2017 Mercedes-Benz SL: We’re Driving it This Week
The Car Guide is on its way to California to drive the 2017 Mercedes-Benz SL on a trip between Los Angeles and San Diego. For Mercedes-Benz, the SL is the flagship model whose design often marked the auto industry. We just have to think of the very first SL, launched in the Fifties, or the Pagoda versions that appeared in the Seventies to realize it.
The 2017 edition of the Mercedes-Benz SL gets a facelift, which includes new headlight clusters and, especially, a grille design inspired by the one on the 300SL that won the famous Carrera Panamericana race in 1952. This new visual signature gives more character to the SL, and many other of the brand’s models will eventually share a similar look.
The interior remains pretty much the same as in the outgoing version, but changes have been made underhood. The new nine-speed automatic transmission will be matched to the twin-turbo V6, which now develops 362 horsepower, and to the twin-turbo V8 whose output remains at 449 hp.
The AMG SL 63 and SL 65 variants keep their powertrains, the 5.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 with 577 hp and the 6.0-litre, twin-turbo V12 with 621 hp. Both are still married to the Speedshift seven-speed automatic gearbox. A complete report on our test of the 2017 Mercedes-Benz SL will follow in a few days, so stay tuned.
