The 2013 Mercedes SL is Mercedes Benz’s tribute to the 60 year old SL badge, which was first built entirely from aluminum. But at 60, the SL seems to be growing younger with age as the car’s popularity and appeal has only increased over the years. The SL badge is especially popular with middle-aged people who are coming to terms with their mid-life crisis. They choose the SL over the SLS as they may not want to get any undesired back problems at this age.
The 60 year old SL has been revised all along, but this particular edition looks like the outgoing model. But it in no way means that Benz hasn’t changed anything about the 2013 version. Oh yea! They have changed a lot in this car. While the overall look of the sixth generation SL looks similar to the previous one, there are changes made everywhere if one takes a detailed look.
The most noticeable change on the outside is definitely the eagle-eyed LED daytime running lamps. Just as in the previous version, the twin seater SL Roadster also comes with a power folding rooftop. But this time the foldable roof will come with magic sky control, which is basically a piece of electrochromatic glass with variable opacity, which was first offered on the Mercedes Benz SLK.
As we all know that SL stood for Sport and Lightweight. But off late, not many coupes can be given this description. With the 2013 SL, Mercedes seems to have tried to resurrect that and have given the car an all-aluminum body. As a result the new SL550 is 275 pounds lighter than the previous model.
Under the hood, the 2013 Mercedes Benz SL gets its galloping power from the 4.6 liter twin-turbo V8 engine, which delivers a peak power of 429 HP @5250rpm and a peak torque of 516 lb-ft @1800 rpm. The engine is mated to a seven-speed automatic transmission. With all this power in its feet, the new SL climbs to 60mph from zero in just 4.5 seconds, which the earlier model took 5.2 seconds to reach. The car has a top speed of 130mph.
On the inside, the new generation SL has more space as it is 1.97-inches longer and 2.24-inches wider than the earlier SL. A combination of high-quality leather and wood can be seen on the dashboard. Mercedes will also be offering two unique aluminum trim touchups on the dashboard. The 2013 SL will be equipped with COMAND (Cockpit Management and Data System), which includes Bluetooth connectivity and simpler telephony.
In the market, the 2013 Mercedes Benz SL will be facing competition from the likes of Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Jaguar XK, Porsche 911, and the Maserati GranCabrio.
The car will be put on sale in the US during the spring this year. But in Europe it is already on sale at a base price of 93,534 euros for the SL350 version.
