The Mercedes SL may always have been the venerable king of excess, but its latest guise has seen it shed up to 140kg over its predecessor, largely by dint of its all-aluminium bodyshell. Is the new SL nevertheless still a heavyweight in the luxury roadster arena?
Ironically, given that the new convertible is so much lighter, its styling is more heavy-handed than before. The car has grown a little in every dimension, and its looks continue to be uncompromisingly masculine. The swept-back nose of the old model has given way to a more upright, bluff front-end dominated by a pair of block-shaped, oversized headlamps. In keeping with traditional SL proportions, the bonnet is extravagantly long, seemingly occupying half the car’s length. There are more subtle curves further back, the sweep of the shoulder-line into the tail-lamps being particularly handsome.
A roomy, classy and refined cabin for the privileged driver and passenger.
The glasshouse is pert and perfectly proportioned, no longer or taller than it absolutely needs to be. And this being an SL, the top does its disappearing act with the flick of a switch, flipping and folding into the boot in 20 seconds.
Choose the optional panoramic roof, and the top panel will come in glass instead of metal. Pay (a lot) more, and that overhead pane comes with electrochromic Magic Sky Control, which lets you darken or lighten the roof’s tint on command – essentially the same trick employed in the faddish “privacy glass” bathroom walls of some upmarket condo units.
Despite its increased proportions, the SL remains a strict two-seater. But those two occupants will be treated to a sumptuous cabin that wants for nothing. The leather-clad fascia is a study in understated elegance, its subtle curves offset by a quartet of chromed eyeball air vents for some visual interest. The seats are plump and inviting, and every bit as comfortable as they look. The optional multi-contour seats, with adjustable side bolsters, are even better.
The newly designed gear selector is a delightful detail. Sitting on the centre console just where you’d expect it to be, and resembling a miniature version of a traditional gear lever, it’s almost ridiculously user-friendly. Nudge it backwards or forwards to engage Drive or Reverse, or thumb the “P” button at its base to engage Park. All those manufacturers messing about with rotary gear knobs, column-mounted wands or fascia-mounted buttons, please look and learn.
Drive-by-wire, 7-speed autobox is stylish and simple to operate.
The SL350 tested here is the base SL (if there is such a thing), but frankly it’s as quick as you’ll ever need it to be. The creamy 3.5-litre 6-cylinder nestled under the long bonnet belts out 306bhp and 370Nm, and whisks the car to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds – that’s 0.3 of a second quicker than its predecessor, and just half a second behind the previous SL500, testimony to the benefits of that weight loss programme. For the record, the new SL500 does the sprint in a storming 4.6 seconds. With figures such as these, who needs an AMG?
The 7-speed autobox is the perfect tool to marshal all that urge. It slurs its shifts when you’re just wafting around, gives the SL a relaxed and long-legged cruising stride, yet is always ultra-alert to kickdown commands. It also somehow seems more intuitive and better able to predict your intentions than the rival BMW 8-speeder, which has a greater tendency to get caught out, occasionally changing down when you don’t want it to, or holding onto a gear longer than necessary. Steering-mounted shifters are on hand, too, if you want to take over gearchange duties.
Given its reduced weight and other measures such as auto stop-start, more efficient ancillaries and cleaner aerodynamics, there are predictably impressive efficiency gains – the new SL350 is up to 29 per cent less thirsty than before.
The diet regime also pays dividends in the SL’s on-road dynamics. The nose dives for the apex like the old one never did, and the whole car feels more agile and lithe, even at town speeds. The steering is lovely – accurate, linear and very well weighted, without the artificial heft and resistance of some rivals. The rack’s variable ratio also makes it very direct in tighter manoeuvres, contributing to its perceived immediacy.
This 306bhp V6 is already enough engine for the SL, so the 435bhp turbo V8 is probably more than enough.
On open, curving roads the improvement is even more evident, the big SL braking, changing direction and holding its line with supreme poise and assurance, without the pitch and roll that marked its predecessor as more grand tourer than sports car.
Friendly it may be, but the chassis isn’t inert. Give it too much mid-bend throttle on a damp surface and the tail will step out quite readily, before being reined in by the electronics. Fun to exploit if you’ve got a wide, empty corner, but bear in mind that the swinging tail on something as long as the SL takes up a fair bit of road space.
The ride impresses, too – it succeeds in being simultaneously supple over broken surfaces, yet unyielding in its preservation of body control. There’s also a Sport mode, which firms up the dampers for really committed driving, while still retaining decent ride comfort. Whichever mode you’ve selected, it’s a beautifully sorted setup. Even mid-bend bumps and severe undulations do nothing to rattle the chassis’ composure.
Speaking of rattles, there are none whatsoever, no matter how bad the road. The car feels noticeably more rigid than the old model, whose roof emits the occasional creak over poor surfaces. As a cruiser, the new SL350 is better than ever. It’s also quieter than ever, the V6 has effortless torque on tap, and that well-judged ride allows utterly unruffled progress. And it stays unruffled even with the roof down, thanks to carefully tuned aerodynamics and the retractable wind deflector behind the seats (practically an SL trademark by now).
Even the acoustics remain excellent when the top is down, thanks in no small part to the ingenious use of some of the chassis cavities at the front of the car as resonance chambers for the bass loudspeakers.
You’d have guessed by now that the new SL is a winner. It easily trumps its predecessor on every count, and all its elements – ride, refinement, handling, steering, engine and transmission – meld effortlessly to make the car a hugely capable, achingly desirable package. In its latest guise, the SL is once again the supreme roadster, but lighter.
This story was first published in the December 2012 issue of Torque.
2012 Mercedes-Benz SL350 3.5 (A)
ENGINE 3498cc, 24-valves, V6
MAX POWER 306bhp at 6500rpm
MAX TORQUE 370Nm at 3500-5250rpm
GEARBOX 7-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 5.9 seconds
TOP SPEED 250km/h (governed)
CONSUMPTION 14.7km/L (combined)
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