German Car Zone

I went for the SL. Gorgeous car, ample power, lots of luxury.

Both are geat looking cars, more less same performance, but since there's no Vette over here, i'd go for the Merc. It looks much more masculine anways

Well the Vette does everything as well as the Merc, dare I say, even in the looks and attention department as well, for half the price. It also sounds a whole lot better and more untamed than the mannered Mercedes V12.

The interior as always pure GM bullshit is far behind but remember that in the long run the most probably basic and simple layout of the Vette will hold up much better in the dry desert hot temperatures or humid climates. The Merc is to delicate in this department, sure you get an amazing interior but it has a high maintenance cost and reliability.

Servicing these cars I imagine won't even come close and I am sure the SL charges 2-3X premiums over the basic service fee charge of the Vette.

The Corvette is about passion and ambitions, stretching the boundaries for GM to new heights, while the SL is just a comfortable, AMG Mercedes that has gone soft over the decade in other words an overweight automatic.

Oh and the Black Series is a better match for the Vette instead even though the Vette will blow that clean as well, dare I say for 3 times less price, wow. It's a shame AMG have to make Black Series versions of their cars now knowing full well how soft the basic trim, any AMG model badge should be like it was not so long ago.

I have driven the base Z51 trim of the C6 regularly for two years and everytime I close the door I have to delicately pull it from the frameless glass instead of the door handle, lest the entire door trim comes apart--the craftsmanship is THAT bad. Sitting in the ZR1 at NAIAS this January, I noticed the trim was exactly the same.

Dynamically the vete is able, but again, miles behind (along with the 65) from the sports car benchmark, the 911.

#1 Safety. (if I'm doing 140, I'd like this benefit)
#2 Comfort. (no contest)
#3 Fit and finish and materials quality. (no contest)

Performance wise, the Vette is and has been the best bang for the buck you can find. The Vette is engineered from the track backwards. Not so with an SL. The SL65 is engineered from a luxury roadster up to a performance level. Not the same car, and won't appeal to the same buyer per se. Or this kind of buyer might just buy both.

The average buyer of an SL65 will never visit a track. They just know it is exclusive, fast, and looks fantastic. The Vette looks like something the rich guy who has a big belt buckle would want to drive.

Now, maybe the SLS is the car that will fill that category for MB. It would seem so at initial glance. Maybe it is just another "looker" with decent performance, or perhaps MB has decided to start at the track and build a car from this starting point. We shall see. The SL is most definately NOT this car.

Well maybe the trick behind the Vette mindboggling perfs is the fact it has a third of the screws other cars have, a third of the usual glue amount, and that half the clips were replaced by duct tape? Sure is lighter then...

And for the press, they just make sure the duct tape is okay...

One has got to be kidding asking a question about what each car does better than the other here. These cars are not competitors despete their mega hp engines.

Either of them comes up a loser depending the criteria being used here which really makes the comparision pointless.

Those who want cheap speed and performance will side with the Vette. Nevermind its crapola build quality inside and out.

Those who want true luxury and comfort and more depth to their engineering will side with the Benz. Nevermind its overweight and pretty much a GT cars in same vein as cars were in the 1930s.

To not see what the other car is superior at is just plum ridiculous.

M

I actually agree and disagree with just about everybody.

Whilst the comparison of the cars as apples-to-apples is ridiculous, the real-life cross shopping comparison isn't. For the buyer who's interested in blowing the doors off everybody on the highway these are - though unlikely - legitimate contenders for the same wallet.

For the buyer who fits the more typical profile of the Mercedes buyer, who values quality, craftsmanship, style and the cache of the Benz name, the 'Vette is completely out of the question.

I think these are, in some ways, great comparisons to make - Putting car vs car in a way that just puts the metrics on the table to see who comes out on top. I think the typical psychology of car shopping is misunderstood and people tend to cross-shop vehicles that most marketing wonks would never have thought of placing in the same bucket.

Case in point - Audi A3 vs Honda Accord Coupe. These were two cars that I was intensely cross-shopping when I was in the market a couple years ago. You would never think of placing these two, seemingly dissimilar cars in the same category of buyer consideration - but in my eyes, they were neck-and-neck.

So I understand how this compro is ridiculous and at the same time very poignant. The bottom line is - If it was your money, what would you buy? Answer: Probably neither. Maybe you'd rather have an SL 63 or an M6. Still, I think it's great to put two beasts from different fields nose-to-nose to see how the law of diminishing returns plays out in totally different price brackets.

On a sidenote - In Germany, the Corvette would definitely turn heads at an order of magnitude above what the same 'Vette would do in the states. The Corvette possesses even more curb appeal over there than an SL 65 - believe it or not.