Sorry if this ends up being a double post, I never saw the first one.

This guy is, I think, the best automotive writer around right now.
Angelenos don't know how good they've got it.  Enjoy!!

RUMBLE SEAT / DAN NEIL

All the pretty horses

There are 604 of 'em in Mercedes' speedy SL65. Look closely and see an
era pass by.

By Dan Neil
Times Staff Writer

September 15, 2004

There is something distinctly epochal about the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG,
the twin-turbocharged, 12-cylinder, 604-horsepower version of the
company's quantum-luxury roadster. More powerful than the Ford GT and
quicker than a Ferrari 360, the SL65 - an SL600 with gene-doping
enhancement by AMG, the company's tuner division - feels like a final,
conflict-ending fusillade in the decade-long horsepower wars.

What comes after a car like this? More horsepower? I don't think so.
While it's certainly possible to wring more horsepower out of an
emissions-legal gasoline engine, such pursuits grow increasingly
expensive and irrelevant, if not vain and silly. The SL65 is less than a
second slower to 60 mph than a 650-horsepower Ferrari Enzo (3.3 seconds)
- and that single second, that fig leaf of numerical superiority, costs
about a half-million dollars more (assuming you could buy an Enzo at
anything like its $680,000 MSRP).

The long-awaited Bugatti Veyron, a million-euro hyper-car built under
the auspices of parent company VW Group, promises nearly 1,000 hp out of
its quad-turbo W16 engine. But it looks to be a rather feckless
enterprise; with its complex drivetrain (seven speeds, multiple
differentials and all-wheel drive) the 4,300-pound car will not be
quicker than the 3,000-pound Enzo, though if it manages to stay on the
ground its top speed will probably be higher.

The horsepower wars are, at base, psychological warfare. It's purely
academic if the 400-hp Cadillac CTS-V is faster than the 500-hp BMW M5
(it isn't), since both cars are horridly fast enough. You may indulge
your pet theories about men and their sexual compensations and I, for
one, wouldn't argue - though I might cross my legs.

Extreme sports cars justify their ludicrous cost only by a few tenths of
a second measured by some car magazine, and yet here the field seems to
be reaching a natural equilibrium - they can all make the green-light
dash in around 4 seconds; they can all turn a quarter-mile in about 12
seconds; and they can all cruise at 200 mph if they happen to be
crossing the U.A.E. with one of the emir's sons on board. In this
category, you will find cars like the Porsche Carrera GT, Ford GT,
Lamborghini Murcielago (3.6 seconds); and a handful of rare isotopes
with names like Koenigsegg, Pagani and Mosler.

So where is the value of these cars when an SL65 can stalk them? All of
these ground-bound rockets are purpose-built from lightweight,
hard-to-spell metal alloys and carbon composites. The all-steel SL65
weighs 4,473 pounds and is, in its bones, the same chichi chariot seen
tooling around Bel-Air, a courtesan cruiser. Its long-as-your-arm list
of standard features includes a retractable hardtop, five-speed
automatic transmission, air-conditioned and heated seats with massage
function, surround-sound stereo, DVD navigation, even a
climate-controlled glove box.

The SL65 goes from a standstill to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, clears the
quarter-mile traps in 12 seconds and only then does it find its stride
in a jubilant, wind-cleaving roar. In the time it takes to read aloud
this paragraph, the car will go from zero to its electronically limited
top speed of 155 mph.

What's that feel like? Ask the guy in the funny helmet who gets shot out
of a cannon.

You can almost feel sorry for exotic cars. Stuffing more horses in the
corral won't help.

Among the limiting factors: street tires. The SL65's bi-turbo V12 is a
veritable Vesuvius of torque - 738 pound-feet between 2,000 and 4,000
rpm - yet the trick is converting all that driveshaft twist to
acceleration. If you nail the throttle in the SL65 (traction control
turned off) the rear wheels simply boil off a few hundred dollars of
exotic Italian rubber (even with its relatively high rear-end ratio of
2.65:1, which favors top-end speed over hole-shot quickness). You could
increase the width of the tire or reduce the water-channeling grooves -
increasing the overall "contact patch" - but you only make the tires
louder, less compliant in ride quality and less secure in wet
conditions. You could make the rubber compound softer and more adhesive
but then the tires would wear rapidly.

All-wheel-drive divvies up engine torque among four wheels, but given
the additional driveline weight and complication a car may actually go
slower, as in the case of the Veyron. Also, highly strung engines
require more cooling airflow, which complicates high-speed stability.
Monster torque at the output shaft requires a transmission that can
handle it. Again, more weight, more complication. These are the sorts of
where-the-lines-cross considerations automotive engineers make all the time.

Another limiting factor: durability. There are import tuners out there
who are getting 500 horsepower out of their turbocharged four-cylinder
Mitsubishi Evos - once, maybe twice, before they grenade in a shower of
exotic particles.

Manufacturers, on the other hand, can't simply set their engines to
kill. They have warranties to serve and reputations to protect. Each
SL65 engine - a 6.0-liter, 36-valve, all-aluminum unit also found under
the hood of the CL65 - is hand-built by a senior technician at the AMG
factory in Affalterbach, Germany, whose signature is engraved on a
plaque atop the carbon-fiber engine cowling. It's the automotive
equivalent to artisan cheese. The engine's innards include a
high-strength forged steel crankshaft, reinforced main bearings,
titanium connecting rods, forged aluminum pistons, an oversized oil
pump, auxiliary oil cooler and all sorts of clever plumbing to make sure
the oil sprays around inside the engine like suds in a car wash. The
fire is provided by phased twin-spark ignition with twin ignition coils
per cylinder, the fuel-by-fuel injectors computer-controlled for each
cylinder, and the air by two bowling-ball-sized turbochargers.

The amazing thing is not that this engine rocks the seismograph like a
square-dancing Godzilla, but that it carries Mercedes' usual 4/48 warranty.

Finally, there is the matter of emissions. It will become increasingly
difficult - which equals expensive - to wage the horsepower wars as
standards tighten. As it is, the SL65 isn't exactly Kermit green, and it
will only return its EPA-rated 12 miles per gallon city, 19 mpg highway
if you don't start it.

AMG performance upgrades include outrageously large and powerful
compound brakes, ultra-cool 19-inch composite alloy wheels, up-rated
suspension hardware and software, special front air dam with black-mesh
grille coverings, intakes and heat extractors, as well as an AMG quad
exhaust that broadcasts the engine's deep, unearthly sound, like Tibetan
throat singing.

End-of-history arguments are treacherous. But it seems to me the awesome
SL65 marks a kind of roll-credits moment for the gas-and-steel
automobile. Mercedes itself has announced it will follow Lexus in
building hybrid-electric luxury cars, and Lexus execs will happily tell
you their goal is not so much efficiency as performance. There is even a
Toyota Prius "GT" out there somewhere. One nice thing about electric
traction motors is peak torque is available at any speed. Also, it would
be easier to maximize grip under acceleration with electric motor-driven
wheels. A smarter traction control, if you will.

It will be a while before the SL65 is obsolete in any fundamental sense.
But at some point - 10 years, 20 years from now - I think we might look
back on this car as the highest and most artful example of a doomed
technology, like the Curta mechanical calculator, the tube Marshall
amplifier or the Denon direct-drive turntable. Each of these items still
has its collectors and aficionados, so it wouldn't surprise me to see an
SL65 still on the road, a magnificent anachronism.

Automotive critic Dan Neil can be reached at dan.neil@latimes.com.

*

Mercedes-Benz 2005 SL65 AMG

Base price: $179,720

Price, as tested: $192,340

Drivetrain: 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged and intercooled V12,
single-overhead cam, three-valve-per-cylinder, alloy block and heads,
phased twin-spark ignition, computer-controlled fuel injection at each
cylinder; five-speed adaptive transmission with manual-shift; 2.65:1
rear drive ratio; rear-wheel drive

Chassis: Active suspension, with independent multi-link front and rear
suspension, coil springs in series with active electro-hydraulic
springs, gas-pressured shocks

Horsepower: 604 at 5,500 rpm

Torque: 738 pound-feet at 2,000 to 4,000 rpm

Curb weight: 4,473 pounds

0-60 mph: 4.2 seconds

Wheelbase: 100.8 inches

Overall length: 178.5 inches

Wheels: Composite alloy, 8.5JX19 front, 9.5JX19 rear

Tires: High performance 255/35 ZR19 front, 285/30 ZR19 rear

EPA mileage: 12 miles per gallon city, 19 mpg highway

Final thoughts: Guns and butter