First shape SLK: Any good?
Discussion
Morning All,
Currently looking to change my car for a convertible (no reason why, just fancy another)
Ignoring the obvious MX5, I tend to steer away from the norm and find something a bit different. With a budget of £2500 tops it can prove difficult!
I came across a few of the old SLK's last night and was wondering what people opinions were of them?
Obviously they're not an out and out sports car as the majority are automatic, would try my best for a manual but they seem to be few and far between, engine wise i woukd try for the 320 but the 230 seems to be within budget better.
Anyone had any experiences with these in the past?
Any help greatly appreciated, Thanks Very Much!
Currently looking to change my car for a convertible (no reason why, just fancy another)
Ignoring the obvious MX5, I tend to steer away from the norm and find something a bit different. With a budget of £2500 tops it can prove difficult!
I came across a few of the old SLK's last night and was wondering what people opinions were of them?
Obviously they're not an out and out sports car as the majority are automatic, would try my best for a manual but they seem to be few and far between, engine wise i woukd try for the 320 but the 230 seems to be within budget better.
Anyone had any experiences with these in the past?
Any help greatly appreciated, Thanks Very Much!
My Dad bought one of these for £1600! it had a few paint issues but was mechanically sound, just to see if it was any good to drive/use as it replaced a Jaguar XJS as he wanted to have something he could use a little more!
It was a 230k, its just fast enough to be fun, the folding roof is great and it was so good he sold that and spend 3 times more on a pristine low mileage facelift one which is now his little baby.
Me and the missus took it to France for 2 weeks last year and it was brilliant, no problems at all. Even managed to get all the luggage in with the possibility of putting the roof down! Its surprising how much stuff you can cram in all the cubby holes lol
Its not the first word in sports (ish) cars, but its good enough. Im 6ft 2 and just about get away with it
It was a 230k, its just fast enough to be fun, the folding roof is great and it was so good he sold that and spend 3 times more on a pristine low mileage facelift one which is now his little baby.
Me and the missus took it to France for 2 weeks last year and it was brilliant, no problems at all. Even managed to get all the luggage in with the possibility of putting the roof down! Its surprising how much stuff you can cram in all the cubby holes lol
Its not the first word in sports (ish) cars, but its good enough. Im 6ft 2 and just about get away with it
Had an 2001 SLK230 6 spd for the last 4 years and done 20K miles in it. First drop top I've owned since an MG midget back in the early 80's and things have really moved on since then.
Link to my Readers Cars thread
Things to look out for when viewing one
- wheel arch and boot lid corrosion (peeling paint)
- Dampness in the boot (screws the central locking and alarm module up)
- peeling surfaces on internal trim
It's 197 bhp from memory vs just over 200 for the 320 which I think were all auto so back to back a manual 230 keeps up easily with a 320 auto. (I did look at one SLK200 but that seemed a heck of a lot slower)
Early ones had Eaton 65 running of a clutched drive system so charger cut in after certain rpm
Later (I think just facelift cars) have the Eaton 45 running all the time
It returns a steady 28-30 mpg overall (70/30 mix of sub 8 mile commutes and occasional longer 40 mile runs)
On a run it will knock on the door of 40 mpg cruised at sensible motorway speeds (roof up or roof down)
They handle OK on the twisty stuff provided you set the car up and stabilise it before the corner and don't bring the nanny state into play.
Don't believe the hearsay about manual boxes being awful - mine has a 6 speed manual and it's a lovely thing to use with a good spread of ratios and a click snick operation.
Easy to service from a DIY perspective (everything is accessible - finding the oil filter for the first time was a challenge but once you know where it is it's easy)
Security v rag tops was the big advantage driving why we purchased one as slightly paranoid about some yob sticking a blade thro a soft roof.
The boot space is compromised a lot by the roof being down - it's very useful with roof up (two good sized cases enough for 2 weeks away) but down you are limited to an stuffa bag with enough stuff to last a long weekend at most
Only other downside is they can be a bit noisy in the cabin at M-way speeds with roof up but that may be exacerbated by tyre choice
Link to my Readers Cars thread
Things to look out for when viewing one
- wheel arch and boot lid corrosion (peeling paint)
- Dampness in the boot (screws the central locking and alarm module up)
- peeling surfaces on internal trim
It's 197 bhp from memory vs just over 200 for the 320 which I think were all auto so back to back a manual 230 keeps up easily with a 320 auto. (I did look at one SLK200 but that seemed a heck of a lot slower)
Early ones had Eaton 65 running of a clutched drive system so charger cut in after certain rpm
Later (I think just facelift cars) have the Eaton 45 running all the time
It returns a steady 28-30 mpg overall (70/30 mix of sub 8 mile commutes and occasional longer 40 mile runs)
On a run it will knock on the door of 40 mpg cruised at sensible motorway speeds (roof up or roof down)
They handle OK on the twisty stuff provided you set the car up and stabilise it before the corner and don't bring the nanny state into play.
Don't believe the hearsay about manual boxes being awful - mine has a 6 speed manual and it's a lovely thing to use with a good spread of ratios and a click snick operation.
Easy to service from a DIY perspective (everything is accessible - finding the oil filter for the first time was a challenge but once you know where it is it's easy)
Security v rag tops was the big advantage driving why we purchased one as slightly paranoid about some yob sticking a blade thro a soft roof.
The boot space is compromised a lot by the roof being down - it's very useful with roof up (two good sized cases enough for 2 weeks away) but down you are limited to an stuffa bag with enough stuff to last a long weekend at most
Only other downside is they can be a bit noisy in the cabin at M-way speeds with roof up but that may be exacerbated by tyre choice
Edited by B'stard Child on Tuesday 27th January 09:35
Martin_Hx said:
Me and the missus took it to France for 2 weeks last year and it was brilliant, no problems at all. Even managed to get all the luggage in with the possibility of putting the roof down! Its surprising how much stuff you can cram in all the cubby holes lol
Your missus packs lighter than mine that's for sure but that roof takes up a lot of space - having said that we did get a weeks shopping in the boot once and dropped the roof down for the journey home so maybe it's not as bad as I make it out - but a hard case is out of the window for sure soft luggage only (or carrier bags)Martin_Hx said:
Its not the first word in sports (ish) cars, but its good enough. Im 6ft 2 and just about get away with it
I'm 5ft 13 and I've got plenty of headroom with seat at full height and masses at full dropHad a 230K from new (1997) which I kept outside for 13 years. In that time, no major faults occurred, the paint and plastics kept looking good as did the interior. Very impressed by the build quality.
Had to have a sensor replaced for the roof opening mechanism, came to about £200. If the roof doesn't open, get it checked professionally, as I was lucky it was just the sensor. If it's the motors etc, then the bill can be very large...
Loved it, but it was never convincing as a "sports" car. Comfy, steady, etc, but too vague in corners and the auto box wasn't the quickest around. Great for speedy cruising, even on smaller roads... just don't go racing Boxsters!
Had to have a sensor replaced for the roof opening mechanism, came to about £200. If the roof doesn't open, get it checked professionally, as I was lucky it was just the sensor. If it's the motors etc, then the bill can be very large...
Loved it, but it was never convincing as a "sports" car. Comfy, steady, etc, but too vague in corners and the auto box wasn't the quickest around. Great for speedy cruising, even on smaller roads... just don't go racing Boxsters!
It was bloody hard work to get it all to fit, but im glad we did so we could get the roof down. For the last few nights we knew the roof wouldn't be going back down and the boot looked almost empty with the roof partition removed lol
The problem with the roof being down is not so much the lack of boot space per say, its the smallness of the gap to get the stuff into the boot! Just makes it awkward.
The problem with the roof being down is not so much the lack of boot space per say, its the smallness of the gap to get the stuff into the boot! Just makes it awkward.
monamimate said:
Monkeylegend said:
Rust, and rust.
Weird. Mine had none, even though it sat out in Belgian weather all that time... Check the wheelarches.
2002 320, a lot lot lot quicker off the mark than the smaller engined versions....although those that owned them wont admit it. Was too quiet, doing 80 b4 you knew it. Loads of room with the top up and with it stowed not bad. Paint peeled off the 2 tone interior, no rust. great little car but dare i say it....it is a girlie car..............
Not much to add to all this - B'stard Child covers it pretty well.
Boot is very big with the roof up.
Cheap and easy to DIY maintain.
I had no issues with rust - they certainly didn't suffer like the C and E classes did, but they were of the previous generation of design and build. That said the back arches and boot lock were weak points.
Good cars.
Boot is very big with the roof up.
Cheap and easy to DIY maintain.
I had no issues with rust - they certainly didn't suffer like the C and E classes did, but they were of the previous generation of design and build. That said the back arches and boot lock were weak points.
Good cars.
mikal83 said:
great little car but dare i say it....it is a girlie car..............
Probably but I'm OK with that it's cute, it's RWD, manual with 6 cogs and got a solid folding roof, the interior after 111,000 miles still looks good (aside from some peeling plastic paint on the trims) the leather is unmarked and not saggy.When Mrs BC suggested a drop top it was a mandatory requirement that the roof was a hard one, in budget and similar money were Pug and Renault folding roof cars but she likes German built cars and the SLK ticked all the boxes - no regrets here girlie or otherwise.
I'm looking at the bigger brother SL500 as the next possible replacement in a few years rather than the newer SLK as doing 5000 miles a year fuel prices aren't a huge factor in the overall running costs.
I was looking for one as a daily driver three years ago but struggled to find one that didn't have some evidence of rust coming through. In addition to the arches, I noticed a couple with rust appearing on the forward lip of the roof.
In addition, many seem to be silver (they are after all Mercedes!) but this made it more obvious when they had some form of bodywork repair - few panels were the same shade of silver!
I think that the face lifted version, from 02 I think, look better and I still would not say no to a black 320.
I eventually bought a Z3 with a hardtop which has given faultless driving for three years and over 38k miles. Rarer and prettier too.
In addition, many seem to be silver (they are after all Mercedes!) but this made it more obvious when they had some form of bodywork repair - few panels were the same shade of silver!
I think that the face lifted version, from 02 I think, look better and I still would not say no to a black 320.
I eventually bought a Z3 with a hardtop which has given faultless driving for three years and over 38k miles. Rarer and prettier too.
My dad's partner recently picked one up for about that budget. Pretty little thing. A few rust bubbles which they've since had sorted. It's the 230. Sprightly it's not, I imagine the 320 is much better. When I took it out I felt very disconnected with the car. A sort of sit on rather than sit it experience. I think as long as you're not expecting a sports car it's a cracking little thing.
OutOfSync said:
I drove an auto one of these last winter and it was a hateful car. Too small if you're over 6'2"; slow; no steering feel; noisy; and, let's face it, a bit of a hairdresser's car.
I don't get this 'hairdressers car' thing. A good friend, who is a hairdresser incidentally once told me that when he was picking a career he could've spent his working life on a building site or inside talking to women all day and making a s
t pile of cash for doing so. A no brainer for him and as a result he had a decent collection of motorbikes and drove a TT Supra and an aircooled 911 daily.I quite liked my SLK, drove pretty much like a C-Class so really had no sporting pretensions but was a decent little car to cruise about in.
B17NNS said:
My dad's partner recently picked one up for about that budget. Pretty little thing. A few rust bubbles which they've since had sorted. It's the 230. Sprightly it's not, I imagine the 320 is much better. When I took it out I felt very disconnected with the car. A sort of sit on rather than sit it experience. I think as long as you're not expecting a sports car it's a cracking little thing.
i'd agree with that too. its a cruiser not a sports car. i fear they used the same guys to set up the chassis as they'd used for the rest of the merc saloon range at the time. it drives just like a 2 seat c class, heavy, inert steering, slow auto box. drop the roof and waft
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