The Driving Woman

When I left freezing NYC for sunny Santa Monica, California this week my family was already jealous. But they didn’t know the half of it. I was in sunny So Cal to drive the 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL series on routes that make you feel like singing arias, my family was not happy. They were deeply jealous and I can’t blame them. The experience of driving both the SL 550 and the SL 65 AMG was none other than spiritual.

Let me start with the SL 550, the roadster with a seven-speed  V8  engine putting out  382 hp and 391 lb.ft of torque with a 0-60 of 5.3 seconds. There is something about the way that the horsepower and the torque match up, the car is so superbly engineered that driving the SL550 feels something akin to yoga. It is perfectly balanced. For me, that means that I could see having this as my every day car. It didn’t roar and spit fire when I put my foot on the gas, it never made me feel uncomfortable like it might buck me, the SL let me take charge but took good care of me. Do you understand that feeling?

Some top features:

Exquisite Sound System: My SL 550 came equipped with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound with 10 speakers (510 watt output), a slot for music memory cards and Bluetooth interface. That all translates to the fact that one can hear music with the top down while travelling at fast speeds, you can download up to 4 GB of music to a memory card and slide it into the sound system and cell phone use is hands free.

AIRSCARF: OK, I had imagined a Givenchy scarf, color-coordinated to the car coming out of the sides of the head rest. But this is a better version. Another first from Mercedes, AIRSCARF is a heating system built into the driver and passenger seat headrests.  At the touch of a button, warm air flows from vents in the head restraints, acting as an invisible scarf around the head and neck.

Hardtop Poetics: At another push of a button, the retractable hardtop can be opened or closed in just 16 quiet seconds, transforming the car from a weather-tight coupe to a drop top. The folding design allows for a surprisingly large cargo area of 7.2 cubic feet when the top is down.  With the top up, the trunk holds 10.2 cubic feet. 

Any complaints?  Small potatoes. Someone did say that they thought that they thought that the white color was too flat, not masculine enough. And yes, we all had problems with the navigation system. It needs to go to rehab. The talking system could not seem to recalculate directions if you took a wrong turn. The new generation SL Roadster is going on my list of favorites. Coming next…my day with the SL 65 AMG and some talk about Mercedes Direct-Steer system.