What is the Best Fast Luxury Convertible?

People love the idea of driving a convertible on a beautiful sunny coastal road. Car commercials that want to give you the impression of the car being beautiful and graceful often have one of those scenes. The Mercedes-Benz SL seem like the perfect car for that too, it's comfortable, pretty, and very luxurious. Since the 1960's, when the second generation SL was introduced the SL was the perfect expensive luxury convertible. For 2009 there is a redesigned SL with some new engines. The SL550 has the same 5.5L V8 with 382hp as the 2007 and 2008 SL550 and the SL63 AMG has the new 6.2L V8 with 518hp. The SL600 and SL65 AMG have the same engine as the previous versions. At $135,000 the SL63 AMG now hugely expensive, so the SL550 is really the only one that matters. At $98,000 the SL550 has lots of competitors that offer more power and performance. So, the SL has to make up for its lack of performance with luxury and comfort. The SL550's closest competitor is the Cadillac XLR-V. The XLR-V costs the same as the SL550, has a retractable hardtop like the SL, but the Cadillac has a supercharged 4.4L V8 with 443hp. The SL isn't nearly as fast as the XLR-V, but it beats the Cadillac by a long way in quality and luxury. The SL has some 4 seat soft top competition as well, the Jaguar XKR Convertible and Mercedes' own CLK63 AMG Cabriolet . The Jaguar has a 420hp supercharged 4.2L V8, the Jag is also one of the best looking new cars, and it's as luxurious as the SL550. The CLK63 AMG Cabriolet has a 475hp 6.2L V8, so it's very fast, but these were only sold as a model 2008. Both of these soft tops have better performance than the SL550, but they both have boring interiors. For about $15,000 less than the SL550 the BMW 650i Convertible and Audi RS4 Cabriolet are available. The 650i is slower than the SL550, but it is very nice and the RS4 is very fast, but not exactly luxurious. The Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG is faster than the SL550, is more fun to drive, and almost as luxurious, so it can be a real threat to the SL550 for $30,000 less. The new BMW M3 Convertible is also $30,000 less than the SL550 and has 420hp, a retractable hardtop, and plenty of luxury, but the convertible M3 is a bit pointless, because it loses the stiffness of the coupe and therefore the brilliant handling. There are a few cars that look tempting compared with the SL550, but you should avoid them. The really big one is the Lexus SC430, it has the metal folding roof, a V8 engine, lots of luxury, and is $30,000 less than the SL550, but its 288hp engine, terrible chassis, terrible handling, and just being boring, make it's slow (for a $70,000 coupe/convertible), bland, and terrible to drive. The Porsche 911 is a brilliant car, but only as a coupe. The 911 Cabriolet is another tempting car, but as a convertible the whole point of a 911 (a focused, livable performance car) is lost. Taking the roof off a 911 is kind of like taking the arms off an athlete, it suddenly isn't any good at what it was intended to do. You would then be disappointed to find out that the cabriolet still has the rough ride and not very luxurious interior of a performance car. There is a 911 that might work here though, the Targa has a completely glass roof that opens over the entire interior of the car, so you get the open top convertible feeling without the wobbly roofless feeling a convertible originally designed as a coupe has. The SL550 is a very good car, but before you buy one it's worth looking at the Jaguar XKR Convertible for some extra style and performance, the Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG for some huge savings and better performance, and maybe even the Cadillac XLR-V for extra power and as something different, but at the sacrifice of the SL's feeling of being the $100,000 car it is.