The Mercedes-AMG SL63 Is a GT Car for the iPhone Generation

Remember the days of gadgets that did one thing and one thing only? It wasn't a proper night out in 2004 unless you had your click-wheel iPod on hand along with a point-and-shoot camera—were you Team PowerShot or Team Coolpix? Oh, and schoolteachers were still telling kids that they wouldn't have a calculator on them at all times in "the real world." Of course, the smartphone then came along and homogeneously rendered all of that obsolete. The very adaptable, platform-sharing Mercedes-AMG SL63 sort of reminds me of that.

Not too long ago, Mercedes had a coupe for what felt like every single possible flavor of coupe consumer. Want a hardcore sports car to go toe-to-toe with your buddy's 911? You got the AMG GT. You're a realtor and need a swanky-looking, tax-deductible way to show up to open houses? There's the E-Class Coupe for you. You're a realtor who's just starting out and needs a swanky-looking, tax-deductible way to show up to open houses? C-Class Coupe it is. There was also the S-Class Coupe for monied boat enthusiasts and the SLK for BMW Z4 haters. Most famously though, there was the SL if you wanted a long-legged grand tourer that's as comfortable on the autobahn as it is comfortable on the autobahn.

Objectively speaking, this was too many coupes. And evidently, Mercedes' product planners agreed because they have since pared it all back quite a bit. The C and E Coupes have been consolidated into the new CLE while the S and SLK are no more. Most curiously, though, the AMG GT and SL are now essentially sister vehicles, sharing a platform, powertrain, and interior. As we've already learned, this has made the GT comfier and a better all-rounder.

When it comes to the new SL—which is now, tellingly, an AMG-only model—it too is objectively better at more things. But is it better at the things SL buyers buy an SL for? Questionable. No longer strictly a grand tourer, this new SL is now also a decent corner carver. Firmly a jack of both trades, it is also, predictably perhaps, a master of neither.

Stout Looker

Before we dig into how it drives, though, the new SL scores big points on style. As a piece of design, it is quite striking. Definitely one of the better-looking Benzes in recent memory, and I'm including the more catfish-like AMG GT in that evaluation. The front end is handsomely aggressive, the rear haunches are quite big and gorgeous in person, and this particular example is finished in a shade of gray that's said to match the hair color of the average SL owner. On appearances alone, the SL does feel like a special thing to be seen in.

The interior will be familiar to anyone who's been in any new Mercedes recently, but its turbine air vents and very cockpit-y instrument screen binnacle set it apart from, say, a pedestrian C-Class. Burmester speaker grilles and nightclub ambient lighting can feel special or gaudy depending on personal tastes, but my tacky-immigrant ass tends to enjoy it.

Shortcomings List

Less enjoyable is the company's MBUX infotainment system which, from a usability standpoint, remains middling at best in the context of other proprietary car-screen interfaces, which means it is certifiably bad in relation to screen interfaces in general.

What's more, the screen is where you operate the convertible soft top. It's a digital slider (a bit like how we all used to unlock iPhones) that you swipe and hold. But in this example at least, the top often stopped randomly during the opening procedure, requiring another slide on the screen. This sort of thing might be expected from, say, a startup automaker having their first go at a convertible or something, but this is the Mercedes SL we're talking about. A convertible that's been convertible'ing since 1957 and should therefore know and do better.