SL rear seats - family car, occasionally!?
 

I am thinking of buying a Mercedes SL500, and my wife is saying no.

I know that there are VERY small seats in the back, and I read somewhere that these are good to seat children up to 7 years old or upto 50kg weight, as long as the anti-roll bar is raised.

Link:
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r129...ump-seats.html


- How many here put there kids in the back of there SL?
- Will a baby seat fit ok, and with the kids legs in the back too, of course!


Thanks,
Sid

I think those seats were only an option on the pervious version of the SL and only in europe. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong).

As far as putting anyone in a current SL sitting on those rear shelves.... Please don't. Not only is it illegal, there are no restraints and these is this magical roll-bar that likes to pop up in 3/10s of a second if you hit a speed bump to fast.

theyre storage bins! not seats.

2 door 2 seater only!!

The link you posted is for the R129 SL, which is the previous model. The current gen, R230, doesn't have any rear seats nor an option for rear seats. Two seater only.

I'm in the UK, the R230's all have rear seats and seat belts.
Just thought I'd ask for your experiences...

please show a pic?
i have seatbelts in the rear too. but i think its to strap on to luggages or etc...

here in Hong Kong, it says how many 'passenger' on the vechile license and it says ONE (+driver)

I have a SL R230 in Germany. Also 2 rear seats (huh, is that really a seat ?) and 2 seat belts in the back.
My MB dealer informed me that they are suited for persons under 50 kg and under 10 years.

Interesting. Please post a picture of your rear seats.

MB call these "seats", I don't. But on the back, there are 2 seat belts (which I actually use for the leather SL bag).

Check out this link for a company that sells the kit with the seatbelts but let me be the first to tell you that it's useless. The roll bar has to be up and anyone other than an infant could never fit in the seat with the roll bar up.

http://www.jjproducts.net/jj_product...JumpSeats.html

This vendor site stated 1990 - present, but the description clearly mentioned R129 (1990-2002). The picture speaks for itself.
http://www.jjproducts.net/jj_product...93_129Body.jpg

The straps in the back are for the luggage that you can buy in the accessories section. They arent seat belts. Isnt a roadster by definition a 2 seater car?

Roll bar is spring loaded!!
 

That roll bar is spring loaded and deploys in a few milliseconds if the computer senses a rollover. There goes your childs head!

no seats
 

r230's do not have rear seats in the uk or us.

You will see that the strap is located at the center of the storage bin on both sides and goes straight down, perpendicular to the floor. This makes it impossible for anyone to sit there... or to strap a baby's seat to it.

Don't let your wife own you like that though... buy it anyway... it is well worth the money.:y

exactly.
and there is not enough head room to begin with
i have fitted a girl in the rear twice (shes petite) and had to move the passenger seat almost 70% way towards the engine and she still thinks its extremely cramped

LOL, anyone who thinks there are rear seats in the SL500 doesn't have one. You can barely fit a backpack back there. The belts are to hold luggage.

No they don't. There are no seats and 2 luggage straps.

This is one time you should listen to your wife, I've seen some of your other ideas also.

LOL ... I dread to think what they were !!! :smash:

1st, sorry for bumping such an old thread. But we're also thinking about a SL500.

Are these the "rear seats" that everyone is talking about? Looks tiny, has anyone tried to put people in the back?

http://photos4.automanager.com/01235...2c61c8_640.jpg
http://static.usnews.rankingsandrevi...s_rearseat.jpg

http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Images/...sSL_2Small.jpg
http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Images/...sSL_4Small.jpg
http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Images/...sSL_1Small.jpg

The R230 is a 2 seater. Full stop.

The bottom three pix in your post: there appears to be a handslot in the center of the trim piece in which the cargo straps are anchored. There is no such handslot in the top two pix ... obviously two different cars. Can anyone state what the handslot is for?

That is not a handslot, it is actually the display for the reverse parking sensors - similar to the one on the top of the dashboard for the front parking sensors.

I can see why you might think it was a handslot though.

AJP

Thank you, AJP.

Great Pictures - Next time I'll bring my dog!
 

I have owned many sportscars - virtually all of them had vestigial rear seats or package shelves that could cram a buddy or a large dog onto. Several years ago I started looking at SL500's - both R129 and R230. I had the cars side by side and made comparisons. These were large cars - huge next to my Austin Healey ( which is a real 4 seater. )

Both had what looked like rear seats that my dog would be very happy in.The folding hardtop and modern interior of the R230 sold me. Both cars drove well but the later seven speed R230's felt so much quicker. The 5 speed cars never got rid of that horrible hesitation just when you need the power. Not as bad as on the sedans - but still deadly.

But back to the seats! Brought my 2004 SL500 home - great car. I spent the winter months learning about ABC's and SBC's while my dog waited patiently for his ride in the new convertible. In the winter it was impossible with the top up. Then with the top down I folded both seats forward and lured him onto the rear cubbies. He knew something was up and the moment the seat started to move back he panicked and jumped out over the fender. Since then that Golden Retriever wants no part of my SL.

Had I studied the pictures of the R230 Luggage strapped in the back would it have lured me to the older R129 ?

NAAAH!