HenryBurton

Thinking about getting an slk55. It would be my daily driver. I love the look of the car. Have test drove the v6 version and loved it. Would forsure want the AMG though.

For work I need to have a wakeboard in the car very often that is around 140 cm. I know it will likely not fit in the trunk. Would this fit in the passenger seat ontop of my girls lap in the front seat and her be able to be atleast semi-comfortable and see out the windows? Haha no joke.

Don't feel like going to dealership and trying to put a dirty wakeboard in the drivers seat. I would get the car off craigslist anyways and this car is far away.

I buy and sell cars every once in a while and found a great deal on a slk55 that is almost too good to let pass up, would be an almost even value as my current car.

Also how bad is repairs on the slk55. If I have my local honest guy do them will it still be very expensive being that it is a v8 or does the dealership just artificially jack up the prices for the v8 AMG's? Is it actually a lot more work to repair a slk55 AMG or just a premium basically being that it is a Mercedes dealer?

The insurance rate and mpg seems to not be all that bad.

Trickypeng2

Honestly, no. Unless your girlfriend is tiny, she will be quite uncomfortable in that position.... (Don't do that to her!! lol) My suggestion is you put the top down and that will give you more room in the cabin (obviously) so that the board will fit nicely in her lap and the top of the board is in the air. Also another thing I would do is, put the top down, adjust the seat back's so that there is enough room for you to put the wakeboard behind both seats, horizontally.

Spud_Racer

The SLK55 is a great car. I love mine. But it's not so great as an ONLY car. The same is true of any small roadster. It sounds like your needs and this car are not compatible.

As for repairs, it's a tiny roadster with a big V8 crammed under the hood. Access is tight. Even changing its 16 spark plugs takes additional labor. And it's a Mercedes. So OEM parts costs are high. On top of that, SLK's can be loaded up with a fair amount of options and electronics, Nav, Harman Kardon Audio, Parktronic, Bi-Xenon headlights, Tilt wheel, Digital Climate Control, Airscarf, etc. And then there's the complex 7G-Tronic transmission with its own computer and software. So there's lots of stuff to break.

On the other hand, the R171's are pretty reliable. And routine maintenance like oil changes, filters, and brakes can be done easily by any good mechanic or even DIY.

Think about it and be honest with yourself. Do you really want to own this car?

Trickypeng2

I agree, an slk is not an everyday drivers car.

Spud_Racer

Oh, I drive my SLK55 most days. I'd call it my daily driver in anything but winter weather. For me that's about 8 months of the year. And it's a great daily driver. For going back and forth to work with just me and my backpack, it's really enjoyable. It's just not a very well rounded car. But, I have an R500 as my backup vehicle. That handles snow-n-ice, hauling, skiing, beach, vacations, dump runs, up to three couples, Thule cargo box, etc.

My wife has an Infiniti G35x sedan and a Volvo XC90 as her backup vehicle. There are just times when you either need or want the utility of something other than a 2 seat roadster.

Trickypeng2

Yeah an SLK is just not practical to have by itself. Btw Spud, what is your average MPG on your 55? I have a 350 and I get 19 in the city and 24 on the highway.

Spud_Racer

Ha, my average may not be any indication of the car's behavior. I have an absolutely miserable 33 mile (one way) commute to work. A good day may take 45 minutes. A bad day can take more than 2 hours. And it's totally random. You never know what you're going to get when you leave the house in the morning.

So, on a bad week I can see as low as 13.5 - 14.0 mpg. On a relatively good week, I see around 17.5 - 18.5 mpg. If I avoid highways entirely and stay on secondary and residential roads with stop signs and traffic lights, the car gets about 17.0 - 18.0 mpg.

The absolute best mileage I have achieved is 24.2 on a 110 mile highway trip under nearly ideal conditions @ 65 mph with the cruise control on most of the time.

I think in any sort of reasonable commute the car could easily return around 20.0 mpg even with some romps on the throttle.