Category: Convertibles 
Price Range: £59,975 to £153,050
Style, quality, convenience of roof, engineering, performance, handling, refinement
Not much. Smallish boot roof-down, less dramatic than some rivals
Everything you'd expect a flagship Benz to be - and it's fun to drive provided it has the adaptive suspension
Short of having a Turkish masseuse on hand, it's hard to imagine how you could be more comfortable, not least because, amazingly, the seats can optionally muster a favourable imitation of a masseuse, the lower backrest cushion oscillating on demand. Backrest and under-thigh support is also adjustable. Occupants enjoy individual air-conditioning controls and ride quality that, most of the time, is quite superb. Roof down, the SL is remarkably buffet-free with the side windows and windstop erect; roof up, the cabin is as tranquil as a limousine's. The conventional suspension of the base SL350 also gives a good ride, but it can't compare with the adaptive suspension's amazing ability to smother bumps while staying flat in corners. The SL is a two-seater, and on that basis we judge its interior space superb, and usefully improved over the last model, particularly for legroom. There's a shelf behind the seats for luggage, as well as smalll lockers and door bins, and a glovebox up front. Annoyingly, there are no surfaces on which to place a mobile phone, although the Benz can be had with a built-in dog-and-bone. More seriously, owing to the intrusion of the folding roof, boot space is not as generous as is often required by those who buy this kind of car - likely to be Men and Women Who Shop. The eight-speaker stereo has more than enough power to be heard at high speed and with the hood down, but for those who like cruising in the hood, there's a Bose system that adds two speakers and a 100watt sub-woofer. The SL can also be optionally fitted with Comand, which combines the radio, CD player, TV screen, navigation and communications systems into one unit. Voice control is also an option.
