A good friend of mine has one and we often travel together on long "driving" trips. It broke down twice; Once on the autobahn, some drive belt had snapped costing several thousand Euros of repair but MB absorbed it although it was just out of warranty. And once (this summer) on the mountains of Sardinia, Italy. It turned out to be an inexpensive part but the car had to be shipped to mainland Naples from this remote location since the warning on the dashboard said "stop the vehicle immediately and contact service". All this is not to say that it is less reliable than another car, but it is a very complicated car with lots of things that can go wrong.

Handling wise, I think it is as good as it can get for a 4235lb car but the weight is there. That said, it's extremely fast and comfortable making it one of the best GT cars in my view.

 

Which one do you feel faster? I know if they race for full blast, it would be tt. But what about cruising or partial sport drive.

 

I drove an AMG SL55 recently and found it rode/drove responded very well for a heavy touring 2-seater. The torque that they have makes driving it fun and can
be pushed surprisingly well on a sporting drive.
I believe the SL65 with a tune may fill your needs better.
These of course are much different than the 996TT.

 

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I drove Johns SL65 , its a very fast car for sure, absolutely love it. We raced his car and my 996tt , Porsche is obviously faster due to its being 1000 lbs lighter.

His Sl feels almost as fast or faster than my 650 hp porsche.

For combination of luxury and power , Sl65 all the way. For combination of raw power and handling cant beat the 996tt. Just different cars for different days.

 

There are a few e55 4 door amg's near me and they are fast. Supercharged V8 with upgraded 15 psi pulley as well as IC.

 

Most of them are in the 125-128 Mph trap zone, with NOS they can get to k24/18 g level which is low 130mph.

http://www.dragtimes.com/Mercedes-Be...ag-Racing.html

 

yeah, they can hit those speeds with mods. Stock they run closer to 116 mph which is still fast considering the weight.

 

Correction:

Most MODDED ones run in the 123-128 mph range, very few in the nation
run 130+,

My K24/18G car trapped 134+, not many trapping in that range therefore
not many could "Roll with me"

 

.....loved my SL55.....made great power with filters, pulley and tune.....

 

TV in the garage, how come I have never thought of that.

 

For the track it would have to be the TT. For everyday, SL definitely. 65 is just a beast...the torque is highly addicting, it never gets old...car also gets a lot of respect...SL500 drivers look in awe Jokes aside, I didn't replace the TT cuz I finally learned my lesson...can't replace a p car. It took 7 porsches to learn my lesson...now i'm keeping this guy for the long run (been almost 4 years now...longest for me )

 

Guys,
Thank you all for your comments. I agree about the brick sh--house build of the 996tt. I have cooled my jets some and am not going to do anything too rash too quick. I really appreciate the honesty from you guys and not just the porsches are greater than anything forum crap. I do still love my car and I know several on here would have owned both and could give an unbiased opinion. Thats what I love about six speed. You can learn a lot from the experience of others. Thanks again and enjoy your rides!!!!

 

Anyone has experience with repair bills of SL65? Or may be CL65? Was looking to buy CL65 but got scare to have this expression for repair bill.

 

very expensive. But then again would expect anything less out of a car with such a high sticker price? don't expect VW repair bills(which are not cheap compared to jdm's). Expect bills commensurate with what this car is.

 

one of my emplyees had an 04 sl55. he purchased it new and he had tons of electrical problems with it and the air cond was a major prob. he traded it after owning it for 5000 miles.
i drove the car and i was unimpressed with it.