/\/\
I have only driven an SLS twice, both times coupe and both times around 20 miles.
I think of it as a hot rod with manners. With the massive bonnet in front of you, very responsive and direct steering and incredible power, it is completely spell binding and utterly bewitching.
SLS is very wide, and you sit very near the rear axle and miles away from the front. The sensational engine is behind the front axle. The noise it makes is thunderous, yet musical in a slightly coarse sort of way. It also clears outside lanes like no other car. And it’s a pussy cat to drive in traffic, with really excellent damping and ride -- perhaps the damping is different for European cars. Steering can be a bit light, but it turns in quickly. Hardly any slack anywhere. I love it. I have the same feeling of want as I did when I drove a 997.2 GT3 .. very dangerous!
I agree that the car is not "intuitive" and a bit "far away", but that's what I like about it .. it feels so different from anything else on the market. To me it feels connected, alive, raw but not uncultured, while being slightly brutish. It provides many of the sensations that have been engineered out of modern cars as they reach higher performance capabilities. SLS has tonnes of personality, but is not too shouty.
I didn't notice the gearbox not shifting quickly, but then I was on public roads, not a track. In any event, you can get a software update from Affalterbach (useful for us Europeans!) which apparently transforms the transmission.
I agree the styling is stunning, and it will be a modern classic, especially as many cars are beginning to look like one another. There is no other car with the outline or the proportions of the SLS, the SLS is completely unique.