Convertibles are bad for your health - "Experts"

[st13phil]

Performance is fine, but my S with 600Nm of torque and 285/30/21 rear tyres would destroy it out of main road roundabouts! Just a squeeze of throttle and it’s at the legal limit within yards of the exit. The SL350 responds with some theatrical revving, several downshifts and eventually finds some power in the higher end of the rpm band. Musical, but not quite in keeping with the effortless nature of the rest of the car. Meanwhile the ‘wood burning’ S would be half way to next roundabout completely unruffled!

That paragraph brought a smile of recognition to my face!

While my 220CDI W204 doesn't have the refinement or sheer grunt of your S-Class, the torque of the diesel means that most times the required level of acceleration is achieved just by prodding the throttle a bit more, whereas Angie's SLK350 downshifts, winds up a bit and then scurries off like a scalded cat - just as you described the SL.

It took me a little while to come to terms with the fact that all this was actually my laziness at work and that I had to actively drive the SLK, rather than just sit back and let the torque curve of a diesel do the work. After I had reset my brain into "drive it like you would a bike" mode and took control of gear selection myself, the SLK really flies. Which all speaks volumes regarding the effectiveness of modern turbo-diesel engines as the powerplant in a car that's relaxing to drive.

 

[hawk20]

That paragraph brought a smile of recognition to my face!

While my 220CDI W204 doesn't have the refinement or sheer grunt of your S-Class, the torque of the diesel means that most times the required level of acceleration is achieved just by prodding the throttle a bit more, whereas Angie's SLK350 downshifts, winds up a bit and then scurries off like a scalded cat - just as you described the SL.

It took me a little while to come to terms with the fact that all this was actually my laziness at work and that I had to actively drive the SLK, rather than just sit back and let the torque curve of a diesel do the work. After I had reset my brain into "drive it like you would a bike" mode and took control of gear selection myself, the SLK really flies. Which all speaks volumes regarding the effectiveness of modern turbo-diesel engines as the powerplant in a car that's relaxing to drive.

I so agree. It amazing how relaxing it is to drive cars that really don't need to go much above 3k revs except on rare occasions. Mine spends most its life between 1500 and 2800 revs.

When I had a B class with the 200cdi and a CVT box i could hardly believe it first time I saw cruising at 80 and only 2k revs. Not that long ago medium sized cars struggled to pull much more than 20 per thousand revs.

Odd thing too now is that the diesels are offering more performance for their size than many petrol engines. The 3 litre diesel in the E class offers similar performance to the 3.5 litre petrol. Both take 6.8 seconds from 0-62mph.

 

[st13phil]

Odd thing too now is that the diesels are offering more performance for their size than many petrol engines. The 3 litre diesel in the E class offers similar performance to the 3.5 litre petrol. Both take 6.8 seconds from 0-62mph.

While petrol engine development still continues, the scope for further efficiency improvements is relatively limited. By contrast, high-performance diesel engines were an underdeveloped backwater until reletively recently and thus big improvements have been possible, even if not "on the cheap".

Due to the different levels of development maturity of the two types of powerplant, many manufacturers have devoted much more of their development efforts to diesel powerplants over the last few years and the results have been quite spectacular in many ways. Incidentally, a good deal of the recent efficiency / performance / refinement gains resulting from very high injection rail pressures have been possible to achieve for some while but were held back until the foaming characteristics of diesel fuel were better controlled.

 

[Mactech]

That paragraph brought a smile of recognition to my face!

It took me a little while to come to terms with the fact that all this was actually my laziness at work and that I had to actively drive the SLK, rather than just sit back and let the torque curve of a diesel do the work. After I had reset my brain into "drive it like you would a bike" mode and took control of gear selection myself, the SLK really flies. Which all speaks volumes regarding the effectiveness of modern turbo-diesel engines as the powerplant in a car that's relaxing to drive.

That's maybe why I so like the Aprilia RSVR! I can be lazy on that too!
I had an hour an RSV4 yesterday......now that is at differnt level. It can't be legal for the road! 0-100 in under 6secs....and it just goes in any gear...outrageous!

 

[Bill513]

Should be ashamed of yourselves ...killjoys ! There are few things in life that give the pleasure and grin factor of a V6 350SL with the roof down ! ;-) Well maybe a V8 ...don't want you lads upset !

 

[Giantvanman]

Should be ashamed of yourselves ...killjoys ! There are few things in life that give the pleasure and grin factor of a V6 350SL with the roof down ! ;-) Well maybe a V8 ...don't want you lads upset !

That's not a record but still worthy of mention......

Dude, chill; the thread is about six weeks off being seven years old.

 

[kid-jensen]

Seem all a bit nanny-state to me.... It was ~96dB in the Pub the other night!

And I could still hear ths bell for Last Orders....

Strangely, this "research" underlines my own thinking, Soft-tops are really good fun for about 10 minutes, then thay are a PITA.

That should attract some comments.....

 

[BTB 500]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!