Früher Sportcars and serial winner, then endurance runner and bestseller for the sun-hungry crowd, is that Mercedes SL degenerated into a pensioner's car in the last generation. That's why AMG must now run and dust off the successor vigorously. A first ride in the Eifel is encouraging.
For this job, Jochen Hermann has to dress warmly. At least this morning. Because there is not much left of summer in the Eifel, and the technical director of the Mercedes offshoot AMG would much rather sit enthroned on the well-tempered massage chairs of a GLE 63 or, if necessary, indulge in an EQS 53 while walking around through the early morning mist pokes around the Nürburgring.
Visually spruced up
Instead, the engineer sits behind the wheel of the new Mercedes SL and puts the finishing touches to the roadster around the ring: “After more than three years of development, we've made 99 percent of the way, now we're fine-tuning the last percent before we get to Bremen Turn on the straps and officially pull the cloth in autumn, ”says Hermann and drives his only slightly camouflaged prototype through the hilly landscape. Long hood, narrow muzzle, short tail and in between, finally, a tightly cut cloth cap instead of a plastic helmet - with such proportions there is not much to hide anyway.
It is true that he holds the steering wheel loosely with one hand during his brisk ride around the ring, does not have to make a lot of corrections and could even put his arm on the parapet with the roof open, if it wasn't even lousy cold. And the roadster gently smacks over the manhole cover and frost cracks. But Hermann leaves no doubt that the SL has gone from gliding back to being a fighter and has returned to its roots as a sports car: "It was not for nothing that AMG took on responsibility for development for the first time."
Of course, the roadster remains a luxury model with all the necessary comfort, and of course he doesn't want to mess with the AMG GT. For that reason alone, you sit in the middle of the car and not directly on the rear axle. But the times of an almost baroque sedate seem to be over for good.
And you shouldn't be fooled by the two jump seats in the rear, as you last saw them on the SL of the R129 generation, just as you shouldn't be fooled by the digital cockpit landscape, which suggests a close proximity to the S-Class: Hermann hardly presses the inside Steering wheel integrated switch for the driving profile and step on the gas, the SL tenses the muscles, sharpens the senses and brings the blood up to temperature even on this cold morning, that's how fast things suddenly move forward. Hermann prefers to grip the steering wheel with both hands again.
The most powerful engine with over 600 hp
The driving force is a motor that reveals itself with the first throttle. Because even if Hermann does not want to say a word about the drive and the rediscovered fabric roof is still so well insulated, the SL can hardly hide its V8, so distinctive is its grumbling and rumbling - only the embarrassing misfires are caused by the 4,0 liter engine apparently withdrawn.
In addition to this standard engine with an estimated 650 hp, there will be reportedly one or two in-line six-cylinders on both sides of 400 hp. Later, a plug-in hybrid such as the more than 800 PS strong power pack from the four-door AMG GT and probably also a fully electric version are to be expected, while Hermann rejects the V12, which the particularly rich and beautiful are happy to accept . Too heavy, too thirsty and on top of that too big, he referred the most powerful of all SL engines to the museum.
Hermann had to shiver for a few more weeks and drive the roadster round and round through the Eifel. Then it's over with the secrecy and the voting drives, the premiere is celebrated and by spring at the latest he can hang the thick jacket in the closet and openly start the new convertible season with a credible, possibly even authentic SL. And if the AMG troop have done their job well, then the makers of cars such as an eighth BMW, a Porsche 911 or an Aston Martin Vantage can warm up instead. Even when it's finally summer again. Or maybe because of that.
