MacGuffin
Forum Addict
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2008
- Messages
- 8,329
- Location
- Wilhelmshaven, Germany
- Car(s)
- '17 Ford Mustang GT Fastback
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]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrP4TJQWdU[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKTOMcSHaug[/YOUTUBE]
A small video of the interior with a close-up on the "air scarf":
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwidMeyjQfM[/YOUTUBE]
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]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH11Ji6leDM[/YOUTUBE]
Two more vids up to come, after they uploaded.
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]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrP4TJQWdU[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKTOMcSHaug[/YOUTUBE]
A small video of the interior with a close-up on the "air scarf":
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwidMeyjQfM[/YOUTUBE]
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]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH11Ji6leDM[/YOUTUBE]
Two more vids up to come, after they uploaded.
Last edited:
