Mercedes-AMG SL63 S E Performance review: a gloriously pointless 805bhp roadster for… who?

Oh dear, another downsized hybrid AMG?

Actually, no. This lunatic proves that AMG’s spirit of building something just for the bloody-minded heck of it is alive and well… even in the electrified age.

Let’s have the context.

In the good old days, AMG built mostly V8-powered sledgehammers. But it knew that for some customers – the sort of people who simply scrolled to the top of the price list and said ‘that one’ – a thunderous V8 wasn’t enough.

For those bottomless bank-accounted one per cent, AMG devised absurd V12 megalodons. The S65, the SL65, the CL65. Enormous cruise ship-engined dinosaurs with enough torque to single-handedly restart the economy of a mediumly developed nation.

But because of CO2 average targets (and turbo V8s catching them up on power) AMG doesn’t do V12s these days. They’re reserved only for a handful of Maybach-scented S-Classes.

So how do you build an unnecessarily fast AMG in 2025?

By taking an SL63 – hardly a car you’re regularly late to work in – and shoving a completely unnecessary electric rocket booster up its bottom. Seriously, someone at AMG decided that beyond the SL55 (the £150k 469bhp V8) and above the SL63 (£180k, 577bhp) there was space for more…

Into that space lands an uprated 604bhp 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8… and a 200bhp electric motor driving the rear wheels via its own two-speed transmission. The e-motor on its own makes this a quick car. Apply a V8 and it’s enough to worry a hypercar.

Numbers?

The hybrid result is 805bhp and 1,047lb ft. A Mercedes SL with the power of a Pagani and enough torque restart MySpace, Woolworths and Manchester United.

Blimey. But that sort of power doesn’t come for free, right?

Compromises? Hmm. Just a few. Just as there were when AMG ended up selling V12 versions of cars that were slower than its V8s, because they were so much heavier and unable to shift gears as quickly.

Squeezing a 4.8kWh battery into a hip-high roadster which is already being forced to contain hydraulically interconnected suspension, four-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering, an electronic folding roof and the world’s most pointless pair of back seats halves the SL’s boot space.

There’s barely enough room for completely redundant charging cables, which are gamely supplied to juice up the eight – yes, 8 miles – of claimed e-range.

Then there’s the weight. The ‘E Performance’ bit of the SL 63 S adds 201 brake horsepower… but you gain 225kg versus the non-hybrid SL63. So you’re adding 1.1kg for every extra horsepower.

Probably all worth it for a clever company car tax dodge?

Mercedes claims 180g/km of CO2 emissions – a whopping 120g/km less than the non-hybrid SL63. But both fall into the top band of company car tax. There’s a £1,500 saving on the registering charge for private buyers… but are many £200,000 drop-top shoppers worried about that?

Besides, the new Bentley Continental GTC will do up to 50 miles of e-running and claims 30g/km. So if you want decadence that dodges the taxman, you’ll be shopping in Crewe, not Affalterbach.

So, um, who’s this car for?

The rich and mad. The range-topper addicts. The SL63 S is a preposterous car, good for 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, just shy of 200mph, and costing almost £200,000. Don’t try to make a rational case for it – it can’t be done. Just be glad that AMG is showing signs of the old wanton power-crazed glory days.

What’s it like?

Too fast for its own good. If it’s damp or cold it’ll spin all four tyres in third gear despite 2.3 tonnes squeezing four-wheel drive into the road. You have nine gears to play with and they’re so short-stacked, you’ll smash head-first into the rev-limiter. Downshifts are too slow, but you’ll learn the workaround: don’t change gear. Just use fourth – it’s still ballistic.

No-one’s bothering to plug in a car that’ll do less than ten miles on a charge, so the V8 has to deal with charging the battery. That means it’ll struggle to breach 20mpg. Still, you’re never without the e-boost and being able to make early morning getaways without waking the V8 (and the neighbourhood) is handy.

AMG fits the ultimate SL with its cross-linked hydraulic damping system as standard. When we first tried this on an early SL it felt numb and out of sorts, as if the car couldn’t decide whether it was trying to be a boulevard wafter or a Nürburgring weapon.

Work must’ve been done here, because it’s now acceptably supple in Comfort mode and doesn’t feel anything like as heavy as it really is when you aim the sharp steering into corners.

Well, not the first time. One bend? Fine. But a sequence has the mass catching back up with the SL’s gadgets, and it feels portly. But should you find yourself in a being-chased-by-ruthless-henchman situation again, the SL will leave a DB12 Volante or Conti GTC panting in its dust.

What about life inside?

It lacks the indulgence of an Aston or Bentley rival, because you sit in a glossy, modernistic cabin with the touchscreen slab from a C-Class. One that tilts electronically to avoid glare when the roof is down, exposing that a touchscreen was a stupid solution for this kind of car. It feels nerdy and austere.

Posh vents, though, and fabulous front seats with Airscarf heaters breathing down your neck.

But I shouldn’t buy one?

Like I said, there’s no justifiable case of this car. It’s too expensive, too heavy, too impractical, too complicated and genuinely too fast for its own good.

But the sheer outrageousness of the power, and the irony that it’s also an SL which whispers through traffic in silence, makes for something that becomes weirdly beguiling the longer you spend together.

As a collision of engineering solutions, it’s a very 21st Century car, with all the current annoyances: the bonging, the haptic buttons, too much piano black and more modes than an airliner. And yet…

Like the old V12 AMGs, this feels like a secret, under-the-counter machine sold to those in the know with a wink. Brain-flexing tech, backed up by a V8 soundtrack so sorely missed from the C63.

While Black Series is on hiatus, this is the most outrageous AMG product made today. And yet (carbuncle charging flap aside) it looks identical to every other SL. That’s very cool indeed – unless you need everyone to know you bought the most expensive one.