Two doors. A folding top. Odd, elongated headlights. A red reveal color. I’m talking about the new Mercedes-AMG SL, but you’d be forgiven for thinking I meant the BMW Z4. Even if you saw them side by side, I wouldn’t blame you for mixing them up — they just look that similar.

The Mercedes SL-class dates back to the gullwing-doored 300 SL of the 1950s, derived from the short-lived W194 race car. In the intervening decades, the SL has become softer, more refined, and more usable as a daily driver. The latest SL continues the trend towards livability but aims to echo the performance appeal that started the line so many years ago.

Added livability comes in the form of two SL-class firsts: standard rear seats and all-wheel-drive. The2+2 seating arrangement has been an on-again-off-again feature on the SL, but the 2022 is the first to make it mandatory — If you want a two-seater, buy the AMG GT convertible.

Unlike the rear seats, all-wheel drive is a true first for the 2022 SL. The rear axle is permanently mechanically connected and engages the front via a clutch system that allows for a variable torque split. Mercedes didn’t supply hard numbers on the maximum amount of power that can be sent to the front, but it did say the car can driven in rear-drive mode.

The 2022 SL marks the return of another piece of the class’s history: the power-operated hardtop is gone, replaced with a new soft top. Mercedes claims this was a weight-saving move and that it shaved 46 pounds from the previous car’s roof. The change also allowed them to lower the center of gravity from the outgoing models.

That low center of gravity should pair nicely with the new SL’s updated suspension: two-way adjustable dampers on the SL 55, and fully active suspension on the SL 63. Interestingly, the 63 forgoes roll bars entirely — Mercedes claims the hydraulic suspension makes them unnecessary.

AMG suspensions are nice, but those three letters also mean power. The 2022 SL is no exception: Both the SL55 and SL63 come with a four-liter twin-turbo V8. The 55 makes 469 horsepower ant 516 lb-ft of torque from the mill, while the 63 bumps those numbers up to 577 and 590 respectively. Mercedes claims the SL63 will hit 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, with the SL 55 only 0.3 seconds behind.

Mercedes calls the updated interior “hyper analogue,” which apparently means “an exciting combination of analogue geometry and digital world.” Inscrutable ad copy aside, the new interior looks clean and well laid out — big center screen, digital dash, and nothing extraneous.

Mercedes hasn’t announced pricing for the upcoming SL-class, but the outgoing model started at $91,000. With the 2022 model moving to an AMG-only lineup, a base price in the six figures wouldn’t be surprising.

The 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL definitely won’t compete with the Z4, but I can’t get the visual similarities out of my head. The headlights, the proportions, even the color screams G29-era Z. And for likely half the MSRP, the BMW could be a nice way to get that same long-nose-short-deck-luxury-roadster image — as long as you don’t need those rear seats.