New from AMG - SLK55 AMG, C55 AMG, G55 AMG Kompressor.

[chris]

New from AMG, the SLK55 AMG, C55 AMG and the G55 AMG Kompressor

http://www.totalnfs.net/cpd/AMG_models.jpg

The new AMG models promise potent performance. The SLK55 AMG and C55 AMG are powered by a 270kW/510Nm V8 with 5.5 litres capacity, while the Geländewagen is powered by a 350kW, 700Nm supercharged 5.5 litre V8.

[chris]

Press release text courtesy of DaimlerChrysler Media Services:


More powerful and even more majestic: The new G 55 AMG with V8 supercharged engine

First unveiled 25 years ago, since when 182,000 units have been sold, the Mercedes-Benz G-Class has developed a worldwide reputation. At the Geneva Motor Show the Stuttgart-based auto maker will present the most powerful version of the durable cross-country vehicle yet: the G 55 AMG. The new arrival's supercharged V8 engine brews up 350 kW/476 hp of power and puts maximum torque of 700 Newton metres on tap as low down as 2650 rpm. The G 55 AMG thus outstrips the output of the predecessor model, with its naturally aspirated V8 power unit, by 34 percent and boasts an increase in torque of 32 percent. In other words, the G 55 AMG is blessed with remarkable reserves of power for both on and off-road motoring, treating its passengers to unrivalled authority, exclusiveness and driving dynamics.

There is certainly no doubting the performance credentials of the G 55 AMG, with acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h in 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 210 km/h leaving some sports cars in its tyre tracks.

The new G 55 AMG is available as a five-door station wagon with a long wheelbase and will be arriving at Mercedes-Benz sales and service outlets and dealerships in June 2004.



The SLK55 AMG does 0-100km/hr in just 4.9 seconds.

[DCsplash]

Yes, the G had its 25th on the 10 feb, and to celebrate their introducing this monster.. 109000 euros tho..^_^

[FeZ]

Fabulous -^ So over the top, unbelievable

I would love to know how the fuel consumption is for that G wagon at high speed.

I did just see a video of Clarkson testing the Hummer H1 & H2 and he said the H2 does 3 mpg ^_^ They showed the meter when he did floor it, it showed 1 mpg :D

[chris]

Just the thought of the fuel consumption would make the average persons wallet nervous.. ;)

But didn't Brabus do a 7.3 litre V12 G-wagon?

[DCsplash]

Not sure about the Brabus V12. I think the most powerfull G's have been the G55AMG's with a Kleeman supercharger, somethink like 550hp or a 580hp option. The V8 6.1 litre Brabus produce's a lot less, but i think Kleeman do a supercharger for those as well&( ..

[VQ]

It is a bit of a tank isn't it? I'm sure one of them big American tank 4x4's would use more fuel then the G class, even in diesel form.

[wello]

the 4 wheel drive looks like a cross between a old landrover and a toyota troopie :p

[chris]

The elderly G-wagens are quite tough.

I'm amazed that they still build them, and that they are still the same basic shape.

I saw an old one, a LWB 5 door version, and it looked so similar to the one above, except the old one didn't have sparkling metallic paint, and looked a lot more utilitarian, rather like one of those rough old Land-Rover Defenders.

They have definately been on sale for a very long time. Behind the utilitarian looking exterior now, hides a reasonably modern interior. The interior is almost the complete opposite to the exterior.

Edit: Just noticed, is that side-exiting exhausts on the G55?? :eek:

[DCsplash]

The G's will only be available to the general public till 2005:( , but Mercedes have to supply military one to various armies until 2025. The Canadian army has recently purchased G's as the company that make the G for Merc in Austria, are now Canadian owned. As the more recent Range Rover's have moved towards "soccer moms" transport and away from off roading capabilities, the G is still a (the;) ) most capable off roader.
All G's have side exiting exhaust pipes, helps stop them being knocked off:)

[chris]

There is also the military version of the H1 that is quite rugged.. But we can forget about that because exports of those are banned. (it's a military technology).

So you can only get second hand ones now. I've seen a few, and the size of them is something you wouldn't believe unless you saw one in person. All of the ones I've seen have been the military versions (ex US military so far as I could tell), and not more comfortable civilian versions. One of them was a utility version used by a mining company. (and it was very heavily loaded).

I suppose if you wanted a G-wagen, Benz would still build it for you, even after 2005. If you made a big enough fuss about it, they'd build one for you.

The new Rangies are still not bad off road, but I can never imagine the big Rangie in military use, it is more a luxury off-roader, with every convenience feature known to mankind. (And exquisite looking build quality).

Does Land-Rover still build those very utilitarian Defenders? They were always popular among those who needed to go far off-road. I remember that they never had the most comfortable interiors.

There were other very capable off-road vehicles available at times, though some of them are no-longer built.

The Lamborghini LM was very capable, and although it had huge weight, it also had very considerable grunt provided by a 444bhp 5.2 litre V12. It was also quite ruggedly built, with an obvious emphasis on practical features. It even did the Paris-Dakar Rally I think. Somewhat wisely, Lamborghini made sure the LM had huge capacity for fuel storage, some 290 litres!. It had rather extreme fuel consumption - ie, 30 litres per 100km! :eek:


The LM I believe had military origins, and was developed originally for military use. The Saudi military apparently ordered many of them for use in their military. The military origins might explain the LM's giant width..

Below is Sandro Munari (probably famous for demonstrating how easy it is for the Diablo to reach 340km/hr) in an LM, this one showing just how rough and utilitarian some of this V12 monsters were:

http://www.lambocars.com/highres/lm002pdi.jpg

http://www.lambocars.com/highres/lm002red.jpg
Note the massive tyres on these things.

And this is a view of a more comfort orientatied (in the interior) version:

http://www.lambocars.com/highres/lm002int2.jpg

Notice the gigantic centre tunnel/console.

http://www.lambocars.com/highres/lmar.jpg
http://www.lambocars.com/highres/lmai2.jpg

That one has a particularly spartan interior.

These huge 2.7 tonne monsters were capable of 0-100km/hr in 7.8 seconds, and of a remarkable 210km/hr top speed, not that you'd ever need to go that fast. Another version was made in 1984 with an enormous 7.3 litre V12. That particular one had a huge 318 litre fuel tank, that one would hope is adequate to give it reasonable range. I would guess the engine has scary fuel consumption. But it did have 590Nm of torque from 3500rpm.

[FeZ]

Ahhhh superb, the Lambo LM. I did see only one in my life. It was towing a trailer with a covered car on it, but from the silhouette I could tell it was a Countach.

300 litre fuel tank WoW :jawdrop:

If you havent seen it already here is a link to the video of Jeremy testing the Hummers
http://www.funpedia.net/clips/085.zip

[chris]

Imagine the cost of filling the tank.. :yikes:

Fuel here is, oh, about $0.90 per litre, meaning:

AUD$261.00 to fill completely 290 litres! :eek:

With one of these big Lambos, you'll be the best friend of every fuel station owner. ;) They'll even be happy to fill the tank for you, wash the windscreen etc.. ;)

That one above with Sandro Munari sitting inside has 600hp, :) and apparently open exhausts. It is apparently very loud. Some guy in Japan owns it now, and is said to drive it on the roads, even with the booming noise this thing must make. &(

[Radical-Al]

mercedes gwagon, boxy heh

I've seen a few (4 or so) Lamborghini LM002s in my life... very nice. H1s are cool... only real hummer nowadays.

When I saw the Countach engine in this thing, I couldn't even see the whole thing, even on my tippy toes! I guess I am short.

[DCsplash]

Evan the huge H1 needs the optional "adventure package" to bring up to G class standards. The H2, well, thats best left in the car park. The most useless pseudo off roader ever.
The Lambo Cheetah and LM's are awesome machines, i would imagine that in the sandy dunes of Saudi, the Lambo's are virtually untouchable, i used to see one fairly often driving around one of the knobby areas of North London, massive cars indeed.

Sure the new Range Rovers are still fairly competent off roaders, but there not a patch on the original mk1 model, the've lost a lot of the huge axle articulation the mk1 was famous for. The Defenders are still made, but there so crude, but still very good off road. They need a few after market mods for major off roading.

I think you'd have to be a very special person to get Merc to do a G after 2005, it's not really down to them. Steyr want their production line back:D ,, although who knows if you have the right sort of money. Heres a unusual one AMG did for a Russian client.

http://www.benzworld.org/gallery/pics/30_1183713_21200445420AM.jpg

[FeZ]

Originally posted by chris
Fuel here is, oh, about $0.90 per litre, meaning:

AUD$261.00 to fill completely 290 litres! :eek:

How cheap ;)

1 liter SuperPlus is 1.119€ so a full tank here would be 324.50 € which is 526.70 Aussi$

Germany has some of the highest fuel prices in Europe, well maybe not as high as in the UK :D

[chris]

FeZ: After I wrote that, I thought of fuel costs in Europe.. 324 Euros to fill the tank with super-Plus.. I can imagine the comments at service-stations.. :)

The astonished comments of others might just be enough to take the sting out of the cost..

[FeZ]

Yeah but you know when you drive such a car, the fuel cost is one of your lesser problems :D

[DCsplash]

Originally posted by FeZ
How cheap ;)

Germany has some of the highest fuel prices in Europe, well maybe not as high as in the UK :D

And our diesel is as much petrol, at least with one of those Lambo's, the traffic wardens couldn't reach your wipers to give you a parking ticket. Although in some places now, theres a camera, you don't know anything about it till the ticket comes in the post.:(

[chris]

Yes, I've seen what they do in the UK..

I watched one driver who obviously thought he was being very smart, undertaking on the left side of an airport inroad, trying to jump the queue. The driver was not allowed to do this, and received a fine in the mail.. ;)

In Sydney they have cameras everywhere, if you drive in the bus lanes, you are likely to recieve a fine.

[DCsplash]

Sydney sounds just like London, camera's for speeding, traffic lights, blocking a junction, bus lanes and now parking offence's. The driving offence camera's are fair enough, but the parking one's make working in London a nightmare, especially when you need tools handy in a van somewhere near by.

[chris]

Sydney has what could only be described as a chaotic road-system. Speed cameras everywhere, cameras to catch drivers driving in the wrong lanes.

Worst are the speed cameras, commonly referred to as revenue raising devices.. It's not a problem of them being used, but that they are used in the wrong places..

And what about those unmarked police cars? Surely the best defence against speeding is for people to see a MARKED police car. But the authorities would rather punish people after an offence has occured, than do something that might prevent a speeding offence.

[Radical-Al]

thank god we don't have cameras, but we have cops and unmarked cops, also no bus lanes. Traffic doesn't get that bad except in some parts and on the highway of course.

[VQ]

Originally posted by chris
Sydney has what could only be described as a chaotic road-system. Speed cameras everywhere, cameras to catch drivers driving in the wrong lanes.

Worst are the speed cameras, commonly referred to as revenue raising devices.. It's not a problem of them being used, but that they are used in the wrong places..

And what about those unmarked police cars? Surely the best defence against speeding is for people to see a MARKED police car. But the authorities would rather punish people after an offence has occured, than do something that might prevent a speeding offence.

The speed cameras are the worst in Victoria, 3 km's over the limti gets a fine and speed cameras and umarked police cars everywhere, they want more powers to take away cars that have been doing illegal off street racing and doing burnouts (ie the wheel chirps while turning a corner) and there is another thing to clamp down on the performacne shops and the engine builders.

[chris]

That's no problem, I don't mind police clamping down on hoons doing burnouts or stupid power-slides on streets, same as illegal street racing.

People doing that should have their drivers licenses taken from them.

But on over-zealous, revenue minded targeting of little things exceeding speed limits by a couple of km/hr, I don't support that.

I also hate the other trick they have in Sydney as well.. You've heard of musical chairs? We have musical speed-limits! :rolleyes: They change them from one day to the next.. Why not just set one speed-limit and leave it at that.

[VQ]

but lots of people race off street at official drag meets not illegal drag racing or cars gathering around in a cruise.

Also, I don't call the tyres squeling while turning th corner a burnout, but the government does.


Musical Speed limits? I went to sydney and the main thing I remeber about it is that the roads were a lot narrower compared to melbourne and Canberra makes Melbounre look very narrow.

[chris]

Loved Clarksons test of the H1 & H2.. :D

"I fear we may be causing a few problems here"

^_^

[Venom800tt]

That G55 scares me. I love the side exhuast :p
I also love the SLK55 and C55....

If I were rich I'd have them all :D

[Radical-Al]

Sucks to live in England or Australia...

as far as I know, the only time speed limits change is if there is construction, and we don't have cameras, I see people going 5-10-15-20 mph over the limit on a daily basis, on normal roads or on highways. Cops don't care unless they are bored or a person is being reckless or going way too fast. It is pretty laid back here unless the cops set up a speed trap, in that area.

[Blitz]

Those cars looks very nice.. :D I wouldn't mind having them in my driveway. l-^

[Variant]

70 cents/litre here in Canada.

Not too fond of the G-class, but all there are cool.

[VQ]

Well in vitoria we also have one of the lowest rates of deaths in the world.

[DCsplash]

Originally posted by Vqcapricedude
Well in vitoria we also have one of the lowest rates of deaths in the world.

Well, you must have some very old people around.;)

[VQ]

lowest road toll I meant.

But people are still dying cos of eveyrother problem in the world as usual, just less people are dying while driving or in cars.

[DCsplash]

The new G due to arrive in 2006/7

http://bilder.autobild.de/bilder/1/46299.jpg


It will share the platform of the new R class, and the new ML class. To keep off roaders happy it will have a full set of manual diff locks. Still, current G enthusiast will not be pleased by what is likely to be another "soccer moms" motor.

[Variant]

Originally posted by Vqcapricedude
lowest road toll I meant.

But people are still dying cos of eveyrother problem in the world as usual, just less people are dying while driving or in cars.

I see some Cadillac SRX in it (rear).

[VQ]

They should keep it boxy and not make it stylish, ebcuase then people won't want to buy it, so a new car uncerneath, but only slightly different on top, in regards to safety more then anything.

[Radical-Al]

i see some japanese influence in it too.