Mercedes-Benz SL500 (V8)

The SL 500 is in the middle of Mercedes’ three-car SL range. There are the “entry level” six-cylinder SL320, the V-8 SL500, and the V-12 SL600. All have basically identical interiors and equipment except for the engines. In addition,. Mercedes-Benz has added a “sport” styling package to the line that includes special wheels, air dams, side body cladding and badging.

The 5.0-liter V-8 engine in the SL500 is rated at 315 horsepower. It drives the rear wheels through a five-speed automatic gearbox. That five-speed gearbox is exceedingly smooth. You can barely feel the shifts, even on hard acceleration and when you tromp down on the pedal. You can feel it downshift when you floor the accelerator and hit a passing gear. It is as close to a CVT or continuously variable transmission as you’re going to find with gears.

Seating is for two. The two seats are deep buckets with plenty of side support. And you need that side support because the SL500 handles extremely well. Besides great straightaway speed, it has great cornering speed as well. The front suspension is by struts, lower control arms, coil springs and a stabilizer bar, with anti-dive geometry and negative offset steering. In the rear is Mercedes’ five-link design with coil springs, gas shocks and a stabilizer bar with anti-squat and anti-lift geometry. The SL500 handled every corner I took at every speed I took with great ease. Granted, I didn’t posh the car as much as I could have (I was intimidated by the sticker), but I believe it was up to anything I could throw at it.

Of course, being a Mercedes-Benz, the SL500 has all the goodies: power seats, power windows, power door locks, an excellent sound system, good automatic heating/cooling system, dual air bags, and a marvelous power top.

The top in the SL has always fascinated me. This is the second or third time I’ve had an opportunity to drive an SL. There’s a little red plastic button in the center of the console, and all you have to do is move that button to make the top go up or down. On the way down, the first thing that happens is the windows roll down. The hatch opens in the back and the top releases at the top of the window frame. After the rear window folds up, the top drops back into the compartment behind the rear seat and the hatch closes over it. If you keep you finger on the switch, the windows go back up.

In addition to the air bags and ABS for safety, the SL 500 also has Mercedes’ antiskid protection that not only gives you traction control in a straight line, it also controls wheel spin when cornering so there is less chance of spinning the car.