Mercedes-AMG SL Purespeed review

Mercedes-AMG makes its roadster even more special not by adding but by taking away – notably, the windscreen.

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There are few better ways to test a car’s sense of theatre than by throwing it straight into the Mille Miglia.

Northern Italy early on a Saturday morning in June is alive as a field of classics storms out of Brescia under a cloudless sky in the direction of Bologna – each and every one a legend in its own right.

And we’re part of it. Not in a priceless museum piece, but in the wildest, most extroverted Mercedes-AMG SL 63 ever created: the Mercedes-AMG SL Purespeed.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Experiencing the SL Purespeed is less a drive and more an event – the kind you dress for and remember. This speedster, whose production run is limited to 250 units, redefines the luxury experience in a way that's open, elemental and arguably as exciting as any road-going Mercedes-AMG model that there has ever been.

Visually, it’s striking. There’s no windscreen or side windows, just small licks of glass used to channel airflow to the right places.

The hollow steel halo that dominates the styling – a proper structural item inspired by the latest Formula 1 race cars – sits directly in your peripheral vision, giving the Purespeed a unique feel from behind the steering wheel.

The standard SL’s fabric roof is gone, replaced by two angular cowls behind each seat. The shark-nose front end is also new. The splitter, winged sills and large diffuser at the rear are likewise more aggressive in design.

Uniquely styled 21in wheels, open at the front for brake cooling but all but closed at the rear for aerodynamic efficiency, complete the look with 275/35 front and 305/30 rear Michelin Pilot Sport tyres developed specifically for the new AMG model.

INTERIOR

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Inside, this is still recognisably an SL, but with a few subtle changes.

The rear seats have been turned into storage space for helmets and the intercom system, and the detailing is sharp and the perceived quality high. AMG knows how to design a cabin to feel expensive and it works well here, even if you spend most of your time gripping the wheel, helmet pressed into the headrest, wondering how it’s legal to drive something like this at speed.

For those who need to ask, yes, it does have a boot, with up to 213 litres of luggage space.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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Without a windscreen, the Purespeed isn’t something you jump into casually for a quick blast. It demands a helmet – not for style, but for survival over longer distances.

Even at modest speeds around town, the air blasts its way inside the cabin. Once you’re past 100mph, it gets physical. The buffeting grows strong enough to blur your vision. Your head starts to bobble around. The effect is dramatic, and the commitment required to keep it pinned along open roads at higher speeds makes every mile feel earned. The unrelenting stream of air roars so loudly that even the V8 sitting up front begins to fade into the background.

The Purespeed is a physical car to drive, not because of the control weightings but because of the relentless buffeting of wind, and resulting wind roar, that you experience at speed over longer distances. In summer conditions with a helmet on, it’s like a sauna too. All part and parcel of the fun, though.
Greg Kable
European editor

Which is a shame, because in other respects the hand-built engine remains one of the Purespeed’s key attractions. It’s the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre unit used in the standard SL 63, with 577bhp and 590lb ft, backed by AMG’s nine-speed MCT automatic gearbox and a fully variable 4Matic+ four-wheel drive system that delivers a distinctly rear-biased apportioning of power.

Throttle response is a key strength, the torque delivery colossal and the shifts quick and clean, whether you’re pulling paddles or leaving it to decide for itself. Even behind a helmet, it feels properly fast. Out on the rural stretches of the Mille Miglia route between Mantua and Ferrara, where crowds lean into the road and motion for you to get on with it, the Purespeed doesn’t need asking twice.

But even with the noise turned up in the more aggressive driving modes, the signature exhaust bark so central to the traditional AMG experience gets dulled by the helmet and the continuous rush of air. There’s an intercom system that lets you talk to your passenger, so why not route some of the engine noise through it too, perhaps in a dedicated channel? Just for those moments when you want the theatre in your ears.

The same goes for the navigation system. You can dial up the map and direction pointers into the instrument display, placing them nicely in your field of vision, but there’s no option to pipe the guidance into your helmet. That’s a detail AMG will need to sort.

RIDE & HANDLING

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Despite the long nose and wide footprint, the Purespeed never feels unwieldy. There’s smoothness and precision to the steering, while the inclusion of rear-wheel steering, as on the standard SL, helps to rotate it quickly and cleanly in to tighter bends.

There’s real fluidity to its actions over the more challenging Mille Miglia back roads. The chassis remains composed when there’s a sudden camber shift or the surface changes mid-corner. Traction and grip are very strong too. There’s no fuss, just lots of purchase. The inherent balance, aided by a slightly lower centre of gravity than in the standard SL, makes it feel lighter and a lot more agile than its 1970kg kerb weight suggests.

A carbonfibre active aero element in the underbody responds to AMG drive modes, lowering by 40mm at speed to create a Venturi effect, improving steering response and stability. It’s paired with underbody extensions adapted from the Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro and a front-axle lift system to protect the bodywork when navigating kerbs or speed bumps.

The breadth of driving character is shaped by the nuanced tuning of the adaptive AMG Ride Control suspension, a combination of double wishbones up front and multi-links at the rear. From Comfort through Sport and Sport+, right up to Race, there’s a distinct shift in attitude, not just in throttle and damping response but also in steering weight, gearbox sharpness and exhaust tuning.

The race car visuals belie a vehicle that, in its softest setting, rides with a surprising degree of suppleness. It breathes with the road in Comfort, even over coarse and broken Italian bitumen, yet you can stiffen it dramatically when you want to.

You can loosen the electronic safety net with a flick of the rotary dial mounted on the steering wheel, and the Purespeed will oblige if you treat it with finesse. It’s not intimidating, but it doesn’t hand-hold either. This is still a roofless and windscreenless missile, capable of blasting to 62mph in 3.6sec and, so it’s claimed, of running to 196mph flat out.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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This ultra-rare SL comes with a price of £664,000 plus local taxes – four times what a regular SL 63 will cost you, then. So it’s challenging to make a rational value case for this car – and that is entirely the point.

Usability – another consideration much too sensible to actually bother anyone who'd consider this car – is also a challenge for it. You’d only ever consider driving in dry conditions – and it's a car of commitment, built for maximum drama, designed to provoke.

VERDICT

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Clearly, you don’t judge this car by conventional numbers or with everyday thinking. You judge it by the reaction it gets and the way it makes you feel when you’ve just rattled off a rapid 50 miles with your visor down and your senses lit up.

On the first day of the 2025 Mille Miglia, surrounded by truly iconic machines with real racing pedigree, you’d think it might have felt out of place. But the Purespeed didn’t. It drew the same glances, triggered the same grins and got the same signals from the crowd as so many priceless and special historical race cars: an emphatic, enthusiastic “forza!”.