http://www.mbusa.com/brand/con...ECTOR

I can't get this thing out of my head. I'm sitting here watching Mercedes television commercials on the Internet and calculating just what sort of financial ruin it would require to purchase a $50,000 automobile. I've read the latest Car and Driver comparo including it, and I've read the piece about the Benz probably five times.

I guess I've got a bit of a Benz fetish. That old 190E 2.3-16 has always fascinated me, with the Cosworth motor and the dogleg 1st gear manual box (I was captivated by Irish Mike's ITS 2.3-16 at the ARRC last year). The mid-1980s SL Roadster has always been on my gotsta-have-it list. A high school buddy's Mom had a 300TD and I thought that thing was just the coolest. Hell, many years ago, I went and toured the factory and left convinced that I would own one.

Is it just me?

Does anyone know where SCCA classed this thing for Solo 2?

I'll take mine in metallic silver please. With red leather seats and a six speed manual.

 

Pretty car. Too bad Mercedes build quality and reliability has been pretty bad the last few years. As in embarrassingly bad. $$$$$

Barry H.

 

personally, i hate the car. then again, i've hated everything MBZ has made since the early 80's.

iono, the way they market this thing to the boxster market i can't envision anyone driving it who isn't a total douche. you know, the burnout on public streets, and valet park with a smirk, and hang out in hollywood to show off his car kind of douche...

not to suggest that you are a DB maybe LA's getting to me...

also, i was looking at the maclaren MBZ and how the exhaust pipes exit in front of the driver and it just seems like a bad idea. sitting in traffic in one of those with the windows down seems like a really dumb way to die of CO poisoning.

 

Blah, GTO = 400 drifting HP, hauls 4 people.. Save yourself 20k, or buy a civic beater..

 

I drove the thing at fedex field for their demo day last year. even though it was the auto tiptronic thingamabob, it was still a blast to drive. they had a tiny pseudo autocross course set up and a piece of electrical tape covering up the traction control button so people dont turn it off. i wasnt that naive though and it was a freakin blast to break loose. however, it is heavy like all benzes and way to expensive.

 

If I saw a guy who looks like Rice step out of a Merc SLK, I would swear I was in the Twilight Zone!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krshultz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">(I was captivated by Irish Mike's ITS 2.3-16 at the ARRC last year). </TD></TR></TABLE>

While I don't think I'd ever run one myself, thats just a friggin cool IT car.
Nothing quite like watching that boat get wheeled into turn one at Road Atlanta at over 90mph.
Its not slow. Not at all.

It takes a special kind of crazy to look at a Mercedes sedan and say "hmmmm... I think I'll weld a cage in that."

 

I get it Karl. I still kind of like the SLK with the 4-cylinder Kompressor.

But if I was gonna blow some loot on a sporting street car I'd be looking for - and I don't know how this got into my head - a Ferrari 308 GTB...like this one:



It doesn't make any sense - my ITR would smoke it - but I actually like them despite the Magnum PI overexposure and indepent of the fact that it's the only Ferrari that I can realistically fantasize about.

Scott, who, fortunately, doesn't have any extra money that he could blow on that...

 

Karl,

I think that Merc would look cool parked right next to your Radical SR3

My neighbor who works for the German government (he is a German civil servant) just took delivery of his German spec SLK-230 (German market V6). My biggest complaint about the old SLK was it's horrible interior. It's perfect on the new SLK, though I still think for the same money the new Boxster S is a better car.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FLATOUTRACING &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Karl,

... though I still think for the same money the new Boxster S is a better car.

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would agree, with the caveat that the new SLK Mercs sound absoloutly fantastic!

On a car like this, where you're not really intending on modifying it, wouldn't a lease be a more viable option?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It takes a special kind of crazy to look at a Mercedes sedan and say "hmmmm... I think I'll weld a cage in that."</TD></TR></TABLE>

I love that quote!

I dunno if you know Mat Cama -- anyway, he's a mb gearhead and has a 2.3/16 and is having that same thought -- "hummm.... I think I'll weld a cage in that."

One of these days I hope to see him racing it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krshultz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is it just me?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope

I was basically born and raised on Mercedes - my first car was a '77 300D that my dad had bought new. That was his first Mercedes, the family's fourth. Since then that's all my folks have owned.

My favorites, in no particular order:

* '77 300D. Wish we still had it, perfect highway car.
* '63 180D. Slow as Tuesday, but a hoot to drive (3 on the tree). You never knew which brake was going to grab hardest, so you kept a loose grip on the wheel until the car started darting one direction or another.
* '92 300D 2.5 Turbo. Not slow at all, and 45+ mpg on the interstate.
* '95 SL320. MB made a mistake when they changed from the I6 to a V6.

If the Pig was worth anything on trade, I'd try to find another 2.5, or if the price was right, a C36.

 

Karl, you should buy a SL60 - twin turbo v12

There was one out at the carguys event @ shenandoah - it was quite nice

 

I also think that the SLK350 looks like a really nice car, but to answer the original question -- it's been classed in A Stock, where in my opinion the S2000, Boxster S, and C4 Corvette will make mincemeat out of it.

Steve

 

yo RJ its SL600 not SL60. just an fyi is all. oh and the SL65 is out now. that is a beast of a car let me tell you. the 65 is the same V12 twin turbo motor but the AMG version. totals come to 604 hp and 738 ft lbs and the torque is at 1500 rpm. its a ******* beast of a car.

the new slk is a nice looking car and handles pretty well but is just getting too heavy for what it used to be. oh yeah and we had an slk55 come through the shop last week. that is a cool car and holly **** it flys.

misha

 

Must have been a SL65 then... it was a coupe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Must have been a SL65 then... it was a coupe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

SL65 would be a hardtop convertible... CLK is the coupe.

 

my dad has one, i drove it home after he bought it. didnt really know what to think of it since i was just crusing. but i think i would prefer my s2.

 

It's obviously not just you, but it's not me.

I'm just not a fan of Mercedes. Maybe it's because every freaking magazine test in history has included a silver Merc. Not blue or red or green, silver!

Also I think there are much better driver's cars out there that just make me feel more "serious" behind the wheel than the equivalent Mercedes (the most equivalent equivalents are at BMW of course but there are others...I swear there are others from other manufacturers...I'm not just another BMW Ultimate Driving Machine *****...I swear!!!).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Splat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

SL65 would be a hardtop convertible... CLK is the coupe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think it was this - http://www.mbusa.com/brand/models/SL65.jsp - it had a roof on it, it was silver, and fast as all hell. Thats all i know

 

yup thats the one i was talking about.

the last one i know that the dealer i work for sold went for 250k dollars. man thats a lot of money. but its also a stupid fast car. i guess if you got the money why not.

misha

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I think it was this - http://www.mbusa.com/brand/models/SL65.jsp - it had a roof on it, it was silver, and fast as all hell. Thats all i know </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep. Kick *** at the track, the drop the top and cruise home with the trophy wench

RE: Mercedes magazine test cars always show in silver - it's their traditional racing color.

 

something Mercedes Benz that make me go:
"that's really boring looking".


there isn't anything in MB's lineup that doesn't look remarkably lame or inspiring.

 

well it took them 15 years to realize that putting a proper 5/6 speed in their cars was a key ingredient to their cars being taken seriously as "performance vehicles."

it's ridiculous that people spend tens of thousands of dollars on an AMG MBZ and have to drive it as an auto. might as well strap a rocket to a skateboard and carry a louis vuitton purse.

in contrast, BMW's been keepin it real since...well, since forever.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Catch 22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It takes a special kind of crazy to look at a Mercedes sedan and say "hmmmm... I think I'll weld a cage in that."
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