Key Takeaways Luxury over sport. The SL680 Maybach prioritizes comfort and luxury over sporty performance, feeling bulky compared to the Aston Martin Vantage. Advanced tech, mixed results. The car’s AI assistant is intrusive and can misinterpret commands, impacting the driving experience. Spacious yet cumbersome. Despite its size, the Maybach offers limited cargo space and feels heavy on the road. Quiet comfort. The SL680 is quieter and more comfortable than many competitors, ideal for long trips. Bottom line: The 2026 Mercedes-Maybach SL680 is a luxurious roadster that excels in comfort and panache, but lacks the engaging drive of a true sports car. ✦ AI assisted, editor reviewed Last month I spent a couple of weeks with a pair of $250,000 sporting machines: a 2026 Aston Martin Vantage S, and this, the 2026 Mercedes-Maybach SL680 Monogram. Both are roadsters. Both are powered by an AMG-engineered V8. Both were even green (Ireland dark green metallic in this case—a $9,900 “Manufaktur” option). But despite the similarities, you’d never mistake one for the other in a blind test—whatever that might look like. The last time I had the pleasure of driving the SL680, I never really ventured outside of my normal routine. This time around, I had not only the benefit of swapping straight out of the Aston Martin, but a prime opportunity to take the Maybach on a proper road trip. Sure, it may be a sports car, but this little drop-top is first and foremost a luxury car. How bad can it be, right? I called it “little,” but that’s not really accurate. Where the Vantage felt crisp and light on its feet, the Maybach turned bulky and boat-like. The highfalutin’ Benz noses rapidly into turns thanks to its super-quick steering, but the whole thing feels so light as to defy physics, enhancing your persistent awareness of how much artificial boost is built into the wheel. Byron Hurd This most commonly manifests as a bit of twitchiness on-center, and it’s something you’re more likely to notice if you’re steering the car manually (as in, not letting the car do it for you, which it can) on relatively straight roads—the kind you tend to encounter frequently on a 400-plus-mile road trip through the Midwest. If you’re out there really hustling the thing through the bends, you won’t spend enough at dead-ahead steering to even notice. On the rare occasion that I did encounter a nice set of twisties, I was struck by how slow the Maybach manages to feel despite its insane power reserve and relatively small stature. There are cars that shrink around the driver when you push them; others seem to elongate the instant you turn the steering wheel. Carrying nearly 4,400 pounds under that svelte sheet metal, the Maybach is very much the latter. While we’re on the subject of carrying things, let’s talk cargo. Storage space isn’t typically at a premium on my usual commute (from my bedroom to my home office, to be clear), but an overnight trip means packing the usual toiletries and at least one change of clothes. For that, I went with my usual L.L. Bean roller duffel, which fits in any commercial airline overhead bin in America. I could probably stack two of them in the SL, tops. My dayback rode up front. Byron Hurd Even just puttering around in traffic, the Maybach’s shift programming (even in its most aggressive drive mode) feels lethargic. The exhaust doesn’t bark, pop, or rumble when you let off the throttle. This thing was designed to be noticed without making a lot of noise. Mission accomplished, I suppose, but the result feels flat to me, even if the car performs just fine despite its subtle soundtrack. Being Michigan, arrow-straight roads are the exception here rather than the rule. On the highway, the Maybach’s nose likes to dart around at the slightest input. To complicate things further, the chassis itself seems almost allergic to the road crown. At any point when I wasn’t letting the car drive itself, it seemed like it was constantly trying to nudge me onto the shoulder—as if the self-driving system’s passive-aggressive intrusive thoughts were somehow leaking past the “off” button. It’s possible that the car was just embarrassed to be seen with me in public and was merely trying to end its own misery. I should have asked; the built-in AI assistant probably would have given me a diagnostic report on its mental health. Let’s talk about that thing for a minute. Last year, I took a (non-Maybach) GL 580 on a road trip to Chicagoland and back. Apart from the finicky touch controls and over-intrusive driver assists, I rather liked it. It too had “Hey, Mercedes” functionality, but it politely remained quiet until summoned. Rarely am I the Eric Cartman in any given crowd, but he and I see eye-to-eye on the proper social hierarchy between humans and machines. I don’t need my creepy digital data-miners getting all ambitious. The Maybach SL680 at RedBud MX in Buchanan, Michigan. Byron Hurd Case in point: The weekend prior to my road trip, my wife and I drove into the city to catch a show. All went well; the drop-top Maybach even made for easy maneuvering in the parking garage (not to mention eye contact with SUV drivers). As we neared home, I spotted one of the neighborhood strays bolting away from the road. I tried to point her out to my wife, who, at 5′-2″, could only barely see over the Maybach’s long hood. “I can’t see anything in here,” she said. “Turning on the defroster,” the Maybach replied. Sure enough, having wildly misinterpreted my wife’s comment, the car dutifully put the heat on full blast—no option to decline, no prompt, nothing—and in this instance, without any input whatsoever from the driver. Look, I’m a man of honor, but if one of us is going to suddenly lose their vision while I’m behind the wheel, let’s just say chivalry ain’t riding shotgun. Love you, babe, but it’s my eyes the Maybach should be worried about. And yes, I’m quite certain the SL680’s in-cabin tech can tell exactly which occupant is speaking at any given time. This thing has a more sophisticated sensor array than the U.S.S. Enterprise. So it’s presumptuous and disloyal. Byron Hurd Before, one only had to avoid saying “Hey, Mercedes?” (or occasionally, something that kind of sounded like it) and the assistant would wait patiently in its solid-state cave until deliberately summoned. Now there’s a whole host of phrases that can potentially send HAL 9000’s great-grandversion on some digital errand you never intended. Better yet: If you’re the type to express your frustration with this sort of thing through colorful language, the computer will also admonish you for being rude. Hey, Mercedes? The future sucks. It probably seems like I’m bagging on the poor Maybach, but the reality is that this simply isn’t my kind of automobile. I prefer the Vantage because it’s more of a driver’s car; this, on the other hand, is a status symbol on wheels. Sure, it’s a sports car in spirit, but it coddles and caresses, and makes every effort to do all the fun parts for you. Byron Hurd With the top up, it’s quieter than my Cadillac (though people tend to react to tire roar and wind noise differently; YMMV), and, frankly, it’s just as comfortable to sit in for long periods. In fact, the Maybach might be even more accommodating of tall drivers than the baby slicktop Blackwing, especially if you have need of the Caddy’s rear seat. The Maybach, of course, has no use for such practicalities, though you wouldn’t know it from looking at its curb weight. But if you absolutely must take a sports car on a many-hundred-mile highway trip, the Maybach is certainly well-qualified. Mercedes provided The Drive with a seven-day loan of this vehicle for the purpose of writing this review. 2026 Mercedes-Maybach SL680 Specs Base Price (as tested)$226,050 ($249,150)Powertrain4.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 | nine-speed automatic transmission | permanent all-wheel driveHorsepower577 @ 5,500-6,500 rpmTorque590 lb-ft @ 2,500-5,000 rpmSeating Capacity2Curb Weight4,409 poundsCargo Volume8.5 cubic feet (top up)7.5 cubic feet (top down)0-60 time4.0 secondsTop Speed161 mphManufacturer Estimated Fuel Economy12 mpg city | 20 mpg highway | 15 mpg combinedScore7/10
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