From Alex on Autos.
It costs more than the 13 acres it’s parked on. The 2026 Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 is the ultimate version of the Mercedes-Benz SL — and one of the rarest, most exclusive convertibles you can buy in America. Under that absurdly long hood sits the same 577-horsepower 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 as the SL 63, good for a 3.4-second 0-60 and a 108-foot stop from 60, paired with all-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering, and air suspension. The Maybach starts at $224,900 before destination (which you definitely shouldn’t worry about at this price), and our test car climbed to $233,850 with options including the controversial $6,500 hood graphics. It’s a two-seater only — the regular SL’s tiny 2+2 rear seats are deleted here — trimmed in leather on nearly every surface, with Burmester audio, active massage seats, a heated neck-warming Air Scarf, and one of the quietest convertible cabins we’ve ever measured at 62 dB.
The SL doesn’t really compete with anything else on sale today — a buyer here could cross-shop a Rolls-Royce or Bentley, but those are different animals entirely, and the BMW Z4 has long since stopped being an SL rival. In this review we cover the full five-trim, four-powertrain SL lineup (including the wild 805-horsepower SL 63 S E Performance plug-in hybrid that hits 60 in 2.5 seconds), the divisive Maybach grille and badging, the concept-car styling cues, the two-seat layout and what actually fits where the rear seats used to be, the leather-wrapped interior and whether it feels special enough for the money, instrumented acceleration and braking, handling and ride quality on pavement and gravel, real-world fuel economy, cabin noise with the top up and down, and an honest answer to the only question that matters at this price: is anything this expensive actually "worth it," and would we buy one over a Porsche 911?
Here’s why we don’t talk about reliability much: https://youtu.be/WicesuUvTXo
And resale value? Same thing: https://youtu.be/635cX7A3E_Y
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0:00 Intro: The Ultimate SL & Its Exclusivity
1:08 SL Lineup: 4 Powertrains, 5 Trims & the 805 HP PHEV
2:35 Pricing, Maybach Grille & Hood Graphics
5:01 Exterior Design & Concept Car Cues
6:09 Two-Seat Layout & Where the Rear Seats Went
7:39 Interior, Leather & Burmester Audio
10:58 0-60, Braking & That V8 Sound
12:25 Handling, Air Suspension & Gravel Road
14:18 Ride Quality, Cabin Noise & Fuel Economy
17:46 Who Buys This & Final Verdict
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