One way or the other we’re already midway by means of 2024, and the automotive world is chugging alongside in the direction of electrification. Just about each automaker provides a number of absolutely electrical and hybrid fashions at this level, however there’s a definite lack of plug-in variations of 1 specific physique fashion: Convertibles. Except for just a few mid-engine supercars, nearly no manufacturers will promote you a convertible with something past a easy 48-volt hybrid system. Mercedes is altering that with the 2025 Mercedes-AMG SL63 S E Efficiency, a plug-in-hybrid roadster with a protracted identify and the efficiency to again it up.
Full disclosure: Mercedes flew me to Stuttgart, Germany to spend just a few days driving the GT63 and SL63 PHEVs and driving alongside within the GT63 Professional. We stayed at some very good accommodations, and Mercedes put me up in a lodge in Amsterdam for 2 nights when the Crowdstrike outage canceled my flight dwelling.
Beneath the pores and skin the SL63 S E Efficiency is mainly equivalent to the GT63 S E Efficiency. (For an much more in-depth tackle this powertrain, learn that evaluate.) It pairs a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 engine over the entrance axle with an electrical motor and battery pack mounted on the rear axle. By itself the engine makes 603 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, 26 hp and 37 lb-ft greater than the usual SL63’s V8. The electrical motor places out 201 hp and 236 lb-ft, with juice offered by the 6.1-kWh battery (of which 4.8 kWh is usable), and the motor can act immediately on the driveshaft to energy all 4 wheels. That 400-volt battery has a direct-cooling system that includes liquid that flows round the entire cells to chill them individually, so the pack is all the time at optimum temperature.
Add up the entire powertrain’s parts and also you’ve acquired a mega 805 horsepower and 1,047 lb-ft of torque. Mercedes estimates the SL63 S E Efficiency will attain 60 mph from a cease in simply 2.8 seconds and go on to a prime pace of 196 mph, making it each the quickest and quickest SL ever made. (These figures are solely 0.1 second and three mph off the GT, too.) It actually feels that fast in apply; launch management is much less brutal than within the gas-only SL, delivering a large surge of torque that by no means lets up. It’s an exceptional powertrain, with fast response and powerful acceleration regardless of the pace or state of affairs.
When the battery is absolutely charged the SL63 S E Efficiency could have an electrical vary of round 8 miles. In a world the place different plug-in hybrids have EV-only ranges of upwards of 40 miles — together with from Mercedes — that sounds low, even after listening to AMG engineers discuss how this powertrain is actually about efficiency, not effectivity. In the actual world, although, the automobile’s vary is way higher.
In Sport mode, however particularly the Sport+ and Race modes, the battery is all the time getting charged up as rapidly as potential utilizing the engine, belt generator and rear axle. The battery may be absolutely replenished in only a few minutes of regular driving, and the sooner you go and more durable you drive, the faster it’ll fill again up. In these performance-oriented drive modes the automobile continues to be utilizing that battery juice and electrical motor to assist the engine in delivering most energy, and but the battery’s cost hardly ever dips.
Twist the drive mode knob into Consolation and the SL makes use of electrical energy for as lengthy and as usually as potential, however it gained’t deplete the battery previous about 25 p.c. Even then, the automobile nonetheless turns off the engine as a lot as it might probably, and the operation is so seamless that I can barely inform when the engine kicks in. There’s an Electrical drive mode too, which retains the engine off till the battery runs out, except you hit the kickdown level within the accelerator at which level the engine will kick in and the automobile routinely switches to Consolation. The electrical motor can produce 94 hp of steady output or the complete 201 hp in peak conditions, which is greater than sufficient for around-town driving, and the SL will attain above 80 mph in Electrical mode.
With the material roof stowed, which takes simply 15 seconds and may be completed at as much as 37 mph, the plug-in-hybrid system provides a complete new dimension to the SL that you simply don’t get within the GT. Snaking by means of quiet cities beneath electrical energy is fantastic. Simply peeved Germans simply see the SL and smile because it silently glides previous; if this had been a traditional SL63, they’d be scowling on the V8’s pointless noise at low speeds, which is doubly embarrassing with the highest down. It begins up silently as properly, utilizing solely battery energy when the automobile is first turned on. As somebody who hardly ever drives with the home windows down not to mention with convertible tops retracted, the EV operation made me really need to drive the SL63 as a convertible. On the great nation roads round Mercedes’ Immendingen take a look at facility, I can higher hear the birds and scent the roses. Having the ability to glide round city silently makes it even higher after I do need to change it into Race mode and produce that beautiful V8 to life.
And man, is it good in Race mode. The plug-in powertrain is tremendous responsive and entertaining to rev out, and the V8 sounds superior, with natural bangs and burbles. The SL’s dealing with is extra playful than the GT’s, notably when accelerating out of a nook the place the automobile is a little more squirrely and happier to kick the tail out a bit. Lively hydraulic suspension with anti-roll stabilization retains the automobile flat by means of corners, and rear-axle steering makes the dealing with extra nimble than its near-5,000-pound weight would recommend.
One draw back with Race mode is that you simply’re restricted to one of many softer regenerative braking settings. In any of the opposite modes, Electrical included, the SL63 provides 4 ranges of regen from none in any respect to one-pedal driving that may almost deliver the automobile to finish cease. (Above 65-percent battery cost the one-pedal mode is disabled, too.) It’s straightforward to get used to the sturdy regen, and the operation is linear even when going quick within the twisties — the transmission will even downshift aggressively when decelerating simply utilizing regen. The regen is mixed in regular driving, however should you actually stomp on the brake pedal the automobile depends on its large carbon-ceramic friction brakes.
I need to give a serious shoutout to the spec of the SL I drove. Since its introduction in 2021 the brand new SL has all the time been accessible in some cool manufacturing facility colours, however now Mercedes’ Manufaktur program provides a bunch of latest colours and fancier inside choices. This one is painted in Eire Mid Inexperienced Magno, a satin-finish shade that’s beautiful within the daylight and made even higher when paired with the entire chrome exterior trim. A Manufaktur inside package deal covers extra surfaces in coloured leather-based, together with the steering wheel, and you may lastly get wooden trim.
When the SL63 S E Efficiency reaches U.S. sellers later this summer time it should begin at $208,150 (together with $1,150 vacation spot), a premium of precisely $20,000 over the conventional SL63. The PHEV is value that improve to me, particularly should you can plug in at dwelling or reside within the metropolis. It doesn’t have a lot competitors, both. A brand new Porsche 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid prices $180,195 (add $7,800 for AWD), although add any choices and that rises quick. The 911 is a extra pure sports activities automobile however with none electric-only vary or plug-in functionality. Maserati’s absolutely electrical GranCabrio Folgore begins at $206,995, and whereas Andy says it’s actually good, it’s a special proposition from the V8-equipped SL.
The most important foil to the SL can be the facelifted Bentley Continental GT Velocity, which has a PHEV setup with a V8 and 50 miles of electrical vary, although it’ll certainly be much more cash when it goes on sale later this. For now, if you need a droptop with an engine up entrance and a few EV vary, the 2025 Mercedes-AMG SL63 S E Efficiency is your automobile. Fortunately it’s a very good one.
