Is The Base Mercedes SL 450 Fast Enough For Your Straight Line Pleasure?

If you live in the U.S. and you're thinking about purchasing a decent-sized luxury roadster from Mercedes-Benz, the cheapest model would be the SL 450, priced from $86,950.

It's powered by a 3.0-liter V6 biturbo engine, pushing down 367 PS (362 HP) and 500 Nm (369 lb-ft) of torque, which in ideal circumstances, should allow you to hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in 4.9 seconds.

These 0-60 runs, performed by The Fast Lane Car, were done at one mile above sea-level, and altitude will always have a slightly negative effect on engine performance.

So, how well do you figure the entry-level SL roadster performed? During its initial run, in Comfort mode, it did 0-60 in 6.18 seconds, whereas in Sport mode, it did it in 6.31 seconds.

It wasn't until the reviewer launched the car properly (Sport+ mode, foot on the brake to build revs) that it hit 60 mph in 5.53 seconds, which isn't bad considering the altitude.