"Designo Magno Kashmir."

I see the word "Magnet" in there. Shouldn't this car be yellow?

A "Big Ingy" is worth about six sets of Michelin Pilot Sport Cups, you know - and while the people who drive the SL may be odious, the car itself is really a nice way to circle a road course.

I just cant like Merc SL's,just knowing if Dallas was still on tv,Bobby Ewing would drive one.Probably still wearing a cowboy hat,so wrong.

Nice review, Clarkson...

"Confirming that all Mercedes SL63s are driven by middle-aged men with inferiority complexes and shiny foreheads......."

Hey that's me you're talking about! It may true to a certain extent, but my manhood remains intact. The medications are working wonders.

To the untrained eye, this is just another Mercedes SL (fast in it's own right), but it's not. This is a super-car in plain clothes. Most people don't bat an eye at this thing when it drives by. In 5 years, the yuppies will have left these cars high and dry like last generation M5s. They'll be ripe for the picking and badge replacement to attain some serious sleeper capabilities in a car.

Liking the front fascia; design and color clearly inspired by the Mitsuoka Orochi.

"...and put the IWC Grosser Ingenieur watch it comes with up on eBay to fund some stickier tires."

Funny, I would do just the opposite. Buy the combo to sell the car and fund a few extra watch straps for the IWC. Everybody has their priorities.

In spite of all the baggage SLs carry, I can't help but like them. That said, this story would have been much more interesting if it was "Designo Mango Kashmir", which is what I thought it said. I've never seen one that wasn't black, white, or silver.

consider me a middle-aged man with an inferiority complex and shiny forehead then, this thing is HOT. never was a MB fan until i saw one of these in SF over the weekend.

@daily dwayne: Despite being young and having a full head of hair, I also think the new SL is hot, and I haven't even seen one in person yet.

I probably won't until the owner of my company wrecks his AMG CL (which replaces an AMG CLS that he wrecked).

@Paul Y. is Going Dumb at the Sideshow: weird though, b/c apparently it's not available yet..or is it? I'm confused, it was def the single bar grill, those headlights..it was THAT car (minus the special edition or whatever). would go along with the Audi Q7 diesel (w/ manuf. plates) that I saw in SF as well.

Maybe a few more tailpipes--seriously, the fistful they have now is awesome.
@layabout: Wow, did you have a bad Dallas experience or what?!

@daily dwayne: Maybe Steve Jobs traded in his SL55 for his own "special edition" SL63.

Not that his celebrity would get him any favors or anything...

@Novaload: The tailpipes, like the pudge'd baby boomers that drive these things, abide by first rule of assholes: safety in numbers.

This car looks kinda horrible. I miss the old SL. Maybe it looks better in person. Hmm...

It's nice, I like it, but I don't WANT it. It doesn't fill a "car guy" niche that I can locate.

It's not a purebred performance car; too many compromises here and there for that. Hard top. Heavy. Designed for luxury, not performance, then a performance engine stuffed inside. I see no references to AMG upgrading the traction-control system, so I expect most of the time you'll have the same problem as the E65 I drove last year: tons of power, but no way to use it. The TC kept telling me, every time I wanted to see what kind of power it had, "Das Ist Verboten!". So you'd turn it off, and just as you're about to have fun, it would come back on and spoil it. (Yes, I know Mercedes has a real "off" switch now. That's not what it needs, it needs a traction control system that helps instead of meddling.)

Reminds me of a girl I knew back in college. Hot as hell, and, I thought, seemed to like me. (Good looks and bad taste, that's my kinda girl!) After a night of grinding on the dancefloor, we rushed back to her place and were starting to steam up the windows in the apartment. I almost had her bra undone when she stopped me and said, "What kind of girl do you think I am?"

The fact that I'm undoing your bra should give you a pretty good idea of what kind of girl I think you are. If you're not, I wish I had known that a few hours ago, I would have found a girl who IS.

This car is like that girl. Exotic and fucking hot, whether you say it is or not. Like that girl, a lot of guys say they wouldn't want to drive it, but it's bullshit. You do, you just know you'll never get to, and you're making yourself feel better. And yet, should that magical experience ever come up, should you have the opportunity... just like that girl... you're just not going to leave satisfied.

Oh... and will probably end up with a rich old guy who doesn't know what to do with it.

@Novaload: Still having flashbacks & cold sweats when i hear the theme tune.

@drewdrawsPooh: it might have been a SL550 or 600 or whatever the "commoners" model is. either way i dig it. Jobs really drives a Benz? I would put him in something extremely over the top, or completely practical...not in an SL