Friday 22nd July 2016

Shed Of The Week: Mercedes-Benz CLK

Shed goes glamorous - or as glamorous as £1,000 can get you - with a super sleek CLK

---

Hot, isn't it? Well, it was earlier this week anyway. How about a nice old German drop-top to invigorate your bonce and hopefully attract the admiring glances of poor fools labouring under the sad misapprehension that you are well off?

E-Class front disguises C-Class origins

The Mercedes CLK was launched in 1997 to replace the E-Class coupe and (a year later) the convertible. It had the E-Class's twin headlamp front end to make you think it was an E-Class, but in fact the impression of E-Classness was exactly that, an impression, because the CLK was actually built on the W202 C-Class platform. It ended up being a bit longer than a C-Class and quite a bit shorter than an E. Still, none of the thousands of social aspirants who added their names to the CLK waiting list in the late 90s seemed to mind.

A 2002 upgrade brought the more rigid chassis of the new C-Class, but our Shed has the original set-up which means suspension, brakes and transmission parts raided from the SLK line allied to a 'just stiffen everything up and hope for the best' mantra. The result was a steer that was more safe than scintillating, with seats that were as firm as the ride.

The CLK does however have a few things going for it, not least a degree of road presence. Shed finds that most cars move over for him as long as Mrs Shed is occupying the passenger seat, glaring balefully at other road-users and flicking them the Vs.

Best not inspect those fittings too closely

In the CLK you're assisted in lane-clearing duties not only by that purposeful front end but also by the reasonably warm performance. Generating 195hp and decent low-rpm torque, the supercharged four-pot motor took the CLK to a low-8sec 0-60 time and a 140mph+ top end. CLK owners were early beneficiaries of the now-common and quite useful Brake Assist along with their normal portion of ASR traction control.

The news that the cabling mech for the three-layer hood has been recently refurbed is very welcome. This roof is released and locked manually by a whirly handle, but from then on you're at the mercy of electro-hydraulic drive. That's not so good given the inescapable fact that the quality of turn of the century Mercs was noticeably divorced from the brand's old-school values. If the pump goes you could be looking at a not insignificant sum even for a scrapper's item. Then again, hood drop failure could also be the rear headrests not finding their way into the fully-down position. There is a cunning Bear Grylls-style workaround for this involving the use of a foot-long prong.

Rust can be a massive problem, and interior fit and finish will have marque aficionados screaming in frustration.

Having said all that, this particular car has been in single ownership for almost its entire life. Going off the full service history and the apparently palatial nature of the vendor's gaff, it's a reasonable guess that your man is simply unloading it at a bargain price to get it off his premises. Taking it off his hands could be a smart move.

CLK for the sunny summer!

The seller's claim of reliability is quite believable. Despite the factory's ill-advised penny-pinching at this dark time in its history, these CLKs did well in every ownership survey of warranty repairs and general dependability. The single screen wiper is iconic but also a trouble spot if you don't keep it well lubed. 2000-2003 automatics with Valeo radiators had an issue with the not so clever siting of the oil cooler in the radiator matrix. You do not want coolant mixing in with your transmission oil. Wiring between the engine and the trans can cause problems if the oil seals go.

Far from unique among German cars of this sort of vintage is the propensity of bulkhead drains to block, requiring water to find another route out of the engine bay, which in this case turns out to be straight into the passenger compartment. Not something you want to be thinking about as you reach for the heated seat switch.

Here's the ad

Beautiful convertible with full grey leather interior and heated front seats.
Highly reliable. I have owned car since 2003. Fully serviced by Star Motors in Reading ever since.
Roof in full working order with internal cables all recently replaced.
Long MOT until May 2017

[SevenR]

My Mum had one of these. Nice car for strolling about with the roof down. I hated the engine and especially the elastic throttle response. Can't believe they cannot be had for this sort of money. Bigger set of wheels helped the handling out. What on old git I am.