The Mercedes SL has always received a favourable press, but that hasn't stopped the Germans from constantly looking for ways to improve it. Recently, they've tweaked the car inside and out and improved both handling finesse and engine output. The most affordable way to land this hot ticket is in the shapely form of the SL350 model.

This car's 3.7-litre engine has now been massaged up from 245 to 272bhp. Although this V6 powerplant achieves fuel savings of 3.3 mpg, its output is 11 per cent higher, the car recording a combined fuel consumption figure of 27.4 mpg. More importantly perhaps, the car accelerates from zero to 62 mph in 6.6 seconds, making it more than half a second faster than the predecessor model.

Inevitably, the price has also been massaged - to £62,930. However, that's still £13,000 or so less than the next model up, the SL500 and a quick look at the SL350's performance figures shows that it's almost on a par with its big brother. A specially tuned exhaust gives a fruity rasp at the higher end of the rev Range, answering critics who felt that the smooth V6 engine didn't sound charismatic enough for a sports car.

Overall then, the SL350 looks a smart investment, especially when you factor in its bombproof depreciation. Like all SL variants, this one is electronically limited to a top speed of 155mph. And, like the SL500, it gets Mercedes' excellent 7G-TRONIC seven-speed automatic transmission that will never leave you hankering for a stick and a clutch pedal.

A developed version of the ABC (Active Body Control) system is optional on this car and is well worth considering. Compared with the old model's optional ABC set-up, body movements in dynamic driving situations are claimed to be reduced by up to 60 per cent, offering a flatter, more composed ride. ABC has the wonderful effect of making a very big and heavy car feel light and 'chuckable'. Re-geared steering and punchier brakes also boost the SL's appeal as a serious driving tool.

"Anything that makes the SL experience more affordable has to be good news."

Designers have a particularly clumsy term for describing a car that just works in the metal - 'front to rear cohesiveness'. The SL has this quality in spades. Every curve melds into the next, flop lines and swages teasing, pouring and sweeping light from one plane to the next. The balance between slavishly unimaginative retro styling and the preservation of traditional; design cues explains some of the more contrived punctuations but the overall effect is supremely elegant. The roof mechanism has stepped forward a generation from that of the SLK, lifting or lowering in a mere 16 seconds with a panel fit only bettered by the ALVIN deep sea submersible.

Recent visual changes? Well, the front bumper assembly has been revised with three large cooling air intakes integrated, giving it a more aggressive V-shaped appearance. The fog lights have also been repositioned with chrome surrounds, visually lowering and widening the front of the car. A matt silver finished grille with three broad slats and chromed headlights complete the changes up front, while at the side there's a wider choice of alloy wheel designs. The rear view shows a redesigned light cluster with horizontal divisions between red and white clear lens sections.

The interior has also been revised with a commitment to offering the sort of quality that buyers in this sector expect. So it is that Mercedes have fitted even softer leather for the upholstery, revised the interior colour palette, added high quality embossed metal doorsills and a redesigned chronometer style instrument pack. A remote bootlid release system is included for the first time and aluminium-look switches for opening the roof. More significant news comes under the bonnets.

As well as a massively strong passenger safety cell, there are twin two-stage front airbags, head/thorax side bags and an automatic rollover bar which pops up in the event of the car leaving the ground or inverting. Inquisitive and foolhardy SL owners may well go searching out hump-backed bridges to test this feature but we couldn't possibly recommend such action.

The interior quality is back to what we've come to expect from Mercedes - premium price rather than Fisher Price - although the car looks far better specified with aluminium cabin detailing than optional wood. The 'conjoined twin' front headlamp theme continues in the cabin with neat wheel-mounted controls, whilst the main fascia dials excise neat arcs from the minor gauges.

Anything that makes the SL experience more affordable has to be good news. What's even more welcome is that the SL350 remains a more than creditable option in the SL fold - high praise indeed given the prevailing excellence of the V8 models. It'll never be as charismatic as its big brothers but if it makes an SL a more realistic proposition to a few more customers, then Britain's roads will be a better looking place.