Yeah, I mean, it definitely sounds like an inline six.
It's got to kind of rasp to it,
but your V8 Berbal just wins hands down.
So that's 1-0 to the Stag.
Actually, no, it's about 5-1 to the Merc, isn't it?
I'm afraid German is up quite a few goals at this point.
So the Stag wins on the exhaust note.
What next?
I've got the perfect test for Britain.
Yours is a British car.
In Britain, it rains a lot.
Let's see how quickly we can get the roofs up
when it's raining.
Ah.
So let's start with Max's SL.
You're sort of limbering up, you've stripped off,
you've got lightweight, taking your body warmer off.
Yeah, I'm going to do all my exercises
because I reckon this is going to be a championship-winning time.
This is quite good, this roof.
I'm quite impressed with it.
So have you got a clock on this?
Have you got a second clock on this?
Yeah, let me get my phone out
so we need some sort of stopwatch thing going on, don't we?
Here we go.
Right, stopwatch.
Are you ready?
Yeah.
So I'm going to be standing at the back
and I'm going to run round, open the glove box,
get the bits out, pull the roof up and get it done.
So stand by.
Let's just get the stopwatch ready.
Three, two, one, go.
Right.
Okay, so he's going into the front of the car now
in the glove box.
I think he's got two sort of metal levers
which he's got out now.
He's opening, going to sit up, got out the car.
He's opening the tonneau cover.
Inside is the hood there.
And that's coming up.
So it's a big thick thing.
He's back inside the car now.
This is what takes ages is getting these things lined up.
So once they have to be lined up like that,
pull it down, get your little tool out.
Oh, yeah.
I can see two tools from where I'm sitting.
Tool in, tool in.
Oh, yeah.
So he's adjusting both, both, yeah,
tightening both of the front of the hoods up.
So we come back, the tonneau boot is still up.
So the tonneau cover's going down.
You have a good old thump.
And then pushing the thing down at the back to the roof.
Finished.
Oh, okay.
So finished.
So that's 51 seconds.
That's quite good, isn't it?
I'm quite impressed.
Yeah, there's a couple of bits that I'm going to suffer on
because when I go to push the soft top in at the back,
it doesn't go a lot of the time.
Okay.
So I might have to have special dispensation for that.
Let's try the stag.
Right.
Matt isn't limbering up,
but have you done this before?
You've actually put the soft top up?
Yeah, I have put the soft top.
I keep the soft top down to be honest,
even in the garage.
But I do know how to do it.
I'm not sure that it's going to be as clean and German
and as efficient as yours,
but we'll give it a go.
Get ready.
Do it in three, two, one, go.
Right.
So he is going in through the passenger door.
He is pulling the tonneau cover up.
That's popped up.
The roof comes out pretty easily, actually.
Oh, no.
It's a bit stuck.
Oh, does that all right?
Yeah.
Okay.
It takes a bit of manhandling that, doesn't it?
I've got the things built in.
I've got the lever things,
but they're not particularly good because you have to
you have to look visually.
Oh, God, that's not right.
I need to go around the other side.
Go around the other side.
Hang on a second.
So the prongs basically have to go
into the front of the windscreen.
Yeah, they have to be lined up.
The prongs are proud.
Yeah.
So you have to line them up properly.
So this one, oh, that's round the wrong way now.
Yeah.
Right.
There we go.
That's one in.
Right.
That's the driver's side in.
Let's go around the passenger side.
The lever is in.
The lever just needs to be turned.
Right.
Okay.
So you see it's a little bit, it's,
oh, hold on.
Is that weight?
Yeah.
Line it up.
Okay.
Line up.
Right.
Go to the back.
The back.
Now I'm putting the tonneau cover down like yours.
And then this, I've got to release the catch here.
Oh, and around the other side.
Oh, there's a little fiddly catch.
You have to go around twice.
Both sides.
There are catches.
So all the way around the car.
There we go.
No, not down.
No, not down.
Do you have any push?
No.
I've stopped.
Okay.
Yeah.
That was one minute, 24 seconds.
And it's not, it's not secure, is it?
No, it's this, this little pin that goes in the back is not quite in it.
And I think you have to unzip the window and stand on it basically.
Is that a spring loaded pin at the back?
I think it might be.
Yeah.
I might have to have done it slightly the wrong way around.
I don't know, but it's, it's a bit more of a faff.
The end result when done is kind of similar.
The idea is the same, isn't it?
It's just like the British kind of cars.
It's just the execution.
It's just, and as you see, it didn't really come out the bin that cleanly.
But yeah, it's kind of, oh that was a bit fallen off there.
Oh dear, don't mind.
Are you okay?
Do you want to sit down?
Do you want an ambulance?
Yeah, I'll put you a bit out of breath actually.
I'll have to do that.
But you see what I had to do though, I had to run around the car a couple of times.
But it's all relative max, because in my old car, in the sixties car, that would
take 10 minutes.
No, but it's relative to the car that we're testing against, which is the SL.
Which is what, 51 seconds?
Oh, it's the clock still running.
It's still at 2 minutes 26 now.
So that's a win for the SL.
Right, road test time.
It's max going first.
He's going to drive the stag.
So max, you're on.
He's just walking up.
He's going to get in the car.
That indicators from a Sherpa.
Oh, you've got to be gentle with the indicators.
We need to give each other a bit of basic info.
For we start driving.
Be careful of the indicators.
They will come off in your hand if you're not careful.
When you put it into gear, it kind of lurches.
Otherwise, you're pretty.
He's trying to adjust the seat now.
This is just so BL.
I can recognize so many BL things about it.
If only you'd had those BL badges on the flanks like it should do.
Yeah, so it's very, very British.
The interior, I'm not a fan of the interior.
I just shut my door.
What?
Do you want to fire up?
Now, the other thing I need to tell you is for some reason in this car,
the key works backwards.
So you turn the key towards you to start.
See, I quite like this interior.
You don't like stag interiors.
I really do.
It's got that great kind of like multifunction gauge
that lights up with different problems.
It's probably quite important in this car.
But actually, I think it's a kind of like a light, spacious interior.
Now, my interior, the merc interiors,
particularly are always quite dark.
This isn't.
This is nice and bright.
That V8 purple is great, isn't it?
So it's three shunts,
and you'll feel it lurching to drive.
It should be in part,
but it's indicating it's in the middle.
It should be in part,
but it's indicating it's in reverse for some reason.
But it's in park, isn't it?
It is, yeah.
Three, donk.
There you go.
Donk.
Great.
And you're off.
Easy.
You see, automatically,
even within like three or four yards,
the steering is a lot lighter,
and it feels more nimble.
This is a more nimble car than an SL.
Brakes are nice and heavy.
You get a nice response from the engine when you're revving.
And this is just like ticking over now
just 15, 20 miles an hour.
And it's a lovely, lovely smooth engine.
All right, let's use this Sherpa indicator.
There we are.
I recognize that sound.
Oh, that V8, that is nice.
So you get a little shunt in the gearbox as you do it,
and under lighter load,
you notice more of a shunt under heavy load.
You don't notice it so much.
We're going right here.
So I'm doing a driving test.
You need some lessons.
I bet you haven't had somebody this talented
in the car for a while.
So we're on a long straight road now.
Give it some beans if you want.
Oh, there's the gear change.
So three speeds.
So really it doesn't change gear that much, does it,
with three speeds?
But it picks up all right, doesn't it?
Do you notice the bonnet lift as you put your foot down?
I do, and I notice it's just a lot lighter car.
You can feel a lack of weight compared to mine.
It's a lot lighter.
We didn't shut that tonneau cover properly.
Squeaking in the background.
Sorry about that.
We're going to listen to this.
Right, coming up to a roundabout.
We're going to go left here.
Nice brakes.
Oh, there's a Ferrari 360 Spider coming past.
Shunting into seconds.
Round we go.
See, lovely light steering.
This is just really, really nice.
It does remind me of a lot.
Follow the Ferrari.
Three-hour sports cars right now.
We won't keep up with it.
Let's do our best.
Once you're into that top gear,
it's lovely and smooth.
There's plenty of torque to it.
You get a really nice view out of the bonnet
that rises and falls every time you accelerate and brake.
It's got that 1970s feel.
It just feels like a proper 70s sports car.
That's 3,000 revs and 60 miles an hour.
That's quite nice.
I mean, it is a nice engine.
I know these engines have a reputation for being troublesome,
but it is a beautifully smooth VA.
It's got that sort of mini muscle car feel, isn't it?
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, it does feel.
It sounds American.
The steering's a lot lighter than American muscle cars,
but the engine has got that muscle car feel.
Let's just pull here to a roundabout.
Accelerate away.
Second gear.
Climbing 2,000, 2,500, 3,000 rpm, 40 miles an hour.
There's the change.
Back down to 2,500 revs, 50 miles an hour.
On the brakes.
Yeah, this is actually really, really nice.
I used to drive a lot of stags,
and I remember them quite well,
and this is bringing back the memories of the good ones
and not the bad ones.
So we're pulling up now next to your SL
and, you know, in a nutshell, what do you think?
I really like it.
It's brought back some very good memories of stags
and also triumphs in general,
because triumphs do handle,
and this is a nice handling car.
Just the gearbox is just a bit period,
but everything else is really good.
OK, let's jump in the SL.
Right, I'm settled in the passenger seat of my SL.
Let's just close the door.
Now, Matt is heading over to have a drive of my SL.
Knowing Matt, he'll be moaning about not being able
to get into this car properly.
Stand by for some huffing and puffing.
I can't get my legs in.
Right, does the seat go back?
Probably not, does it?
No, now this is...
Should do you?
Give it a shot.
No, it's stuck against the thing.
So in an SL, if you've sat in an SL at R107,
you notice you're quite head up
against the windscreen in this, aren't you?
I feel like the dashboard's right in front of me,
and the stag is sort of a little bit set back.
But it's still OK, to be honest.
I kind of feel that when I've been in SLs before,
I've just felt that my head's poking out the top,
but having had the stag, it's not much different, is it?
But the thing that hits you when you get in here,
first of all, is the quality.
This, as we said, is an 80s SL,
so this had all the refinement,
but essentially it's the same design,
but you just notice the dashboard is better quality.
Everything, all the fixtures and fittings look better quality.
The steering wheel is massive.
You know, it really is big.
I mean, it's rubbing against my leg here,
but that's just how they were.
But everything just feels more expensive,
which it was. It was double the price.
Let's fire it up and see what it's like.
Oh, hold on.
Need a bit of throttle when it's hot.
OK, so it's quite muted.
It's quite lethargic, this engine, you know,
because you actually have to rev it a lot
when you're moving out of it,
and the accelerator's quite, it's got a lot of resistance,
so you don't immediately feel like revving it.
There's a bit of travel in it, isn't there?
If we do it.
It does sound very modern, the engine, actually,
compared to, you know, certainly,
I've driven a V8 one of these,
and that sounds a bit more old-fashioned.
This sounds a bit more modern.
It's quiet. The sound deadening is obviously here.
It's, you know, you're not,
it's not quite so much of a in-your-face experience
of driving the Stagg. It's a lot more refined.
It's inter-reversed. We'll reverse out this space we're in.
Oh, it's straight.
You've got the power on straight away,
and it does feel, it feels like a modern car, this.
I've got to say, you know, for a classic looking car,
it feels much more modern.
It's much heavier for a start.
Let's put it into drive.
Now, I'm having a problem with my feet.
I've got size 12 feet. I've got deck shoes on,
but I'm getting the foot core
between the throttle and the accelerator.
There's not much room in that footwell.
But pulling forward, it's very refined
and very relaxed.
It's not as quiet as a
a theme-part ride. It's a Stagg,
it's much more refined.
I think the steering on this car
feels a lot heavier than your Stagg,
and all the control weights, the accelerator, the brakes,
even when you're putting it into automatic gear,
it just feels thicker,
to be honest, more solid.
Yeah, it's heavier. It does wallow a bit, though.
It's a bit, a little bit boat-like
in terms of the way it goes down the road,
and the Stagg I would expect to be much more wallowy.
But as you say, everything's more weighted up.
You do have to give it a lot more
on that accelerator to get it going.
So we're just pulling up
down a long straight road now,
and you can hear it change. It does lurch a little bit
in the gears like mine does.
But it sits on the road quite heavy.
It feels a heavier car.
Yeah, it's certainly not a sports car, is it?
Because even just accelerating there
with the Stagg and we're up to sort of
3,000, 4,000 revs,
on this car we're taking over at about 2,000,
3,000. It doesn't actually
encourage you to go any faster.
No, it doesn't. I'm sort of standing on the throttle
to get it going, to be honest. So it'd be interesting
to see when we hit this dual-carriage way
which we're coming up to, to see what it's like.
Now, again, I've got sort of,
not a lot of room.
Yeah, it's a bigger car,
but there's not a lot of room.
I mean, the indicator stalks rubbing against my leg.
I'm having to stand on the throttle a little bit
just to get around the thing.
But you just get used to stuff like that.
Fantastic. But it's very,
I'd say it's very luxurious.
The seats are
a lot more
comforting, supportive.
We've got an Audi trying to take us here.
I think we might back off, actually,
because I haven't got the confidence in your car
to do that. Let's give it...
What's the kick down like?
OK.
OK, so when you kick down, it doesn't exactly
lurch forward, but it then puts the power on
and you feel it slowly increase.
It's not fast at all, and actually
with this throttle, you have to be quite violent
with it. You have to stamp on
the throttle before you get it to do anything.
And that's what's noticeable about this car.
You kind of need to wake it up.
Yeah, it does take a bit of waking up.
I've just come out of a roundabout.
I've got somebody up my bum, so I was just trying
to put the power on to get away in it.
The car was like, give me a second.
I'm just idling around around about here.
Just don't disturb me. And then he went,
OK, let's do it. So it does take a while
to pick up. However, I think
once you're on the move, it's a much, much
more refined experience.
You know, I can see, you can imagine
doing long journeys in this.
I just don't think it's necessarily the play
thing that staggers.
It doesn't really enjoy the corners.
You don't really enjoy doing the corners,
isn't it? It's a kind of straight line
I wouldn't say drag stick, it's not
very fast, but it's a straight line experience.
It's a cruiser.
Yeah, I agree. But what I've done while you
were looking at it is I've put my arm out
the window. And I think it is a very
relaxing car. So within a couple of minutes
of driving it, I'm already arm out the window.
I'm steering with one hand. I feel
quite relaxed. I feel like
it's really solid. And I know I'm in a
good looking car. And I know
that this will get me where I need
to go. The stag is more of a
classic car experience, I think.
Every journey is
a journey of optimism, really, about
what you're going to get. As it is in
this field, more German and more reliable.
Whether that's at a payoff
of the kind of
performance or the
what's the word? Well, fun. Yeah, it's a thrill.
Whether that's the expense
of the thrill of the car, I'm not so sure.
But I think this is
a beautiful car. I mean, we'll get to the conclusions in a minute.
But in terms of driving it, we're back now on
a sort of long straight road.
I'm just doing over 30 down here
and it's under load, it's fine.
But it is interesting that
throttle, you do have to all stand on it to get it to move, don't you?
It's a lovely drive.
It's a really lovely drive, but it's interesting how
different it is because these cars
were competitors, but they're both very, very
different. Right, time for some car magazine
road test style
conclusions.
Right, engines off.
I think the stag is a great
concept car, but just the concept wasn't
finished, which is a shame, because like so
many BL cars, the actual
design behind it, the idea
behind it was brilliant. I mean, nothing short
of brilliant. To put a home
grown V8 in a relatively light
sports car, give it four seats
and make it look really nice.
What a great concept. But if only
they'd executed it right. If only
that engine didn't have problems, if only
to be honest, they'd got it right in the first place
and then developed it throughout the eight years
of production because that's what they did with the SL.
They started off with the concept
and they kept developing it right
to the end. Yeah, as you said
with the stag, too many cooks, wasn't it? Too many cooks,
too much politics, too many
people involved, born in a bad situation,
never quite finished off.
Yeah, I love the stag design. I think it's ugly
and beautiful in the same measure, but I do think the 107
is probably one of the prettiest convertibles
built and I probably go with the 107.
That's interesting because after
driving the stag, I think the stag is a much
better sports car. It's more
nimble, it's more alive, it's got better
steering, it accelerates better and the engine
is more interesting. That
V8 is a really interesting engine.
Yeah, I agree. I've got one last criteria.
You've got the mic, get ready to drop it.
Fun. Which of these
cars is more fun? You'd have to define fun.
I mean, I had a lot of fun in your stag
because it reminds me a lot
of BL products of the 1970s
which I love. So I had a real laugh
in your stag, but I've got
about an hour and a half to drive home along the M4
so I wouldn't take it home.
Yeah, it's very true. It's
different and I think fun
is relative. I think I could
own your car and have a lot of enjoyment
with it. I just think
with the stag, I want to put my foot down a bit more
in it. In terms of smiles, I think, I mean, they're both great
cars, don't get me wrong. I would have
either of these in a heartbeat, but I
think the stag, there's something about the stag that when you put
the foot down and you hear that note out of the exhaust,
you smile. Whereas
your car is a bit more muted,
it's not designed to pleasure comes from
the refinement and the enjoyment. I think you're
right. I had a good time in your stag. I had
a lot of fun, but I'm going
home on a motorway and I'm going to take mine because
I know it's going to get me there. I think the SL
wins out overall.
The stag though, I think it's the engine
and the sound of it that really just pips it.
You won that sound competition.
Hands down. The straight six just
doesn't sound as good. That is an amazing
sounded car. And for, you know,
classic car drivers, that's a big part of the fun.
Exactly. I mean, there's a dirty diesel
just come past as we're talking here and
you know, that sounds rubbish compared to
these cars. These cars sound not your straight six sounds great,
but the stag that V8 does
sound. Oh, it's just brilliant
sound, isn't it?
So that's it. Stag versus
SL. We've come to a kind
of conclusion, I suppose.
Yeah, it's a bit of a knockout for the SL
in terms of overall,
but I still think the stag is a great car. What do you think?
Have you owned a stag? Have you owned an SL?
Have you owned both of them? Can you compare them?
Do let us know in our socials. We're at
the Tire Kickers UK on Instagram
and the Tire Kickers, three separate words
on Facebook. And we will put up loads
of photos from this group test. You'll get to
see the cars. You'll get to see them
part next to each other. So do have a look
on that. Do comment on that and do get
in touch. But until next time, it's bye from me.
Goodbye.
music
About this episode
A thrilling showdown between the Mercedes SL and Triumph Stag unfolds as Max and Matt conduct a detailed road test. They explore the contrasting qualities of these classic cars from the 70s, discussing everything from design aesthetics to performance metrics. With humorous banter, they compare features like roof mechanisms, interior comfort, and engine sounds, ultimately debating which car offers more fun. The episode highlights the unique charm of each vehicle while showcasing the differences in British and German automotive engineering.
Bonus Episode! Max and Matt go head to head with their own cars as Max's Mercedes SL takes on Matt's Triumph Stag. Two heavyweight cruisers with their best days well behind them (and that’s just the hosts). They’ll be testing the cars in Top Trumps, the Hood Up Challenge and the Dual Road Test. The SL and Stag will be put through their paces in a full magazine style 70s showdown.