What will you buy? Many will know I have been patiently waiting and waiting and waiting to upgrade. Not really happy with an apparent cloth top and 2 plus 2 and if MB once again just offer me the brown dash(will not have black) will have felt I have just wasted years but am loyal to them as its still imo one of the best cars on the market at present for the money. Like Streamliner, I recently saw the Bentley GT. Have been offered a test drive. Considering doing so but its one big car(for just the two of us) and every time I look at the grill I think of chicken wire(you can though have it done in black, the one I saw was silver which just looked ghastly) and I just don't get the excited got to have feeling, and not to mention the cost? Is it worth it?

All I am now looking for these days is an extremely quiet, comfortable, graceful and luxurious ride but the car has to have the lines, curves, sexiness and class. Where does this vehicle exist? Ferrari, love the looks.. love the options to customize but even the latest models don't have the comforts I associate with the SL. Porsche? Never been a fan, just always looked like a wide bodied but stunted car(incoming flack i hear) What else is there? I think many on this board are now at the age where we don't want to or feel the need to constantly track our cars anymore(I used to with all the vettes I have had over the years) so what would you purchase...up to 250K keeping in mind what I am now looking for? I just cant see or find it. Looking for the Ferrari look with the Bentley interior. Anything out there within a reasonable price range without dreaming about a Bugatti:-)))))

Talking about Vettes, the C8 should be seen on the roads starting from the next few months and its looks great value for money but once again, lets see if they let us down with a cheap interior. Can you believe there are people on Ebay asking up to 20K just to get people in line who have previously cancelled their deposits without any guarantee if and when they would receive the car!

 

I'm in the minority - well actually the only one - who's ****ing ecstatic over the new SL. I didn't like the S63, it was too numb. The AMG GT-C is too performance oriented to be practical where I live, and now the SL will be a happy medium between the two. That's an AMAZING compromise for me. As for the dashboard colors, I'm guessing they will be livable in Mercedes' new interior colors, such as those on the A, GLB, and G class.

 

Not with you Keon, not talking about any existing SL models but although you have the new SL(17-18-19) perhaps, I'm referring to whats coming out in the future(2021/2) and if its not received as well as we would hope for?

 

To answer your question, IMO, there isn’t anything else out there. The new Continental is gorgeous, but it’s a rag top, a 2+2 and very expensive. The Ferrari has zero electronic safety systems and is very expensive. I went around and around on this—as so many here know—and there just isn’t anything better, at least for me, than my SL450. If I didn’t have a nearly new R231 right now, I’d be searching for one. I’m sure there are still some very nice ones unspoken for—probably some on the water right now—at probably some pretty good discounts. Why not a 2020? Compared to most everything else out there, they are cheap and pretty wonderful!

 

I'm referring to the 2021/2 SL as well. My SL isn't sporty enough and feels outdated. The new SL will be received well - maybe not by most R231 owners - but by others who previously dismissed the SL as too boaty and old-fashioned. It may not attract R230/1 owners, but it certainly will attract others!

 

Well you have the better of me and now totally confused. I think I know what you are referring to but how on earth can you even make such a statement when you, plus nobody else for that matter has even seen the damn car? Oh well.

 

Why not a 2020 indeed. Well, as we both know the dash colors are still limited which would mean for the third car in a row having the brown dash, plus with the ridiculous depreciation in getting a 2020, if I saw the new version next year and loved it, would naturally want it, but not at the expense of taking a 30% plus hit. Can I wait a year, yes, but just hoping its all they claim its going to be and then again will we see it even in 2021? Regardless am getting the C8, which should keep me hopefully satisfied till then so will just have to be patient.

 

If the retractable hardtop is “old fashioned,” I guess a rag top is new and hip??? I guess that proves the saying that “everything old is new again?” I can’t wait!

 

New luxury cars depreciate—A LOT! They are expensive to own or lease. That said, they are enjoyable and that has value, at least to me. As I said before, compared to other luxury convertibles, the R231’s are cheap, one might even call them a bargain. It costs money to have new, luxury car fun and you can’t get around that. You could, however, buy something that will probably appreciate, like a BMW Z8, but we are talking no warranty and potential headaches.

 

Aston Martin DB11 or the new Vantage?

 

To be fair, that SL soft top was a particularly crappy design, leaving folding marks on the fabric and having the worst plastic windows that would either go blind or crack or both.
Modern soft top designs don't have these flaws but will always be inferior to a hard top other than weight...

 

Ya didn't mention Aston Martin ? New vantage has the AMG motor in it... so there is that Frankly i love the previous vantage... you can get V8 or V12, auto or stick... at 6-2 i fit snug but i fit and its very comfortable, nice ride, intoxicating sounds...

 

Personally I am looking forward to the next SL. I can say the the GT platform is much better than the SL from the drive dynamics stand point.

The engine doesn’t sit over the front axle and the car is very well balanced and agile with its rear wheel steering.
I will miss having a hard top too but I don’t mind having the SL go back to it’s roots being an actual sports car.
Which is what the SL originally stood for. Over the past few decades, the car had become a great seller being a comfortable luxurious convertible instead but that market seems to have more or less vanished.

Being the S-class roadster it will be luxurious as well but I think that sports will come first.

Will there be a brown dashboard? I hope they will have a large large color palette but if not, we plan to get one anyway

In regards time the Vantage roadster, they have definitely improved the look of the front end but the AMG GT is already a faster and better car, so to me there would be little desire to switch.

 

Wolfman, have you heard if there is to be a coupe version of the new SL?

 

Given that the SL takes the place of the S-Class cabriolet, there won’t be a coupe.

The coupe version will be the next AMG GT models. Same platform, different look.

 

How about a Shooting Brake version?

 

That ones comes right after the pickup truck version

 

I could say the same for everyone else on the forum! They dismiss the car even when they, or anyone else for that matter, hasn't even seen the damn car! Oh well.
I want to give the new SL a chance - I'm upset about the soft top too, but the benefits it'll give are worth it! Lets just wait and see what comes with an OPEN MIND

 

If the new 2022 SL looks like the mini Corvette on the Louis Hamilton Video then I wont be a buyer- I have no problem with the soft top- it will be well insulated and small. The faux back seats is fine with me. Just hope the rear diffuser for the passengers is glass not mesh

 

That was an AMG GT model, not an SL model. That was at an AMG development location, not a Mercedes one as AMG does the styling for the GT, while Mercedes does the SL.

 

Just FYI, the new SL is completely developed by AMG, not Mercedes.

 

I hope its not this https://gtspirit.com/2019/11/02/merc...n-promo-video/

Not a fan of the front end at all - but of course this is pretty early stages....and clay.

 

Never mind the wrong article. This car is not the SL as mentioned before.

 

Yet another article:
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/spy-sh...benz/sl-class/

 

Looks like a LWB luxury version of the AMG GT!
Transaxle, 4matic, and "far sportier"
That's perfect!