DRIVE MAGAZINE -
Powerful and agile, the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL 550 is not quite sports automobile. in line with its creators, it's "the S category of showy cars," and that is a keen distinction in a very category of $100,000 two-doors that vary from sleek machines just like the} panther XKR to raging performance addicts like the get at war vessel Z06 and also the spic-and-span Porsche 911.
And tho' it's adult a lot of intense, and even a lot of dynamically capable during this generation, the SL's additionally become lighter and impossibly, a lot of luxurious. Same because it ever was, it is the epitome of the hundredth, even whereas it is the hundredth of showy cars that declines the sportscar badge outright. What it will higher than all alternative comers is this: ancient luxury, with a breeze at its back.
Priced from $106,375--and locomote up to the $209k SL sixty five AMG (yes, that is before options)--the SL category brings a replacement look that is operating its manner back bit by bit
to the glory days of Mercedes two-seaters. If you ne'er cared for the bank vaults fenced in by Benz within the early Nineties, the exuberantly wide, brash new SL appearance crisper, and a lot of masculine. It's emphatic from the front, charming with the highest down, to a small degree of a mate from the rear wherever the slim hind end and taillamps appear to return from another automobile, another studio entirely. The cockpit? It's dead with preciseness, trained with aviation-style vents and ingrained with a giant alphanumeric display brain.
And tho' it's adult a lot of intense, and even a lot of dynamically capable during this generation, the SL's additionally become lighter and impossibly, a lot of luxurious. Same because it ever was, it is the epitome of the hundredth, even whereas it is the hundredth of showy cars that declines the sportscar badge outright. What it will higher than all alternative comers is this: ancient luxury, with a breeze at its back.
Priced from $106,375--and locomote up to the $209k SL sixty five AMG (yes, that is before options)--the SL category brings a replacement look that is operating its manner back bit by bit
to the glory days of Mercedes two-seaters. If you ne'er cared for the bank vaults fenced in by Benz within the early Nineties, the exuberantly wide, brash new SL appearance crisper, and a lot of masculine. It's emphatic from the front, charming with the highest down, to a small degree of a mate from the rear wherever the slim hind end and taillamps appear to return from another automobile, another studio entirely. The cockpit? It's dead with preciseness, trained with aviation-style vents and ingrained with a giant alphanumeric display brain.
A plucky twin-turbocharged, 4.7-liter V-8 takes over for the recent normally-aspirated base V-8, and it is a snappy, responsive, forceaholic engine rated at 429 power unit and 516 pound-feet of torque. It trounces the last SL 550 to sixty mph by nearly a second, touching the atomic number in four.5 seconds, and Mercedes is estimating the downsized engine, seven-speed automatic, and stop/start technical school wedding them along can web a 30-percent improvement in gasoline mileage. high speed's set at a relaxed a hundred thirty mph.
The SL sixty three AMG may be a maximize from the SL 550, and it is a huge step because it makes this luxury roadster feel a lot of serious concerning the performance guarantees engineered into its the racy roadster bodywork. The brawny, 530-horsepower twin-turbo AMG-built V-8 and special wet-clutch seven-speed AMG automatic drive get you to sixty mph in a very hot four.5 seconds, and with a $9,000 Performance Package you arise to 557 horsepower and 664 pound-feet, with a high speed bumped to 186 mph and 0-60 down to three.9 seconds. And if that is not enough, you'll be able to maximize to the $209k SL sixty five AMG and its twin-turbo V-12, creating a mammoth 738 pound-feet of force.
There's many acceleration obtainable, and what appears like a lot of grip. Still, we're happier with the SL's base two-mode suspension, with or while not the game wheels and brakes, than with the exotic and dearly-won Active Body management upgrade. A composed tourer with a "sport" mode that feels a lot of like "comfort," the stock SL handles wide sweepers with grace, and a good quantity of body roll. The SL's wattage steering does not offer a lot of within the manner of feedback, and quickens the more it moves nonconcentric, that makes for a few uneven transitions. Human brains will handle that a lot of knowledge, however adding on the active suspension appears like overload. The ride flattens out as secure, however adds another advanced handling dimension that is not as linear or as foreseeable as a a lot of standard setup.
The SL's cabin has nice area and fine fittings. The chairs area unit wide, and for a shocking vary of body varieties, they'll be fitted snugly, because of 12-way changes, the foremost helpful of which can be the seat extender. there is a lot of shoulder and spatial relation, however less area currently behind the seats themselves, just enough for a slim case. The trunk holds a roll-on bag or 2 with the roof raised, or solely soft-sided luggage once it's down, tho' a trunk button powers the roof panels up and out of the manner for slightly easier payload loading.
As usual, neither safety agency has crashed AN SL roadster, however all the newest safety technical school is on the market, everything from Bluetooth to knee airbags to adaptive controller. Attention Assist--the digital coffee-cup warning--is customary, and for quite a hundy, we expect the rearview camera ought to be still. It's bundled in a very safety possibility package in conjunction with parking sensors and parking assist, that dials the SL into a decent spot for you, whereas you manage solely the brake.
The new SL's alternative spectacular amenities embrace Airscarf neck vents and also the folding automobile, and new this year, Magic Sky management, that turns the roof's glass panel dark sort of a try of expensive eyeglasses. A Bang & Olufsen audio system will replace the quality Harman/Kardon setup, however we're not oversubscribed on its bass response or its vast tag. All SL models additionally accompany Mercedes’ COMAND flick system, which has a 7-inch computer screen, a optical disc changer, internet browsing with Google search practicality, and navigation.
The SL sixty three AMG may be a maximize from the SL 550, and it is a huge step because it makes this luxury roadster feel a lot of serious concerning the performance guarantees engineered into its the racy roadster bodywork. The brawny, 530-horsepower twin-turbo AMG-built V-8 and special wet-clutch seven-speed AMG automatic drive get you to sixty mph in a very hot four.5 seconds, and with a $9,000 Performance Package you arise to 557 horsepower and 664 pound-feet, with a high speed bumped to 186 mph and 0-60 down to three.9 seconds. And if that is not enough, you'll be able to maximize to the $209k SL sixty five AMG and its twin-turbo V-12, creating a mammoth 738 pound-feet of force.
There's many acceleration obtainable, and what appears like a lot of grip. Still, we're happier with the SL's base two-mode suspension, with or while not the game wheels and brakes, than with the exotic and dearly-won Active Body management upgrade. A composed tourer with a "sport" mode that feels a lot of like "comfort," the stock SL handles wide sweepers with grace, and a good quantity of body roll. The SL's wattage steering does not offer a lot of within the manner of feedback, and quickens the more it moves nonconcentric, that makes for a few uneven transitions. Human brains will handle that a lot of knowledge, however adding on the active suspension appears like overload. The ride flattens out as secure, however adds another advanced handling dimension that is not as linear or as foreseeable as a a lot of standard setup.
The SL's cabin has nice area and fine fittings. The chairs area unit wide, and for a shocking vary of body varieties, they'll be fitted snugly, because of 12-way changes, the foremost helpful of which can be the seat extender. there is a lot of shoulder and spatial relation, however less area currently behind the seats themselves, just enough for a slim case. The trunk holds a roll-on bag or 2 with the roof raised, or solely soft-sided luggage once it's down, tho' a trunk button powers the roof panels up and out of the manner for slightly easier payload loading.
As usual, neither safety agency has crashed AN SL roadster, however all the newest safety technical school is on the market, everything from Bluetooth to knee airbags to adaptive controller. Attention Assist--the digital coffee-cup warning--is customary, and for quite a hundy, we expect the rearview camera ought to be still. It's bundled in a very safety possibility package in conjunction with parking sensors and parking assist, that dials the SL into a decent spot for you, whereas you manage solely the brake.
The new SL's alternative spectacular amenities embrace Airscarf neck vents and also the folding automobile, and new this year, Magic Sky management, that turns the roof's glass panel dark sort of a try of expensive eyeglasses. A Bang & Olufsen audio system will replace the quality Harman/Kardon setup, however we're not oversubscribed on its bass response or its vast tag. All SL models additionally accompany Mercedes’ COMAND flick system, which has a 7-inch computer screen, a optical disc changer, internet browsing with Google search practicality, and navigation.
