Stirling stuff

IT WAS rather nice to see Sir Stirling Moss behind the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz SL300, the very same car that he had raced to world fame completing the 1955 Mille Miglia 1,600-kilometre endurance drive in 10hrs-seven minutes and 48-seconds, a feat that has never been beaten.

This time, however, Stirling was bowling merrily along the lanes near Bristol, the 300hp engine blasting the countryside with a resonance surpassed only by that of the Concorde as it swept overhead on its way to New York.

Stirling ("forget the 'Sir' bit) was guest driving his former racing car as a grand finale to the Mercedes-Benz launch of its latest SL-Class, the 500, a much-advanced car and the fifth generation of a range viewed as the definitive luxury-sporting roadster for nearly 50-years by such drivers as Moss.

The new SL continues the tradition of bringing new ideas to the road car market, yet at the same time manages to maintain its links with its traditional past.

There is no doubt that Moss's famous victory helped the SL cause a sensation, as it not only combined cutting edge technology with famous gull-wing doors, but was powered by the world's first four stroke direct petrol injection engine, was built around a lightweight tubular frame and produced a top speed of 155mph, revolutionary at that time.

Today's car does not feature gull-wing doors but one of its most stunning features is its folding high strength roof, which in 16-seconds not only involves a series of lifting, lowering and folding manoeuvres but also has the rear glass windscreen (four millimetre thick safety glass) rotating to reduce the amount of boot space eventually taken up by the folded roof. The procedure is pretty similar to that found on Merc's two-seater SLK, except that it is nine-seconds quicker and when folded down leaves more room for luggage.

The boot capacity is 288-litres with the roof closed, and 206-litre when open, and by providing a get-you-home space-save tyre instead of providing a full-size spare wheel, another 29-litres of packing space is available.

Boot room is important because there is not a lot of room in the cabin for bulky items, although the storage boxes behind the seats, in the doors and under the passenger seat, keep smaller items in check.

To help with lifting luggage in and out of the boot when the roof has packed itself away, a special button can be fitted to raise the folded roof by 20 degrees, just enough to pull a bulky suitcase free without having to operate the complete roof closing mechanism.

There is going to be an optional glass-topped panoramic roof available by the end of this year, and this will also be fully automatic.

The £67,790 SL 500 brings with it a special braking system, the world's first "brake by wire" technology fitted to a road car, whereby the brake pedal uses electronic impulses to respond to the driver's foot pressure, a system which is far quicker than conventional braking responses, and so means shorter stopping distances, around three per cent quicker at 70mph. An added safety bonus is that in wet conditions, the system, called sensotronic brake control, gently applies the brakes to dry the discs, without the driver noticing, so improving braking performance in what can sometimes be very dangerous conditions.

For the driver the cockpit needs a bit of getting used to. With it smart-looking burr walnut trim, there are around 90 or so buttons to press, not just to get the car moving, but to enjoy the fantastic audio entertainment as well as navigation, air conditioning, heating, seat adjustment and so on and on. A good read of the handbook or familiarisation course at the Merc dealership before joining the rest of the motoring world is highly recommended.

Overall, the instruments are well positioned, and twin cowls for the main dials add to the car's overall sporting theme.

However, one problem encountered during the test drives was the closeness of the indicator stalk with that controlling the cruise control system. When reaching for the stubby indicator stalk attached to the steering wheel column it is possible to hit the cruise control stalk which if being used at the time could unexpectedly alter the car's speed.

As always with Mercedes-Benz, interior materials are of high quality, the leather seating matching the veneers and fascia materials.

Ride and drive comfort, whether at speed or not, is maintained by a specially-designed suspension which includes a system called active body control which keeps the car firmly fixed to the road especially when taking corners. It works very well, while the powered wrap-around seats provide extra body support. This gives the best of both worlds, big saloon-like comfort with sports car handling.

The first SL500 of the four-model range to be launched is the 306hp five-litre V8-engined, available now, followed later this year by the £89,040 SL 55AMG, with a V6 to follow and a 12-cylinder engine due to arrive next year.

Marketing chiefs expect to sell 1,400 of the new cars this year, mainly the five-litre with a potential target of 1,800 annually from next year.

At £67,690 the new model is £1,150 less than the previous models, the SL Silver Arrow limited edition, and around four per cent more than its standard predecessor, despite all the hi-tec innovations.

All the cars for the United Kingdom market feature a standard specification level that includes active body control, electronic stability programme, sensotronic brake control brake-by-wire, the folding roof, four airbags including innovative head-thorax side impact airbags, automatic climate control, bi-xenon headlights, CD autochanger with Comand navigation system and audio system, heated leather electric adjustable seats, rain sensing windscreen wipers and metallic paint finish.

Incidentally, anyone who decides to buy the AMG model will also receive a free driving lesson in the new car, carried out at Mira the car testing centre, giving them a chance to understand and appreciate how the car behaves at high speeds and while braking.

The AMG by all accounts will be a pretty awesome car, featuring special parameters, AMG-tuned sensotronic brake control, AMG Speedshift five speed automatic transmission with steering wheel-mounted shift controls, and special interior and exterior styling, seats and wheels.

The new SL500 has a three-year warranty, comes with Assyst the company's variable service interval system and also with the industry-leading 30-year mobilo-life warranty, which offers three decades of breakdown cover as well as protection against corrosion from the inside out.

Updated: 11:51 Friday, April 12, 2002