Falco

First: no pics...the dog ate the trasnfer cord(seriously!!!)
2nd: Hi, this is my 1st post!!!

Story: been driving an 02 911 C4 Cab for 3 years and with 1y left on my lease i started researching possible replacements. My requirements: 1) 1/4 mile in <13 sec, 2) more luxury than my 911, 3) German 4) able to handle the twisties and 5)<90K. A plus would be a convertbile. Let me say i have been lurking here for about 2 weeks and that the oft mention boxter S/Z4 didn't even make my research list.

So after visiting 5 dealers in the L.A. area, on Sat with nothing to do my girl and i swing by #6. All i was doing was looking for a SLK55 anywhere just to test drive to see if i liked(my biggest issue was that i have always driven manuals and swore i would never drive a slush box). So, we walk to the new cars, and sitting there is 1 SLK55, Iridium Silver. Hmmm. I check the options and yep, its got what i would want: Black/Red interior, HK with Nav/Sat/6disc, premium&ligthing pkgs, airscarf.

Lets just say I test drove it and 3 hours later it was home in my garage!

Really, I only wanted ot test drive it... i mean i still had 12m left on my car...but the :v got the best of me.

The last 3 days i cannot get the tactile feel of the wheel, the sound and how awesome the throttle response and acceleration is!!! Absolutly awesome car!!!

FIXEDupW209

congrats...the color combo sounds really nice!!!

AMG&AMG

Congratulations ... a great car with no doubt...

Florp

Congrats! You're a very lucky man to just walk into the 55 you want; you have no idea the amount of suffer-time you saved waiting for an order to be fulfilled.

So what's your impression of the 7G transmission so far? I've only had mine a couple of days, and I'm still not used to it. It has way more pickup than my last car, but I still feel that auto sluggishness in its pedal response; like my foot is not as connected to the engine as it used to be. I'm sure that will fade with time, though.

I'm also still getting used to the engine braking; it's constantly catching me by surprise. :p

Anyways, hurry up and take your dog for a walk so you can recover your camera cable. :v Or maybe buy a new one.

Falco

Yeah, even though i was only there to test drive, I know how rare they are and feel extremeley lucky that the once i test drove was the right color combo and options. Then again, if it wan't i might have saved a little money, but i had to have it!!!

I actually really like the 7g, most like a manual of all the auto's ive ever driven. Yeah, in C or S mode the torque converter doesn't lock out completly and you lose some responsivness. But in M it is fully locked out and teh throttle response is like that of a manual! I find when using M mode(which is only in the canyons where i need engine braking etc) that the wheel buttons are useless(too small when you are slamming tha canyons and need to shift)...using the shifter is much easier.

Oh...and i ordered a new cord yesterday...should have this week!

Florp

Well, I see that SOME people simply choose to ignore the break-in instructions.

I'm trying really hard to behave myself and stay within the break-in restrictions (C mode only, under 85, no red-line, no kick-down), but it's really hard. I was doing 75 on the freeway last night, and punched it to pass someone. Holy CRAP, this car's got some pick-up at the high end. What a rush!

Falco

Break in...whats that!!! I drive all my vehicles full throttle from day 1 and have never had any issues...I have never heard any good argument for the break in...are there parts in the engine that are still soft that need time to harden b4 you get after it ? If somthing is going to go wrong, i want to know about it now and now 2y from now...

Oh yeah, and my dealer only said to keep it under 4500...never mentioned all that other stuff...so i'll blame him if anything goes wrong!!! :p

Really i try to keep it under, and not punch it but when i start to here the rumble its :v :v :v

Florp

Yours didn't have that little clear sticker in the upper left of the front windshield? Maybe they took it off because it was on the showroom floor.

The only reason I'm so gun-shy about break-in is because I bought a '97 Celica that had about 50 miles on it when I got it. It quickly developed severe oil loss problems, and I wound up in arbritration with Toyota to force them to buy it back as a lemon. I can never know for sure, but it was my suspicion that it was over-driven during those first 50 miles (by people who didn't own and so didn't care), which prevented the piston rings from properly sealing.

Or I could just be paranoid.

lisamcgu

ha ha

With regards to not feeling the road, I had never had my car out of ESP mode, but a fellow MBWer(?) drove my car recently w/me in the passenger seat with the ESP off, using M and the stick - so fun! Weeks before I had been in an old '97 porsche that was truly a man's car - you felt every bump and got thrown around alot, kinda uncomfortable and tiring after awhile, but fun. Well, it felt like that. I didn't even know the car had it in her ... him, uh, it.

Also, when I first got my car I think someone had babied it and I really felt the auto downshifting, but now that it has been thru my "onboard chip reprogramming program" , I have noticed, I think, that the transmission is as quick and seamless downshifting as it is upshifting. Keep up the reprogramming process and you will be even more amazed at what your car can do

Florp

Any tips on how to speed that process along? Is it just a matter of me being heavy on the throttle?

lisamcgu

Living in traffic congested So Cal, I take every opportunity to jump on it from the light. If I'm not worried about a cop, and the street is truly empty for awhile, I will floor it to just under 100 (just in case - what is the rule now for going over 100, losing your license wise?). I especially like it if there is no one around because, as you know, with the sound of the car and how fast it goes, people think you are trying to race them. I wish I could have a sign that says, "just keepin my chip up "

Falco

I'm with ya!! Full throttle at every light and from every stop sign and thru every corner!!! The best is when you hit it just right so that the wheels are just barely slipping and the esp hasn't kcicked in...that is the best accelleration and feel!! L.A. has so much traffic tha i use EVERY chance to go full throttle!!! :v :v