2008 Mercedes-Benz SLR SLR McLaren

Mercedes-Benz offers a very nice roadster of its own, the SL, this year celebrating its 50th anniversary. Ranging in price from $96,000 to $188,000, the top-performing SL65 AMG model comes with a supercharged V12 engine. Mercedes also has a deep-rooted technical partnership with McLaren Technologies, which races in Formula One with Mercedes-Benz engines, and from that relationship have already sprung the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR coupe and the higher-performance SLR 722 version of the coupe. The market has told the two companies that it's now time for the ultimate Mercedes-Benz roadster.

In front of all that, there is an elaborately constructed carbon fiber crash bar that can handle huge amounts of impact, after which its disposable cones crumble into dust as the impact progresses. At the rear, there is an all-aluminum independent suspension system that looks like it was ripped directly out of a racing car. No other car in the world is built quite like this one, and it is as beautiful underneath as it is brutish on the outside. The only major panels shared with the coupe are the scissor doors.

The 626-horsepower 5.5-liter supercharged V8 engine nestles under the long, long hood, breathing directly through the Mercedes-Benz star in the nose of the car, and exhausting through a compact, front-mounted exhaust system that exits through the bottom edges of the front fenders. This does three things. It works very well for emissions, keeping the catalytic converters hot. It helps the engine breathe better at higher rpm. It eliminates a lot of pipes and mufflers under the car, which has a flat bottom for aerodynamic purity. Oh, and four, it puts the sound of that V8 engine very close to the cockpit, where it can be appreciated.