Test Drive: 2024 Mercedes-AMG SL63 Cruises a Perfect Coast

Now, here’s a perfect car for a cruise on 17 Mile Drive.  The SL63 is Mercedes’ finest drop-top luxury convertible, and I’m on one of the world’s finest coasts with la crème de la crème of automobilia.  It is, of course, Monterey Car Week.

(Call me unappreciative, but I didn’t actually want to drive an SL63.  I asked to drive the GT63 sedan, but it has a wait list, so I’ve been assigned to the less requested SL63.  Boo, hoo…and lucky me?)

I do like the look of the SL63.  Its shape is as polished and powerful as the AMG GT coupes but somehow friendlier without the roof.  And the bright blue paint on this test car is an exquisite sparkling hue could have easily been plucked out of Bora Bora’s otherworldly lagoon.

The inside of the SL63 is familiar: the digital gauge cluster, slanted-screen MBUX infotainment, biplane-spoked AMG steering wheel, and characteristically classy air vents are all shared with other Mercedes like the EQE and AMG GT.  It’s a nice place to sit—these AMG seats are incredibly comfortable and vastly improved from those in older AMG GTs—though having the same interior fixings as other Mercedes makes it feel less unique.

Once I’m comfy in the driver’s seat, I put the car into drive and carefully hit the road.  Slowly, I clear of the Concours Village chaos, then point the SL63’s long nose at Pebble Beach’s rocky coast.

We wind through cypress and pine forests on the way to the iconic seaside.  The route meanders by multi-million dollar mansions and world-renowned golf courses.  I focus on the SL63’s ride quality, road feedback, and engine response.

When I’m driving mildly, the SL63 wants to ease me through the journey.  The seats are cushy and supportive, and the chassis is delightfully free of quakes and quivers.  The SL 63 has good body control in the corners, but the suspension’s top priority is to smooth the occasionally lumpy pavement.  (Tree roots will do that to a road.)  

Although I’m a steering-feel freak and would like otherwise, the SL63’s effortless helm doesn’t trouble me with the details of the road texture or bump impacts.  C’est la vie!  The rear axle steering helps me around the tightest intersections.

The brawny V8 is Mercedes’ familiar M177.  The twin-turbo 4.0L lug is happy to perambulate at low rpm, and the 9-speed transmission’s shifts are imperceivable.  Together, the engine and transmission whoosh me towards the shoreline with an effortless shove.  

While this V8 is familiar from my recent AMG GT 55 test drive, it speaks more naturally in the SL63.  Both cars rumble deeply when accelerating, but the GT 55 has an artificially augmented song with a staccato drum line that makes it feel angrier.

A final twist in the road drops me out of the forest and onto Fan Shell Beach.  With the soft fairways of the Cypress Point Golf Links on my right and the rocky Pacific Coast on my left, I marvel at the perfect pairing of this place and this car.  There is no need to rush or worry.  The mild summer air—now full of salt and seaweed smells—rustles through my hair as I gawk at the gobstopping views.  Yes, Pebble Beach was built for top-down cruising in the SL63!

But my five minutes in paradise is just that, five minutes.  I turn back towards the Concours Village chaos and away from the Pacific Coast’s calm.

In a fit of fury—or perhaps just curiosity—I put the SL63 into its most aggressive drive mode and flat-foot it back into the forest.  When I smash the gas, the SL63 smashes me back, burying me into the driver’s seat.  The unmistakable roar of the Mercedes V8 fills the air as I fly through the trees.  577 angry horses should put the fear of God into the SL63’s tires, but since 4MATIC AWD and electronic stability control are holding the reins, the full-bore acceleration is well-controlled.  I could be king of the on-ramp without concern for the demons in the ditches.

The SL63 confidently follows the road’s twists but doesn’t egg me to go faster. (Where are those detailed sweet-nothings from the steering or chassis?)  It seems the SL63 is a capable grand tourer but not a sports car.

And I suspect that is how SL63s will be used.  Lots of low rpm cruising, jaunts through the world’s finest landscapes, and occasional life-affirming blasts onto the highway.

And if you happen to live in Monterey, California, that will be just swell.