Price (as tested) 💲: $212,585
Powertrain ⚙️: Twin-Turbocharged 4.0-liter V8
Output 💪: 577 hp/590 lb-ft of torque
Transmission 🕹: 9-Speed Automatic
0-60 MPH 🚦: 3.1 seconds
Top Speed 💥: 196 mph
MPG (as tested) ⛽️: 14 city/21 hwy/16 combined
Curb weight ⚖️: 4,305 lbs
For the last two decades, the Mercedes-Benz SL starter kit has included a golf bag, a loose bottle of wine, hair dye, and a USC license plate cover, but with the car’s latest generation and a move into the AMG fold, Mercedes is keen to redesign the SL driver persona along with its sheetmetal.
The SL 63, in particular, is not a great retirement gift – at least not if you’d like to avoid cardiac arrest. 577 horsepower thunders from a twin-turbocharged V8, wasting none of its energy en route to the tarmac via an all-wheel drive system.
Heard clearly when the folding fabric roof is lowered and minimally when it’s overhead, the V8 shouts at WOT and transforms unburnt fuel into musical chortles at lift-off.
Ride quality is less brutal than the exhaust note, but still decidedly more dicey than non-AMG predecessors. At least the rear seats are too small to tempt passengers, so you’ll only loosen the fillings of one additional rider.
A delight for the eyes and the senses, the new SL 63 is nearly unrecognizable – and it didn’t even need the hair dye.