I understand most of us who have this vehicle are disappointed in many ways. Here's the issue I see happening right now. The more we bash, complain about all the issues it's not solving anything, as a matter of fact it's making it worse. We are not the only ones reading these forums, last week I was thinking about selling this/ trade. One MB dealer said $130k, I would have taken a $55K hit in less than 60 days. In 7 days that offer is now $120K. No one wants these vehicles, they are in stock at dealerships offering 50K off, they still are having a hard time. They troll these forums and they now don't want our vehicles. They actually came right out and told me. " Why would we take your SL when we can't sell our new one's"

This may turn out to be the worst loss of money I've ever been involved in. I think I'm not alone in this but we are making it worse. I understand we need to discuss these issues and I also have bashed this vehicle. I think I'm not going that route any longer. I will ask questions from other owners but I think it's best not to get so mad as we are driving prices even lower. Hopefully by spring things will look better.

 

Honestly, the only thing I'm disappointed in is the depreciation. On the other hand, the depreciation will force me to keep it and perversely save me money as I'm usually in and out of these cars in a year.

 

I personally am glad that everyone has spoken up about their issues. I originally was going to get a ‘22 SL55 but all of the posted issues made me hesitate and in the long run saved me a bunch of headaches and $$$$. Whoever was in charge of the SL redesign should have been fired.

 

I'm heavily leaning toward placing an order for a SL63 Se(or whatever the designation). I'm waiting for the beta testing to end.

I'm not sure "bashing" is the problem. I'd call it disclosure of R232 problems. It's too late to request a cover up to preserve resale values. Perhaps the MB should concentrate on fixing the problems. I bought a 1993 600S in December 1992. A few years down the road the infamous biodegradable wiring appeared. Fast forward 30 years, MB is still in denial there was ever a legitimate problem, although the wiring was updated on newer cars. Instead of a recall, I spent my money on buying new harnesses........this was for a $123K car........that's $269K adjusted for inflation.

I suspect/hope the geniuses in charge will follow a similar CYA strategy. Supplying a CTEK charger (not even installing it) is laughable. This clearly does not solve the battery drain problems. What if you park at an airport for a week???? Can you request MB service to visit your car to charge it before your arrival??? It does seem strange not all cars are affected.

 

No doubt there have been issues. But I love driving the car and it puts a smile on my face every time. I love how it can go into "beast mode" at the flip of a switch and how I am take my favorite onramp/skidpad at 4mph faster than my GTC and 6 mph faster than my GTS. I've had the car for about a year and a half and have no regrets...a few inconveniences yes, a couple of frustrations yes. But damn the car drives nice!

 

I have a 22 SL63 with approx 1,000 miles and have had zero issues….fantastic car…..as I own many cars I keep them all on CTEK etc

 

For decades I owned a company that was the exclusive U.S. importer and distributor of a very fine line of products produced in Germany. I loved the German people I dealt with, but when I had constructive criticism of one of their products, I was dismissed outright with the wave of a hand. They can be the most stubborn folks, unwilling to admit they may have made a mistake. It was just so infuriating and their company suffered for it.

For the brand new 2021 R232 models to have issues, especially with all the new electronics, was unfortunate, but somewhat understandable. For the issues to continue-UNCHECKED—to the 2022 cars was unacceptable. Unfortunately, the same issues carried over to the 2023 models which was absolute idiocy and borderline criminal, to my way of thinking. Anyone want to bet that the 2024’s are the same?

If you are unhappy with your SL, keep taking it back to the dealer, keep complaining to MBUSA, play the “Lemon Law Game” and get them to BUY IT BACK! You will come out whole and there is no better way to draw attention to the issues infecting these cars.

 

There are only a few people on this forum on this section anyway. Only owners with problems usually write down. Like always, happy people don’t research or go looking on forums for “how to fix…”.
I have the car for 6 months, drove it like 7000km-5000 miles and I am quite happy with it. Minor perks always happen with new cars, but nothing serios. I already ordered the E-Performance version, I should get it in about 2-3 months. The battery-v8 combination is nothing new, it’s already on the 4 doors GT for more than a year now. C-class.Also on the s class which I drove (my brothers car) and is surprisingly fast compared to the previous S63. So that little electric motor does wonders, in my opinion every car should have an assisted motor. That is the only thing that I would change on the SL63. It’s a little slow to change gears sometimes, compared to the electric assisted cars with similar transmission

 

Sometimes these message boards are known as "*itch boards"😎

 

I don't understand the thing with the loss of money. Isn't this car meant to be a full on toy? I was pretty sure anyone who bought this said "the depreciasion will be whatever it will be".This is like an older iPhone getting cheaper and its makes sense.

 

There aren't 2021 232s.

 

Hi John,

And there exactly is the issue. The SL 63 is a great car, fast, good looking, comfortable. It is almost unfathomable that any Company, let alone MB could have made such a mess of the launch. In the launch year 2022 they held the cars back until very late summer. early fall and then released so many that it drowned the market. The knock-on effects are still felt today. Because they could not sell all the 22 vehicle in a reasonable time period, they held back the 2023. And instead of creating a short run in 2023 to restore balance, no they once again produced too bloody many and we are in the same mess in 2024. As we speak ( January 2024) they have not released MY 24 and if you go to the website you still have to build 2023'2. The net result of all this is an over saturation of the market, pathetic resale values. The debacle with the batteries certainly did not help making potenti9al customers feel uncertain.

So, here we are -- and what by all accounts should be a great success is a pretty big embarrassment for MB and from what I can see not a great sales success either.
I think it is relevant that in the USA we were ( are) being treated like second class citizens with half the the color and interior options available in Germany - the American customer is being taken for granted.
I think it does have to make you think when MB is second to last on the 2023 Consumer Report survey for reliability, just one spot ahead of Chrysler.
However, without doubt at the heart of this entire debacle is the sheer incompetence of the Mercedes Benz Sales, Marketing and Distribution organizations.

And just for the record, I like driving my SL and I have made piece with its idiosyncratic behaviors. However, I really do get sad understanding what " could have and should have been"/

I just happen to come across the Q4 Sales numbers for MB and in the 4th quarter of 2023 they sold half the cars they sold in the Q4 2022. The reason for the full year being up over 2022 are the 1st and 2nd quarter when they had to offload all the 2022's they were sitting on at bargain basement prices.

 

No idea what is going on in corporate but if any company posted these results coupled with the failed reliability ratings heads would roll. Not sure if it's arrogance, incompetence, or both but it's not working. BMW has been selling 2024 models for months and yet MB still has the 2023 SL build tab on its website. Until they are able to get ahead of this, I don't see things getting better for them.

 

By looking at this table all cars are impacted. ALL ICE cars are 50% down on sales. GLS is the big exception. Electric cars are way up.
My point: it’s not about the SL at all!

 

I really would like nothing better than the SL being a raging sales success. I have gone back through all the quarters of 2023 and the following picture emerges:

2022 2023

Q1 2 918
Q2 0 1083
Q3 821 802
Q4 1204 603


Q3/4 2022 were launch quarters, especially q 4 when they flooded the market. I do not believe for one second that electric cars impacted the SL market one bit.

It will be very interesting to see the Q1 Q2 2024 numbers when available.


1

 

Please, all the cars of this tec have electric drain, all the cars, FERRARI PORSCHE MASERSTTI, ALL NEED A STABLE CHARGE IF THE CAR NOT USE, ON THIS FORUM I NOT READ ABOUT THIS OPTION: STAN BY MODE!!!! I USE THIS OPTION WHEN I DONT USE THE CAR FOR MORE THAN 2 WEEKS. THE PROBLEM OF THE VALUE ITS THE MODEL DOESNT IS VALUABLE, I HAVE A 2018 AMG GTR, I PAY IN 2019 149.000 US$, TO THE PRESENT 5 YEARS AFTER THE VALUE IT THE SAME, BUT THE SL's MODELS HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, LOSS MUCH MONEY.

 

Perhaps the MB experts should have designed in a "sleep" mode???? Tossing a charger for the consumer to install is almost funny. The CTEK solution doesn't help if parked at an airport. Maybe it's a clever anti-theft feature
Sales are in the tank for myriad factors. Some questionable design aspects, lack of color options in the USA, and terrible product introduction do not help. Many dealers are frustrated.

As a SL lover/collector, this is probably the last in the line, it was a great 70+ yr run but it's near the end. MB needs to fire lots of the senior management, yesterday.

 

Well, I’ve had 8 SL’s over the years, two used and six new. My feeling is that the R232 is an SL in name only. From 1963 through 2020, the SL was a luxury GT cruiser, and they should have kept it that way. The R232 should have been designed by keeping all the best features of the R231, fixing the areas that needed improvement and making everything about the car better. Instead, MB palmed the design duties off to AMG and we ended up with yet another rocket ship that isn’t great at doing much of anything other than going way too fast. Gone is the marvelous retractable hardtop, gone is the 2-seat configuration, gone is the luxurious interior, gone is the retractable wind screen and we are left with something that looks way too much like an AMG GTC and that can’t be left for a few minutes with the doors open or the car goes dead—and it’s been that way for MY21, MY22 & MY23. The folks in Stuttgart should be ashamed of themselves.

I’ve lost all faith in the MB brand as it is currently being offered and for the first time in many decades, there is not one new MB I have any interest in owning.

 

You have made your disdain for the R232 clear in innumerable posts (as well as all recent MBs). The SL has sold poorly in recent iterations and instead of trying to appeal to the same elderly demographic MB chose to produce a car intended to attract a new buyer (it worked for me, although elderly also applies in my case.)

Did they fail? Arguably. But you contend that inherently a folding hardtop is a better solution than a well-designed soft top. That is debatable. I much prefer the soft top in my SL to the retractable hard top on my Ferrari Portofino: it weighs less, lowers the center of gravity, and to me improves the lines of the car. A powered windscreen is a non-issue; I keep mine affixed and can flip it up or down in seconds by simply reaching behind me. Although I would prefer a two seat configuration, that’s hardly a dealbreaker. It hasn’t hurt Porsche. And with all due respect, nearly every review I’ve read of the new SL talks about how it is a MUCH prettier car than its predecessor. I don’t think putting some wood in the interior makes the R231 more luxurious. The R232 is also (IMHO) far superior dynamically.

The introduction was half-baked and some cars certainly have had electric glitches. But for me, the car is beautiful and a blast to drive. It is the only SL I had ever considered buying.

 

Well, you have your opinion and I have mine. That’s what makes the world go ‘round. I’m very happy that you are pleased with your car and wish you many thousands of safe, happy miles.

As for me penning “innumerable posts,” I figure that when an engineering juggernaut like MB allows major defects, that truly inconvenience numerous customers—with the possibility of actually putting their customers in harm’s way—to continue from one model year to the next, they deserve to be called out. Many expected issues with the brand new 2021 cars, but those problems should have been CURED by the time the MY22 cars were released. They were not and were even allowed to remain in the MY23 cars, which to my way of thinking is absolutely ridiculous and shows a disdain for their customers. Anyone taking bets that the 2024 models will remain infected? Mercedes-Benz: Das Beste Oder Nichts!

 

Once again, this model came out for MY2022, 2021 doesn't have a model year on the SL.

As an aside there's no problem when you share your opinion but it isn't always best when you write it as an absolute rather then a person idea, I just warn you against overblowing your calling out of MB. I worry abouut some of your credibility being taken away.

 

You make good points, thank you. And, of course, my comments on the electronics/tech issues are based on what I experienced with my 2022 S580, not with an R232. MB knew of the issues with the 2021 S Class, but allowed them to carry over into the new SL. Two of their highest end products and they couldn't get them right and have still not fixed the problems, since 2021 and here we are in 2024. This is unacceptable, wouldn't you agree?

 

I only yesterday figured out how to rest the tripometer.
I didn’t see any other tripometers, and if there aren’t any more, it would have been a nice feature.
I would love to track miles since fill up on one, and total trip length on the other.

 

no worries, post this somewhere in the dealership and you will get buyers: https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...-r232-sls.html

 

Easily done. There is the overall trip odometer, a trip computer “since start”, and another “since reset”