Radar love

It's how accidents happen, particularly along the monotonous highways we call roads. It strikes you most when you suddenly find yourself braking but the conscious you doesn't know why. Thank heavens our subconscious side has fast reactions.

In the latest Mercedes SL none of this is a problem.

If you have slumped into an automotive fug and suddenly find the car braking, the chances are it has nothing to do with any of your appendages hitting the centre pedal.

It's more likely to be the intelligent cruise control that uses radar to control the gap in front to a specified distance. In fact, it's not the distance as such but the time between your car and the one in front.

Fix it at two seconds, for instance, and it will work out the appropriate distance according to your speed. So at 30mph it may be 50 yards, at 70mph it will be three times that distance.

Get too close and the power is turned down and, if necessary, the brakes applied to keep the gap constant - it's eerie but brilliant too.

Drop below 18mph or go above 111mph and the system cuts out demanding the driver take over, and there's a warning bonger too, though thankfully this can be turned off.

The new SL, in this case the 500, is like that all over, simply bristling with the latest technology.

One look inside the cabin gives you a clue as to how much wizardry it is carrying.

Myriad buttons are placed carefully around the cabin. The centre console slopes away from a stubby gearlever that offers full automatic or sequential changes that adapt to driving conditions.

Then there's the command screen that can display details of maps, audio system and climate control. The clocks peer out from underneath clamshell hoods and all manner of information comes up at the press of a button.

The seats are large and supportive with plenty of adjustment, electrically operated of course.

In the centre lies a large switch which turns the SL from coupe to open topped roadster by detaching the metal roof, folding it and storing it in the boot in the same way as its baby brother, the SLK, in an operation that takes just 16 seconds.

It also has brake-by-wire, the latest in electronic technology to make stopping a quicker affair. Gone are the conventional hydraulics, to be replaced by an actuator that sends an electronic signal to the brakes.

The accelerator even sends warning signals as soon as the driver lifts off so the brake calipers are filled with fluid and ready to bite. And in the wet, the calipers bind slightly every ten minutes to dry off the discs.

The SL is the first roadster to get window airbags to protect occupants' heads and upper bodies in the event of a smash. B-Xenon headlamps offer main and dipped beam from a single bulb, which is new. There are the options of a keyless entry smart card that unlocks the doors on your approach.

To keep the wheels always pointing in the right direction, with maximum traction and perfect body control, the SL comes with ABC, SBC, ABS, BAS, ESP and ASR, an amazing array of abbreviations too complicated to explain. The intelligent accelerator even adapts to the motorists driving style, while both five-speed gearbox and suspension can be altered to suit at the press of a button.

On the road the SL carries over the family trait of being more cruiser than hot rod. The handling is superb with astounding levels of poise, handling and grip. It's easy to drive, supremely comfortable and comes with huge dollops of feelgood factor. With the roof down the 5.0 V8 sounds superb, with it in place it is barely audible. Performance feels reasonable thanks to 306bhp on tap and is far from intimidating.

There is no doubting it is a beautiful car, wide and low with sculpted lines and that wedge shape that implies speed, even at rest.

It turns heads with its front, side and rear profiles. There's no better car to bowl along in with the roof down in posing mode while the radar takes care of the obstructions.

Updated: 10:47 Friday, January 10, 2003