Mercedes-Benz SL review

Prices start at £108,250 for the SL 43 in Premium trim, which is exactly the same as the SL 43 Touring (a different, more relaxed, trim style). It's bruisingly expensive but at least it's well-equipped: Airscarf and heated, cooled electric seats, 20-inch wheels, wireless phone charging, Burmester surround sound system, plus that tilting central screen. 

Then there’s the SL 43 Premium Plus and Touring Plus twins (the same car, more kit including massage seats, heated wheel and HUD), both for £117,250.

Once you’re into the V8/4Matic all-wheel drive arena, you’re looking at £147,855 for the SL55 Premium Plus and Touring Plus (the only grades), before jumping to £172,105 for the SL63 Premium Plus and then the SL63 Ultimate for £179,605. It's hard to imagine Mercedes's justification for the steepness of that price walk.

The E Performance hybrid almost looks like good value after that, with an extra £10k or so getting you an additional 228bhp. That car also comes with carbon ceramic brakes and forged 21-inch wheels as standard, with the Premium Plus trim starting at £190,845 and the fully loaded Ultimate at 
£198,345. Yep, it’s a £200k SL. And Merc will still make you pay up to £6,300 extra for its fancy exterior paint colours. Ouch.

Pretty much every model is well-equipped and state-of-the-art in standard form, but as ever many tempting cosmetic options are there to personalise the experience and bolster the Mercedes coffers. It all depends on how much chintz you want to add. Even so, the extent of personalisation pales beside a Porsche 911, where you could lose a whole day to the configurator.

What about, er, the practical side?

Considering the substantial outlay, we're not surprised you're asking the running costs question. It's a WLTP economy of 30.8mpg for the basic 43 RWD which drops to 30.1mpg for the Premium Plus and Touring Plus versions, presumably because they’re a little more laden with kit.

The SL55 and SL63 apparently both manage an official figure of 21.1mpg, which either reflects well on the ’55 or badly on the SL63 depending on which way you look at it; neither will see more than 20mpg in the real world. TG registered a maximum of 16mpg on a cold winter’s day, but that was all relatively restrained road driving: these are not going to be cars for those counting the pennies.

The hybrid isn’t one of those PHEVs that can run on EV power alone all day either, so even that only manages 36.7mpg on the combined WLTP cycle. In real world driving, we saw between 20 and 30mpg. Not terrible.