Mercedes Reveals SL 65 Black Series

Justin Berkowitz
by Justin Berkowitz

Mercedes has revealed its second "Black Series" model: the SL 65 AMG Black Series. The BS lineup of cars (they did realize that, no?) promises to take bonkers AMG models and make them suitable for institutionalization. To wit: the power goes from not inconsiderable 604 horses to a highly volatile 661hp. AMG ditches the folding hardtop (losing some 570lbs. of passion-killing weight) and upgrades pretty much everything else– suspension, transmission, brakes, lease payments. If you can get past the crass body kit, the fixed roof improves the SL's side profile considerably. Deep breath now. If you want to play with Black, you'll need an awful lot of jack: $320k. Plus dealer eBay adjustment? The mind boggles. And the there's the apocalyptic depreciation. Our own Jay Shoemaker when sampling this car's little brother– the CLK Black Series— Jay remarked that it would make a fine used car value. And then he bought a twin-turbo S65 AMG for $70k (review coming). Smart man.

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Justin Berkowitz
Justin Berkowitz

Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.

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  • Quasimondo Quasimondo on Jul 11, 2008
    AMG is quickly becoming a worthless badge like Chevy SS. That is a shame because AMG was once the premier aftermarket tuner of high-end cars. An AMG was special because only those that knew cars understood what they were looking at! For a Benz it used to be the equavalent of a Ruf Porsche. I doubt we're anywhere near that level yet. The Equinox SS is a joke, the AMG G55 isn't. You may not like the idea of a 5600 lb behemoth rocketing from 0-60 in five and a half seconds, but you certainly can't dismiss it.
  • TomAnderson TomAnderson on Jul 12, 2008

    I'm sure it's a hoot, but I'd kinda rather have that old skool SLC racer in the background, myself.

  • Seoultrain Seoultrain on Jul 12, 2008

    I believe they're only building 200 of these. With such a limited run, the depreciation should stay down. And I consider AMG depreciation to be a good thing: it allows me to be able to afford one.

  • JJ JJ on Jul 13, 2008
    AMGs cars depreciate so badly for many reasons, primarily it is do to the fact that the core MB buyer can careless about a MB with a body kit on it! Next AMG cars are not that great! You get a standard performance engine shared across the ENTIRE model line, a tacky cheap looking body kit that looks like it was put on at your local tuner shop, some oversized (not very stylish or expensive looking) rims, and a throw-back 1980s quad exhaust setup with cheap Pep Boys looking chrome tips. To add insult to injury MB will sell a standard benz with the AMG “look” for a lot less cash. My thoughts exactly. And with this SL BS, I can see some of its appeal, but 320K!?! What is that about? Fine, people who can afford it might not care about 100k more or less, but even if you are in that position you would still want to get some value for your money right? It seems the only extra value this has comes from the very low production number. Both the CLK AMG and SL AMG should have been from the start what the Black Series are now, and then should still have bee sold at the normal AMG pricepoint or slightly higher but not at several 10Ks more. Kudos on the S65 btw. Not a big fan of the car nor Mercedes in general, but 70k seems like a good deal. You should probably still sell it in 1 maybe 2 years or drive it for a longer time period (5 years) to avoid some epic yearly depreciation but at least overtaking will go quickly.
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