advice please---early SLK purchase

[carspath]

i am considering buying an SLK as a daily driver
this needs to be on an unspecified budget, but the budget is definitely limited, which means that i will probably be limited to an early car

1 ) what price would i be looking at, to get into one of these (one which will not be a packet of trouble)?

2 ) what are the problem areas i should be looking out for?

3 ) are there any good buyers guides that you can point me towards?

4 ) what are the running costs like?

5 ) is there a significant difference in real everyday performance between the different engined cars

thank-you for any advice

[B'stard Child]

carspath said:

i am considering buying an SLK as a daily driver
this needs to be on an unspecified budget, but the budget is definitely limited, which means that i will probably be limited to an early car

1 ) what price would i be looking at, to get into one of these (one which will not be a packet of trouble)?

2 ) what are the problem areas i should be looking out for?

3 ) are there any good buyers guides that you can point me towards?

4 ) what are the running costs like?

5 ) is there a significant difference in real everyday performance between the different engined cars

thank-you for any advice

1) Budget?

2) Rust rear arches/under around boot handle, roof operation, peeling internal plastic surfaces

3) Not seen any - maybe try MBWorld

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r170-slk-class/159...

4) How long is a bit of string - I'm in early days for my 2001 230K

5) 200K pedestrian 230K and 320 pretty similar (4 v 6pot arguement well leave that) AMG Bonkers

I got some good guidance a while back

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by B'stard Child on Sunday 19th June 15:06

[ianash]

I've had a 230SLK for 9 years from new. Brilliant car, returns over 30 mpg in normal usage and over 40 on a run, if driven carefully. Very quick (It doesn't feel much slower than my Z4 Sdrive 23). As a lot of them were bought for wives/gfs and or weekend runabouts. There are loads of low milleage versions our there. Since new it has let me down only once with a dud battery after 5 years. I think the prices these great cars fetch is so low I'm keeping mine as a runaround. For an old buffer like me the insurance is only £350 with no no claims bonus and on limited milleage of 6000. I would buy from a private buyer who has had the car from new. I saw a Y reg 200 with only 24000 miles advertised at under £5,000 the other week - absolute steal.