Like the hardtop on the market for nearly four years, Mercedes-Benz's new SLR McLaren Roadster is capable of 207 mph. At that speed with the cloth convertible top lowered, you'll want to wear a helmet, not a hat or toupe'. Lighten up on the throttle a bit, and driver and passenger can converse at speeds well over 120 mph with the top down, Mercedes says. The Roadster, on sale in the U.S. this fall, comes with the SLR coupe's 617-horsepower, 575 pound-foot supercharged 5.5-liter AMG V-8, front-mid mounted and coupled to an AMG Speedshift R five-speed automatic.
The cloth top works this way: just unlock it from the header - there's an aluminum piece at the front of the top -- raise it briefly, and the mechanicals take over and fold it for you. It goes up or down in less than 10 seconds, Mercedes claims. The top is available in three colors and the car has two fixed rollbars.
The Roadster's goodies otherwise match that of the SLR coupe, with a carbon-fiber body styled with an arrow-shaped nose like the McLaren-Mercedes Formula One cars, lateral louvers, side pipes behind the front wheels, wide-opening gullwing doors, airbrake in the trunk lid and diffuser in the rear bumper.
Expect the vehicle to be priced somewhere in the $500,000 range when it hits the market.