL600 or SL65.
Exceptions - the black car that was delivered early 2006 (unsure of the model year) had quite a few paint problems. The clearcoat was flawed and there were numerous scratches when it came off the truck. I don't think any of this happened at the factory, most likely the ride over, but who knows. The problem is that if you thought Porsche was hard to get anything out of, try Mercedes. Because we took delivery of the car (paint not notted in PPI), Mercedes didn't want to help. The dealership also wasn't willing to help as Mercedes wanted about $50k to repaint the car, and they weren't going to foot the bill. Nothing ever really happened, even when lawyers got involved. Car was sold to a professional basketball player for a net loss of not much. Silver car came in impeccible.
As you can tell I like the car. Mercedes has twice given us trouble, the SLR and then about 2 months ago with an E63. There aren't many times the same owner has an E55 and an E63 to dyno at the same time. E55 put down 427rwhp and some 450ft/lbs of torque. The E63 dyno'ed 351rwhp and 330ft/lbs of torque. When we confronted Mercedes about this they again denied everything. This time lawyers got involved again and the car was bought back at MSRP, no loss. Its said that you have to hire lawyers to deal with the company though.
Wes
01-12-2007, 03:33 PM
#17
Originally Posted by magwheel
...But... there's stuff I'm a little disappointed with. 
Give me a few more days and I'll give you a pretty decent review. There's some things I'm pissed off with McLaren about and this time I'm taking the gloves off and giving you the 'inside scoop' straight from the horses mouth! 
Honestly, the car is the 'cat's ***' as I so often like to say but there really are some items that almost any one of us could have said, "Hey... McLaren... what the hell did you do this for?'
...
Give me a few more days and I'll give you a pretty decent review. There's some things I'm pissed off with McLaren about and this time I'm taking the gloves off and giving you the 'inside scoop' straight from the horses mouth! Honestly, the car is the 'cat's ***' as I so often like to say but there really are some items that almost any one of us could have said, "Hey... McLaren... what the hell did you do this for?'
...It has been said that one of the main reasons Gordon Murray left McLaren was a result of his constant fights with Mercedes while building the SLR.
Greg A
01-13-2007, 02:06 PM
#18
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Originally Posted by Greg A
I'm not going to speculate on the particular issues you are having, but how do you know they are McLaren's fault and not Mercedes?
Greg A
Greg A
01-13-2007, 04:23 PM
#19
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Originally Posted by whakiewes
At the same time, it rides so smooth that you would think your in an SL600 or SL65.
01-13-2007, 05:51 PM
#20
It rides so smooth... HUH?
Originally Posted by whakiewes
[QUOTE=At the same time, it rides so smooth that you would think your in an SL600 or SL65.[/QUOTE]
Ahhhh... Wes, You'll have to forgive me for saying this but you are whacky! The only way the SLR drives 'smooth' is if somebody is pushing you down a 'smooth' driveway. There is no way on earth that an SLR drives as smooth as a SL600, SL6000 or even SL60,000!
Well..... wait a minute now.... she may drive a thick 'pubic hair' smoother than my Carrera GT.
Your statement now makes me feel that you were still in the guys driveway with your eyes closed while he was revving the engine on his SLR and you 'thought' he was driving down the road! 
Magwheel
[QUOTE=At the same time, it rides so smooth that you would think your in an SL600 or SL65.[/QUOTE]
Originally Posted by MANUAL
Did you drive it on smooth or rough roads and for how many miles?
The only way the SLR drives 'smooth' is if somebody is pushing you down a 'smooth' driveway. There is no way on earth that an SLR drives as smooth as a SL600, SL6000 or even SL60,000! Well..... wait a minute now.... she may drive a thick 'pubic hair' smoother than my Carrera GT.
Your statement now makes me feel that you were still in the guys driveway with your eyes closed while he was revving the engine on his SLR and you 'thought' he was driving down the road! Magwheel
Last edited by magwheel; 01-14-2007 at 12:32 AM.
01-13-2007, 07:30 PM
#21
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I did an SLR event a year or two ago. Overall, the SLR is very impressive, it's just not a 'race car' like the CGT, but it sure performs pretty close to it.
...and I couldn't help myself...
...and I couldn't help myself...
01-14-2007, 05:21 PM
#23
Originally Posted by netburner
Maybe because the SLRs are built in the McLaren factory in England. Only the engines arrive there in boxes from Germany.
I guess I wasn't very clear. What I was trying to ask without knowing what his specific issues are was how he knew they could be solely attributed to McLaren. Are they design faults, a materials issues or something else?
If DC mandated certain elements of the car, then how does one blame McLaren for building/designing it the way Mercedes wanted it?
Again, this is all moot since I have no idea what his complaints are.
Greg A
