The last time Mercedes introduced a new SL roadster, for the 2020 model year, it carried a $91,995 entry price.
For 2022, Mercedes has a significantly more exciting car on the way. The 2022 AMG SL 55 is faster on a straightaway, quicker around corners, and better looking. It’s a rival to topless versions of the Porsche 911 in a way its predecessor wasn’t — and it carries a much higher price tag.
The 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL 55 starts at $137,400, plus a $1,050 delivery fee. A step up to the SL 63 means a $178,100 starting price plus that delivery fee. The SL arrives in dealerships “this summer,” Mercedes says.
A Wildly Different Car
The old SL was a Mercedes with an optional step up to an AMG model. The new SL is only available as an AMG. That means Mercedes simply gave its high-performance division the job of designing the SL in the first place, rather than waiting for Mercedes’ luxury division to design it and then trying to put it on steroids to build a faster edition.
The old standard engine was a twin-turbo V6 making 362 horsepower. Now, the weaker option is a twin-turbo V8 making 469, found in the SL 55. The SL 63 gets a 577-horsepower powerplant.
Both send power through a 9-speed automatic transmission to a 4Matic+ all-wheel-drive system that can send as much power as necessary to each wheel. This marks the first time in the SL’s 70-year history that it uses all-wheel drive vs. the traditional rear-wheel-drive setup.
An all-aluminum chassis is 18% stiffer than the last one and lighter. AMG’s Active Ride Control suspension uses hydraulic stabilizers to keep things flat in hard cornering.
Outside, the look is more athletic, with the wheels pushed out to the corners. The heavy power hardtop of the last generation is gone in favor of a classic-looking ragtop that doesn’t upset the handling balance when you put it down over the rear wheels.
But not everything has changed. The 2022 SL still gets a sumptuous cabin that only pretends to have a back seat.
