These muscular drop-tops promise performance and luxury in equal measure. But which of them should you choose?
Photography: John Bradshaw
I conic. It must be one of the most overused adjectives in motoring, used to describe everything from brands, racetracks and cars, to storied industry executives. But when it comes to the Mercedes-Benz SL, we dare you to find a more appropriate term. As former Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche once remarked, “There are around 900 million cars in the world, and thousands of models, but there are only a handful of automotive icons. Our SL is one of them.”
That’s because the SL has always done things a little differently. It has never been a hardcore sports car like the Porsche 911, nor has it tried to be a laid-back luxury car like a Rolls-Royce Dawn; it incorporates aspects of both in a nuanced ‘grand touring’ role. Which makes the all-new SL a bold step by Mercedes, because unlike its predecessor, this seventh-generation model is the first SL to be developed by the in-house AMG performance division – hence the car’s new nomenclature: Mercedes-AMG SL.
Out goes the heavy folding metal roof, with a lighter fabric top brought back instead, while the all-new aluminium underpinnings are likely to be shared with the next Mercedes-AMG supercar. Rear seats have been reinstated to improve usability, and for the first time the SL comes with four-wheel drive (to improve traction) and four-wheel steering (to improve agility). In other words, the SL has a new game plan.
It can’t, however, give four-seat luxury convertibles such as the Lexus LC Convertible a free run by being too uncompromising. Indeed, the LC 500 was named ‘best for luxury’ in the convertible category at the latest What Car? Awards, thanks to its impressive blend of comfort, refinement and performance. It also comes with a beautiful interior and a sensational-sounding V8 engine, making its £108,395 price tag look like rather good value when you consider that it’s around £40,000 less than the equivalent SL55.
DRIVING
Performance, ride, handling, refinement
Both cars are powered by V8 petrol engines, but the LC’s is more old-school, with a larger capacity (5.0 litres) and no turbochargers, while the SL’s 4.0-litre unit is boosted by twin turbos, giving it a power output of 469bhp to its rival’s 457bhp. Those numbers might sound quite close, but because the SL has the benefit of a clever launch control system and an inbuilt traction advantage courtesy of its four-wheel drive system, it decimates the LC in a drag race. The SL can storm from 0-60mph in just 3.7sec – a whole 1.4sec q
