I completely love my SL550. It is just the perfect car for me personally: a large two-seater with a retractable hard-top and good cargo capacity which can operate in comfortable, luxury GT, closed coupe mode or fast, quasi-sports car, convertible mode.
But the SL is long in the tooth. Mercedes is letting the two-seat retractable hard-top SL die an ignominious death, with the brand new future SL becoming a 2+2 with a soft-top. So the SL has not been updated since 2017. The SL's interior technology is, I think, two full generations old compared to the 2020 S Class series.
On the one hand I like the old-school ergonomics, because I greatly prefer push-buttons and switches over touch-screens and that horrific "L"-shaped touch-sensitive computer mouse thing in the center console of many of the current generation Mercedes cars. On the other hand the archaic user interface can be annoying. For example, entering an address on the navigation system my SL is very cumbersome and not at all user-friendly.
My hope is to purchase in two or three years a 2019 SL63 which gets traded in for a Porsche Taycan or the new 2+2 SL. I think Steve is considering the same strategy, for the same reasons. I like the SL63 even though the last two generations of the car look awkward and dis-jointed and much less sleek and wedge-shaped and pretty than my 2009 SL550.
But by then the current two-seat will be even more behind the times. No one else in the world makes a big two-seater with a retractable hard-top.
The only non-two-seaters which look interesting to me are the Mercedes C63 S Convertible and the not-yet-released BMW M8 Convertible. I looked at the C63 in a Mercedes dealership yesterday but the current generation of sort of oblong egg-shaped Mercedes are not very space-efficient, I think. In other words, unlike the SL, for their size on the outside they are rather small on the inside. Did you know that the SL has more legroom than an S Class?
The current Mercedes C Class, E Class and S Class all look the same to me, just in slightly longer or shorter oblong egg formats. The C63 S Convertible just did not do a lot for me.
So today I decided to stop off at a BMW dealership and test drive a brand new 840i Coupe. Last year I test drove an M6. I found it big and ponderous, like someone bolted a big external after-market car body onto a fully-functioning sports car. The visibility was poor (compared to the SL). I just did not care for it.
I think the new 8 Series is much better than the 6 Series. Based on the 840i I think the M8 Convertible is going to be a pretty great car.
In person the 8 Series looks better than it does in photos. In person it looks a bit smaller and smoother and sleeker than it looks in photos.
The forward and rear visibility of the 840i is still not as good as the visibility from the SL because the BMW has a higher belt-line. The SL is lower to the ground, but the belt-line is lower, and I just see more glass all around me in the SL.
This 840i is a brand new generation design, and it is very tech-y, which I did not necessarily care for. Engaging the transmission into Drive requires pushing a little plastic button on the left side of a piteously small shift lever protrusion covered in fancy-looking clear plastic (or was that glass?). Even the current SL63 replaced by SL's full-size automatic transmission shift lever with one of those truncated little lever sticks.
Engaging the parking brake on the 840i requires gently pushing another small plastic button. I mush prefer to mash down a proper rubber-pedal emergency brake with my left foot!
Some of the parts in the car were way too cheap looking and feeling for an 8 Series -- the thin plastic turn-signal stalk must have come right out of an entry-level Mini.
The engine was quiet compared even to my SL. I am sure the 8 cylinder engine in the M8 will properly make its presence known. (In the SL63 the engine reminds you constantly that it is on and ready to rock.)
The car did not feel as heavy as it is, which was a pleasant surprise. But I found the steering wheel to be way too light, with no "feel" at all.
Overall, I think the 8 Series will be a well-regarded line of automobiles. I think I would enjoy the M8 Convertible (even if it is a soft-top).
But I still want that low mileage 2019 SL63!
But the SL is long in the tooth. Mercedes is letting the two-seat retractable hard-top SL die an ignominious death, with the brand new future SL becoming a 2+2 with a soft-top. So the SL has not been updated since 2017. The SL's interior technology is, I think, two full generations old compared to the 2020 S Class series.
On the one hand I like the old-school ergonomics, because I greatly prefer push-buttons and switches over touch-screens and that horrific "L"-shaped touch-sensitive computer mouse thing in the center console of many of the current generation Mercedes cars. On the other hand the archaic user interface can be annoying. For example, entering an address on the navigation system my SL is very cumbersome and not at all user-friendly.
My hope is to purchase in two or three years a 2019 SL63 which gets traded in for a Porsche Taycan or the new 2+2 SL. I think Steve is considering the same strategy, for the same reasons. I like the SL63 even though the last two generations of the car look awkward and dis-jointed and much less sleek and wedge-shaped and pretty than my 2009 SL550.
But by then the current two-seat will be even more behind the times. No one else in the world makes a big two-seater with a retractable hard-top.
The only non-two-seaters which look interesting to me are the Mercedes C63 S Convertible and the not-yet-released BMW M8 Convertible. I looked at the C63 in a Mercedes dealership yesterday but the current generation of sort of oblong egg-shaped Mercedes are not very space-efficient, I think. In other words, unlike the SL, for their size on the outside they are rather small on the inside. Did you know that the SL has more legroom than an S Class?
The current Mercedes C Class, E Class and S Class all look the same to me, just in slightly longer or shorter oblong egg formats. The C63 S Convertible just did not do a lot for me.
So today I decided to stop off at a BMW dealership and test drive a brand new 840i Coupe. Last year I test drove an M6. I found it big and ponderous, like someone bolted a big external after-market car body onto a fully-functioning sports car. The visibility was poor (compared to the SL). I just did not care for it.
I think the new 8 Series is much better than the 6 Series. Based on the 840i I think the M8 Convertible is going to be a pretty great car.
In person the 8 Series looks better than it does in photos. In person it looks a bit smaller and smoother and sleeker than it looks in photos.
The forward and rear visibility of the 840i is still not as good as the visibility from the SL because the BMW has a higher belt-line. The SL is lower to the ground, but the belt-line is lower, and I just see more glass all around me in the SL.
This 840i is a brand new generation design, and it is very tech-y, which I did not necessarily care for. Engaging the transmission into Drive requires pushing a little plastic button on the left side of a piteously small shift lever protrusion covered in fancy-looking clear plastic (or was that glass?). Even the current SL63 replaced by SL's full-size automatic transmission shift lever with one of those truncated little lever sticks.
Engaging the parking brake on the 840i requires gently pushing another small plastic button. I mush prefer to mash down a proper rubber-pedal emergency brake with my left foot!
Some of the parts in the car were way too cheap looking and feeling for an 8 Series -- the thin plastic turn-signal stalk must have come right out of an entry-level Mini.
The engine was quiet compared even to my SL. I am sure the 8 cylinder engine in the M8 will properly make its presence known. (In the SL63 the engine reminds you constantly that it is on and ready to rock.)
The car did not feel as heavy as it is, which was a pleasant surprise. But I found the steering wheel to be way too light, with no "feel" at all.
Overall, I think the 8 Series will be a well-regarded line of automobiles. I think I would enjoy the M8 Convertible (even if it is a soft-top).
But I still want that low mileage 2019 SL63!
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