NateDawg

Ok - first - I swear the pics will come tomorrow . Girlfriend has the digital camera and she's at the beach

Back Story:

I owned an Infiniti G35 Coupe for about 2 years and loved it, but I got rid of it and traded it in for a Chevy Avalanche cuz I needed the truck for the new house (you can't put a lawnmower in a coupe!). I missed the car, and I new one day that I would own a sports car of some sort again before I reach 40 (I’m 33).

Anyways...luckily, I had a MINOR dot com windfall (i.e., enough money to buy some toys, but I’m still working full time with 80% left on my mortgage  ). When I received my dough, I swore to myself that all the money would go into low risk index and mutual funds lol. That didn’t last long…

The Debate

After the little devil inside me convinced me to buy a sports car, I decided to look at my options. I was basically looking to spend under $80K. I narrowed my search to (a) Corvette, (b) Boxster S, (c) entry level 911, (d) M3, (e) 5 series BMW, and (f) slk55 amg.

I grew up loving the M3, but I passed because 3 series beamers or so common. Plus they will likely change the body style in 2007 for the M3. The 5 series is nice, but not sexy enough. The 911 was just too small and uncomfortable IMHO and little pricy. I passed on the Boxster for 2 reasons: (1) my neighbor has one, and (2) I recall some movie where the character said, “A Boxster is a Porsche with panties”.

It came down to the Corvette and SLK. My fiancé’s dad is retired general motors, so I could have received a nice 6K discount on the Corvette. However, I couldn’t get out of my head what I thought about corvettes – i.e., they are a mid-life crisis car – usually driven by old balding guys with guts and 3 kids.

At the end of the day – I settled on the SLK55 AMG. It looks good – is fast, and is a Benz. A relative of mind that I hate recently came into town and was bragging about his damn Mercedes and how all his kids drive Benzs. After listening to him rant, I just had to show him up and get my own 

The Purchase:

I went to two dealerships – Barrier Mercedes in Bellevue, WA (suburb in Seattle) and Phil Smart in downtown Seattle. The Barrier folks didn’t seem to take me seriously quite honestly. I think they looked at me and thought “young guy who can’t afford it”. They had a sold AMG in the lobby and I asked if I could just sit in it and they said no (perhaps understandable – but they let some gal sit in it about 10 minutes before I asked…). The 80 year old salesman seemed bothered that he had to answer my questions. I’m sure they have some good sales folks there, but they just didn’t treat me like I want to be treated.

I then proceeded to Phil Smart last Thursday. They were pretty cool folks. Granted, I still tend to get the “rolled eyes” look from car salesman, but the sales guy seemed interested in helping me out. They didn’t have one in for me to sit in or drive, but I already knew I wanted it based on the research. They had an SLK slotted for build Oct. 10 – with a December delivery. I ended up ordering a 2006 SLK55 AMG – Obsidian black outside and two-tone red/back inside with xenon package, upgraded entertainment system and headscarf.

I left town and turned off the cell phone during the weekend. I get back in town on Sunday and find out that the dealership left me a message. Apparently, there was a car show in Kirkland, and they had a few SLKs slotted for the dealership, including a 2006 SLK55 AMG with 25 miles!!!! I called at about 4:00 (dealership closed at 5), and my sales guy basically said if I get there, I could buy it. He showed it to another guy who wanted it but passed because he had one on order and didn’t want to take a penalty on the lease for his current car.

I got to the dealership and droooooled all over the SLK. Caspian blue (I think – don’t have paperwork in front of me) with tow tone black/ash interior. Headscarf, Nav, Entertainment packages. They were selling for MSRP, and it took me a total of 30 seconds to decide I’m buying it. Drove it home at 6:00.

I feel so fortunate to get a 2006 without waiting at all. I LOVE the car.

Sorry for the long-winded post! I’m just excited. Pics should come tomorrow!

NateDawg

theitalianjob

Congrats!

Why did you get the a blue one when you ordered black?

NateDawg

I wasn't too picky - plus I thought the blue was pretty stunning. I'm also impatient and didn't want to wait till december

elbimmer

You're lucky. One time I will sell my new (2005) C-Class and buy SLK55....

slvrstar

Pics?

NateDawg

Ok - here are some pics. They are kinda dark (cloudy in Seattle - what can you expect ). I'll try to post additional pics that are better quality later. I'm luvin this car!!



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MBE55AMG

Astounding! I'm lovin' the two-tone Congrats, man. Happy miles with it to you, sir.

jcanabal

Congrats!
Very Nice! Enjoy!

JMC

lisamcgu

Gorgeous! I like the two-tone as well. ENJOY!

adx

The SLK55 is such a great handling car with the power to back it up. Great choice.

northbenz

Sounds like you made a "smart" purchase. I don't know all the salesmen there, but the ones I have met when in Seattle on business are as you describe.

MBAMGPWR

I like the blue much better then the black (partly because I'm just tired of black) and the two-tone interior looks stunning! You have a beautiful car! Enjoy her!

Ynot

Beautiful, love the two-tone interior, IMO, that's the only way to go, it brightens up the interior, pure black is boring. Great choice, enjoy.

dsb

Very nice,

You just got the exact same car I have on order! Mine will be built mid-Sep with delivery oct/nov. I wish my dealership 'found' that car for me! Jealous. Congrats.

ntguru

Beautiful car! Can you confirm which blue yours is?

jsnadams

Nate - dude, you almost missed that car ;-) Sales guy tried to sell it to me, then he told me "it got away from him"... pretty funny to read your story! Mine just jumped on the boat, so maybe end of Oct??? (actually if anyone could tell me what time frame to expect on west coast from boat ride-to-me

Love your car man, great color and I love that it is not the same-old same-old... even though I went with a safety "silver" color ;-)

-j

taroliw

Well, I'm in thet SF Bay Area, so my car's going to LA (not sure about WA cars' VPC destination). But my 350 was just built last week, isn't quite on the boat yet, and will be here before end of October... so, you may have just a few weeks to go...

I've been a MB fan long enough to know silver is the clasic color... but it's almost more boring to me than white. ;-) And I'm replacing a Azure Blue CLK320, so I didn't want blue again. I would have killed for the Graphite color... *sigh* But, alas, $8K extra to get it (designo) wasn't worth it. So, Obsidian Black is for me. :-)

jsnadams

Graphite is truly to die for! But yeah, I'm coming from a couple blacks back to back, so needed a lighter color myself, had the slk320 in silver and loved it, so it's "safe" .

My car is going to the L.A. VPC, so good news for me, thanks!

lisamcgu

Back in 04, my car had a build date of -

09/04

and was delivered to the dealer in LA on -

10/29/04

It was like the first car to get to N. America, so I would think they would be even quicker now, like less than a month?

taroliw

Just got off the phone with my sales rep. SLK is on the boat now and is due to dock in LA by 10/11 -- unless weather gets in the way. He said it would be up to a week before the car would arrive, but he has seen it happen as quickly as three days. So... looks like between 10/14 and 10/18!

can't wait can't wait can't wait can't wait

lennyr

I ordered my '55 June 13. Build was July 8-12. It sat at the dock in Bremmerhaven waiting to be assigned a ship for almost a month. It arrived in LA 9/7, and is still languishing at the VPC and I haven't got a delivery date yet.

So close, and yet so frustrating!

Ynot

10/14 is possible since they don't have to install satellite radio in your car. That usually takes 2-3 days. I'm happy for you..

taroliw

Well, there seems to be some uncertainty regarding the installation of the antenna now. Word from the VPC is that for '07 MB may be making a manufacture change to install the antenna at the factory. It is not clear whether these last '06 shipments will be affected by the process change. So more news on that as it happens.

But, either way, it should not add delay at the VPC -- it will either be there already, or they won't install it.

bloflin

lennyr, if the build was Aug 12 and it arrived in Los Angeles on Sept 7, that is VERY fast, it did NOT sit on the dock waiting at all. The transport time from Germany to US is usually 3 to 4 weeks (to the east coast, west coast is longer).

Or did I misunderstand your dates or what LA means?