I am very disapppointed that the SL65 remains with the old 5 speed. However, design-, and equipment-wise, I think this facelift has lived up to expectations.

IMO it looks great. Mercedes did a fantastic job with this refresh. If you think of it - this design is what, 7 years old and the SL was in desperate need of refresh, not becuase of the competition because there isn't any in it's class (not real one really) but from the in - house design competition (CL, CLS). Mercedes allways does this touches to lure customers back despite it is an old design. Good job I like it. AMG looks fantastic except for the rear defuzor - somehow it's just not right to me.

I'm not really certain but I think that 7G can't handle 1000 Nm of torque. I think Wimmer might know why in the 65 is there only 5 speed auto.

Again, can someone clarify this plesae.The official press states that this is the new generation SL.So is this the new generation?

It would be great, if you could "read" the statements that the members already answered on this question!! This is the FACELIFT of the current SL and has nothing to do with the new generation! So, please, no more "spam" about this...
...sorry...

I'm sold on this "facelift" now, especially the AMG version. I didn't expect the SL65 to get a new tranny with that insane power rating it has.

The SL most definitely needed something though. While gorgeous and what not there is more competition than ever. Maserati, BMW, Jaguar and Aston-Martin all have droptops and/or coupes in the SL's space. Even perfection needs to be refreshed in the eyes of consumers.

M

I for one am curious to see the tech specs for the new tranny (MCT?). If it's not on the sl65 then it CANT handle the torque. Isn't this an oversight from merc if the 'new' tranny still cant handle its most powerful engines? What happens with the sl BS? We've already seen a move awy from high torque compressor engines to more linear NA's with not so much torque and slightly higher hp. so perhaps this is the route AMG is pursuing long term? This seems ok for the 63's but what about the top end 65's and V12 replacements? Or the replacement for upcoming slr replacement? This new MCT is starting to seem more and more like a 'rework' than an all new tranny to me. Dunno??

Clearly the this "new" tranny isn't new, it is the current 7-Speed that has been updated. This is what I was saying all along that some got carried away thinking it was an all-new or dual-clutch tranny. From what I can see this is a the 7G-Tronic minus the torque converter replaced by a "wet clutch". At this point the way the world is going I don't think they'll be any more updates to the "65" cars. They don't sell enough to warrant such an expensive re-engineering of the current 7G trans and MB might replace these cars with 600-700hp turbo version of the current AMG V8.

M

I'm also curious because the tuner Kleeman uses an unmodified 7G-Tronic gearbox for their ML63K!!!

If an unmodified 7G-Tronic gearbox can handle 1000NM from the ML63K engine. Then why doesn't Mercedes and AMG use it for the SL600 and SL65?

I don't think we'll get an answer from Mercedes and AMG on this. Perhaps the the website master or the moderators of this forum could ask Kleeman or other Mercedes tuners for their views on this topic.

Thanks in advance

I love the fact that now, real AMGs look different from regular with AMG-package.
The front and the rear looks sooo good...

But right now I want to know more about this MCT: WHAT IS THIS?

Does it really have a dual-clutch, yes or no??

If yes, it is a sequential, right?
I can't see how an auto tranny could work with a clutch...I mean, if it has a clutch it is a sequential, isn't it?