Newly acquired SLK200
Added: 22nd of September 2018
- 2005
- 1796
- Manual
- Petrol
- Convertible
- 2
Just purchased an SLK following 10 years ownership of a 2001 Jaguar XKR convertible. I'm a looks & heart man. I need to feel the urge to 'look back with a smile' each time I park. The Mercedes does this ten times over.... in less than a month, I love the car. The earlier reviews point out the boot space problem, but I can never understand an owner who criticises a feature that is endemic to the model. Just don't buy! For me the car is LOOKS & LOOKS. The first few days became necessary to understand the systems. At the least a full day's reading. The car I purchased doesn't have a mark on the coachwork or chrome. Black leather Interior almost as new. Extras I like. Hands free phone, GPS. Garage door opening facility, Ten parking sensors, sixteen pages of air conditioning and climate control. (They should put the Mercedes designers on the global warning problem - but four pages devoted to changing a light bulb!) Body work fitting gaps close to paper thin, wing mirror heating, back and bum ditto, crash cushioning everywhere, cruise control & memory facility, electrical & manual adjustable steering wheel ... steering wheel heating! (out of breath but must continue) parking display both visual & aural. (rear parking display behind seat looking to rear) headlamp cleaning, headlight range adjustment, standard remote locking and alarm (top up & down) and ABS/ESP, warning lamps for every system failure, on board engine diagnostic indicator, 12volt outlet, Then all the other extras fitted to my earlier XKR. Now pause for breath. But cars are for driving ... big fat tyres give reasonable road holding on corners, possibly skittish in the wet. Perfect & responsive steering, but under two-litre acceleration not in the XKR league. Beefy roll bars for those going too fast. Big drop down from raised kerb for entry. rear viz not 100% (use yer mirrors * parking sensors) I'm told the handling over 100mph is still good. Handling in town at low speed only average ... fuel consumption to date has been 560 statute miles for 98 litres ... say 40p per mile. Altogether a fine car for a two person family and the SLK 100 series will become a classic surely. I had a convertible E Type from new a few years back but technically the Jag specification wasn't even a close match to the SLK. (but now worth 20 times more!) I'm surely am happy with my purchase. A gorgeous looking car, and fun to own & drive. Would I buy the later versions for looks. NO. I'm too old to want more performance. Dennis Kenyon. Ross-on-Wye.