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My Personal Car Reviews: Mercedes SLK 200
I don’t know about other countries but the car rentals here in Germany have thinned out and downsized their fleets considerably in the wake of the economical crisis. That has lead to some shortage especially on the more valuable cars, like BMW 5-series, Mercedes E-Class or the likes. It’s hard to get one of those on a short notice, as they are sold off after a while and are not all being replaced by new ones at the moment. Usually you have to make a reservation at least 5 days ahead to get your hands on one.
And if you are unable to plan that far ahead, you have to take what’s there -- if there is anything available at all. That’s how I ended up with the Ford Mondeo, the Volvo XC60 and the VW Tiguan in the past and that is how I now ended up with a Mercedes SLK200.
I had to choose between a Nissan Qashqai, a Citroen C4 Picasso and the SLK. So what would you have chosen?
Exactly
The reason the SLK was still there, was probably the fact, that on Wednesday we had the worst rain storm this autumn so far, with gale warnings for the whole North Sea coast. Not the ideal weather conditions to test a roadster, you know…
It was pouring, when I took the first photogaphs (as you can tell from the state of my sweater in one of the pics) and although it was only half past three in the afternoon, it was already very dark. So I decided the only thing to do for the rest of the day, was driving around in the wind and rain and see, if I could make a nice video of it. And I think it turned out rather well.
The following day was better and even brought some sunshine, so I was also able to drive on the Autobahn and even with the roof open for some time.
But now about the car.
The SLK200 comes with a supercharged 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine, that develops 184 HP. For a car that weighs a bit less than 1400 kg, that’s a decent motorization. However, the SLK isn’t decent when it comes to noise insulation: It’s loud. And not always pleasantly loud. And the automatic gearbox this one came with, is sluggish and slows the car down. But I’ll get to that later.
My first thought was: Will I fit into it? But I didn’t need to worry, because there is lots of space inside, even for a huge bloke like me. When I first sat down in it and adjusted the seat, it came to my mind that this is actually the first time I will be driving a two-seater in my life. Goody.
On my way from the rental to my home I also noticed, that a metal folding roof isn’t quite as solid and sturdy, as a welded one: There were creaks and fizzes and some clattering noises. The car had almost 20000 km on the odometer, btw. The sound insulation of the roof might be a better, than the fabric roof of the BMW 120d cabrio I had earlier this year. But it still let in much outside noise, more than a fixed roof. But I suppose that’s a compromise you can live with.
What you cannot live with, is the boot space, or rather the lack of it. Because all you have, is a slit underneath the roof mechanism. You might be able to squeeze a small suitcase or a sports bag in there, but shopping bags or a crate of Coke are out of the question. Such things would have to go onto the passenger seat and the passenger foot well. So one thing is clear: This is not the kind of car you wanna own as your only car. It’s a second car by its nature. A car that is only good for driving around in and nothing else.
The jacket wasn't mine... probably belonged to the last person they murdered in this car...
I must admit, though, that I felt very comfortable and well inside. The seats are excellent (hugging but not clamping) and it all feels sophisticated, yet sporty. However, I reckon this is not a car for long journeys, because after an hour or so my thighs started to get tired: The seats lack a bit of support in that area.
But I liked the sitting position very much and to my surprise, it also is a car you can see out of very well. First car in a long time I felt confident with parallel parking in, without having to rely on sensors or panned down side mirrors. Also the “air scarf”, the little fan that blows warm air at your neck, is a delight. Seriously, all cars should be equipped with that. I’m speaking as a person suffering from migraine now. I dunno where the hot air comes from exactly but it heats up within no time.
Now about the noise: The engine has a nice grunt at lower revs and the exhaust makes a bit of a sporty noise, too (just a bit really), and the supercharger has a nice whine. But as soon as you rev it, it only gets loud. Unpleasantly loud. 4-pot loud.
And you would rev it a lot, because the automatic gearbox is hard to convince to shift down or -- even worse -- up again, once you started accelerating. I mean that literally, because you have to take the foot from the accelerator completely at times, or else it will go on reving like crazy. I think you can tell from some moments in my videos. To accelerate fast, you have to kick down the pedal hard, too, or else it will try to keep the high gear. Switching from “Comfort” to “Sport” mode only makes it worse, btw. The “Comfort” setting is explicitely recommended therefore.
This automatic gearbox is sluggish and completely unfitting for such an agile and sporty car. Of course the naked numbers are not bad: 0-100 km/h in under 8 seconds, top speed of about 235 km/h. But the way it delivers with this automatic, makes it feel slow somehow. As a result, you spend a lot of time with pedal to the metal, because otherwise you’re not moving forward. And it showed in my fuel consumption: I managed 14.1 liters/100 km (16.7 mpg). Last time I used up that much, I was in a Mercedes S-Class.
This car needs a manual. Period.
Of course the engine itself delivers fine -- despite the unpleasant noise it makes, when it revs high. The car literally jumps from a standstill with an angry grunt and supercharger whine, with no delay or lag on a dry road, and doesn‘t shift up before it nearly hits the limiter. In rain, however, you’ll be thankful for the ESP, because otherwise I’ll guarantee you, that you would sooner or later lose control and spin in a corner. And this is the entry model with the least powerful engine. I refuse to imagine the 360 HP AMG version on a slick road…
What about the handling? Well, it’s marvellous of course, what’d you expect? It’s the best handling car I have driven in my life -- and I’m saying that, even though I wasn’t able to test it to its limits on the current autumnal roads. Nevertheless I giggled and smiled a lot, while driving around. When I got back in my Golf afterwards, I felt like driving a blancmange. Enough said.
Ride comfort is okay, though you have to accept that such a car doesn’t filter away all bumps in the road. Enough said about that, too.
As I said, I was able to drive a bit with the roof down on Thursday and I must say that like it seems to be with all cabrios, the small imperfections and defects vanish away into thin air once you have the sky above you. I had a lot of fun on a very lonely back road, though I was giving the camera a hard time, because obviously this SLK is much more draughty, than the BMW 1-series I can use for comparison. It messed around with my hair as well as with the microphone of the camera. I left the sound unfiltered and unaltered, though.
The bottomline is, that this is a car, that is great to drive and gives you a lot of fun -- if you avoid the automatic gearbox. It’s hopelessly impractical, though, making only sense a a pure driving machine with the roof up or down. I’d really consider it as a second car.
Now for the vids. The first two were made during that rain storm on Wednesday and I couldn't resist driving down to the harbor to get some brawling sea footage. You will notice the hard noise of rain drops on the metal folding roof, when I pass under some trees, which reminds a bit of a tin can in that area.
Some side notes on this: at 2:06 minutes on the left are the gates to the shipyard, where the battleship "Tirpitz" was built, today it's used as an arsenal by the German Navy. Usually there are some frigates in there being outfitted or repaired.
At 2:56 on the left is Wilhelmshaven's main police station
At 7:38 the ESP kicks in to prevent me from spinning off the road. Remember what I said about that above.
+ YouTube Video
+ YouTube Video
A small video of the interior with a close-up on the "air scarf":
+ YouTube Video
Onto the Autobahn, starting at my company's parking lot. I managed 225 km/h on the speedo, before I was forced to brake, and the wind noises were really loud.
+ YouTube Video
Two more vids up to come, after they uploaded.
85Nice little roadster you got there. I like the exterior design, not so much the interior, especially the dashboard, looks too plastic-y and of the hard kind.
And those indicators and wipers leavers, they look like something out of a Trabant, so cheap it must be disgusting having to operate with those things.
149Isn't that the Mercedes cruise control switch, which has looked like that for as long as I can remember?Originally Posted by Pedrocas
130 Yes, it's only the lever for the cruise control. The lever for the indicators and the window wipers is below that, partly hidden by the steering wheel in the 4th picture.
And truth to be told, the flashlight of a camera makes every car interior look cheap. But it was too dark to take the pics without it. The interior is actually quite nice.
57
LOL I think the smallest engine we get with the SLK is the 3.5 or maybe that is the CLK? I don't think I saw any SLK's smaller than 5.0 here.
347The smallest SLK we currently get in the US is the SLK280, IIRC.
19On the other hand you don't pay 7.30+$ per gallon of fuel (record here was 8.70$/gallon in mid 2008), don't you?
Btw @ MacGuffin: setting indicators on entering a roundabout is in Germany forbidden by traffic regulations, §8.
130 Just for fun I used the car configurator on the Mercedes homepage and entered all the specs this SLK 200 came with.
And the price would be: 50610,70 Euros.
I have been waiting for that comment -- and you're right. Was my mistake.Btw @ MacGuffin: setting indicators on entering a roundabout is in Germany forbidden by traffic regulations, §8.
But to my defense I have to say that I was driving around more or less without a preset destination and therefore decided on taking the second exit of the roundabout, rather than the first one, while I already indicated
Happened to me twice actually with the SLK.
Btw.: 2nd part of the Autobahn video is up. Ends where it started -- at my company, since I was doing that in my lunch break
+ YouTube Video
130 Alright, the final video. Sorry for the ruined sound quality with the open roof but as I mentioned above, it was a bit draughty
+ YouTube Video
109
okayish car.
Fun to cruise around, mildly entertaining but interior is really crap and the engine noise sounds terrible.
63Did I hear tires squealing on those gentle bends in that video?Alright, the final video. Sorry for the ruined sound quality with the open roof but as I mentioned above, it was a bit draughty
+ YouTube Video 
130 No but it was close before thatDid I hear tires squealing on those gentle bends in that video?
The problem with those roads is, that you never know if some farmer isn't going to pull out of his yard behind the next bend.
The tiny backroad in the second part of the video in particular is mainly there to connect the single farm houses in our area. It is immensely dangerous, because you may have noticed, that the width only allows one car to pass at a time, the bends are often blind and there's a canal on the right and no safety rails. Every year several cars end up in that canal.
I once drove there on a winter's night, because the road is kind of a short cut, but with ice and snow on the street it was quite scary.
I'm with you with the engine noise but the interior is beyond doubt. It's definitely better looking and has a higher quality feeling, than, say, a BMW 1-series
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nah, both are equally bad.... the plastic/fake leather centre console is truly shocking for merc/bmw standards. I kind of moaned and groaned about it at first, but quickly got used to it (not so much in the SLK, since we only kept it for 8 months)
I'm with you with the engine noise but the interior is beyond doubt. It's definitely better looking and has a higher quality feeling, than, say, a BMW 1-series
btw, my fav feature on the car is definitely the air scarf, it makes top-down motoring a joy in winter : )
another thing i want to add here : i'd like to use the electric roof while cruising @ 80kph, not having to pull over on the shoulder or look for a temp spot to park my car.
294Stalks on both sides of the car? Very un-Mercy. Of course just one stalk is needless overcomplicating, but two is a little peasant-like. It's a Mercedes. The front parking sensors doesnt seem to like rain. Or leaves are stuck on it or something. I like the car but its too impractical. You parked behind a christian weirdo. There are many traffic lights in Wilhelmshaven and people use their indicators. Driving cabbed down in november feels cold.
130 Funny that you mention that. I never felt like needing them.
It's a christian weirdo in an Astra! And it's my neighbor from opposite the floor. Nice people but too friendly. One day I'll probably find an axe in my door, when I forgot to wipe the stairwell againYou parked behind a christian weirdo.
There are many traffic lights in all German towns and people not using their indicators becomes annoying here, tooThere are many traffic lights in Wilhelmshaven and people use their indicators.
Shall I say it was refreshing...?Driving cabbed down in november feels cold.
21seems like a nice car to drive.
I can't believe the the large amount of money though. I'd buy a corvette instead seeing's how their both not ideal DD's
130 Always remember that we're having to pay as compensation for you in America getting your cars so unbelievably cheap
21Oh yeah my bad, I overlooked the whole "costs different amounts in dfferent places" thing.
I'm still wondering why they bother with that engine though. It wouldn't even be at home in something like a cobalt SS, yet alone this Mercedes.
294If you don't take your car to a track or live in Autobahn-land (which most dont) the engine is fine for cruising around in your open car. Frugal engine helps Mercedes CO2-index, offers buyers in territories taxing engine by engine size lower tax (those that can afford a Mercedes (and those who can't but buy one anyway) still don't like paying tax anymore than anyone else) and Mercedes can print "from €45 725,75" in their ads.
What's really strange is why the rental company bothered adding an automatic to the car, the 5-speed auto is a €2201,50 [€1850] addition and it's one gear less than the standard 6-speed.
130 I reckon that without the automatic gearbox, this engine is quite fun. As I said: Not even 1400 kg of weight and 184 supercharged horses is a sufficient propulsion. And I also reckon that the soundscape is better with a manual, since you won't always rev it to the limit, when you accelerate.
So one has to be careful with a final judgement of that engine.
My guess is that it has something to do with reselling the car. Rentals are given back to the manufacturer and then sold as "company cars" after half a year or so. This one I had for example, is planned for sale in 10 days, as I was told.
So I suppose they have some kind of market analysis running, in which they research which extras help the car keep its value, and since it is very likely that this is bought as a second car for a woman, they probably thought an automatic would help to sell the car for a higher price.
Also it could be, that Mercedes themselves kind of dictated the optional extras, because with the contract they have running with the rentals, they guarantee to take back the car after a certan period or mileage. So the rentals also might not have a choice in the matter. I will ask them next time I am there.
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