Top Fastest Mercedes-Benz Cars Ever Made
Mercedes-Benz may not be a synonym for performance as much as it is for refinement and luxury, but the German brand has produced some ridiculously fast cars over the years. In fact, even back in its early history, Mercedes-Benz was building sports cars and race cars that quickly gained a reputation for being some of the fastest and most dominant in the world. Record-breaking performance is something that’ll always remain a part of Mercedes’s identity.
While some of the excesses have been dialled back in the present day, that doesn’t mean that Mercedes hasn’t got rid of its reputation as being one of the kings of speed.
We’ve compiled a list of the fastest cars Mercedes-Benz has ever made and ranked them by top speed. These cars come from a huge spread of the company’s history, from the 1930s all the way to the present day. Some of the cars on this list are iconic special editions, and others are total one-offs built for incredibly wealthy clients or for the sole purpose of breaking records. Others, though, were only made very recently. One of those is a car you can buy from a showroom today.
11
Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series
Top Speed: 199 mph (Limited)
The first car on this list is an AMG model that many people might not know about. But, it’s one of the coolest AMGs Mercedes has ever made! The Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series is arguably one of the best versions of the SL. Produced from 2008-2009, this car used a modified version of the 6-liter twin-turbocharged V12 from the SL65 AMG.
Thanks to bigger turbochargers with optimised wastegate ducts, the SL65 AMG Black Series produces 661 hp. It has a modified version of the 5-speed automatic transmission used in the standard SL65 AMG, with an added “M2” feature that shifts quicker than the regular manual mode. It’s also 551 lbs lighter than the standard SL65 AMG. Mercedes-Benz achieved this by using carbon fibre composite parts and replacing the folding hard top roof with a fixed roof.
What’s the result of all of those modifications? An SL that can hit a (limited) top speed of 199 mph. According to what some journalists have said, it’s geared to be able to hit as much as 220 mph. Nobody seems to have been up for the challenge of disabling the limiter and seeing if it can go that fast, though…
10
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance
Top Speed: 199 mph
The Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance is the only car on this list that you can buy brand new at any Mercedes-Benz dealer today. It was the most powerful Mercedes-AMG model ever made when it was launched, producing a total of 805 hp and 1,047 lb-ft of torque from its hybrid powertrain. This pairs a 4-liter twin-turbocharged AMG V8 with an electric motor, drawing on the expertise Mercedes-Benz has gained from developing its Formula 1 powertrains. This super powerful setup allows Mercedes’s grand tourer to accelerate from 0-62 in just 2.9 seconds, and go on to a top speed of 199 mph.
While it’s fairly low down on the list of the fastest Mercedes cars that have ever been made, it is the fastest Mercedes you can buy in a showroom right now. If you get one of these, you’ll be getting a comfortable grand tourer that can achieve truly incredible speeds. Thanks to that hybrid powertrain, it also won’t be as horrendous on fuel as you might expect.
9
Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series
Top Speed: 202 mph
Another special Black Series AMG, the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series got a lot of fanfare when it was launched in 2021. Like the SL65 Black Series, the AMG GT Black Series is a more extreme version of the standard AMG GTR. The 4-liter twin-turbocharged V8 produces 720 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, thanks to it using a flat-plane instead of a cross-plane crank and a smaller compressor wheel on the turbos. Its body is full of improved aero parts, and it uses plenty of carbon fiber in its construction. The result of all this is a car that accelerates from 0-62 in 3.2 seconds and with a top speed of 202 mph.
The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series was only produced between 2021-2023, so you can’t get one of these brand new anymore. But, if you are lucky enough to be able to get one off the used market, you’ll have one of the best (and one of the fastest!) modern Mercedes cars.
8
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren
Top Speed: 206 mph (Roadster), 207 mph (Coupe)
There aren’t many supercars out there that are as iconic and recognisable as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. This car was a joint project between Mercedes-Benz and McLaren, thanks to the connection both companies had through Formula 1. It was available as both a coupe and a roadster, and is powered by a 5.4-liter supercharged V8 that produces 617 hp and 575 lb-ft of torque. All that power goes to the rear wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission.
The input from McLaren also meant it had some advanced features. It has a brake-by-wire system that uses full carbon ceramic brakes, something that wasn’t common on high-end performance cars back when the SLR was launched in 2003. It also had active aerodynamics, via a rear spoiler that automatically raises 10 degrees at high speed and up to 30 degrees if the driver presses a switch in the interior. That active rear spoiler sits on top of the SLR’s air brake, which pops up under braking to help the car slow down.
While it may have the look, sound, and power of a supercar, quite a few people think of it as being more like a grand tourer because of its comfortable interior and automatic transmission. There aren’t many grand tourers that are as fast as the SLR, though! The coupe version of the SLR tops out at 207 mph, while the roadster is slightly slower at 206. Whatever the case, that makes the SLR one of the fastest cars Mercedes-Benz has ever made.
7
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition
Top Speed: 208 mph (Roadster), 209 mph (Coupe)
The standard version of the SLR might be fast. But, there are a couple of versions that are known to be even faster. One of them is the super-rare 722 Edition. Only 150 of these were ever made, and the name comes from Stirling Moss’s 300 SLR that he won the 1955 Millie Miglia in. The car was numbered 722 because it started the legendary road race at 7:22 am. The SLR 722 Edition has all the same advanced features as the standard SLR, but with more power. The 5.4-liter supercharged V8 was boosted to 641 hp and 605 lb-ft of torque. That gave the 722 Edition a bit more performance, bumping the top speed up to 208 mph for the roadster and 209 mph for the coupe.
If you can get hold of one of these 722 Edition SLRs, you’re an incredibly lucky Mercedes owner! You’ll be getting a super rare version of an already rare and exclusive car, and it’s even faster than the standard SLR.
6
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss
Top Speed: 217 mph
There aren’t many Mercedes-Benz models out there that are more special than the SLR McLaren Stirling Moss. Only 75 of them were ever made between June and December 2009, and you had to be an SLR owner already to be able to buy one new. It was an open speedster, designed to evoke the “722” Mercedes-Benz 300SLR that was driven by Stirling Moss. That speedster design made it one of the most eye-catching cars of its day. It was also one for serious drivers only, as the design didn’t include a windshield.
The SLR Stirling Moss has the same version of the 5.4-liter supercharged V8 as the 722 Edition version of the regular SLR. That means it has 641 hp and 605 lb-ft of torque. With the 722 Stirling Moss’s lighter weight, that results in the top speed being a very impressive 217 mph. I doubt many of us would want to try to achieve that in a car with no windshield, though…
5
Mercedes-AMG One
Top Speed: 219 mph (Limited)
The Mercedes-AMG One is the latest in a long line of Mercedes-Benz halo cars. It’s easily the most technologically advanced car Mercedes has ever made. In fact, it could be the most complicated road car ever made by anybody. Underneath that incredibly sleek hypercar body designed for the best possible aerodynamics and downforce, there’s a powertrain that’s straight out of the world of Formula 1. That’s something we say quite literally. The powertrains for every AMG One were made in the same factory as the F1 powertrains in Brixworth, United Kingdom.
The internal combustion engine part is a 1.6-liter turbocharged V6 that’s barely any different from the ones in the Mercedes F1 cars, with an F1-style MGU-H unit on the turbo. Another piece of F1 technology is coupled to the crankshaft, in the form of an MGU-K unit. Both the MGU-H and the MGU-K work together to help recover energy from the engine and make it more efficient. The MGU-H also helps to get rid of turbo lag by keeping the turbo spinning at lower RPMs. This internal combustion engine revs as high as 11,000 rpm, and is estimated to only last around 50,000 kilometers (about 31,069 miles) before the car needs to be sent back to Mercedes for a new one. The internal combustion engine powers the rear wheels, while the front wheels are powered by two electric motors.
What’s the result of that incredibly complex powertrain? Well, you get a car that’s all-wheel drive and has an incredible 1,049 hp of combined output. There’s no specific torque figure for the AMG One, as Mercedes claims that it would be too difficult to get an exact measurement due to how complex the powertrain is. All that power goes through yet another piece of F1-style engineering – a 7-speed single-clutch automated manual transmission. All that power goes a long way to helping the AMG One reach a limited top speed of 219 mph. That makes it the fastest Mercedes-Benz produced in recent years, as well as one of the fastest Mercedes cars of all time.
4
Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Super Sport
Top Speed: 231 mph
The Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Super Sport is a car that exists entirely because of motorsports. The original CLK GTR road car was a homologation special that was created so that Mercedes could race in the GT1 class of sports car racing. As a result, very few of them were made, and even fewer of them came in the Super Sport configuration. While the regular CLK GTR coupe produced 622 hp and 539 lb-ft of torque from its 6.9-liter V12, the Super Sport version produced 655 hp and 580 lb-ft of torque from an enlarged 7.3-liter version of the engine. This is the same engine that was later used in the Pagani Zonda. The CLK GTR Super Sport could accelerate from 0-62 in 3.5 seconds, and go onto a top speed of 231 mph (although the speedometer read up to 249!).
The standard version of the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR is already regarded as being one of the coolest homologation specials ever made. The CLK GTR Super Sport might just be even cooler! It’s one of those once-in-a-generation cars from Mercedes, and you’d never see them make something like this with a massive V12 ever again.
3
Mercedes-Benz C 111-IV
Top Speed: 251.02 mph
The Mercedes-Benz C 111-IV was the final, most extreme iteration of Mercedes-Benz’s legendary “rolling laboratory” experimental series. Built in 1979, this silver speed machine abandoned the Wankel rotary engines and turbodiesels that defined earlier C 111 experiments for a fire-breathing gasoline V8. Mercedes engineers took a production 4.5-liter V8 from the S-Class and SL, enlarged it to 4.8 liters, and fitted two KKK turbochargers to produce approximately 493 hp. The engineers also stripped weight and radically reworked the aerodynamics, adding a deep front spoiler and two towering rear fins to keep the car stable at speeds exceeding 250 mph.
The results were spectacular. On May 5, 1979, the C 111-IV averaged an astonishing 251.02 mph (403.978 km/h) around Italy’s Nardò test circuit, demolishing the previous 221.160 mph circuit record set by Mark Donohue in a Porsche 917 at Talladega in 1975. Mercedes never intended to put the C 111-IV into production. Instead, it served as a high-speed engineering laboratory, generating valuable data on aerodynamics, tire performance, and vehicle stability beyond the 400-km/h threshold.
2
Mercedes-Benz Lotec C1000
Top Speed: 268 mph (Theoretical)
This is perhaps the oddest car to ever wear a Mercedes-Benz badge on this list. The Mercedes-Benz Lotec C1000 was a one-off special build created in the mid-’90s. It was for an incredibly wealthy client who had a very specific requirement. He was an Emirati oil tycoon, and he wanted to have the fastest car in the world. He tried approaching several other manufacturers, but they all turned down his request. Mercedes-Benz was the only manufacturer who were willing to even entertain him. To help fulfill the Middle Eastern billionaire’s crazy request, they got specialist German builder Lotec involved. Before this point, Lotec had only built racing cars. This was the first car they’d ever made that would have to be road-legal.
Mercedes-Benz didn’t have too much involvement with developing the C1000. Much of that work was left to Lotec, as they were much more experienced with developing cars that had huge numbers of horsepower and could reach incredibly high speeds. But, Mercedes did supply them with a top-of-the-line engine. It was a 5.6-liter twin-turbocharged version of the M117 V8 that produced 986 hp and 723 lb-ft of torque. The “1000” in the C1000’s name came from that horsepower figure, as when measured in metric horsepower, it worked out to 1000 PS. It was claimed to be able to accelerate from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and go on to a theoretical top speed of 268 mph. It’s unknown whether the C1000’s top speed has ever been tested. It perhaps may never be, as this is a real collector’s piece that will likely always spend most of its time in a climate-controlled garage.
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