Question, yesterday I saw a very nice 560SL. Then I got to thinking. A huge 5.6 liter V8 in such a small car, that thing has to haul. What kind of performance numbers are we looking at? HP, torque, 0-60, 1/4 mile, top end speed ect. I would guess it was an early 90's model. It had a hardtop, looked sweet. Are these faster than 500E's - if not, why?

It was a W126 in case you were wondering.

oops, I lied. Apparently I am not the master observer that I aspire to be, there is no hardtop, just the regular cloth top.

560SL is actually a w107 (some call it r107). It is also no small car. Curb wieght is 3780lbs. This is only 70lbs less than the 420SEL and 250lbs less than the 560SEL. Overall lenght is 15.025 feet. You are right about it being a big engine and the car is a rocket. Horsepower is 227 at 4750rpm and torque is 279 at 3250rpm. Drag coefficient is 0.41 and the weight is distributed 53% on the front wheels and 47% at the rear. All of these figures are straight from the dealer brochure for the 1986 model year, the first year for the 560SL (560SL ran from 1986-1989). The 5.6 was the biggest engine in the w107 series than ran from June 1971 to 1989. It was available with 7 (maybe 8) different engines (only 4 made their way to North America) the first SL in North America was the 450SL which did 0-60 in 11.7 seconds. Then came the 380SL and 500SL (a european version 380 would so 0-60 in 7.5 seconds) and then the 560SL. European versions were also offered at different times with as a 280, 300 and 420. I don't know the acceleration figures for the 560SL, but I think the 500E would be faster just because it was made to blow the doors off the competition. It made over 325hp and had the advantage of several years of technological advancement in Mercedes engines (4 valves per cylinder for example).

Great cars, all of them!

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Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

I just got info off the web that had acceleration for the 500E at 0-60 6 seconds and 560SL 0-60 7.5 seconds.

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Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

The very early 450SL models that came to north america (72-73) had about 240HP and european bumpers. I would imagine those cars would be faster than the 560. 107s are great cars and the 560 really is a rocket. If you want to see some very nice pre-owned 107 SL cars go to http://www.********losgatos.com or http://www.munitechmotorcars.com

Jesse
98 C43
94 Range Rover

NOTHING is faster than a 500E!!! Just ask ANY 500E owner!!! (Tongue firmly in cheek, guys and gals.) But really, 560SL would not come CLOSE to a 500e (or to a 400E/E420, either, for that matter). --Mitch

'94 E420

From the information I have the 560SL is quite a bit faster than the 450SL. Horsepower for US version of the 450SL was only 190. The euro version was higher. The 500SL had 240HP. You may have gotten this number from the 450SLC which was still called that for a few years, but it had the 5.0l engine and was badged 450SLC 5.0. Even thought the 500SL had more horsepower the 560SL was still faster. Several books I have read claim the 560SL was the fasted, "by far" although the Euroversion 380SL had a very close 0-60 time.

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Jason Priest
1999 E430
1995 E420 - retired
1986 420SEL - retired

In 1972, there was a 350SL that made it to the United states (4.5 engine). Here's the link where I got my information: http://fly.hiwaay.net/~gbf/107/rt.html
According to this article, the car was renamed 450SL in 1974 and horsepower was reduced to 190. In 1975, it got cats and power was down to 180. The 350SL 4.5 had 230HP and a 3-speed automatic. I'd love to have a 560SL(I've never owned a convertible) in the near future but I'll probably save up for a used SL600. They are both geat cars and I don't think anyone could go wrong with either.

Jesse
98 C43
94 Range Rover

I'm a relatively old fart, conservative driver, etc...and the 560SL is all I'd ever care to handle on most American roads.

It's a heavy car all right, which makes it a sweet ride, despite a rather unluxurious supension. (I used to have a '74 MGB, so I traded away rack & pinion precision....but would NEVER go back to British Leyland "masterful" engineering.

What I love about my car is when you need to change lanes (from the grey-hair lane into the Autobahn lane), you press down a little on the accelerator and go from 60-80 in the blink of an eye, without downshifting. If you want to punch it, it will do its famous Saturn Rocket imitation.

I can't even imagine what the 320+ hp 500s must be like.

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Tom

'87 560 SL