Mercedes SLK Experience

[Dave O'Sullivan]

In the age old tradition of mentioning something that you haven't asked for;

I serviced my ex business partners car today. It's an SLK 320 auto, but the older R170. He has finally agreed to sell it as his wife never uses it. As I said, not what you're looking for per say but as its only covered 7000 miles from new, I thought it might be worth a metion!

[Dave O'Sullivan]

Also, as mentioned above, Merc manuals are poo. Buy an auto.

[Plug]

I have an R171, albeit the 55.. :) It's stupidly over-powered for normal use, I'd imagine the 200 is perfectly adequate for keeping up with the traffic. With regards to a manual, they aren't popular but at least it's got a normal handbrake as opposed to the stupid foot-operated parking brake that many Mercedes are afflicted with, so no dramas on that front. Also, unpopular = cheaper, generally.

Do make sure that the roof operates properly - they can be big money to fix. Apart from that, I'm not aware of any specific issues - make sure it's been looked after and you shouldn't go far wrong.

Cheers,

Plug

[amnesia]

...
Do make sure that the roof operates properly - they can be big money to fix. ...

Check out the Wheeler Dealers episode on diagnosis and cheap fix if it doesn't - it's not difficult to resolve roof problems

[walkerwek1958]

- it's not difficult to resolve roof problems

Not if you're called Ed China.........he makes everything look easy I saw that episode and I was mighty impressed!

As for the car, auto seems the way to go if you're looking at Mercedes. As an auto convert I`d never go back to manual for an everyday car.

Paul

[mjc1216]

Looking at the picture i think i can just make out that yours has the airscarf. It's the one thing i cannot understand has not made it into other cars as my friend has one of these and it really makes a difference on the cooler days.

Nearly bought one of these a few years back but ended up with MX5 as wifey wanted something smaller.

[Hammond]

Looking at the picture i think i can just make out that yours has the airscarf. It's the one thing i cannot understand has not made it into other cars as my friend has one of these and it really makes a difference on the cooler days.

Yep, it does have Airscarf. It has pretty much everything in fact - very well specced. Not my favourite wheel design, but not worth skipping the car for.

Airscarf itself is a registered trademark of Mercedes, however Peugeot has "Airwave" in some models and Audi have "head level heating" (how very German) in the A5 cab. I only know all this because I asked myself the same question and found an article on the German Wikipedia!