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Mercedes's new SL is one of those cars that immediately feels right. Nothing to assimilate, or acclimatise to, simply an immediacy that speaks of engineers looking pleased with themselves and a hell of a lot of boxes ticked. The art of the unobtrusively useful. Mind you, it should be pretty well honed by now - the SL is 60 years old. Merc's had some time to get the recipe right.
The mechanisms by which the SL has evolved aren't exactly witchcraft, but have that pleasingly practical feeling that means they'll add up to something positive. So, the structure is now pretty much all-aluminium, saving roughly 110kg over the basic bones of the old SL. Poring over the technical specs, there's everything from cold-cast aluminium bolt-in bits to extensive use of aluminium alloys, depending on location, load and function. Welding the damn thing together must be a nightmare. There's even a hint of magnesium (behind the fuel tank and in the roof frame); the only traditional high-strength steel components are inthe A-pillars for roll-over protection, should you manage to flip it.
Rigorous attention to fat-free detail pays dividends. Even though there's generally more kit, the 435bhp, V8 SL500 is 125kg lighter than the previous version all-up, and the 306bhp, V6 SL350 goes some way better by managing a generational weight loss of 140kg. You don't need to be a physics professor to work out the advantages: the SL500 will produce an entirely respectable (for this amount of performance) 31.0mpg and 212g/km of CO2 on the combined cycle, and the SL350 an impressive 41.5mpg and 159g/km of CO2. Decrease the weight, and you can have more performance in terms of speed or efficiency, depending on which takes priority.
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