By Jay Shoemaker
March 26, 2008 -
I made my first pilgrimage to AMG in 2001. Arriving unannounced, I was relegated to longing stares through a chain link fence at rows of serious looking automobiles. I eventually bought an SL55 AMG. I loved its ability to terrify unsuspecting passengers. But it always struck me as an engine in search of a chassis. And better steering. And brakes. In fact, it was a steroid injected boulevardier. And now, the SL63 AMG.
After six years, Mercedes has contemporized the SL's look. The effect is jarring and far less graceful than its forbearer. The SL63's "designers" have tacked-on tasteless plastic bits onto tasteless plastic bits– from the V-shaped plastic front spoiler lip to the garish AMG badge on the side, to the unspeakably awful rear diffuser. The new look AMG brings to mind the English expression "mutton dressed as lamb."
Or a wolf in bling wolf's clothing. Fire-up the the 6.2-liter AMG engine– good for 525 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque– and both tach and speedo needles peg their respective gauges and draw your attention to the words 6.3-liter AMG engraved on the dash. The car literally shakes with an enthusiastic, deeply sonorous exhaust rumble, exhorting its driver to find someone to race and I mean now.
New for this model: "Race Start." So I found an empty parking lot, warned my wife to put a cap on her juice bottle and start pushing all the new buttons, waiting for a breakthrough. When none occurred, I place a call to my favorite AMG advisor in Germany. He instructed me to push the button marked AMG, turn off the traction control, twiddle the transmission dial (more on this later), stand on the brake, pull the right paddle towards me and await confirmation.
Affalterbach, ve haff a problem. My wife actually nodded off while I was trying to figure this all out. So I just floored it and let the electronics do the rest. There may be owners of the SL55 thinking that their supercharged powerplant has greater thrust off the line, but the gearing of the SL63 offsets any theoretical advantage. And no one buying the SL63 will be embarrassed at the stop lights; it baritones from rest to 60 in 4.2 seconds.
Mercedes finally ditched the electronic brakes from its SL line; I was expecting easier modulation. Alas, such is not the case; the stoppers still feel grabby and remote. The new squared-off steering wheel looked like another affectation but turned out to be surprisingly comfortable to hold, aside from the rhomboidal plastic thing at the bottom. Other revisions to the interior are modest. There is still far too much plastic for a car in this price range.
The decidedly uncomfortable Airscarf system incorporated into the headrests looks unattractive in a robotic sort of way. The SL's COMAND system has been updated and seems to possess capabilities on par with the more modern S-Class. Without the controller knob, who knows? My Garmin Nuvi is easier to use than the SL63 AMG's electronics. On the positive side, the larger gear-revealing numerals on the center gauges were extremely… helpful.
The SL63's new transmission is AMG's answer to the dual clutch automated manuals found in Volskies and Ferraris' F1-style paddle shift. The SL63's SPEEDSHIFT MCT 7 knob (next to the transmission) rotates between two automatic and two manual modes. The box compromises smooth operation in the automatic mode, particularly at slower speeds, where it unceremoniously clunks between gears. Strangely enough, the smoothest shifts occur in the fastest manual mode; boulevardier, no longer.
A button to toggle between sport and comfort suspension settings lies just beneath this "multi-clutch technology" knob. Next door: another button labeled AMG, which pre-selects sport settings for the transmission and suspension. The comfort settings yield a highly compliant ride and the sport position is highly livable.
In either mode, the initial cornering attitude is Kansas flat. The active body control settings have been revised for greater confidence and you're riding on 19's, but you're still talking 4300 lbs. worth of German two-seater. Toss this heffalump into a tight corner and, as usual, understeer rears its ugly head. A built in race timer? A Boxster driver would just laugh.
The SL55 had a cobbled together feel. The SL63 feels more thoroughly considered and engineered. The uber-SL is more Affalterbach than Stuttgart now, more competitive with BMW and Porsche as a driver's machine.
Still $150k buys you a lot of sports car elsewhere (not to mention AMG's mythic depreciation). And the SL63 isn't even the top of the SL tree; $187k SL65 AMG anyone? One wonders if the SL63's a bit… pedestrian at the price. No wonder AMG is hard at work on a Black Series SL with even more power and less weight.
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More Reviews37 Responses to “ 2009 Mercedes-Benz AMG SL63 Review ”
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POWERED
March 26th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Wow, you’ve already driven one? I’m jealous…but not surprised. Great review.
So how does the new 7 speed box compare to its rivals from BMW and Audi?
March 26th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I remember back in the 1980s an AMG “tuned and customized” Mercedes Benz was actually really something special in the same light as a BMW Alpina and/ or a Ruf Porsche. Today MB is doing everything in its power to destroy any cache value that the AMG name once had. AMG used to be some serious shit back in the days. AMG used to make DOHC 4v heads for MB engines when MB was still using SOHC 2v heads as standard equipment.
AMG had unique 17″ wheels when that size was still considered to be exotic. Anyone who can remember a AMG 6.0 Hammer from the late 1980s will understand where I am coming from.
This SL63 is not a true AMG as are none of the new MB models that have a AMG badge on them. This thing is simply an SL equiped with a so-so sports package, a tacky body kit, and some oversized AMG badges.
MB may have purchased AMG and as claimed brought it “in house” but in reality MB has reduced AMG to just a money making name.
What happend to MB, the company that used to be based on excellence in engineering and UNDERSTATED elegence. Todays MBs products come off as what would have expected from a successful Lincoln not a SERIOUS German brand.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am
The 2008 AMG SL65 weighs 4555 lbs.
Did you know that when first introduced in the 1950’s with the famous 300SL Gullwing, SL meant super-light.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Garish is the word of the day with this car. Even a GT-R looks understated compared to this.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Thanks Jay for this very frank review. I have found recent AMG Mercs of all flavors to be heavy luxo barges with too much engine and not enough chassis. It’s a pity as whatdoiknow1 has already pointed out that AMGs of old had some real sporting potential.
I also agree with the comment about the styling - it’s certainly not the Germanic understanted elegance of the past. Compare this to the old 300SL and this car looks more like a $30-40K muscle car than a $150K uber coupe. For that money I’d rather have an Audi R8 or a Aston V8 Vantage.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I have found recent AMG Mercs of all flavors to be heavy luxo barges with too much engine and not enough chassis.
So AMG just makes reeeeeeally expensive muscle cars now? Sad.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Damn that beast is ugly, but its a decent Gran Tourismo (i.e. don’t compare it to a 911) from the sounds of Jay’s review.
As much as I love all-motor performance cars, I’d like to see how much faster the SL65 is from a 70mph roll.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
whatdoiknow1–
good point, but what’s exotic anymore? to my (admittedly ignorant) mind, the STi and EVO make just about everything else look like needless luxury. the horsepower and handling bar has been raised so high that anything *truly* exotic is so expensive that it gets driven like grandma’s ford tempo. my GTI spends far more time above 100mph than my friend’s Challenge Stradale.
other than luxury and style, these “exotic” cars offer nothing that can be used on public roads.
another friend of mine used to only buy mercedes. now that all of his desired safety features (such as esp) have trickled down, he’s now looking at toyota. totally different market, i know, but the safety playing field has been leveled just like the horsepower one has.
and if slumming it is the new rich…
March 26th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Darn, I’m still surprised by how ugly it looks even now. The front looks terrible, the view from the sight is visually challenged due to the new nose and the rear looks worse than before.
Overall it’s just darn ugly.
The only thing they improved at the facelift is the steering wheel, but I’d never buy this car now, whereas I kind of liked it before this facelift, although not as an AMG.
March 26th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
MB don’t appear to understand the SL brand. SLs were built to look great, perform reasonably well in a straight line and look classy.
People who wanted performance bought a Porsche…
I don’t know a single person who has owned an SL (or any other Merc) in the last 10 years who will want to muck about with different dials for different roads, moods or launch settings!
If Lexus made a better looking SC right now they’d mop up MBs SL market in a heartbeat…