Mercedes SLS AMG v 300SL Gullwing

If you want to buy an original Mercedes 300SL Gullwing, call the bank because it will be a large withdrawal - you'll be spending £400k.

Why? The 300SL is the most collectable car Mercedes has ever made, famous for its fabulous Gullwing doors, but equally revered for its spaceframe chassis, direct fuel injection and fearsome handling.

GALLERY: Mercedes SLS AMG v 300SL Gullwing

If £400k for a 50-year-old car doesn't compute, then the retro take on the Gullwing concept, the SLS AMG, might appeal.

At £158k it isn't exactly affordable for the majority of us, but for those with the cash it offers something refreshing to the default choices of Aston Martin/Ferrari/Porsche.

Let's find out if the new SLS AMG can deliver some of the magic that made the original so special.

Ian on the Mercedes SLS AMG

I couldn't start talking about the SLS AMG without mentioning those Gullwing doors. They are a crucial element of the car, but like the original 300SL, the doors are only a minute characteristic because the SLS AMG is a car with more soul and charisma than Tony Soprano.

Let's take the engine. There ain't nothing new here, but that's a good thing because this is the proven 6.2-litre V8, handbuilt AMG motor that powers other Mercedes-Benz beasts such as the C63 AMG.

In the SLS, the engine has been tweaked to give 571hp at 6,800rpm and 479lb ft of torque at 4,750rpm. This is taken to the rear wheels via a seven-speed semi-auto gearbox. All very promising so far.

And then you press the starter button. BOOM. The engine catches quickly and fires a volcano of noise through the exhausts. I laugh nervously...

On the move it reacts immediately to throttle inputs, a small squeeze making big gains on the speedo needle. Push harder and you quickly believe the hype that this car will hit 62mph in 3.8 seconds.

Flat out you'll be covering 197 miles an hour. It revs hard and high, too, and the noise evolves into a menacing Rottweiler-esque bark.

If you heard one of these at full pelt in the dead of night you'd hide behind the nearest bush thinking Lucifer was coming to town.

However, prod the SLS too much and, like a pet dog, it will bite. Dry road, full throttle, roundabout - you better have your wits about you. Turning the traction control off on the road is out of the question unless your registration plate says F1 LEW.

The traction control system allows a relatively modest amount of slip, but Sport mode removes the shackles a little further and is the best bet if you're planning a day of interesting driving on great roads. So long as they are dry.

Inside, it feels every inch the supercar, from the carbonfibre centre console to the tight-fitting bucket seats and chrome dials. It's obviously a Merc, but it has some retro flourishes that show you're not in a C-Class estate.

You could also comfortably cover a long distance in the SLS - even the boot is a generous 176 litres. It's a very usable supercar.

The suspension feels firm and you can feel through the wheel what year the tarmac was laid, but in a car like this that is a reassuring feeling - it's a sense of connection. Not on a Porsche 911 GT3 level, but more so than any Mercedes I have driven. Except perhaps the wonderful 300SL...

Dan on the original Mercedes 300SL

Iconic is a much over-used word when describing classic cars like the 1954 300SL. But in this Mercedes' case it's not an unfair description. After all, everything the company has done since has been in the shadow of those famous gullwinged doors.

Famously a solution to a technical issue - the car's pioneering spaceframe chassis meant there wasn't room for conventional doors - they became in many ways its defining feature. And yet, there is far, far more to this car than novelty doors.

Saying that, when you have a 300SL and a SLS parked next to each other, doors open, it's hard not to be over-awed by just how cool they look. Novelty or not, it remains a uniquely recognisable feature.

So what else is there to be excited about with the 300SL? Well, it has some pretty cool technology too. Like direct fuel injection. Common in cars now, this was incredible for 1954 and a feature taken directly from wartime Mercedes aero engines.

In the Battle Of Britain it gave Messerschmitt pilots a get out of jail free card too, carburettor-fed Spitfires and Hurricanes cutting out when trying to follow a BF109 into a steep dive.

Even the SLS doesn't have direct injection, though it does - like the 300SL - feature a spaceframe construction. On the new car it's aluminium, in the original tubular steel, visible punching through the sides of the driver and passenger footwells.

Then there's the performance. Depending on which rear axle option was chosen the 300SL could hit nearly 160mph. For 1954 this was Veyron-like performance and out of the league of any other road car.

You'd need to be brave to do it though. The engine is plenty powerful and the 300SL will happily cruise at over 100mph. But 50s aerodynamics mean some scary floating sensations as the speeds start getting really serious.

At lower speeds the 300SL sounds - and feels - a little truck-like. It doesn't like going slowly but as the revs pass 3,000rpm the noise and acceleration suddenly become much more purposeful.

The 215hp straight-six sounds distinctively German and is every bit a match for the V8 of the modern SLS in terms of soundtrack. It's only got four gears to the SLS's seven but the engine's flexibility and muscle make up for it.

If the 300SL really shows its age it's with the braking and suspension. Drum brakes aren't really up to much and the swing-axle rear suspension is notoriously treacherous in extreme situations, Mercedes offering a revised set-up for the later Roadster.

It's a car to respect then, in every way. But one that can upstage even the SLS in any given situation. The new car is faster, safer and more accomplished in every way. But the original is still, in many ways, the best.