Auto Trader drives the new Mercedes SLS AMG, a car that brings a legend from the fifties bang up to date.

If you’re a Welsh call centre worker with a EuroMillions ticket then times have never been better. There are plenty of new supercars to choose from with Ferrari, McLaren, Porsche and Mercedes all showing off some new metal. With this Mercedes that metal is aluminium, the SLS the first all-aluminium car from the brand with the three-pointed star.

Clean sheet build, plundered design

Actually, the badge on the nose might be Mercedes but the SLS is an AMG. The ultimate representation of an AMG to be exact, the first car that Mercedes’ in-house tuner has been responsible for starting with a blank sheet of paper.

The shape is obviously and unashamedly plundered from the past, specifically the 1950s and the 300 SL. The SLS brings the famous gullwing ‘Benz right up to date with a modern twist. Classic proportions are classic for a reason, and the SLS exhibits that perfectly, its long wheelbase, squat rear and a bonnet that seemingly stretches on forever look absolutely sensational.

Those doors are its signature, though. A handle pops out of its flanks when you thumb the button on the SLS’s key fob, allowing you to get in. Lifting those doors is an event in itself and entering the SLS something of an art. Inside the drama isn’t quite as intense, and headroom is tight thanks to the housings for those trick door hinges.

Sure, the neatly finished cabin has some real highlights – like the beautiful circular air vents – but there’s a lot of parts in there from Mercedes models with prices a mere fraction of the £140,000-£150,000 Mercedes will ask customers to part with for the SLS. That’s before options, as it’ll be easy to spend a good deal more on the beautiful matte or sparkling metallic paint finishes, carbon-fibre interior trim, different seats or wheels and ceramic composite brakes.

Light weight, powerful heart

The SLS is built almost entirely from aluminium. That has a number of benefits, not least lightness, meaning the 6.2-litre V8’s 563bhp and 479lb.ft of torque doesn’t have much bulk to shift around. That’s ably demonstrated in the 3.8 seconds it takes to reach 62mph – and the fact that it will hit an electronically-limited top speed of 197mph.

Nobody at AMG is saying so, but the SLS is an easy 200mph machine. The engine, a development of AMG’s own high-revving 6.2-litre V8, is mighty. It’s got lighter pistons, dry sump lubrication, a new intake system and lots of other small but significant enhancements, the result being a fast-revving, naturally aspirated unit that’s hugely flexible and thunderingly fast.

That strong V8 heart is mated to a seven-speed, dual-clutch, paddle-shifted transmission that’s either left to its own devices in three differing automatic shift modes (which increase in intensity from Comfort to Sport+), or can be operated manually.

It’s quick and smooth for the most part, though it can get a bit tied up and jerky in slow traffic, while at high speed it’s sometimes reluctant to give you complete control – second guessing your requirements and denying you response to your input at the gearshift paddles.

The gearbox does little to detract from the SLS’s overall driving experience though, especially as the rest of the package is so polished. The steering in particular defines the car; turn the chunky rim of the SLS’s wheel and you’re rewarded with instantaneous, deliberate response. The front is keyed directly into the road, the rear following faithfully when driving at civilised speeds.

Up the ante on a circuit and play with the three mode Electronic Stability Program (ESP) settings and the SLS will happily use its power to break traction and oversteer, the communicative, quick steering making doing so not the fraught affair you’d imagine.

Thuggish performance, gentlemanly demeanour

For all its intensity the SLS is a surprisingly benign, cosseting machine. The taut suspension does occasionally jar, but it’s worth the odd uncomfortable knock for the fine control it demonstrates elsewhere. The flexibility of the engine and the automatic options mean you can drive it like a big grand tourer, though you’d only be scratching the surface of its abilities.

For AMG’s first entire car the SLS is a triumph: it has got what it takes to frighten all comers in the supercar market. Now all you have to do is choose which one you want. Or if you’re from a particular Welsh valley, which one of all of them you’ll drive this weekend.

Key facts

Model tested: Mercedes SLS AMG
On the road price: c. £145,000
Date tested: November 2009
Road tester: Kyle Fortune