Wednesday 29th August 2007

SLK Black Series Is Here

Hairdressers need not apply

---

You can get it in black as well, but it looks better in silver

After much um-ing and ah-ing, Mercedes have decided to unleash the SLK Black Series.

The SLK 55 AMG is potent enough for most, but the engineers didn’t seem to be happy with it – so they’ve uprated the 5.5litre V8 to 400bhp, made the car seven stone lighter and stopped the hardtop from moving.

All their fiddling means that the SLK Black is good for 0-60mph in 4.5seconds and 0-125mph in 15.5seconds; that’s pretty quick.

They’ve also seen fit to move the 155mph limiter up a bit, to 173mph – making it faster than a speeding Porsche.

The extra poke meant that AMG had to upgrade the suspension (which is now tougher) and the brakes (which are now 360mm ventilated discs at the front, the rears stay the same at 330mm)to deal with all the extra grunt. They also replaced the 18” rims from the 'standard' SLK 55 AMG with shinier 19” items.

See that black roof? That's carbon fibre

It’s not just the exterior that’s been fiddled with, the interior has been given a whole new ‘sporty’ look. You get AMG trimmed velour bucket seats (in black), a leather and Alacantra trimmed steering wheel and carbon fibre door inserts as standard.

However, if you want to be really exclusive you can opt for one of the many trim packs that AMG are offering. You’ll end up with a carbon fibre clad sports car with an interior like a tart’s boudoir, but if that’s your thing…

It’ll set you back 92,500 euros and if you want one Mercedes will convert the price to Sterling when you sign the papers.

[Dr_Gonzo]

I thought 'dubs' are 20" and above?

[Mastiff]

Just "toying" with the the idea of ordering a CLK Black Series in White for "the showroom"

Car would arrive in February but I am currently a couple of AMG orders short to get away with it.

Still may take the flyer though, and hope that the orders come in before the car arrives!

[turbochrisgti]

Gorgeous and excellent specs, buy maybe a lil pricey for the size of car?

[Marki]

Dr_Gonzo said:

I thought 'dubs' are 20" and above?

Its because its wrritten by a toff trying to be all street like that tt dj

[t0ny99]

"AMG had to upgrade the suspension (which is now tougher)"...

Do what now?

[GTRene]

I wonder when they gona drop the "new" 6.3 AMG in it with around 500hp standard from the AMG CLK black series...

http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2007/05/15-me...

GTRene

[anonymous-user]

GTRene said:

I wonder when they gona drop the "new" 6.3 AMG in it with around 500hp standard from the AMG CLK black series...

http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2007/05/15-me...

GTRene

I think someone said it would not fit!!! I could be talking bollox though

[astrsxi77]

And still no manual option.

[Mr Whippy]

7 stones lighter? What an odd unit to use.

45kg is a fair saving now I've converted it to something comparable

Dave

[morganated]

Lovely looking car. I thought the standard one was a bit of a hairdressers car but the black series is a car I'd buy if I could afford it.

[Marki]

GTRene said:

I wonder when they gona drop the "new" 6.3 AMG in it with around 500hp standard from the AMG CLK black series...

http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2007/05/15-me...

GTRene

Why not just give it the SL55 unit

[Mr Whippy]

Marki said:

GTRene said:

I wonder when they gona drop the "new" 6.3 AMG in it with around 500hp standard from the AMG CLK black series...

http://www.carbodydesign.com/archive/2007/05/15-me...

GTRene

Why not just give it the SL55 unit

I bet the SL55 engine weighs a fair bit with the supercharger/chargecoolers and heat exchangers etc etc...

6.3 is a better choice, or just live with the 400bhp which *should* be ample

Dave

[Dr S]

Mr Whippy said:

7 stones lighter? What an odd unit to use.

45kg is a fair saving now I've converted it to something comparable

Well, and I was so impressed with the stone measure. 45kg just sounds rather bleak...

[kambites]

45kg isn't that impressive off a car which weighs over a tonne and a half really...

Still... give it a manual gearbox and I wouldn't say "no".

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 29th August 12:28

[Mr Whippy]

kambites said:

45kg isn't that impressive off a car which weighs over a tonne and a half really...

Still... give it a manual gearbox and I wouldn't say "no".

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 29th August 12:28

Ok, 45,000 grammes, now THAT sounds like lots of weight

Dave

[snotrag]

Why have they disabled the roof?

Does that mean, theres a complex, heavy roof full of levers, hinges, pjns etc, and they've jsut taken the motor off and bolted it shut? How ridiculous.

[Marki]

snotrag said:

Why have they disabled the roof?

Does that mean, theres a complex, heavy roof full of levers, hinges, pjns etc, and they've jsut taken the motor off and bolted it shut? How ridiculous.

Thats what i thought

[andynormancx]

snotrag said:

Why have they disabled the roof?

Does that mean, theres a complex, heavy roof full of levers, hinges, pjns etc, and they've jsut taken the motor off and bolted it shut? How ridiculous.

Don't you think that it is possibly more likely that they have also removed all those levers, hinges etc

45kg is a fair amount of weight to lose (nearly half my weight), so I would imagine most of it has gone from striping out all the roof mechanism.

[sideways11]

I doubt the roof was entirely a weight saving exercise, they needed to make the roof structural because they have put far too much power in to it. However, I might be wrong on the power comment, didn't Brabus do a high powered version that was still a convertible?

[havoc]

45kg is frankly f'ck all when you're disabling the folding hard-top.

Motor, hinges, struts, boot lift mechanism...all chucked. Chassis stiffening no longer needed (but probably left to improve dynamics). 45kg is very easy to achieve when you consider that lot...

If they were really serious about weight loss they could have given it a completely new CF roof and saved more like 100kg AND lowered the CoG!