Mercedes-Benz SLR: Ricer?

[KEV1N]

The stripes look like tape! What's going on!

 

[isaacmacdonald]

err.... beauty? am I missing something? I'd say the multitude of performance enhancing stripes qualify this car as one of the trashiest sports cars I've ever seen. WTF is up with that? I can't believe anyone in their right mind would put that on a car, let alone merc.

*pffttt*

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: isaacmacdonald
err.... beauty? am I missing something? I'd say the multitude of performance enhancing stripes qualify this car as one of the trashiest sports cars I've ever seen. WTF is up with that? I can't believe anyone in their right mind would put that on a car, let alone merc.

*pffttt*

errr i am hoping and am pretty sure those stripes are for test cars, the market car wont have those...

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Xiety
appearently you haven't seen any Benzs around lately... mostly Automatics, and I am sure from now on, they won't be building stick cars...

for the car, it's such a beauty... gotta love german engineering... it's brilliant...

downside: that's a lot of money... for that money, i would get both a ferrari and lambo..

There isn't a manual transmission available for Mercedes' entire product line. And you people dismissing this car simply because it has an automatic transmission are idiots.

Originally posted by: KEV1N
The stripes look like tape! What's going on!

Not sure if that's sarcasm, but it looks like tape because it is tape. The angled zig-zags and tape hide the lines and cuts of the design. Notice the tape covering the rear taillights - it's camouflage. Mercedes and McLaren don't want anybody to know exactly what the car looks like until the Frankfurt Auto Show in September.

 

[Whisper]

I will never truly understand why Mercedes offers such great performance sedans (the entire AMG series) WITHOUT A MANUAL.

I'm sorry, but I would never, ever buy such a high-performance vehicle without at least paddle-shift being available. And people wonder why mercedes has a hard time dealing with BMW despite its performance edge.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Whisper
I will never truly understand why Mercedes offers such great performance sedans (the entire AMG series) WITHOUT A MANUAL.

I'm sorry, but I would never, ever buy such a high-performance vehicle without at least paddle-shift being available. And people wonder why mercedes has a hard time dealing with BMW despite its performance edge.

"Paddle shifters" can be used with both automatic and manual transmissions. The difference is how the drivetrain changes gears (via torque converter or clutch/solenoid). The SLR uses an automatic transmission with buttons on the steering wheel for manual-type shifting. What I don't understand is why Mercedes won't offer a SMG like BMW's M-class cars. IIRC, the SMG transmission in the M3 and M5 are fully manual with an option for complete computer controlled shifting (like a faux automatic). That way you get the efficiency of a manual transmissin with the smoothness and simplicity of an automatic.

 

[Whisper]

Knight, the paddles shifters that I'm referring to are those borrowed from formula 1 racing; i.e. paddle shifters using neumatics and such to work a manual transmission without need for the driver to operate the clutch. I personally don't much like the self-shift options that are available in any automatic car, especially mercedes (at least the ones I've tried; I'm sure they're slightly different when you're paying 350k for it).

 

[vetteguy]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
There isn't a manual transmission available for Mercedes' entire product line. And you people dismissing this car simply because it has an automatic transmission are idiots

Not true...you can get a new C230 Kompressor with a 6 speed.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: vetteguy

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
There isn't a manual transmission available for Mercedes' entire product line. And you people dismissing this car simply because it has an automatic transmission are idiots

Not true...you can get a new C230 Kompressor with a 6 speed.

Oops, you're right. Not just the C230 Kompressor, but several of the C-class and SLK models have an available 6-speed. Where have I been?

Originally posted by: Whisper
Knight, the paddles shifters that I'm referring to are those borrowed from formula 1 racing; i.e. paddle shifters using neumatics and such to work a manual transmission without need for the driver to operate the clutch. I personally don't much like the self-shift options that are available in any automatic car, especially mercedes (at least the ones I've tried; I'm sure they're slightly different when you're paying 350k for it).

Thanks, I appreciate the lesson on SMG technology

, but you missed my point. It doesn't matter whether you use paddles, buttons, or clown shoes taped to the ceiling, wishing Mercedes used "paddle shifters" for the SLR is misleading because you can use a paddle shifter on a full automatic and a sequential manual. Hell, the automatic RX-8 has an option for "paddle shifters" mounted on the steering column even though its still an automatic.

The sequential manual available on the BMW M3 and M5 has an option for an emulated automatic mode. I don't understand why Mercedes doesn't offer this for their high performance vehicles.

Cliff's notes: I agree with your sentiment, but not your wording. Semantics, I know.

 

[Phuz]

Originally posted by: KEV1N
The stripes look like tape! What's going on!

lol, I'm surprised no one understand this...

They taped it up to hide the lines on the car, you can't get a good look at it and really see what its like.

They won't be on the final cars.

 

[Sachmho]

haha yeh, these people are so incredibly stupid...
the tape is to hide the final look/flow of the car from spy cameras, such as this one, so that people cant fully see the final look... grow up, ignorami

 

[Salvador]

The stripes are far from tasteful as far as I'm concerned. This car is far from being rice though.

Not true. I have seen plenty of Neons, Cavaliers (both new and old ones), mustangs, saturns, etc that have been "riced" out.

American cars=Wheat

Sal

 

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: Phuz

Originally posted by: KEV1N
The stripes look like tape! What's going on!

lol, I'm surprised no one understand this...

They taped it up to hide the lines on the car, you can't get a good look at it and really see what its like.

They won't be on the final cars.

I think it also helps to confuse your eyes so you can't judge the actual speed as well. Someone mentioned Dazzle camo that battleships used in WWII, it's probably that same deal (only not so much to confuse you as to where it's heading, because that'd be very apparent with a car)

You could get a very good idea of the lines on the car by just taking a photo into photoshop and making white = black. If they wanted to disguise that, they'd use fake panels and canvas.

Edit: Flip up cover on the gear shift hiding the engine start button = coolest production car feature EVER. I'd feel like James Bond every time I'd start the car

 

[Eli]

Do you even know what ricer means? Obviously not.

 

[fizmeister]

"Tricked out" is the p.c. term.

That way, it can be applied to non-Asian cars as well.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: Phuz

Originally posted by: KEV1N
The stripes look like tape! What's going on!

lol, I'm surprised no one understand this...

They taped it up to hide the lines on the car, you can't get a good look at it and really see what its like.

They won't be on the final cars.

I think it also helps to confuse your eyes so you can't judge the actual speed as well. Someone mentioned Dazzle camo that battleships used in WWII, it's probably that same deal (only not so much to confuse you as to where it's heading, because that'd be very apparent with a car)

You could get a very good idea of the lines on the car by just taking a photo into photoshop and making white = black. If they wanted to disguise that, they'd use fake panels and canvas.

Edit: Flip up cover on the gear shift hiding the engine start button = coolest production car feature EVER. I'd feel like James Bond every time I'd start the car

For city driving I agree they'd probably add fake body panels and what not. But if you are testing the car out at the track yer not gonna do that for obvious reasons. The tape is on there to help distort/hide parts of the car. I don't think it has anything related to speed 'cause you can just grap a radar or laser speed gun and clock the car.


Lethal

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: vetteguy

Originally posted by: KnightBreed
There isn't a manual transmission available for Mercedes' entire product line. And you people dismissing this car simply because it has an automatic transmission are idiots

Not true...you can get a new C230 Kompressor with a 6 speed.

Oops, you're right. Not just the C230 Kompressor, but several of the C-class and SLK models have an available 6-speed. Where have I been?

Originally posted by: Whisper
Knight, the paddles shifters that I'm referring to are those borrowed from formula 1 racing; i.e. paddle shifters using neumatics and such to work a manual transmission without need for the driver to operate the clutch. I personally don't much like the self-shift options that are available in any automatic car, especially mercedes (at least the ones I've tried; I'm sure they're slightly different when you're paying 350k for it).

Thanks, I appreciate the lesson on SMG technology

, but you missed my point. It doesn't matter whether you use paddles, buttons, or clown shoes taped to the ceiling, wishing Mercedes used "paddle shifters" for the SLR is misleading because you can use a paddle shifter on a full automatic and a sequential manual. Hell, the automatic RX-8 has an option for "paddle shifters" mounted on the steering column even though its still an automatic.

The sequential manual available on the BMW M3 and M5 has an option for an emulated automatic mode. I don't understand why Mercedes doesn't offer this for their high performance vehicles.

Cliff's notes: I agree with your sentiment, but not your wording. Semantics, I know.

Wasn't trying to give you any lesson on things, and in the end, I believe (as you said) we're both agreeing on the point itself. My post was just to clarify which type of paddle shift I was talking about (that related to a manual transmission). Whenever I talk about paddle shifting, that's essentially what I mean. Not the most correct way of saying it, but I'm too lazy to do more than that most of the time. Anything related to an automatic, and I'll basically just call it tiptronic.

And yes, you do wonder why mercedes would give so many vehicles to AMG, beef up the engines to insane levels...and then seemingly forget to do anything to the transmission. One reason why I'd never buy one.

 

[ElFenix]

amazing how people don't understand camo...

 

[Syringer]

It's absolutely hilarious when people have the attitude of, "Omg, it doesn't come with a manual, THAT is what's going to prevent me from buying this $350,000 car".

Face it, people who can afford a car in that range won't want a manual, and if demand for it were somehow high enough they would do something about it.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: Syringer
It's absolutely hilarious when people have the attitude of, "Omg, it doesn't come with a manual, THAT is what's going to prevent me from buying this $350,000 car".

Face it, people who can afford a car in that range won't want a manual, and if demand for it were somehow high enough they would do something about it.

 

[bootymac]

It looks like a Transformer with all those stripes

 

[m2kewl]

n/m

 

[cavemanmoron]

Backing up the mechanical aspect of the SLR?s braking package is a so-called air brake function incorporated into the rear spoiler. Similar to that applied to the original SLR five decades ago, it instantly deploys when the driver gets hard on the brakes, shifting the car?s crucial center of pressure backward by up to one meter for improved stability and a mild reduction in stopping distances.

 

[Spikey289]

Its pretty narly in these pics. Ive seen better pics of the car.

 

[PowerMacG5]

I would kill to have this car. Sweet ride, totally not rice. This is the only Mercedes I would ever consider owning if I had the money. To me all other Mercedes are fugly and outdated.