Built for open road
A mid-cycle refresh restores convertible’s elegance
SAN DIEGO — By all accounts, Pierre Elliot Trudeau led his RCMP security detachment on a merry dance in his MercedesBenz 300SL.
The spirited former PM would periodically get fed up with stuffy Ottawa politics and head for the wilderness he loved so much, with that big Merc’s straight-six singing. Meanwhile, the boys in serge did their best to keep him in sight, chasing along in his wake in some wallowy, government-issued sedan.
There’s the essence of the SL: style, speed, panache, escape. In its most immediate generation, however, the current descendant of Mercedes-Benz’s classic droptop was less than elegance personified; it looked brutal, battleship-fat and blunt. Midway through the model cycle, Mercedes seeks to correct and update its flagship convertible, retaining some of that charming heritage in an entirely modern package.
On first view, it’s a success. The reworked front and rear of the SL impart a cohesiveness that was missing from the previous car. Softer, more feminine curves smooth out the car’s presence, and the new diamond-look front grille works here as well as it does in the S-Class and C-Class coupes.
The one misstep is the side fender vents, which are nonfunctional no matter what trim of SL you opt for — from basemodel V-6 to twin-turbo AMG — and look like plastic waffle irons. The fender vent as a styling feature needs to die a painful death, as it’s an eyesore on far too many premium vehicles.
Leaving the faux speedy bits behind, the entry-level SL450 looks excellent, particularly when draped in a fetching crimson. This is the volume model for Mercedes’ SL line, and benefits from a boost in power for its twin-turbo 3.0-litre V-6 to 362 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque.
The SL originally stood for “Sport Leicht” — Sport Light — and though it seems a bit absurd to be talking about a 1,700-kilogram convertible as having either of those attributes, the SL450 is a surprisingly deft machine. The twin-turbo six sounds good, burbling away as if it’s been taking AMG elocution lessons, while providing solid off- the- line thrust; there’s absolutely no sensible reason why you’d want any more power.
The enhanced six is aided by a new nine-speed transmission that’ll soon spread throughout the rest of the Mercedes range. It shifts briskly when acceleration is demanded, and does a good job of smooth cruising along the Pacific Coast Highway, topdown in the California sunshine. Such was always the SL’s métier as a luxurious cruiser with lots of straight-line power if you opted for the larger engine offerings.
Mercedes hasn’t just smoothed out the looks of the car, but also its handling characteristics. Thanks to its Automatic Body Control’s Curve function (which sounds like an electronically activated girdle, but isn’t), soequipped SLs can lean into a corner in the way a motorcycle rider does. It doesn’t increase cornering loads, but gives the feel that the road is perfectly cambered in every corner, making for a smoother flow while driving.
Inside, both passengers benefit from a classically comfortable Mercedes interior with excellent fit and finish, with everything up to and including massaging seats. Not yet updated is the SL’s COMAND infotainment and navigation, which now lags behind in the Mercedes range. Just look to the refreshed E-Class to see what Mercedes is capable of.
While the SL450 easily dusted off slow-moving semi-trailers in shortish passing zones, there are those who will want even more power; for them, the twin-turbo 4.7-L V-8 SL550 also gets an increase in power this year, to 449 hp and 519 lb.-ft of torque. Paired with the new nine-speed, this is the sweet spot in the SL range, for a silk-smooth grand tourer with a dose of Saturn V under the hood. Prod that biturbo with the throttle and the speedometer swings clockwise with a relentless pull. It’s the kind of car where watching your speed is critical, as even with the top down there’s little wind buffeting at highway speeds.
Of course, there are the AMG versions. Also powered by a twice-turbo’d V-8, the AMG 63 version of the SL has 5.5 L of eight-cylinder displacement, a new standard mechanical limited-slip differential and a sevenspeed automatic transmission reworked for quicker shifting. It sounds like feeding time at Jurassic Park when you wind it up, snarling and putting a big German size-12 boot on your spleen before pressing down hard.
On a twisty mountain road thronged by leather-clad sportbikers, the SL63 ate everything for lunch, from apex to straight. However, at the end of this brief run, the brake pedal had developed a certain mushiness. While the capability for outright speed is there, tight switchbacks aren’t exactly SL country. Instead, from V-6 to AMG, this new SL is much like its ancestor: built for the sweeping curves of the open road. It’s a lovely way to escape from life’s travails, be they politics, the boardroom or maybe just Canadian weather.
Pricing is not yet available.