SECOND-HAND SENSE: Once described by one reviewer as "famously popular with footballers' wives and TV hairdressers", the Mercedes SLK is a car that has indeed made Mercedes a more popular, though hardly more populist, brand.
When the SLK was launched in 1996 the motor industry was beginning to discover there was more than one way to skin a cat and so the basic chassis and floorpan of one model became the potential basis for several. Think of what VW has done by sharing platforms and major components throughout its group. This is not strictly what happened in the case of the SLK, but there was a lot of existing technology around in Mercedes to attract a new and younger customer base.
Fans point to the efficiency of the lowering of the hard top - about 30 seconds - and the ride and handling that reminds one of just what it is to drive a real roadster. The SLK bit (people ask all the time) stands for Sportlich, Leicht, Kompact - sporty, light, compact and, in fairness, it manages all three.
It also manages to be a practical car, which is more than one can say for several competitors. I could not vouch for its golf clubs' capacity, but it will take two full-sized adults in comfort. The cabin is well designed and nicely, even tastefully, finished. The 200, or 2-litre version is left well behind by the 2.3. Initially, the car was only available with the bigger capacity engines but the 2.3 of that time was not considered refined. A face lift in 2000 saw the broadening of the range with a choice of three engines - the 2.0 litre, the 2.3 and the 3.2. Tax considerations here explain the popularity of the smallest capacity engine.
The car scored well in the EuroNCAP crash tests. It scored four out of five stars for "very strong frontal and side impact results". The car suffered little damage to the cabin and the doors remained straight and substantially undamaged. The test was done with the roof down to allow for the worst case scenario. Pedestrian protection was, however, rated as poor.
With all those TV types chasing the SLK, second-hand values remain strong. One seven-year-old 2.3 litre light turbo model with 78,000 on the clock has an asking price of 18,950. A one-year-old 2-litre petrol model with 4,000 on the clock is being offered at 52,500.
The SLK is generally reliable.There have been some problems with the five-speed automatic gearbox and the sensors of the folding roof mechanism can cause problems if they are not regularly used. Foglamps have also been found to have been affected by moisture build-up.