Subtle, discreet, low-key; they're all adjectives that aren’t in the Mansory dictionary. Instead you’ll find crazy, loud and mind-blowing, which sum up Mansory’s philosophy of offering some of the craziest tuned cars available. Take the Renovatio for example; a 700bhp gold-painted Merc SLR on 20-inch alloy wheels. This wasn't a car for shrinking violets.
Launched at the 2008 Geneva Salon, Mansory's take on the SLR, the Renovatio, was intended to spruce up what the company saw as an ageing model; it had been on sale since 2004 with no updates along the way. To that end the Mansory-fettled Mercedes SLR got an overhauled interior with a choice of eye-popping finishes, depending on what the buyer wanted.
Ultra-light 20-inch forged wheels were the cornerstone of the new exterior aesthetics; up front they were 9x20 while at the back 12.5x20 wheels were used, wrapped in 255/30 and 325/25 rubber respectively.
As usual Mansory went to town with the bodywork upgrades, which featured a new carbonfibre front apron designed to channel as much air as possible into the engine bay to let the intercoolers do their thing. Naturally there was a carbonfibre rear diffuser, redesigned side skirts and something a bit different was the side-exiting exhaust system
Whereas the standard Mercedes SLR offered a rather lame 617bhp, the Mansory Renovatio could muster a less embarrassing 690bhp, along with 654lb ft of torque instead of the regular 575lb ft. The extra muscle was courtesy of a tweaked ECU, redesigned superchargers and upgraded intercoolers. The result was a car that could do 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds instead of 3.8 and which topped out at 211mph instead of 208mph.
| Vital statistics | |
|---|---|
| Engine | Front-mounted, 5439cc, supercharged V8 |
| Transmission | 5-speed auto, rear-wheel drive |
| Power | 690bhp |
| Torque | 654lb ft |
| Top speed | 211mph |
| 0-60mph | 3.6 seconds |
