Reviews: 2003 Mercedes SL500
2003 Mercedes Benz SL500
Base price: $85,990
Price as tested: $101,105
EPA mileage: city/ highway: 15/22
By Des Toups
Like its predecessor, the Mercedes Benz SL500 is destined to become a
cliché, a rolling backdrop for rap videos and second marriages, but forget
that for now. Mercedes waited 20 years to redo the ultimate
I-Got-Mine-mobile (ultimate because it suggests the presence of an equally
expensive sedan in the other half of the garage), and it is well nigh perfect.
Of course, for the price, it should be. This is what a $101,000 buys
you: a two-seater that goes from hardtop to convertible in 20 seconds. An
engine that propels you to 60 in six seconds. A chassis that corners at
suicidal speeds with no drama. Seats that warm you and cool you and massage
you. Cruise control that’s better at gauging traffic than you are.
For all the toys beneath the skin, though, it will be the SL500’s
reason-warping looks that part the rich folks from their cash. Given the
assignment of bringing a luxury icon into the 21st century, Mercedes
stylists outdid themselves. This sensual mix of curves manages to convey
power and prestige and tradition without being in any way retro or a
caricature. You have only to look at the lumpy Lexus SC430 to see how wrong
an effort like this can go.
Unlike most convertibles, the SL500 looks just as good with the top up,
looking for all the world as if it were designed a slim-pillared coupe. The
fully automatic top retracts in a traffic-stopping display of Rube Goldberg
complexity: The rear-hinged decklid yawns as the roof folds in half, then
disappears. There’s enough space left in the trunk for a weekend’s worth of
soft-sided luggage.
Beyond its stunning lines, the payoff for this huge investment is a luxury
convertible that doesn't drive like a luxury car or a convertible.
The two-ton SL500 can keep up with serious company. Its engine, a smooth
5-liter V-8 producing 302 horsepower, is used in many Mercedes lines but to
particularly good advantage here: The exhaust note is particularly
appealing, and a slick, five-speed automatic is aggressively geared (at
least in Sport mode) to keep power on tap. Though the SL500 may not be as
quick as some more sporting convertibles, such as a Porsche 911 cabriolet,
its capabilities are far easier to put to work in daily driving. The
automatic can be up- and downshifted like a manual, for twisty roads or
long descents, but it’s smart enough left on its own to downshift coming
out of a slow turn.
What turns the SL500 into a sports car is its Active Body Control, which
uses computer-controlled shocks and springs that all but eliminate body
lean. That encourages more aggressive behavior in which the SL500 is a
willing accomplice, right up until its stability control system (which
compares how the driver is steering with what the tires are actually doing)
shuts down the fun, usually when the back end threatens to come around.
Either system can be switched off if you’re in need of a bigger adrenaline
jolt.
What keeps the SL500's athleticism from feeling tacked on rather than
baked in is its exquisitely rigid body, which doesn't discernibly quiver or
squeak. Drive most convertibles on a rough road and you'll see the rearview
mirror vibrate, hear the doors shudder in their openings, feel the steering
wheel shake in your hands. The Mercedes -- top up, top down -- feels as
tight as a coupe.
This is a low-slung machine, six inches or so shorter than a typical
sedan, but seating is equally low, offering decent headroom for six footers
with the top up (and, of course, infinite headroom with the top down).
There’s hidden space for cell phones and road maps in the doors, the
console and under the seats. Behind the seats there’s a couple more hidden
compartments, space for a Barney’s bag or two and a wind blocker that makes
the cabin more hair friendly on top-down days.
Anybody who’s driven a Mercedes of recent vintage will be familiar with
the look and layout of the interior, though it’s less squared-off than in
the sedans and more lavishly finished. The COMAND system that controls
navigation, stereo, phone and God knows what else is no less frustrating
here. Anybody rich enough to afford the SL500 probably has the brainpower
to unravel its mysteries, given enough time. A week wasn’t enough for me.
My favorite SL500 toy is its $2,950 (shocking, isn’t it?) Distronic cruise
control, which allows the option of cruising at the speed of the car in
front of you. The car in front goes faster, you go faster. It slows down,
you slow down. All you do is enter a maximum speed and a preferred
distance. It’s ideal for fast Interstate commutes as you latch onto
whomever is brave enough to lead the pack, with only a transitory pause as
its radar beam latches onto a new target. Distronic will even hit the
brakes to avoid a slow-moving car, then resume speed all on its own. It’s
simpler than it sounds, and very, very hip.
Almost as hip as the keyless entry system, which truly doesn’t require a
key, only an encoded card carried somewhere on your person. The SL500
senses your arrival and unlocks the doors, allowing you to start the engine
merely by pressing a button.
Someday, perhaps, all cars will have such toys, and if toys were all the
SL500 had to offer, the wisest course would be to wait. But only one
machine looks like this and drives like this, and that should be enough for
anyone lucky enough to have scratch to take a closer look.
Des Toups is a Seattle free-lance writer whose work has appeared in
AutoWorld magazine, The Seattle Times and newspapers nationwide.
