I think the SLS looks great...the look does grow on you.
Although I had no idea the cars were so close in straight line performance. Doesn't the 458 weigh much much less? Guess that torque helps mr. sls

 

It would be funny to get a comment in the next episode.
Clarkson likes the SLS from his last DVD onwards. No surprise there.
But why chose an SLS over a 458? The Italian's better here.

 

I know from experience that an SLS and a 430 are just dead even as far as acceleration all the way to as fast as you can run in one mile: been there done that. I expect (but have not seen with my own eyes) that the 458 is faster than a 430(particularly since my 430 has a manual trans) - so I would not expect an SLS to be a serious challenge to it.

And when NOT in a straight line. Well, the SLS is handy, but a slug compared to the 430 and certainly the 458.

Sure is comfortable though . . .

 

I don't know, I watch TG just for entertainment value. Not one thing they do is objective nor truly useful from a performance review standpoint. That being said, I love the commitment to absurdity Clarkson maintains. Loves one car, hates another, no real reason given. But I just love it. They have a very unique niche and production method. It's truly enjoyable to watch if nothing else.

If I want true objective information and subsequent discussion, I do not think TG.

 

I don't watch it. For 45 years now (since '65 if you don't want to do the math) I've trusted R&T's road tests as accurate relfections of the relative performance of cars. I know people who claim they have outperformed R&Ts test results with their cars, and to be honest I am one of them, but I figure they test all cars about the same so maybe they are slower but the are consistent and they seem to show no bias (unlike top Gear). I don't really pay attention to anything else.

Their recent test of an SLS, and their 2006 test of an F430, got just identical acceleration times 9and braking distances. The 458 is better in both regards than the 430 so I figure it is not a tight race in a straight line, and of course it won't really be close in the corners given the weight difference, etc. Still, the MB is about 70% of the 458's cost, and a different type of car - more a GT than a pure sports car. I like the SLS a lot -- not enough to have one (I have a small garage and it will be a DB9 i add this March instead, which is slower, but . . . ) -- the fact that the SLS can hang with a 430 in acceleration all the way to the top end is phenomenal, given its weight.

 

Hmm.

Something isnt right about this.

Even though i havent done an actual drag race, i have driven both cars being tested, and in no way am i in doubt that the 458 is the faster car. By a lot!

Maybe, if it werent driven by "capt. slow" and send of the line with the LC being put to use, it would have been a different picture. We tested the SLS for about 40 mins with a timing device, and werent able to get a faster 0-100 km/t (62 mph) time than 3,9 secs. And we tried!

Unfortunately, we werent able to test the 458 with timing equipment, but there is no doubt that it was a lot faster, and also a lot more nimble. The launch control in this car is un-freakin'-believable. Just kicks you in the back of the line like nothing else i have tried.

Also, as stated above, another forum member seems to have tried racing a SLS in his 430, the result being they equally fast, and we all remember the TG drag race between the 430 and the 458.. It was a sad day to be a 430 owner.... Oh, well, time to save for a 458 i guess!!

 

SLS is 5x better looking. 458 just doesnt do it for me. Ferrari just keeps making cars that are ugly.

 

not this guy.

 

Wow - people are different. I'm not the biggest fan of the 458 but it is pure and sleek (I saw the prototype in the metal before I ordered my F430, which I prefer), but the SLS looks way too ugly to me -- too long nose, etc., and contrived in some of its styling cues. AND, if you know its development history, you know it was developed while MB owned Chyrsler and that the chassis is actually pretty much the next-gen Viper chassis taken as is (look at the SLS around the windshield, etc.) and that just ruins it for me . . .

 

Platform sharing keeps costs down...

 

Apart from track times put down by the stig, I don't take anything from TG as far as performance figures go. It seems everything is about drifting super cars around an old runway.