Defying the doom-mongers - the SLK R170

[RiccardoG]

What a great write up, thanks for sharing! As a potential R170 owner I found this thread ever so interesting and useful too. I've loved the shape of the R170 from the day it was launched. Mid 90's were exciting times for sports car owner with all the German 2 seaters being launched as well as MG, barchetta, Elise... Those were some of my favourite cars when growing up.

Have you placed the 32 on sale yet?

[DickyC]

RiccardoG said:

What a great write up, thanks for sharing! As a potential R170 owner I found this thread ever so interesting and useful too. I've loved the shape of the R170 from the day it was launched. Mid 90's were exciting times for sports car owner with all the German 2 seaters being launched as well as MG, barchetta, Elise... Those were some of my favourite cars when growing up.

Have you placed the 32 on sale yet?

I haven't yet, Riccardo, there were a couple of jobs that needed doing. I'll have had it for three years in March and enjoyed having it very much. Time for someone else to have a turn

[Bobberoo]

DickyC said:

RiccardoG said:

What a great write up, thanks for sharing! As a potential R170 owner I found this thread ever so interesting and useful too. I've loved the shape of the R170 from the day it was launched. Mid 90's were exciting times for sports car owner with all the German 2 seaters being launched as well as MG, barchetta, Elise... Those were some of my favourite cars when growing up.

Have you placed the 32 on sale yet?

I haven't yet, Riccardo, there were a couple of jobs that needed doing. I'll have had it for three years in March and enjoyed having it very much. Time for someone else to have a turn

Mmmmhhhhmmmm, I'm offering even money that you still have it at the end of the year!!

[DickyC]

Bobberoo said:

Mmmmhhhhmmmm, I'm offering even money that you still have it at the end of the year!!

Ye of little faith.

[RiccardoG]

DickyC said:

I haven't yet, Riccardo, there were a couple of jobs that needed doing. I'll have had it for three years in March and enjoyed having it very much. Time for someone else to have a turn

I see, well do let us know when. At some point reading the above posts I had mis-understood that you'd be breaking it, which would have been a crying shame!

Had a look at a 1998 230K yesterday, my first hands-on experience of an R170. Looked good, no rust on arches, slight bubbling on pax front wing.

Three questions, if I may:
- Do the doors generally need a bit of a shove to close? Had to try 3x before getting it closed properly!
- Car had 40k on odo but a quite shiny / smooth steering wheel. Noted this in some other for sale ads too. Do they tend to wear a bit more than expected? The history was strong, going back to sale invoice
- Can they feel a bit bouncy at low speeds? Drove round the block, no clunks etc, thinking tyres might be a bit low?

[DickyC]

RiccardoG said:

I see, well do let us know when. At some point reading the above posts I had mis-understood that you'd be breaking it, which would have been a crying shame!

Had a look at a 1998 230K yesterday, my first hands-on experience of an R170. Looked good, no rust on arches, slight bubbling on pax front wing.

Three questions, if I may:
- Do the doors generally need a bit of a shove to close? Had to try 3x before getting it closed properly!
- Car had 40k on odo but a quite shiny / smooth steering wheel. Noted this in some other for sale ads too. Do they tend to wear a bit more than expected? The history was strong, going back to sale invoice
- Can they feel a bit bouncy at low speeds? Drove round the block, no clunks etc, thinking tyres might be a bit low?

You need to be firm with the doors if the windows are up but you shouldn't have to slam them. They could do with that trick where the window drops slightly to allow the door to close without having to compress the air in the cabin. Try it with the window down. If it still needs a slam to shut, there's something wrong.

Not sure about the shiny steering wheel. Neither of ours are worn and both have over 90,000 miles.

Yes, a bit firm in the ride department. The SLK32 rides marginally better. Low tyre pressure would tend to make the ride softer in my experience. Both of ours have lots of road noise too.

Start a thread in the Mercedes forum. I like both of our cars and may not be the person to ask for an objective view

[RiccardoG]

Thanks for your thoughts!

I'm reviewing the SLK vs the Boxster and barchetta. Similar yet very different cars.

Boxster I know (own a 911) and love, but costs. Barchetta, had forgot it even exists. Will try one this weekend, more raw and basic, but also I expect simpler to maintain and run. SLK less sporty than either of the two and somewhere in between in terms of costs. Strangely I'm leaning more towards SLK even if on paper makes least sense. Sort of miss having a classic Merc, last had an R107 SL.

I'll be using whatever I buy as an occasional car at our place in Italy. Purely pleasure driving, small hilly roads, roof down 99% (I hope!).

[DickyC]

Marvellous. Roof down, very little luggage space, unless...

Out 230 has a 'space saver' spare wheel and next to no space with the roof down. The 32 has tyre goo and compressor and enough room for fitted luggage with the roof down. I don't know if this was an option on all R170 SLKs or if it came in with the face-lift to counter complaints about boot space. The 32 needs the compressor and goo because the standard space saver won't fit over the brakes.

Any of that make sense? The 320 and 32 were only available as face-lift cars.

I'll take some pics in the next day or two.

amongst the papers that came with the 32 was an invoice for a space saver wheel and tyre. Just the invoice. The wheel itself had gone because it wouldn't have worked. I like to picture the scene as raining hard when the useless 16" spare was offered up to hub and brakes requiring a 17" wheel. Unkind, i know.

[B'stard Child]

DickyC said:

Marvellous. Roof down, very little luggage space, unless...

Out 230 has a 'space saver' spare wheel and next to no space with the roof down. The 32 has tyre goo and compressor and enough room for fitted luggage with the roof down. I don't know if this was an option on all R170 SLKs or if it came in with the face-lift to counter complaints about boot space. The 32 needs the compressor and goo because the standard space saver won't fit over the brakes.

Any of that make sense? The 320 and 32 were only available as face-lift cars.

I'll take some pics in the next day or two.

amongst the papers that came with the 32 was an invoice for a space saver wheel and tyre. Just the invoice. The wheel itself had gone because it wouldn't have worked. I like to picture the scene as raining hard when the useless 16" spare was offered up to hub and brakes requiring a 17" wheel. Unkind, i know.

Puncture on Front wheel

Replace rear wheel with space saver and fit rear wheel on front to replace punctured tyre - not elegant but will get you out of trouble - this is what I would do for my R171 SLK55 AMG which has a lot bigger brakes than a R170 SLK32 AMG

[DickyC]

B'stard Child said:

Puncture on Front wheel

Replace rear wheel with space saver and fit rear wheel on front to replace punctured tyre - not elegant but will get you out of trouble - this is what I would do for my R171 SLK55 AMG which has a lot bigger brakes than a R170 SLK32 AMG

A lovely bit of lateral thinking there.

Marvellous.

I'd have just got soaking wet and thrown the wheel brace down the road in despair.

The fronts and rears are interchangeable. It came back from the menders once with the fronts on one side and the rears on the other side. It looked odd but I couldn't put my finger on it for a bit.

[B'stard Child]

DickyC said:

B'stard Child said:

Puncture on Front wheel

Replace rear wheel with space saver and fit rear wheel on front to replace punctured tyre - not elegant but will get you out of trouble - this is what I would do for my R171 SLK55 AMG which has a lot bigger brakes than a R170 SLK32 AMG

A lovely bit of lateral thinking there.

Marvellous.

I'd have just got soaking wet and thrown the wheel brace down the road in despair.

Thank you - Experience is what you get when you don't want it

DickyC said:

The fronts and rears are interchangeable. It came back from the menders once with the fronts on one side and the rears on the other side. It looked odd but I couldn't put my finger on it for a bit.

Yeah that would have been a bit odd and I'd have struggled too - not a lot of dish on the AMG wheels to give the game away either.

[What The Deuces]

Got to be the best view of it. I agree its a pretty and timeless design. £8k well spent i reckon especially if MrsC is attached to it

Edited by What The Deuces on Tuesday 28th February 12:06

[DickyC]

What The Deuces said:

Got to be the best view of it. I agree its a pretty and timeless design. £8k well spent i reckon especially if MrsC is attached to it

Thanks! I said in my post I prefer the look of the early car. Facelifts often make cars bulky to my mind. There are exceptions but I find the facelift SLK R170 looks a bit busy compared to the simple lines of the early car.

There are pre-facelift bumpers and mirrors dotted about here. My plan to make the 32 look like an early car didn't proceed past the gathering parts stage. It would have failed with the wheels anyway. The 17" wheels and bigger brakes of the 32 would have given the game away.

[DickyC]

What The Deuces said:

Got to be the best view of it. I agree its a pretty and timeless design. £8k well spent i reckon especially if MrsC is attached to it

Just put the SLK32 up for sale It's a sad day, but it has to go.

[B'stard Child]

DickyC said:

Just put the SLK32 up for sale It's a sad day, but it has to go.

Good luck with the Sale - Clicky for the PH Advert

[DickyC]

That's kind, BC - I thought I was pushing my luck mentioning it, let alone posting a link!

[DickyC]

9 owners, in fact. PH only recognise '7 or more.'

[B'stard Child]

DickyC said:

That's kind, BC - I thought I was pushing my luck mentioning it, let alone posting a link!

The rules changed a while ago - it was clarified in a Website Feedback thread I think

Old rule - used to be another PH'r had to link to the Ad in a readers cars thread as if the OP did it he'd get the post deleted.

Current rule - in RC threads* OP can link to his ad (esp if for sale on PH)

I would think the moderation and Admin team would take a dim view of a RC thread started on day one and with a link to a FS ad on day two as that would be taking the piss a little

Wonder if this car would make a good subject car for a "Brave Pill"

[What The Deuces]

B'stard Child said:

The rules changed a while ago - it was clarified in a Website Feedback thread I think

Old rule - used to be another PH'r had to link to the Ad in a readers cars thread as if the OP did it he'd get the post deleted.

Current rule - in RC threads* OP can link to his ad (esp if for sale on PH)

I would think the moderation and Admin team would take a dim view of a RC thread started on day one and with a link to a FS ad on day two as that would be taking the piss a little

Wonder if this car would make a good subject car for a "Brave Pill"

I dont think there's much brave about it. its a smashing thing for under £10k

[DickyC]

What The Deuces said:

I dont think there's much brave about it. its a smashing thing for under £10k

That's kind, WTD, but the doom-mongers would say anyone taking on an R170 is brave. I think they're wrong, as I tried to establish in my post, but they are set in their ways.

The prices for the 32 are all over the place. There are high mileage examples for £7,500 ish and the dealer I bought this one from has, or had, a low mileage car up for £18,000.

I have form, though. The universe uses me selling cars as a yard stick for a huge leap in values. I sold an A suffix chassis Range Rover for £1,500, an RS2 for £12,000 and a DB4 in pieces for £10,000. All a while ago admittedly but you see what I mean.