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In 1998 I bought an SLK 230k (R170... 1st generation). What a blast... I had Zero problems with it... Drove the hell out of it up and down Europe. Used to live in Frankfurt and every weekend we'd drive either to Paris, Prague, Milan or London.... 150mph on the Autobahn, up and down the mountains... never an issue...
With some friends we once did a London-Montecarlo-London in 4 days driving through the Alps on some stages of the Montecarlo rally... My friends had a Porsche Boxster, Lotus Elise and TVR Griffith...
The TVR blew up as soon as we reached Cannes (after a 8h flat out stint on the French Autoroute. I was thinking the Boxster and Elise would hand my ass to me on the mountains but that little torquey MB stayed with them all the way...
Is it a driver's car? not really... The ASR is too intrusive and the suspension is set up with too much understeer... But on public roads (even at above twice the posted speed limits) there was nothing between the 3 cars... With the exception that as soon as we hit the highway we'd leave the Elise for dead.
Why did I sell it? Well the 1st baby coming forced the reluctant sale... But that was a blessing in disguise as I bought my 1st 911 as a more practical sportscar.
Would I buy it again? I don't know... I love the 911 and I would not leave it in the garage to take the SLK but...
Read some of the reviews on the English mags (EVO, TopGear, Autocar)... the SLK55 trumps the Boxster S as a more fun (even if not as dynamically capable car) proposition.
What about all the horror stories regarding the reliability? I don't know. I never ever spent a penny on the car. I cooked the brakes in the Alps during the London-Montecarlo_london trip. I called the 24h MB service on Friday night at 7pm... The next morning (Saturday) MB Cannes Service Dept had 4 pads waiting for me (well they mounted them as well). I think that people that shell $40-50k for a MB and have problems are more vocal than all the other happy customers...
Having said all that I think the new SLK is not as stylistically appealing as the old one... I am not convinced about the F1 (!?!?!) derived front and the rear cluster lights remind me too much of an Acura...
Supposedly the interior is light years ahead of the old one...
Just my experience...
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