John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/10/11 8:34 p.m.

I had a for trade offer for the GLI last night. The guy is offering a 90k mile 2002 Mercedes Benz SLK 230 Kompressor. While not initially my cup of tea I am considering making the swap. With the value of this car down right now because of winter and summer coming up around the corner I could make a bit off of this and pay down some bills.

1: Should I run?

2: Anyone live with one?

3: What are they like inside? Will a big muffer like me fit?

4: What is the Achilles heal?

carguy123
carguy123 SuperDork
2/10/11 9:12 p.m.

If you're looking for a cruiser it's nice. If you're looking for a fun autocrosser you'll be seriously disappointed. You hit the gas at the appropriate time in your turn and the car responds halfway down the next straight. You have to learn to anticipate both brakes and gas.

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/10/11 9:22 p.m.

Just a cruiser and flipper.

amg_rx7
amg_rx7 HalfDork
2/10/11 9:48 p.m.

I had one. So did my uncle. It is a nice cruiser. Great top down, comfy vert. Even with 140k miles, it ran like a top.

I like the car. It was a fun vert. The 230 engine is tiresome and a bit noisy and underpowered but if you are only holding onto it for a while, go for it and flip it.

I thought it was pretty roomy inside but I'm not a big muffer like you (not that I have a clue what you look like or what a muffer is).

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/11/11 10:41 a.m.

6'3" ~ 285lbs with a 54" chest and 32" inseam... I am a little wide ;)

Travis_K
Travis_K Dork
2/11/11 11:57 a.m.

I see alot of them around still, the one bad thing I have heard is that they tend to burn if they run into something. A couple years ago there were a couple of them that were in accidents and they ended up having to use dental records to idenfity the driver.

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/11/11 12:41 p.m.

I am cleaning up my DD right now to get its glamor shots done. His car is equally clean. I am considering this as a short term investment but have yet found the "GOTTA" with the other vehicle.

Marty!
Marty! Dork
2/11/11 5:11 p.m.

Isn't a SLK just a tarted up Crossfire?

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
2/11/11 7:40 p.m.

God I hope so I LOVE Crossfires ;)

Curmudgeon
Curmudgeon SuperDork
2/11/11 8:17 p.m.

'Round my neck of the Mercedes woods we don't see a whole lot go wrong with them. Having said that, when they do DAYUMN are they 'spensive to fix. If it has one big Achillies heel it's that freaky complicated top mechanism. Adjustment/repair is NOT an easy deal. If you really plan to do this, run that top through its paces a few times. If it falters or even worse gets stuck that's probably why he wants to move it.

I have seen a couple with rattly superchargers, honestly I figured what I was hearing was gear rollover in the front drive and they probably would have gone a long time. Another one had a CEL for 'secondary air injection', on those cars it's done by the supercharger. That one had an internal S/C fault (no air from the injection ports) meaning a new S/C was the (expensive!) fix.

They are snug inside; at 5'11 and 220 with a 36" waist I fit better in my Jensen Healey.

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