Quad tail pipes: what are they for?

[Riverside Red]

How about these babies.......

 

[millo777]

The Brabus K8 provides definitive proof that fewer exhausts is better....

 

[tasn1]

I like quads...but there is a darkness from dual exhausts...wolf in Sheep's clothing?

 

[markjay]

Not directly related, but the engineers who kindly designed my (now RIP) 1979 Alfa Romeo proudly explained in their sales brochure that pointing the tail end of the exhaust pipe (well it had only one) downward created vacuum at speed which helped expel the burnt gasses, while a straight-cut pipe suffers from drag due to turbulence caused by the airflow around it.


I suppose that these days the discussion has moved far away from the laws of physics and is now firmly planted in the realm of aesthetics?

 

[MOCAŠ]

How about these babies...

That's exactly what I'd rather avoid.

MB do an SLK that looks like this:

But go for the AMG engine and it ends up looking like this:

Various carbuncular pieces of plastic (and an extra pair of tailpipes) added, to what end? To tell everyone you've either got an AMG or a body-kitted cooking model (yes, I know the DRLs are different on the genuine AMG, and I do actually prefer them).

Take a look at the DB9 below. It has a bigger engine, more cylinders, more power, more torque and a significantly higher top speed than the SLK55. Yet it makes do without a body kit and rear spoiler, and gets by with just two tailpipes. It doesn't need anything more, and neither does the AMG. I'm beginning to wonder whether I really want to be a member of the club I'm joining...

 

[LTD]

Mocas

Just get the colour combination you want and debadge it.

Only the Merc / AMG cognoscenti will appreciate what you have. Joe Normal will just see a hairdresser in a nice coloured motor with a fancy-dan private plate.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Why not buy an SLK350.....that'll sort the problem.

Worst of both worlds: AMG body kit, without the engine.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Mocas

Just get the colour combination you want and debadge it.

If only I could get the colour combination I want!

Only the Merc / AMG cognoscenti will appreciate what you have. Joe Normal will just see a hairdresser in a nice coloured motor with a fancy-dan private plate.

Indeed. But I'm not really worried about what other people think one way or the other. It's my own aesthetic sensibilties I'm thinking of.

 

[markjay]

There was some appeal to the M5 of the eighties looking almost like a standard 5 series to the untrained eye... as did the Golf GTI.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Have you asked AMG Performance Studio to sort you out with a more subtle exhaust and or standard body kit? If you really like the car except the exhaust and body kit then it will be money well spent.

 

[BigSilverEstate]

There was done appeal to the M5 of the eighties looking almost like a standard 5 series to the untrained eye... as did the Golf GTI.

Likewise the W210 E55 and W203 C32... I'm with you in this Mocas, I'd feel the same about the badges and makeup if I were buying an AMG, but then I probably wouldn't be going for a two seater sports car...

 

[MOCAŠ]

Have you asked AMG Performance Studio to sort you out with a more subtle exhaust and or standard body kit? If you really like the car except the exhaust and body kit then it will be money well spent.

Communication with AMG PS seems to be a long, drawn-out affair. I'm still waiting to find out what the interior re-trim options I enquired about look like (and cost). They don't have anything about subtle body modifications in their price list, so it would end up being a bespoke commission, and I don't really want to spend any more on the car than I already am (allowing for the re-trim, which may now come courtesy of MB Milton Keynes and Brabus). Any more and I may as well have gone for an SL...

 

[LTD]

Any more and I may as well have gone for an SL...

I was going to suggest that ....

Fancy a tenorite grey one with beige interior ? I know where one is sitting begging for a buyer ....

 

[MOCAŠ]

I was going to suggest that ....

Fancy a tenorite grey one with beige interior ? I know where one is sitting begging for a buyer ....

Thanks, but I daren't cancel my order with Hughes that this stage in the game, and in any case I doubt I'd be satisfied with an off-the-shelf specification.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what about saying to the dealer that you want the 'standard' bodykit fitting and not the AMG (rear excepted) otherwise you can't possibly follow through with the deal?

Or, worse case scenario, when you collect the car get the supplying dealer to swap to 'standard' whatever you don't like and keep the originals in storage?

And how come you're buying an AMG, don't they do a normal V6 petrol version anymore?

 

[MOCAŠ]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but what about saying to the dealer that you want the 'standard' bodykit fitting and not the AMG (rear excepted) otherwise you can't possibly follow through with the deal?

Or, worse case scenario, when you collect the car get the supplying dealer to swap to 'standard' whatever you don't like and keep the originals in storage?

And how come you're buying an AMG, don't they do a normal V6 petrol version anymore?

It would be too complicated, quite frankly. They'd need to change the lower body sides, fit a new rear bumper and standard 350-type exhaust and radically alter the front bumper to remove the bumpy bits. All of that would cost an arm and a leg.

They only do the 350 with the AMG body kit, so it was a choice between something that looked looked like an AMG but wasn't, or something that looked like an AMG and was. I just wish it didn't look like an AMG...

I suppose real point of this thread is to pose the question: why one earth do MB feel the need to dress their AMG cars up like this in the first place? What sort of buyer are they trying to appeal to?

 

[LTD]

What sort of buyer are they trying to appeal to?

The vast majority ?

 

[MOCAŠ]

The vast majority ?

Or LCD...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I just wish it didn't look like an AMG...

I suppose the irony is that this latest crop of AMG's don't look like the AMG's of old; less iron fist in a velvet glove seems to be the current trend. Having said that, these 'business models' sound promising in that respect (not that that helps you very much...)

What sort of buyer are they trying to appeal to?

What you might call 'new money'...

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Why not switch to a model which comes with standard exhaust and bodykit rather?

Or cancel the order and get that DB9!!