SPORTS CAR OR CRUISER?
Things are a little bit different in the Mercedes. It feels far more opulent and comfortable, as though it would be just as happy in the wafty ‘Pagoda’ role rather than evoking the old 300SL. There’s recirculating-ball steering for starters, which doesn’t offer much feel, and of course it’s got an automatic gearbox. Can it be a sports car? View it side-on and it’s compact and wedgy rather than overtly retro. And then you notice the little plus and minus logos either side of the gear lever – ah, manual override.
The supercharger attached to the 2295cc fourcylinder endows the SLK with thrust that puts it in another league altogether. The 0-60mph sprint is dispatched in 7.3 seconds and delivered with a howling whine that recalls Fifties supercharged racing cars, appropriately enough. But what isn’t Fifties is the way the SLK changes direction. Manually overriding the gears and lifting the throttle to speed up the change, it’s possible to get the SLK into the right gear to exit corners quite easily. Combine this with steering that, whilst numb-feeling, is as pointily accurate as the BMW’s, and the SLK can be persuaded to cover ground at a staggering pace.
Its compact dimensions help – any number of AMG-fettled monsters are more powerful, but feel like liabilities on narrow country lanes. Not so the SLK.
It feels sportier with the roof up though. Drop it and the odd squeak and rattle turns into fullblown scuttle-shake. At this point, you feel it’s more appropriate to leave the gearbox to its own devices, back off the throttle and waft it along as if you’re in an R129 SL. Remarkably, it’s as good in this role as, well, an R129 SL…
‘The supercharger attached to the 2295cc four-cylinder endows the SLK with thrust that puts it in another league altogether.’