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From www.blackengineer.com Automotive News
When it comes to classy sports cars, the Mercedes SL500 Roadster is that almost-perfect thing. Looks? As a hard top, it is sleek, classy, smooth, and looks as if it is built to flow in a jet stream. But with the push of a button on the key ring, the top and rear window neatly slide into the trunk, a process that takes about 15 seconds and transforms the Mercedes into one of the most stylish convertibles on the road. With the top down, you feel so good in the car that you do not want to leave. The interior is as stylish as the outside, which you have every right to expect in a luxury car topping $90,000. The dashboard is divided into two gentle curves, giving the driver and passenger the feeling they are in private compartments, riding in tandem and linked by the center console. The dash has a built-in hood to minimize the glare, a good thing, since you won't want to put the top up in the daylight. The dash, seats, and steering wheel are in a two-tone beige leather, offset by a stained, pinewood trim. The seats, with adjustable height headrests and lumbar supports, would look and feel just as good in a home. The 500 is a two-seater with several built-in compartments for both space and aesthetics. Each armrest, for example, conceals an eight-inch deep, two-foot long storage box. There are two larger compartments behind the seats; one holds the six-disk CD changer and room for spare disks and cases. Under each seat is a storage pouch, one with an emergency first aid kit. The command center in the console is just that: a modern marvel designed for voice commands. You can activate the phone, the radio, the CD player, and the navigation system with voice commands. The eight-speaker Bose system will do a nice job of destroying any teenager's eardrums. The navigation system also can be handled manually, but that's a chore and not something you can do while driving. But you wouldn't spend this kind of money just for a looker -- even a car that looks as good as this one. The 500 is built for the road. It is not a muscle car, but the 24-valve, V-8 engine -- with 302 horsepower and 339 foot-pounds of torque -- provides speed and power with surprising quiet. More important, the car's Electronic Stability Program, with automatic slip control, adjusts the wheels to match the road conditions, making it virtually impossible to spin out, even when you're accelerating on gravel. On Catskill and Berkshire Mountain highways at 100 mph, the Mercedes hugged the road tightly, leaving you with the sheer joy of driving rather than an uncomfortable fear of flying. If I have a beef with the Mercedes' German designers, it's their insistence on devoting more space and engineering to the ashtrays -- which can hold two cigars neatly -- than to the cup holders, which are barely capable of holding a European demitasse. It's a minor annoyance, but they ought to remember smoking is not the national pastime here. Cadillac is planning to compete with the Mercedes SL500 with a high-performance convertible that also features a retractable hard top. They are going to have to work awfully hard to come even close. Test Car To read more about Almost Perfect: The 2003 Mercedes SL500 Roadster see Almost Perfect: The 2003 Mercedes SL500 Roadster in the USBE News archive. © Copyright by Career Communications Group, Inc. 729 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21202 410.244.7101 |
