Mercedes-Benz SL Review 2024

Not only was the old two-seater Mercedes SL scrapped, but, where once the finished article was simply handed over to AMG for extra muscle to be added, in this instance the company tasked the performance division with designing and developing a replacement in its entirety. What has emerged is something rather different, as our Mercedes SL review will illustrate.

Built on an all-new aluminium platform, the Mercedes-AMG SL is a 2+2 roadster that, as well as taking on the role vacated by the Mercedes S-Class Cabriolet and desirable Coupe models, is also billed as a far more dynamic proposition.

As a result, it now has to compete with premium rivals such as the Bentley Continental GTC, Ferrari Roma Spider or Portofino M and, yes, even the Porsche 911 Cabriolet. 

The Mercedes-AMG SL is certainly a bigger, far more aggressive proposition, but not necessarily better looking than the last few generations of Mercedes SL.

The front and back of the car no longer feel as if they belong to one another: the rear pays homage to the Stirling Moss-era Mercedes 300 SL and, some 55 years later, the Mercedes SLS, while the front appears to be modelled on the gaping maw of a bling-beset whale shark.

Replacing the outgoing Mercedes SL’s folding hard-top with a fabric top should dramatically increase the amount of boot space available, but it doesn’t, because that’s all been stolen by the addition of two rear seats better suited to soft bags than truculent toddlers.

The top can be folded away within 15 seconds at up to 35mph, after an equal amount of time fiddling with the counter-intuitive touchscreen controls.

The interior, too, lacks the simple elegance and class that Mercedes SLs are renowned for, with brightwork and a choice of 15 cabin ambience lighting hues now holding sway.

An 11.9-inch, tilt-adjustable central touchscreen dominates proceedings, underscored by what should be a row of what should be short-cut buttons, but aren’t.

The horizontal spokes of the steering wheel have each been multiplied by two to accommodate a raft of touch-sensitive switchgear that just isn’t pleasant or quick to use. Operation feels distinctly variable, with the icons frequently not waking up to your first touch.

Priced from £108,165 to £179,465, three Mercedes-AMG SL models are currently available; the Mercedes-AMG SL 43, Mercedes-AMG SL 55 4MATIC+ and Mercedes-AMG SL 63 4MATIC+, in a choice of five trim levels – Premium, Touring, Premium Plus, Touring Plus and, exclusive to the SL 63, Performance.

While the Mercedes-AMG SL 55 and Mercedes-AMG SL 63 boast versions of the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, with the wick turned up from 476PS to 585PS for the latter, the Mercedes-AMG SL 43 must make do with a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged block developing 381PS.

All three engines are mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission with paddleshift override. 

The addition of the largely pointless rear seats has made the Mercedes-AMG SL a bigger, heavier car than any SL to date, and the 2.0-litre engined version’s performance is perceptibly penalised as a result.

While 4.9 seconds to 62mph sounds fine on paper, in reality the car never feels properly AMG whip-crack quick through the gears, especially mated to a pretty lazy transmission that doesn’t even really wake up with paddleshifts deployed.

Both V8 variants make a better fist of delivering shove, and the gearbox seems to favour the larger powerplant to boot, shifting far more smoothly at lower speeds, both up and down.

The story remains the same in the ride and handling stakes; the 2.0-litre car is rear-wheel drive only and does without the sophisticated active suspension, rear-wheel steering and all-wheel drive of the two V8s.

The steering is resolutely uncommunicative, and you’ll learn far more about the road surface through the seat of your pants, courtesy of large tyre footprints and a firm ride.

Previous-generation Mercedes SLs were always best when making rapid, refined progress without the driver having to push too hard. And interestingly, despite the fire-breathing aspirations of AMG’s handiwork, the new Mercedes-AMG SL falls into the same category.

There is little reward for upping the pace beyond perhaps three-quarters of the performance on offer except wind noise from a fabric roof that was once steel.

The overall length increase needed to accommodate token rear seats for the first time in a Mercedes SL proves something of a double-edged sword: it makes the car feel much bigger and less wieldy on the road, without actually providing rear seats any sane person would wish to occupy.

The boot volume has shrunk accordingly to 213 litres with the top down, and 240 with it up – the previous model would hold a more useful 485 litres with the roof up.

The driving position’s everything you’d expect from a Mercedes, and the seats are still the only ones out of which you can climb after a 300-mile drive and feel as fresh as when you started driving.

But the back-seat accommodation is barely fit for toddlers. Presumably, Mercedes could have simply installed a luggage shelf instead, but that might have led to someone asking if they couldn’t just have the old, bigger boot back.

The roof can be folded or raised within 15 seconds when you’re travelling at anything up to 35mph, but if a rough road surface dislodges your finger mid-operation, you’re liable to find yourself cruising along sporting the world’s largest airbrake while you persuade the touchscreen to carry on where you left off.

Visually, there’s nothing much wrong with the quality of the interior, other than the fact that it’s utterly dominated by the centre console touchscreen, and there’s a whiff of bling in evidence. Even the faux analogue dials in the driver’s instrument binnacle have been ruthlessly over-styled.

The leather and nappa leather upholstery is suitably opulent but, particularly with the roof down, there are creaks and rattles creeping into an interior that in previous generations felt like it had been carved from a single billet of steel.

The two-tier steering wheel spoke touch controls are fiddly and inconsistent to use, as are the supposed ‘short cut’ buttons beneath the centre console screen.

Even operating the roof is a headache that could be very simply avoided by installing a proper push/pull and hold switch. There’s a fine line between Mercedes saving money by bunging everything on the wiring loom, and annoying customers of cars this expensive.

The centre console houses an 11.9-inch portrait-orientated touchscreen that can be electrically tilted from a 12 to a 32-degree angle with a view to reducing glare when running with the roof down.

This teams up with a head-up display and a Burmester surround sound audio system to tick all the infotainment boxes you could possibly think of, although the speaker grilles are the very epitome of bling.

Mercedes has junked its COMAND infotainment control system and, instead, now offers us MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience), which replaces a perfectly satisfactory rotary controller with a touchscreen and highly sophisticated voice control of everything from the air-conditioning and radio to the windows and roof.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are on hand, as well as hard disc navigation and wireless phone charging. And those MBUX systems include a DAB radio that doesn’t hold its signal very well, Interior Assistant, Multimedia system and Navigation Premium.

Given that the sixth-generation Mercedes SL cost from £72,490 (the V6 Mercedes SL350) when it first went on sale in the UK, and a 4.7-litre twin turbo V8-powered Mercedes SL500 could be yours for £83,445, it would seem a considerable price hike has accompanied the handing over of the reins to AMG.

Three Mercedes-AMG SL models are currently available: the Mercedes-AMG SL 43, priced from £108,165 to £117,165; the Mercedes-AMG SL 55 4MATIC+, from £147,715; and the Mercedes-AMG SL 63 4MATIC+, from £171,965 to £179,465.  

With the cheapest Porsche 911 Cabriolet rolling up at £107,000 and boasting very similar power and performance figures, the Mercedes-AMG SL 43 would seem appropriately priced as a direct competitor.

But these are very different animals: if you want a proper blast you’d have to have the Porsche, but if you intend to spend your days pottering about in the sunshine with the lid off, the Mercedes might just turn your head.

Both Bentley’s Continental GTC and the Ferrari Portofino M can be had for under £180,000, with Ferrari’s Roma Spider likely to cost £190,000 or more.

So, once again, Mercedes appears to have a taken a long, hard look at rival prices before setting its own. It’s hard to ignore the Bentley for space, pace and grace though, and the Ferraris because... well, they’re Ferraris.

Mercedes quotes figures of 30.1-31.0mpg and 206-212g/km of CO2 respectively for the Mercedes-AMG SL 43.

It’s 21.4mpg and 298-299g/km for the Mercedes-AMG SL 55, and 21.4-21.6 and 299g/km for the Mercedes-AMG SL 63.

The first-year VED will cost from £1565-£2605 as you climb the range ladder, and we’ve unearthed leasing deals from £963 to £1,735 per month.

When it comes to trick suspension, the baby of the pack, the Mercedes-AMG SL 43, draws the short straw, having to live with merely ‘sport suspension’ whilst the Mercedes-AMG SL 55 benefits from AMG Ride Control suspension and the Mercedes-AMG SL 63 has AMG Active Ride Control.

In truth, however, there’s precious little to grumble about with the simple cold steel equipping the 2.0-litre car. The ride’s undeniably firm, but largely supple and only very occasionally prone to slower speed thumping under the attentions of larger road divots. 

Far more of a distraction is the behaviour of the gearbox and brakes when manoeuvring at low speeds, even in Comfort driving mode. The gearchange is unpleasantly clunky, both up and down the box, and the brakes grabby and squeaky.

Lob in the turning circle of a super tanker which ensures that every turning operation is at least a three-pointer, and the whole is frankly, pretty horrid.

Mercifully, as speeds build, both the gearbox and the ride settle down nicely. Even in Sport+ driving mode the Mercedes-AMG SL 43 never feels blisteringly quick, but it does gather momentum at a pleasing rate and is at its best inhaling sweeping A-roads at pace.

Throwing the car into tighter corners is somewhat less enthralling, however. Although it’s respectably accurate, very little information comes through an over-fat steering wheel which is neither comfortable to hold nor especially wieldy.

Body control, on the other hand, is excellent even without the electronic trickery visited upon the V8 versions, and the car stays reassuringly flat and immensely grippy.

The Mercedes-AMG SL 55 and Mercedes-AMG SL 63 both up the ante with all-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering and Ride Control suspension.

Pleasingly, too, the marriage of nine-speed gearbox to V8 seems a happier one, and the 2.0-litre car’s reluctance to perform smoothly at urban speeds all but vanishes.

Interestingly, the combination of four more cylinders, two more driven wheels and added electronic trickery hikes the V8 cars’ weights up considerably (a minimum of 150kg over the 2.0-litre), making their active anti-roll stabilisation systems more of a necessity than a bonus when attempting bends with vim.

Both V8 cars are capable of cornering admirably flat and hard, but you do feel the weight, and the sense that four-wheel steering is working hard to keep everything pointing in the right direction on your behalf.

And the fabric roof? It may weigh 21kg less that the folding hard-top, but the cabin is no longer premium-category quiet at low to medium speeds, with wind noise at motorway speeds too high for £100,000-plus motoring.

Roof down, a boot-stored wind break may be erected behind the front seats to reduce wind buffeting for front-seat occupants, but leaving the windows up does an equally good job.

And there’s something called an Airscarf, which can blow warm sweet nothings at the nape of your neck through a hole at the base of the front headrest in winter months. Sit in the back, however, and there’s a real danger of you being lashed to death by your own quiff long before you freeze.

The Mercedes-AMG SL 55 and Mercedes-AMG SL 63 boast versions of the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, with the wick turned up from 476PS to 585PS and torque boosted from 700Nm to 800Nm for the latter.

The Mercedes-AMG SL 43 must make do with a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged block developing 381PS and 480Nm of torque. All three engines are mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission with paddleshift override. 

The addition of rear seats has made the Mercedes-AMG SL a bigger, heavier car that any SL to date, and the 2.0-litre engined version’s performance suffers as a result.

While 4.9 seconds to 62mph and 171mph flat out seems more than adequate, in reality the car never feels as quick through the gears as you would expect, especially mated to a gently lazy transmission that doesn’t even really wake up with paddleshifts deployed. 

Both the Mercedes-AMG SL 55 and Mercedes-AMG SL 63 V8 variants are better in this respect, with 62mph arriving at 3.9 and 3.6 seconds respectively and top speeds of 183mph and 196mph.

As of August 2023, the Mercedes-AMG SL has not yet been crash tested by Euro NCAP. However, with a head-up display allied to extensive driver assistance tech, we imagine five stars will be pretty much guaranteed.

Among the safety and assistance systems on offer are Active Blind Spot Assist, Active Brake Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, Anti-theft alarm system, Encapsulation for ATA alarm siren, Guard 360-degree vehicle protection plus an interior monitoring system.

There’s also the Mercedes-Benz emergency call system, Parking assist with a 360-degree camera, Pedestrian protection, PRE-Safe system, Tirefit with a tyre inflation compressor, Traffic Sign Assist and a tyre pressure monitor.

A £2500 Driving Assistance Package fitted to the Mercedes-AMG SL 43 we drove further adds Active Distance Assist, Active Steering Assist, Active Speed Limit Assist, Evasive Steering Assist, Active Blind Spot Assist and route-based speed adaptation.

If towing is a priority, there are probably more obvious choices than a Mercedes SL.

The Mercedes-AMG SL is available in a choice of five trim levels – Premium, Touring, Premium Plus, Touring Plus and, exclusive to the Mercedes-AMG SL 63, Performance.

The Mercedes-AMG SL 43 is available in Premium, Touring, Premium Plus and Touring Plus trim.

The Mercedes-AMG SL 55, meanwhile, offers a choice of Premium Plus or Touring Plus.

And the Mercedes-AMG SL 63 comes in either Premium Plus or model-exclusive Performance trim.

Mercedes-AMG SL 43 Premium and Touring trim levels include Sport suspension, a Mild Hybrid Drive Starter Alternator, cruise control, bootlid remote closing, Digital Light headlamps with adaptive high beam assist-plus, 20-inch AMG alloy wheels, AMG Real Performance Sound, Keyless entry and go, electric folding door mirrors and an auto dimming driver’s mirror.

There’s also Airscarf, Thermotronic climate control, 11.9-inch centre display, MBUX Entertainment, MBUX Navigation premium, MBUX Multimedia system Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, USB Plus, Wireless phone charging and a Burmester Surround sound audio system. 

To this, Premium adds the exterior AMG Night Package, while Touring adds the AMG exterior chrome package.

To the Premium trim level Mercedes-AMG SL 43, Premium Plus adds gloss black exterior model badging, black radiator fins, darkened head- and tail lamps, matt black 21-inch alloy wheels, Energising package plus, climatised multi-contour front seats with massage function, AMG high-gloss black trim and black nappa leather upholstery.

There’s also a head-up display, MBUX augmented reality for navigation, MBUX interior assistant and AMG Track Pace – a virtual race engineer with lap, sector and acceleration times plus selected live telemetry data.

To the Touring trim level Mercedes-AMG SL 43 Touring Plus adds all over the above, but features grey 21-inch alloy wheels, AMG aluminium interior trim and macchiato beige seat belts, roof liner and nappa leather upholstery.

The Mercedes-AMG SL 55 Premium Plus and Touring Plus trim levels build on the Mercedes-AMG 43 Premium Plus and Touring Plus trim with the addition of AMG Ride Control suspension, rear axle steering and red-painted brake callipers.

To these trim levels, the top-of-the-range Mercedes-AMG SL 63 Premium Plus and Performance specification add AMG Active Ride Control suspension, an AMG electronic rear axle limited-slip differential, a front axle lift system, the AMG Dynamic Plus exterior package, yellow-painted brake callipers and AMG forged 21-inch 10-twin-spoke alloy wheels.

The Performance specification additionally features the AMG aerodynamics package and the AMG high-performance ceramic composite braking system.