First Drive: Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster

Soft-top derivatives of favourite coupes rarely survive the transition without some sort of compromise. Open-air fun typically comes at the expense of extra weight, more body flex and, more often than not, a whole lot less trunk space. AMG says it doesn’t have to be so. And barely a week after it emerged from under the dry ice at the Frankfurt Motor Show Teamspeed is in Monaco to put the theory to the test.

Under the skin the SLS Roadster is mechanically pretty much identical to its gullwinged brother. No bad thing there. So it gets the identical 6,208cc dry-sumped V8, built under AMG’s one man, one engine ethos. And it drives through the same transaxle mounted seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox – sourced from Getrag and the mechanically as per the one used by Ferrari in the California and 458.

Performance is the same too, with 0-60mph in 3.6 seconds and a top speed limited, for some reason, to 197mph. And here lies the first clue that ‘compromise’ wasn’t in the AMG team’s briefing notes when it chopped the roof off the SLS.