Mercedes-Benz SL 63 2008 Review

Nothing clears the senses more quickly in the grip of winter than a top-down, mountain blast in a Mercedes-Benz SL 63 AMG. Finally, this 6208cc V8 has arrived on the big SL roadster, three years after it debuted and started trickling through the Benz family.

The SL is the last port of call and its arrival coincides with the upgrades for the rest of the SL family. Along with a heavy revision of the 3.5-litre V6 in the SL 350, the 63 AMG stands as the biggest development in the facelift story.

The SL 63 AMG offers mind-boggling performance, all of which is usable in a package that makes it simple to drive on the limit.

You find yourself having to have a bit of a reality check midway through a drive. It's far too easy to slip into tarmac rally mode and forget there are speed limits to observe and cars coming around the corners ahead.

All too easy to let the 63 have its head and charge around at full noise.

Get it on a track and the SL 63 AMG gets you from corner to corner in a blink.

It joins up the dots between corners with ridiculous pace, never nervous with its electronic safety systems working delicately behind the scenes and not impinging on the fun factor. Cornering grip and balance is superb.

On the edge, there is a hint of protest from the front tyres before it bites and steers with authority after a mild adjustment of the throttle.

There is an infectious rumble from the magnificent V8 soundtrack that intensifies as it bounces off walls and hillsides. Lift the revs for a sprint along a straight then change down several gears into a turn, blipping along the way, and the amplification of the exhaust note gives up its thoroughbred AMG roots.

A race-start function, similar to BMW's launch control, can be programmed through an elaborate series of steps. The steering wheel must be at the straight ahead, ESP set to sport mode, select the race-start setting which is included on the switch that selects four driving modes and you are set for launch. With a press of the right-hand steering wheel paddle confirming your intentions, you then squash the throttle and the revs are automatically programmed to reach between 4000-4500 rpm.

Then let the brake go and you fire off the line with the precision of a veteran racer. The race-start function automatically cancels once you hit 50km/h, which occurs in a blink of the eye.

There is a protection facility built into the program so that if multiple attempts are made you can't program the race-start until the system determines it is safe to do so. Adjustable dampers and different driving modes tailor the 63 AMG for all situations and environments while an AMG button can short-circuit the steps you need to take by storing your favourite settings a bit like seat-position memory.

The SL 350 benefits from a substantial engine tweak that gives it more power and torque and a fruity note when it revs out to 7200rpm.

In fact the performance of this V6 is mightily close to the 5.5-litre V8-powered SL 500.

The gap between these two has closed considerably and unless you want to be judged by the size of the engine you drive, it is hard to overlook the V6 in terms of bang for your bucks, especially when you take a look at the sticker price difference. The 350 is a particularly stirring drive and for $223,000 it really threatens to cannibalise the $306,000 SL 500.

In the smaller SLK body, the 350 is also a rousing drive _ with the same engine that has a smidgen less power. The SLK 350 ($112,380 for the six-speed manual) also benefits from the direct-steer improvements, with a smoother more refined feel than the SL _ which is off a much older platform.

A revelation of the SLK bunch is the entry 200k Kompressor that has more refinement and offers prodigious performance for a four-pot engine. Aided by a supercharger, the200k might be the baby of the bunch but it is far from a pushover. It is a neat little package with a blissfully flexible little engine, tailored to go harder yet maintain reasonable fuel performance with a combined city/highway figure of 8-litres per 100km.