Thank you so much for voting our SLK as Car of the Month. It’s quite humbling.
A bit about us, Al and Louise from Harrogate, North Yorkshire – I’m the petrolhead, Louise just humours me. Most of our spare time is taken up with camping over in the Lake District, walking up mountains, or in my case running up them. We have had many convertibles over the years, from exotic Italian, Blackpool’s finest, through to our last one which we sold about nine years ago – a 2.5 BMW Z4, which was quite frankly, superb. In forty years of car ownership though, I had never had a Mercedes Benz.
The decision to move from Louise’s incumbent daily, arguably the best all-round sports car the world has ever seen, was prompted by her pronouncing after 18 months, that it was the most boring, dull-looking car I had ever bought!
My first thought after this unfathomable statement, was that it had to be another soft top. We had been too long without one and we did miss it. The obvious choice was another Z4, but then I started noticing more of the SLK 172s on the road and realised that they had lost a bit of the soft curves and looked distinctly beefier. I found an immaculate 65 plate 250 CDi on AutoTrader, in white with very dark red leather, the full spec’ that I was looking for including the 9G box, air scarves, and just under 29,000 miles.
More to the point, Louise liked it, and a deal was agreed that evening. The following afternoon was a long train journey from North Yorkshire down to Southampton, and then a five-hour drive back through the night, ready for its first trip (of many), to the Lake District that morning.
My initial impressions were that it was so good to be back in a convertible again – it looks fantastic, the interior is comfortable, roomy, and oozes class – the engine and 9-speed DSG-style box are superb… and I just love the view out over the bonnet – it’s so wide it’s like the deck of an aircraft carrier!
That was all just over a year ago, June 2023. Since then, we have done about 4,000 miles, as it doesn’t often get much use during the week. It was had many (eleven in nine months), early morning trips over to The Lake District, the 55mpg making it an easy choice over the Range Rover when I was driving over once every two or three weeks, to climb the 214 Wainwright summits. The boot is easily big enough for a week away, although no good for camping, unless it is just me in the tiny tent!
The car is rock solid, and my opinion of it really went through the roof when it managed to get me 20 miles down off a mountain pass, in the pitch black, to the nearest KwikFit… with two blown nearside tyres thanks to an unseen pothole on Wrynose Pass at 5am one Sunday. The front was nearly off the rim, yet not a scratch.
Louise continues to love it, which to be fair is the main thing, and I can see us keeping it for a long, long time. The only thing I would be tempted to do would be to get the V8 55… but I don’t really want to give up the 9G box.
The 911 Turbo that it replaced is an icon, and its sheer brute force is a thing to behold…and yes, I do miss it… but which is the nicer car to drive? For us, the SLK wins, hands down.
