If you keep tabs on supercar and exotic car valuations with a keen eye, you will often notice an outlier. Look at duPont REGISTRY inventory, and you will see a trend. The McLaren Mercedes SLR sits in a curious place. Values for clean coupes and roadsters still hover between $270,000 and $900,000. In a world where most analog supercars from the 1990s and 2000s now push deep into seven figures, these numbers should make you pause and reflect on why that is. For a carbon-bodied 617-horsepower halo car developed with Gordon Murray, that’s hard to ignore.
The modern-day SLR story begins in the late 1990s when Mercedes was an engine supplier and shareholder to the McLaren Formula 1 team. Built between 2003 and 2010, in Woking at the Norman-Foster-designed McLaren Technology Center in England, the SLR isn’t just a fancy Mercedes SL with butterfly doors. Murray, the same man behind the legendary McLaren F1, spent years pushing this project forward. He insisted that the engine sits behind the front axle, so the SLR technically runs a front mid layout. The proportions you see, a long F1-inspired nose that serves as an intake, cabin pushed back, side exit exhausts, they are not for show. They exist because the engineering demanded it.
The flat floor, combined with the diffuser and those side pipes, is all tied to the ground effect. With the exhaust routed outward, airflow under the car stayed clean and controlled, helping the SLR remain stable at high speed. Drag coefficient sits around 0.37, low for a front engine supercar of that era, and an active rear airbrake deploys up to 65 degrees, to add stability under braking and boost downforce when needed. At 160 mph, you were looking at 1,320 pounds of downforce.
Under the hood, the SLR employs a 5.4-liter M155 AMG V8, a heavily reworked version of the M113 family, hand assembled and force fed by a twin screw supercharger. Output sits at 617 horsepower and 575 pound-feet of torque, still healthy by modern standards. 0-60 mph takes about 3.4 seconds, and it runs on to 208 mph. The soundtrack mixes a throaty V8 burble with a clear mechanical whine. Pop the hood, and it swings forward in one huge clamshell, giving full access to the engine bay and carbon substructure. A layout borrowed straight from endurance racing thinking.
This is where Murray's role changed everything. Mercedes originally presented the sleek 'Vision SLR' concept under design chief Gorden Wagener. Murray took that surface-level idea and transformed it significantly. He worked on better packaging, altered the aerodynamics, and demanded a carbon tub. In fact, given the demand, new carbon layup methods had to be invented to hit volume. Over 500 tubs a year was unheard of back in the late 1990s, early 2000s. Curb weight is just under 3,900 pounds.
Then there is the heritage of the nameplate. The SLR badge dates back to the 1955 300 SLR, a car that dominated events like the Mille Miglia with Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel. Mercedes marked 20 years of the modern-day SLR in 2023, and made a big wave recently when it showcased several SLRs in Dubai during the opening day of the 1000 Miglia Experience, 2025, to mark 70 years since that historic record-setting run. In the early 2000s, Mercedes wanted to revive that Sport Leicht Rennsport legacy. Design details like the functional side heat extraction vents are an homage to the 1950s racer. What resulted is a robust transcontinental GT car built to do some high speeds, a point that Clarkson proved in the Epic Race on TopGear, where he drove the SLR across northern Europe from London to Oslo, while Hammond and May resorted to planes and boats, eventually losing out to the super Merc.
Now onto the common criticisms of the SLR, and there are a few. You will hear people mention the interior as being nothing more than a spruced-up SL, the overly assisted brake pedal feel from the carbon ceramics (the SLR was the first production car to feature carbon ceramic brakes as standard), and that five-speed auto. Fair points, and the wider media have raised these specific points for years. But special details like the flip-up fighter-jet style starter button and the carbon tub seats remain highlights in the sporty cockpit. Also, while the SLR is far from fragile when compared to its contemporaries, the over-engineering has its downsides, in terms of maintenance and running costs, as VinWiki experienced during his ownership.
Having said all of that, two decades on, what you can’t argue with is that this hyper GT still delivers presence with a capital 'P'. The aformenitioned exhaust has a distinctive note, the V8 burble and supercharger whine give it a character that nothing else quite shares. Yes, when you say exotic, you often picture a rear mid-engine supercar with a short nose and an engine behind one's head. The SLR still challenges that assumption for all of the right reasons. So why then is the SLR still undervalued? Because it never fit neatly into any specific category. It’s too fast to be a soft GT, too refined to be a track weapon like the Porsche Carrera GT. In short, the SLR occupies its own space.
Let’s put it this way: today’s collectors are rediscovering engagement. For example, manuals are back in favor and often fetch premiums. You see that trend in the Carrera GT market, you see it in gated Murciélagos, and even modern GT3 Touring manuals command strong figures. In an age that is increasingly heading towards hybrids and EVs, the market seems to be rewarding purity more than ever. Yes, the SLR may not offer a stick shift, but what it does offer is feel and, more importantly, character. The torque delivery, balance, and supercharger surge give it a very analog connection.
History tends to reward cars that were misunderstood when new, and cars like the SLR, the original V10-powered Lexus LFA, also a slow-seller back in the day, and the V12-powered R230 SL all fit that narrative today perfectly, now more than ever. California real estate mogul and car collector, Manny Khoshbin, seems to understand this. He owns several SLRs in various trims, from 722 to Stirling Moss editions, including the super-rare 1-of-12 HDK edition. Other famous people who've previously owned an SLR include Paris Hilton, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, and Kanye West.
When it comes to production numbers of the SLR, you’re looking at around 2,100 examples total, including coupes, roadsters, MSO specials, 722 (300 produced), and Stirling Moss editions (only 75 made), with the latter three commanding the most premiums. The Carrera GT sits at roughly 1,270 units, and you could easily get one for under $1 million until as recently as 2020; now it trades around $1.4 million to $2 million or more. The Ferrari Enzo and Pagani Zonda sit further up the ladder, yet the SLR is often half the cost or lesser.
As for the SLR, the price averaged over the past five years in sales still hovers around $485,000, which is ironically what it cost when new, but when adjusted for inflation, you’re looking at $770,000, clearly putting this one in the undervalued territory. Given how it has the presence, the history, and the engineering pedigree, the window where low-mileage examples remain below seven figures is unlikely to stay open forever. One final point strengthens the argument: the most expensive car to ever sell at auction; $143 million for a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 Uhlenhaut Coupé, also bears the SLR nameplate.
Images: Mercedes-Benz, McLaren Automotive
