MotorMouths

The SLS doesn’t abandon technical refinement, but it does let its hair down with the loopy vintage bellow of that huge, hardly adulterated V-8. It compromises the actual driving experience for the mythic appeal—and the visual impact—of gullwing doors.

The 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, with its gullwing doors and guttural-sounding V-8 engine, is more than just a blast from the past, it’s a blast to drive on both road and track.

When it’s not being tossed around, the Mercedes-Benz SLS impersonates a luxury liner, with decent visibility, an imperturbable desire to track straight, and an ardent fuel appetite.

Not that you have to be on a race track to enjoy the Mercedes- Benz SLS. Just about any road will do. Ride is solid, but German GT car smooth, making us wish we had more time with the SLS than we did.

The 2012 SLS AMG Roadster is indeed a throwback, but one that also throws you back in your seat. It may have traded its gullwing doors for a folding soft top, but it lost nothing in the performance category during the exchange.

Granted, it’s a Mercedes, but the SLS AMG is definitely one of the brand’s most impressive products. It’s an exceptional sports car with heavenly driving dynamics on the track and even a forgiving attitude.

The SLS will still reward drivers and casual enthusiasts with a car that’s perfectly fine as a commuter — provided they don’t mind the attention — and is also a capable canyon carver.

Aside from some quibbles, the only dilemma the SLS AMG roadster presents is one of haberdashery: what color, what leather, what trim would you like?

The SLS looks best when both doors are open and pointing toward the sky, almost a victory V. Too bad you can’t actually drive with it like that — it would play hell with aerodynamics at the 197 mph top speed.

The Mercedes SLS carves a performance-oriented, luxury-capable niche all its own, something that’s aided by the classy, restrained looks and the visual drama of the doors.

At a time of political correctness in the automotive world with burgeoning ecologically friendly hybrids and electric vehicles, the SLS AMG is a throwback to a time when horsepower ruled and what won on Sunday sold on Monday.

The 2011 SLS AMG gull-wing coupe, a $200,000-plus two-seater that is certain to get the juices flowing among the automotive cognoscent. It’s an exhilarating, balanced sports car that can be flat-cornered around a road-racing track all day.