500sl EURO versus 560sl USA1980's
 

OK! Here's a question for you guys. Which is quicker and which has more horsepower the euro 500SL or the US 560SL. This has been a burning question for me ever since i got my 500SL. I tried to figure out how to convert DIN to bhp but got lost in translation between the two. I would really like a True answer to this not a guess.


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This comes from the "other" SL forum

The 500SL has the fastest acceleration compared to the 560SL , the 500SL was only available in Europe and as an example the 500SL was published by MB as having 0-60 times of 7.4 seconds for top speed of 140MPH compared to the 560SL 8 seconds and 137 MPH .Torque for the 500SL is 297@3200RPM and for the 560SL 279@3250RPM .Therefor it can be seen that of all the 107's produced the 500SL was superior to the rest .

Road and Track?
 

All of the 0-60 times are misleading at best. Did they start in second gear or shift it down to first? What about the Road and Track car test in March 1994 by "experts" that records the 560 at 0-60 in 6.8 sec. I have seen 6.8, 7.4, 7.8, and 8.0 second recorded test times by different sources. The 560 is not a high 7 or 8 sec car. My opinion.
6.8 is pretty quick, but it is a 5.6 liter and I believe terribly underrated for marketing and insurance reasons. Remember the time that it was introduced, it was not popular to rave about the horsepower. Heck, look at what gear they are running in the back.
Check the link for the article.


BDBENZ :D :Dhttp://home.hiwaay.net/~gbf/107/rt.html

Whoops
 

The Road and Track article shows the 560 at 7.5 seconds. The 6.8 test time was in the book Mercedes SL's Gold Portfolio. It has several road tests by different sources but on page 177 is the test results posted by Road and Track in March 1986, against four other convertibles including Porsche and a Corvette.

BDBENZ:)

I believe I read that the 500SL comes in at 7.0 sec that beats the 560Sl by .5 sec .I know the torque is higher. I found a conversion chart last night and horsepower is also higher.I will try and find the conversions and post them back here. I'm NOT trying to knock the 560 but spec's are spec's and my 500 is quicker. Which makes it more unique in my view. Thats why I bought it! The quicker the better(with cars anyway).

The 560 will always be more desireable and superior because the number 560 is greater than the number 500. Life is not fair that way...but that is the true answer, and not a guess. Irrefuteable.

:)

best,

Dave

I admire your confidence level but that was the epitome of a guess, and imminently refutable to boot. It seems to me that asking prices on 500s are generally higher than 560s. It's hard to know whether the 500s are actually selling at those levels but their owners are certainly proud of them. I offer this only as an anecdote, not an actual truth.

IIRC, the tests reprinted in the Gold Portfolio book consistently show the 500 a bit faster than the 560, and its power was rated higher--as one would expect, given the realities of 80's-era desmogging for the US market and the politics of power and speed versus economy in our market at that time. I've always assumed the extra displacement was MB's way of coming closer to the 500's power output in a US-spec car; after all, the entire reason for developing and marketing the 560 was to combat the gray market in 500s in the US and recapture high-margin US-market sales. Most of the rest of the world never saw the 560 at MB dealers.

As far as I know, R&T's test procedures have traditionally been about as objective as it gets; it's been a key value of their testing program ever since the days of John Bond himself. I remember the occasional discussion in the magazine on testing methods.

My observation in online listings is that 500s tend to lesser asking prices than comparable 560s (of course within the ability one has to discriminate on the basis of the info in a listing). It's reasonable to expect that in the US, since the 560 is a more widely known and understood commodity beyond the core cognoscenti and there's that ongoing perception of service issues on gray market cars.

I believe that you are entirely accurate with the reason for the 560SL. With the extra smog stuff to get the performance of a 500SL they increased the cubic inches. With the gray market cars sneaking into the country they realized the market for a higher performing car and built it to US specs.

Hi -- very interesting thread. Does anyone know if the tests done were done on 500sl's that were converted to US DOT standards or on actual European cars that did not get converted?

The tests in the Brooklands books such as the Gold Portfolio for the 107s are those that the major car mags ran when the cars were new. Brooklands draw from the US, Great Britain and Australia, so the tests appeared in Motor, Car & Driver, Road & Track, etc. Since the Euro model tests appeared in Euro-market mags, the cars were those sold in those markets, unmodified.

i don't think the reason for bringing 500sl's from europe was to get the extra hp. if i recall correctly, in the 70's and 80's there was a huge savings to be had if you purchased the car in europe, drove it 1000 miles and imported it as a used car. savings would have been around $5000 along with a free euro vacation as part of the deal. u.s. customs allows exception of only one car per household during a lifetime so dealers would bring in a boat load of mildly used euro cars under a different owners name for each vehicle and throw $1000 to people who allowed their names to be used on the temp title.
personally, i think the 500sl has the advantage:
- without cat converter the exhaust is straight thru and no add on monitoring O2 equipment
- headlights nicer, bumpers nicer and lighter on euros
- climate control system (i believe?) were simpler on euros because they had manual controls
- you get the rear fog light on euros. not much use but i'm always one for another toy.

also, i dont think repair on gray market car would be an issue. the 500sl body is mostly like any other sl. as for engine, we have 500sel's which, i think would solve any engine/transmission needs thru MB supply chain.

jack

Hmm -- so there is a possibility that inside of the United States a US DOT converted 500sl and a 560sl may have very similar numbers. Maybe, since the OEM made the 560sl for the US market the 560 might even have the edge over an aftermarket (grey market) modified 500sl?

500SL vs 560SL
 

We need to do a shoot out. hehehe. :D

Ericdee -- you took my comment in exactly the spirit it was meant! hooray for a good thread with well meaning enthusiasts :)