Anyone had knowledge of Merc SLKs ?
Fancy one as a summer toy, subject to restrictions being eased.
Don’t want to spend a lot, there seems to be plenty about around 5k.
Anything to be aware of?
Which engine size is best?
Cheers

My wife quite likes the mk2 model so I have had a little look round and found few major worries, certainly less than we are used to on this forum.

Wheeler Dealers did up a mk1 Kompressor and had to find a replacement supercharger and a new hydraulic pump for the roof.

There are several forums on the net so worth visiting them. slkworld.com was one I found. Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged 2006
Ford Focus EcoBoost 1.5 2017
MG TF 2003

Previous Cars of note
Land Rover Discovery 2
Jaguar Mk2 3.8 - Company car
MG Midget 1974 - Concours

Looked into getting one last year then COVID . If I remember right timing chain issues on V6 engines can be an issue. They all rust especially the early ones on front wings and rear subframes. I’d look for a post 2004 with the air scarf built into the front seats....you can see the vent holes just below headrests. 2012 tdv8 Westminster arrived Jan 19 gone Dec 23

200 TDi discovery bobtail gone
RR classic v8 bobtail gone
300 tdi Discovery 3 dr gone

I picked up a 1999 230k last year. There is no shortage of rust, the front wings are pretty shot, but new Merc wings are around £150. The interior is shabby, but again easy and cheap to tidy up. It is great fun to drive, cheap to insure and run. There are a lot around the £4k-£5k mark - dunleycarsales.co.uk tend to have one or two.

My wife sold hers back in August, it was a 2010 AMG trim, 1.8 supercharged. Lovely car and looked the part. Hers was remapped and it went quite nicely. In our 4 years of owning it all that went wrong was the 3rd brake light which they’re apparently renowned for, it’s a simple trim removal replacement and diy worth £70. It had boot water leaks which again are common. Mercedes say to replace the boot seal at great expense. I found some marine white sealant and sealed the two (yes 2) boot seals together and this seemed to work. Apart from servicing it was turn key reliable. The reason she/we passed it on was it was just so low that it was tiresome getting in/out which wore thin.

Click image to enlarge

I’ve got a 2010 v6 which I bought ex demo . Its now got 26k miles on it so pretty clean but can’t say I’ve ever had any love for it. They frequently snap the ends off their front springs 2010 VSE [Roger]

Thanks for the advice chaps

We had the later version as the SLC - rejected the first one for a variety of quality issues and then ended up with an ‘upgraded’ version...

One of the issues with the first one was leaks - evidenced by wet carpets and frozen condensation on the inside of the windscreen - the second one was better in all aspects (most issues related to body damage and scratches) but the water ingress remained an issue.

It got too much to take 20 mins to defrost the car, doing inside and outside so it went in fairly short order....

We have had a 2009 280 V6 for 3 years and put 60k on it with no probs at all. V6 engine issues is between known engine numbers, just Google to find exact numbers and yes as mentioned above check for rust on front wings and rear subframe. Just a personal thing but I think the ride deteriorates quite a lot if you go to 18 or 19 inch rims. It won't replace your FF but in the summer it is much easier to get the roof off. 2010 3.6TDV8 Stornoway Grey/ Black interior - gone
2005 4.4V8 (M62) Bonatti Grey/ Parchment interior - gone
1998 4.6HSE Blue/ Cream interior (can't remember exact colours) - gone
1977 White - gone (should have kept)

Hello

I bought one as a fun car for my wife,


Looked at all sorts and given would want to use it didn't want the smaller engine...


I looked at the R171 as I think it still looks sleek. nice lines and proportions. I did try and find the SLK55 but the millage on these were generally very high for what I wanted to pay.

Then I found a SLK350 (3.5L V6) with a great spec, owned by an old chap that did around 800 miles a year.

Private plate on in and my word.. it looks like £30K's worth of car, wife loves it.

Her 'daily car' is a Mini clubman cooper S and that's nippy, this SLK is a proper stealth machine, Almost 300 bhp, 7 speed, If you drive in normal 'C' mode its comfy. smooth, quite.

If you flick to S and use the paddles... wow its very nippy and sounds great. Lovely spec, Airscarf and heated seats a must... then command (outdated by today's std) but handy for phone, memory seats and wheel handy as I drive it also.

Lovely car. Well impressed and the wife loves it







With one of my other toys...