Yahoo Autos 2023 Mercedes-AMG SL 63 Road Test: A GT car moonlighting as a sports car
The 2023 Mercedes-AMG SL 63 is both a phenomenal and hard-to-love roadster all in one. There are few things it does wrong or poorly. Its acceleration is relentless. Its suspension wizardry works like a charm. The interior is definitively luxurious. You could also make the argument that it’s one of the best-looking cars on sale today. It has all of this going for it, but man, it’s just not as much fun as it should be.
For previous generations of SL, being a sports car was not their stated missions. Sure, there were AMG and Black Series variants, but the SL has been a grand tourer at heart for decades. Today, it’s a little different with the SL slotting in as the AMG GT Roadster’s spiritual successor (the actual next-generation GT will be a more hardcore, track-focused coupe). Not only does it have fairly huge shoes to fill, but it’s even built on the same platform that the soon-to-come AMG GT Coupe is to be built on, giving us a glimpse as to what might be in store.
In fairness to Mercedes and AMG, trying to turn the SL into both a grand tourer and a sports car in one is a tall, if not impossible, task to undertake. By virtue of its layout and drivetrain setup, there’s no way that it would be able to match the AMG GT Roadster in sports car drama.
The AMG GT is a rear-wheel-drive, front-mid-engine vehicle, meaning the engine is behind the front axle. The new SL is not, preferring a more traditional and common layout with the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 sitting over the front wheels. It also has a tiny rear seat, pushing the two front passengers closer to the middle of the car. Part of the charm in driving the AMG GT is the fact that you’re practically sitting on the rear axle with an enormous hood out in front of you. Being right over top of those two rear wheels begging for grip with that long but shockingly light and maneuverable front end (thanks to the front-mid-engine placement) is an undeniably special experience, and it’s not present in the SL.
The SL 63 is also all-wheel-drive-only. That’s a boon for traction and acceleration times, but don’t expect to enjoy the same squirrely and constantly active rear end of the AMG GT. Instead, the SL adopts a point-and-shoot attitude befitting that of a rocketship grand tourer with 577 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. It’s properly quick. You’ll never struggle to get the power down. And each successive acceleration run will be the same as the last with no drama outside of the initial gut punch on launches. There’s no denying the effectiveness of AMG’s 4Matic+ all-wheel-drive system – 0-60 mph comes in 3.5 seconds – but the lack of rear-wheel drive definitely subtracts from the giddiness of the whole deal.
As for the noise from this V8, it’s hanging out in that gray area between an in-your-face sports car and a subtle GT car. The burble of that V8 sticks around all the time, but never elevates past the point of being courteous. In many ways, it’s similar to a Porsche 911’s civilized nature. When unleashed, it sounds like an honest V8, but you can drive along in general anonymity most of the time. All of the outlandish noises start emanating from its quad tips when you have the engine and exhaust in their aggressive modes. Tapping up the gears of Mercedes’ multi-clutch nine-speed transmission brings reverberating claps, while shifting back down unleashes an array of noticeable, but not police-summoning pops. The noise is novel, but it’s all a bit too orchestrated and restrained for what we’re used to with rowdy AMG cars. Compared to the AMG GT, it’s even more disappointing, as the vibrations and noises from the engine and exhaust in that car were seemingly transmitted straight into your bones. If a little distance from the powertrain and added refinement is what you want, though, the SL has it.
Technically speaking, the SL 63’s suspension is incredible. It’s called AMG Active Ride Control, and the headline feature is hydraulic, active anti-roll stabilization. This SL 63 — unlike the SL 55 — doesn’t have traditional mechanical anti-roll bars. Active hydraulic elements replace them, and the result is a system that allows for torsion bar stiffness from zero to very, very stiff. All four adaptive dampers are interlinked with this system to allow harmonious functionality between all the moving parts. Ultimately, the goal and result of the massively complex suspension is to provide a ride that can go from mega-luxury to racetrack stiff in fractions of a second.
Not to rain on AMG’s parade, but the experience from behind the wheel is akin to driving a car with GM’s MagneRide (magnetic dampers). The SL is able to chew through terrible pavement either at speed or when slowly cruising around town as though it’s a dedicated luxury cruiser. That forgiveness in the chassis entirely disappears when you pop it into Sport+ or Race mode, and an impossibly flat, shockingly stiff sports car comes out. It’s genuinely cool technology that you can feel working just how it should. What you can take from this is that the SL 63 is a masterclass at delivering both stupendous ride quality and huge handling confidence. Either personality can be unleashed at the drop of a hat, and it takes near-zero effort from the driver to realize that performance.
