Mercedes-AMG SL 55 review

For one thing, and like its bigger brother, it’s hardly in bargain territory. For the £148,000 Mercedes-AMG asks, you could buy the faster-on-paper Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS and have enough change to get a Volkswagen Up GTI. At that price you might also reasonably expect the power output figure to start with a ‘5’ if not a ‘6’. Instead, the SL 55 makes do with 469bhp.

However, less than outright top-end power, it's the easy-going sledgehammer manner of AMG’s twin-turbocharged M177 4.0-litre V8 that informs much of the car's personality, and 516lb ft delivered from only 2000rpm is pretty emphatic.  

It means that while SL 55 lacks truly jaw-dropping performance, it is ready to shift itself at almost any speed and in any gear. This engine is decently free of lag, too, so the performance really is press-and-go. Unsurprisingly such effortless pace plays nicely into the car’s GT credentials, which are in general excellent, but for the ever so slight brittleness that creeps into the ride quality on poor surfaces. Perhaps the SL 63 - with its McLaren-esque, anti-roll-bar-less, cross-linked hydraulic damping system – will do better in this respect, though the SL 55, on traditional semi-active suspension, is hardly what you’d call rustic. With a comfortable, plush, cosseting cabin and free-breathing vertical body control, most of time it just gobbles up big miles without thought. 

It eats up B-roads with less natural ease but plenty of enthusiasm nonetheless. Traction is superb, to the extent that this chassis will take full power and torque in second gear on a cold, greasy surface. The agility-enhancing effects of the rear-wheel steering, which works in contrary motion to the front wheels at anything below 60mph, are also apparent, and impressively fluent. This is an easy car to place at speed and it gives you the confidence to chase the throttle and revel in that monster V8.

As a luxury, cross-country, all-season GT of surprising precision, the SL 55 works well. And there are, of course, many, many chassis and engine modes that give the car pretty staggering breadth. But as a proper 911 rival? I’m not so sure. 

At almost 1900kg, the SL 55 is too heavy, and while clever in the way it manages its mass, the car can never escape its effects. You, the driver, are always aware of it, waiting for it to tug the nose off line through an unexpectedly tight corner, or for the body to fall a step behind what the road is doing. That neither of these things ever really happens is a mark of just how well sorted the SL 55 is, but the point is that you feel as though they might, and that's not so enjoyable.

The electromechanical steering is also somewhat soulless compared with the electrohydraulic set-up in the AMG GT and the four-wheel-drive chassis can be a touch too neutral at times, though perhaps this is one of the car’s virtues. It depends what you're after. If material plushness and dynamic solidity are your priorites, you'll enjoy the Mercedes and love using it. But if you want a sports car that does more than hold you at arm's length, charming you superficially with its thumping engine and easy pace...