![]() ![]() The SLK-Class races to 60 mph in just over seven seconds this year, but some think the exhaust note doesn't sound baaaad enough on start from a standstill, so Mercedes is working on putting a bit more roar into it. Overall, the SLK-Class is a hoot to drive and its 200 pound-feet of torque, available across an incredibly wide rpm range, make it a choice vehicle for carving through traffic or up a spiraling mountain road. The steering is precise, the engine is eager and willing, and the suspension is wonderfully damped. Mercedes got the recipe right the first time with excellent steering, a powerful engine and a smooth suspension. While Mercedes-Benz product planners still expect automatics to account for a full 80 percent of North American SLK-Class sales, at least one-in-five buyers still appreciate the old-fashioned approach to driving enthusiasm. Of course, an automatic transmission is still available, but it's now listed as a $900 option (an option which also costs the car 61 pounds of added curb weight). Raising and lowering consists of pressing one button on the center console.įor 1999, the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class is equipped with a manual transmission as standard equipment. Unlike its competitors from BMW, Porsche and Mazda, however, the little Mercedes has a retractable steel roof that, when up, makes the car seem as tight as an E-Class sedan. The SLK-Class is a roadster, which means that it has two seats and a top that folds down. The SLK-Class has a decidedly playful countenance that will undoubtedly charm some buyers out of the BMW showrooms that those looking for a fun, sporty car have been frequenting for so long. Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz was still not the marque that young professionals looking for a good time were likely to think of first.Īll of that changed with the introduction of the SLK-Class last year. ![]() The result of that decision brought us the fabulous C- and E-Class cars, which made the company and its offerings seem less stuffy. A few years ago, the gang at the three-pointed star decided that it was time to ditch their dowdy image and begin attracting younger buyers. Later on, DaimlerChrysler used this car as the basis for the Chrysler Crossfire, which was available for the 2004-2008 model years (after the SLK had gone to a new platform).When Mercedes-Benz sets its sights on something, it is usually not denied. These red-and-black leather seats are pretty snazzy. These engines are easier to find now than when I wrote the definitive guide to cheap junkyard superchargers, so I'll need to pull one and learn its secrets. You could get this car with a manual transmission, but this one (like nearly all U.S.-market SLKs) has the automatic. This 2.3-liter supercharged inline-four made 190 horsepower, which is about what the six-cylinder BMW Z3 produced. Nearly a quarter-century later, here's one of those '98s, photographed in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard.įor 2001, the SLK 320 and its V6 engine became available here, but the U.S.-market SLKs for 1998-2000 were all 230s. Its retractable hardtop established a trend for convertibles that only recently has ended as their complexity and weight (not to mention long-term maintenance) weren't worth whatever benefits they possessed over increasingly improved cloth roofs. The first of those cars to arrive on our shores was the SLK 230, which debuted here as a 1998 model. For more than 20 years, the folks in Stuttgart built sporty roadsters based on the C-Class chassis, finally killing off the SLC during the 2020 model year. ![]()
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