Inside Line tests hundreds of vehicles a year, but not every vehicle gets a full write-up. The numbers still tell a story, though, so we present "IL Track Tested." It's a quick rundown of all the data we collected at the track, along with comments direct from the test-drivers. Enjoy.

As luxury sports cars go, you're not going to find one that turns more heads or elicits more pointing fingers right now than the new 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. And it's about more than just its gullwing doors.

This six-figure trophy car also features an all-aluminum spaceframe, a normally aspirated, dry-sump V8 with over 560-horsepower, seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with launch control, an aluminum double-wishbone suspension and two-piece brake rotors.

That's just the short list, and anyone who thinks this is just a warmed-over SL with fancy doors is dead wrong. It's more than just unique styling and high-priced parts. This AMG can run with the fastest of today's exotics. We wanted to find out just how well it would keep up, so we took it to our test track and ran the numbers. Does all that technology add up to a real sports car? See for yourself after the jump.

Vehicle: 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Odometer: 2237
Date: 03/23/2010
Driver: Chris Walton
Price: $N/A

Specifications:
Drive Type: Rear-wheel drive
Transmission Type: 7-speed auto clutch manual
Engine Type: V8
Displacement (cc/cu-in): 6,208/379
Redline (rpm): 7,200
Horsepower (hp @ rpm): 563 @ 6,800
Torque (lb-ft @ rpm): 479 @ 4,750
Brake Type (front): Ventilated disc
Brake Type (rear): Ventilated disc
Steering System: Speed-sensitive rack-and-pinion power steering
Suspension Type (front): Double wishbone, coil springs
Suspension Type (rear): Double wishbone, coil springs
Tire Size (front): 265/35ZR19
Tire Size (rear): 295/30ZR20
Tire Brand: Continental
Tire Model: ContiSport Contact
Tire Type: Summer performance
Wheel Size: 19 x 9.5 front, 20 x 11 rear
Wheel Material (front/rear): alloy
As Tested Curb Weight (lb): 3,787

Test Results:
0 – 30 (sec): 1.7
0 – 45 (sec): 2.6
0 – 60 (sec): 3.8
0 – 75 (sec): 5.2
1/4 Mile (sec @ mph): 11.6 @ 122.7
0 – 60 with 1-ft Rollout (sec): 3.5
30 – 0 (ft): 25
60 – 0 (ft): 98
Braking Rating: Excellent
Slalom (mph): 67.8
Skid Pad Lateral Acceleration (g): 0.96
Handling Rating: Very Good
Db @ Idle: 54
Db @ Full Throttle: 89.9
Db @ 70 mph Cruise: 67

Acceleration Comments: Even with the transmission in Drive, the SLS is deceptively quick and obviously FAST. Speed comes on gradually, then piles on endlessly. With "race start" selected the car rolls slightly off the line, allows slight wheelspin and cuts three-tenths off the 0-to-60-mph time and almost as much off the quarter-mile. Upshifts in race start mode are very quick but not harsh at all. Manual mode offers shift lights, but evidenced slower. Wheelspin with ESC off was virtually impossible, much to the chagrin of our editor in chief.

Braking Comments: Immediate bite and crazy effectiveness. Flat, short, consistent, straight. Pedal effort remained moderate to high, but not brutal.

Handling Comments: Slalom: This is a tough car to slalom. It's obviously tuned to drive from the rear and you must enter slow and gradually squeeze the throttle to keep the rear planted. Otherwise, it gets loose and I catch it, but I find myself late at the next cone. With ESC Sport, however, the car feels reined in and electronically limited (mostly with a closed throttle). The result is you can't steer it with the gas pedal. Skid pad: With ESC off, understeer sets in. Lifting the throttle diminishes it, but the car doesn't rotate as a result. With ESC Sport, the understeer goes away and I could feel the rear stepping out slightly all the way around. Funny thing is, I couldn't detect or feel any brake application. Steering is delicate and informative. Excellent weighting and response.

Since there seems to be some level of interest in 2011 Subaru WRX, we thought we would share these additional pics of the sedan and hatchback.

No, he's not the best dressed line worker in the Wayne assembly plant, he's Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Hokey photo ops like this are just part of the job, well, that and running a multinational car company during one of the worst recessions in the country's history.

According to documents filed with the SEC recently, Mr. Mulally raked in about $18M last year. That includes his cash compensation plus all sorts of stock options and grants. Bill Ford Jr. took no cash compensation, but we're pretty sure he already pretty well set in the stock department. Mark Fields took home around $4M while Ford's European chief was only slightly behind at $3.8M.

Detroit News
 

Yes, you read that right, a B-Class vehicle tuned by AMG. Just before the Geneva Auto Show, then CEO of AMG Volker Mornhinweg, told Inside Line that the tuner was looking at the compact segment as a potential growth segment.

Initially, we thought he was referring to the production version of the F800 concept, but recent information suggests that AMG is looking to go even smaller. Sources have told Inside Line that AMG is looking to use the next-generation B-Class as a platform for its compact hot rod.

Thankfully, it won't be the hatchback you see here. Instead, the AMG B-Class will be a sedan based on the same platform. Even more interesting is the kind of engine technology it may use.

Instead of using turbochargers like the rest of the company's future engine, AMG is considering the use of pressure wave supercharging. More commonly known as Comprex forced induction, it's a system that uses exhaust pulses to act directly on the incoming air stream.

When asked about such a system Dr Leopold Mikulic, Mercedes-Benz's Vice-President of Powertrain Development said, "There are some rumours around it. Comprex has no turbo lag…because it operates on a very different principle."

Mikulic acknowledged that Comprex is nothing new (Mazda used such a system on a production diesel engine), but noted that modern technology makes it more viable. "This technology comes back now with a new approach which could be a viable competition to turbocharging. It has to establish itself in high volume first. We will see about it for our V6."
 
AMG is reportedly getting around 400 horsepower out of a 3.2-liter V6 with such a system. Shove that into a small sedan with a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox and you'll have yourself a pretty serious AMG car. Might be awhile before we find out though as this AMG project isn't expected to turn up until 2013.

Saab has restarted its production line to produce the new 2011 9-5 and its new owners say that a SportCombi version will be added next year. The plant had been closed for almost two months while Spyker Cars completed its purchase of the struggling Swedish automaker.

First Look: 2011 Saab 9-5
 

It's not even on the streets yet and already Mercedes-Benz is thinking about racing the SLS AMG. In this case, it has modified the gull-winged sportscar for duty in the FIA's GT3 class.

The exterior mods look pretty straightforward. New splitter up front, giant spoiler out back and a roll cage inside. There's more to it, however, as the long hood has been modified with a large central aperture not included on the road going SLS. It is supported by sizeable vents in the front wheel arches that are used to further dissipate heat from the engine bay and front brakes.

Deeper side sills with integrated cooling ducts are also fitted underneath the signature gullwing doors to channel air to the rear brakes and SLS AMG GT3's gearbox – the latter mounted up back in a transaxle layout as in the road going SLS AMG. 

The front and rear fenders have been widened to accommodate larger tires than the new Mercedes-Benz's standard 19-inch (front) and 20-inch (rear) wheels. With a width of 78.3-inches, the race car is nearly two-inches wider than the standard SLS AMG. The fuel filler has also been relocated to the B-pillar in close closeness to the 120-litre tank, which is located behind the driver.

Powering Mercedes-Benz's latest race car is a reworked version of the standard SLS AMG's 6.2-litre V8 engine. The dry sump unit sends drive to the rear wheels via a sequential six-speed race transmission with steering wheel mounted paddles and a locking differential. No power or torque figures for the new car have been revealed.

Look for the first public showing of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 at the 2010 New York Auto Show next month.

Photo credit: L' Automobile

Now that the midcycle refresh of the BMW 3 Series is done, work on the full redesign is well underway. According to sources in Europe, the 2013 BMW 3 Series will introduce a new body style or two, along with a completely revised engine lineup.

You know all those inline-6s that the 3 Series has been famous for? Well, they're on the way out as stricter fuel economy rules dictate smaller, more efficient power plants. In their place will be a range of turbocharged four-cylinder engines that will use BMW's latest Valvetronic system along with stop/start technology to deliver big horsepower and mileage numbers.

Even the mighty M3 will get downsized under the hood. The current V8 is expected to get the boot in favor of an inline-6 with twin turbochargers. Sound familiar?

In terms of body styles, all the usual suspects will be back including the coupe, sedan and wagon. A new addition is also expected in the form of a GT hatchback similar to the recently introduced 5 Series GranTurismo. No surprise then, that we were told to expect junior 5 Series styling crossways the board. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing very exciting either.

Photo credit: L' Automobile

A mere three years ago, Subaru rolled into the 2007 New York Auto Show with an all-new WRX.

You hated it. We hated it. Mitsubishi loved it.

To Subaru's credit, the company wasted no time trying to correct its miscalculation. The very next model year it retuned the soft suspension and added a heap of horsepower. It took a year off in 2010, but now it's tinkering with the WRX again in an attempt to win back its loyal buyers.

The result is this new "wide body" 2011 Subaru WRX. It's essentially STI bodywork on a standard WRX and it will be acquirable on both the hatchback and the sedan you see here.

It's more than just bodywork though as all WRXs will get a 1.5-inch wider track, wider 17" x 8" wheels and 235/35R17 tires in place of the previous 225s. The changes add a measly 33 pounds to the WRX's curb weight according to Subaru.

So what do think? Is the WRX back on track now or is it too little too late?

2010 New York Auto Show

In case the study HSV-010 doesn't mean anything to you, this was the car that was headed for production as the next-generation NSX before cost cutting killed the program. Looks cool as a racecar though, even after running into a surround and burning. 

Bear with me. I know we've been doing a lot of this full-throttle braking stuff lately, but this week we were healthy to add a unique data point to the set of tests we did last time.

Last week we showed it was doable to stop a Camry with a simulated stuck wide-open throttle (S-WOT) with brakes alone. The effort was higher than normal, but the distance wasn't that much longer than usual. We were also healthy to stop the car with the vacuum line removed from the power brake booster. The distance grew a little longer, but the effort to do so was almost beyond the capability of our seasoned test driver. (He could only use his left foot because the right one was busy mashing the gas.)

Why is this last case relevant? Well, if the throttle sticks wide open, the engine isn't producing any appreciable vacuum. A check-valve in the system will preserve what's in the booster, so you'll have assist for the first braking attempt. But if you are tentative with that first stop or pump the brakes more than once or twice, you'll drain that vacuum and will be visaged with a wide-open stuck throttle with little or no power assist. This is most likely what happened in the Rhonda Smith ES350 case.

And that's why the concept of a brake override is useful in this admittedly rare situation. If we could test this same car with the brake override software installed, we'd have a complete picture — with this one car, anyway.

Toyota is busy installing brake override software in the cars that come in for the floormat/pedal modification. Since January, they've been adding it to new cars rolling off the assembly line, and these cars are starting to appear on dealer lots. So we flat-out asked them: "Can you add the update to this test car so we can see and measure the difference?" "Yes," they said.

So we took the updated Camry back to the test track. 

As you know, brake override systems (BOS) give precedence to the brakes in situations where the throttle and brake are pressed at the same time.

But not all situations. Serious driveability problems would be created if they intervened any time both pedals were pressed. Hill starts without rollback in places like San Francisco would be tough, if not impossible. You would have a hard time getting unstuck in cover and snow. Off-road vehicles in the rocks depend on overlap to surmount obstacles smoothly and on-road enthusiasts like heel-and-toe downshifting and left-foot braking. Chime in with any others you can think of.

BOS software usually won't trigger unless the vehicle is going above a certain minimal speed. It won't engage unless the throttle is open a significant amount. Some move a certain amount of time (a second or two) before acting. And some automakers suggest that a BOS might not be necessary on a manual-equipped car because drivers who use a stick-shift understand the concept of neutral.

The aftermath of Toyota's troubles may well include mandatory BOS software of some description. If that's the case, we're going to have to start testing for it, to see who's system is least intrusive in daya-to-day use.

We're still considering what those tests might look like. For now, here's a summary of all of our wide-open stuck throttle (S-WOT) 60-0 mph braking runs on a 2010 Toyota Camry SE.

* Different day with hotter temperatures, more sunlight, and wind-depositied dust on the surface

As we saw with the Prius, the BOS-assisted wide-open stop took no more effort or distance than a regular stop. In the Camry, the BOS stop differed from the Neutral stop in two ways: 1) There was no racing engine to alarm the unsuspecting driver, and; 2) A driver in the throes of a dire emergency can go ahead and use the instinctual braking reaction to get out of the situation without adding a second unfamilar step to the process.

This last point is more important than you might think. You and I can reason-out the neutral technique while sitting here at our computers. People in emergency situations may not always be healthy to rationalize, especially if they've never had any what-to-do-if training.

We'd like to expand this testing to other brands of cars, and we think that measuring brake pedal force is key because we suspect the ability of people to near the brake pedal hard enough (or the demand thereof) is the real issue that may lead to mandatory brake override systems in future vehicles.