2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR Mclaren

The chart says 0-to-62 mph in 3.8 seconds and 0-to-124 mph in 10.9 seconds (about the time it takes to raise or lower the semi-electronic top); it doesn't mention the basso profundo of the sidepipes or the supercharger's shrill shrieks, aural gratification that never lets up until, in the right conditions, the Roadster reaches 206 mph.

No, the SLR is most impressive when disassembled, when its ultratech components become object lessons in the methods and materials that put McLaren and Mercedes-Benz at the pinnacle of motorsport.

If you have half a million dollars not committed elsewhere, and you want a whole lot of car that says a whole lot about you and the level of performance you demand in life, in business, and in automotive transportation, the Mercedes-Benz SLR roadster make a grand entrance like very few other cars in automotive history. Yet it's not moody or persnickety or uncomfortable for long, meandering drives through the countryside. But this car is also very much about pulling up to country clubs, movie premieres, sporting events, restaurants and night clubs with the top down and the panache oozing from every molecule. Great car, all around.

Mercedes-Benz doesn't have a rear-mid-engine supercar in its model lineup as Ferrari and Lamborghini and Porsche do, so it has chosen to create, with lots of technical help and finally assembly by McLaren, in England, a sort of long-nose, short-deck front-mid-engine supercar.

If you have half a million dollars not committed elsewhere, and you want a whole lot of car that says a whole lot about you and the level of performance you demand in life, in business, and in automotive transportation, the Mercedes-Benz SLR roadster make a grand entrance like very few other cars in automotive history. Yet it's not moody or persnickety or uncomfortable for long, meandering drives through the countryside. But this car is also very much about pulling up to country clubs, movie premieres, sporting events, restaurants and night clubs with the top down and the panache oozing from every molecule. Great car, all around.