bbjai

ppl will obviously compare this car to z4, boxster, and other cars. reading couple of posts, ppl really care about the performance of this car, esp. slk55 rite. but my thought is speed is good as long as it comes at a low price unless it has "that" much more stuff in the interior. personally i think g35 and 350z are great cars, performance from low car price but interior sux. i even come to see ppl comparing sl55 and slk55, complete joke man. sl55 is luxury, classy, nice on teh inside, and it'll draw attention for driving it because of the price. soem of the ppl misunderstand the importance by repetitively looking at the 0-60 time, speed, how u can upgrade the system to go faster and i understand that but they shouldn't base the value of the car on those things. bak to the comparison of slk to z4, boxster, etc. to me, i compare them based on their car price. the slk55 is a good car but if u check out it's price, it's quite a lot more than the other cars too so u're basically spending the money buying a better engine or if u want to think of it a different way, u can even spend it buying the other cars and modifying it urself.
so i'm just recommending perhaps having more topics on other things than speed, performance, modification once in a while.
btw i'm a benz lover myself.

dinko

It would be fair to compare a 350 to a Z4/Boxter; even though the 350 will end up on top. The SLK55 would crush a Z4/Boxter. I own a SL55, and am more excited about the getting the SLK55 than I was about the SL55 (that's a lie, the SL55 is king of all!) :p

The SLK has, and will be in a class of its own, that is why your comparison should go to a SLK350. The reason people compare it to a SL55, is because of its power to weight ratio.

Of course, the SL55 appointments are much greater in quality, and the seats are a nice 6" thick, compared to the SLK which are tiny when being compared.

SLK55_AMG

nice thread dude, hey dinko , why did you order the slk 55 when you already have the sl55 ? well said dinko though

SLK55_AMG

hey dude, why is it a joke to compare slk 55 with sl 55? maaan a damn V8 with 7 speed with little weight compared the its older brother...

dont look at damn 500 hp or 1000 hp, look at the performance figures, its the real thing! anyways,,, good point dude happy driving

dinko

replace the SLK230. Earlier this year I was going to purchase a Black SLK32 AMG, but as soon as I heard the new SLK's were coming, I shifted my interest to the new SLK55 AMG.

cracker123

so are you replacing the jeep with a the new ML's . My dealer was kind of bugging me to put down a deposit for SLK55. My brother and I might get couple SLK55's.

BTW are you leasing or buying, if leasing what is a good site to go and compare with the lease rates mercedes offers.

Lirim318

In all honesty, how many of you who's purchasing a SLK will ever go 0-62mph in 5.6 sec? Or better yet go beyond the 155 mph mark?.....I mean, performance specs does look great on paper, but just not very practical (or legal for that matter) for everyday driving.

For me, choosing the right car is not just about performance (performance which I will problably never use to the full extent anyway), but rather a balance between styling, built quality, standard features, and performance (with the brand name thrown in for good measure). As for whether a car is worth it's sticker price, only you can answer that. But it does depend on two things; 1)whether you can afford it, and 2)whether you're happy with it.

SLK55AMG

I think the two AMGs will be very closely matched on the road but anyone who thinks that the SLK55 will be quicker than the SL55 is probably going to be disappointed as the SL still has a power to weight ratio advantage over the SLK. The SLKs weight advantage will see it quicker on twisty roads or on track..... I'd be surprised if the SLK55 can't match or better the SL55s time round the Nurburgring (8min 12sec)

SLK55AMG

Me! as long as there are no laws saying how fast you can accelerate I'll be using the max performance as much as possible! In the UK there is no chance to speed but there is nothing to stop you accelerating as hard as you like UPTO the speed limit....... top speed means absolutely nothing to me as getting caught over 100mph generally means a driving ban...... I'd gladly swap 30mph of top end speed for gearing that would increase the low end sprint ability (gearing is one way the Lotus Elise is so quick but try taking it beyond 120mph and it is blown away by lots of other cars!)

SLK55_AMG

yeah man, but performance figures are nice, what do you mean on paper only? it was on the road then on the paper

SLK55AMG

Yep I agree...... the SLK350 on paper figures do seem accurate.

The 350 I had was very easy to get MBs 5.5 0-62 time...... in fact it is probably the ONLY car I have ever tested that was so easy to match the manufacturers performance figures. Virtually no other car I can think of that I've driven is as easy to get the top performance out of it..... the S2000 for example is listed by Honda as doing a 6.2 second 0-62mph however it takes several attempts for most drivers before they learn how to get times close to that...... the only difference with the S2000 was that its fairly easy to beat Honda stated times (down to 5.5 sec) but that involves high rev launches which would damage the car if done regularly.

In the SLK350 you could do 5.5sec runs all day long without any real effort (or skill in the 7G..... which is why I'd prefer a manual)!

Anyway 0-60 times are just one way to measure performance but I prefer to see on track times as they tend to show the bigger picture!

http://www.track-challenge.com/main_e.asp

Is a great site that lists lots of real world track based tests..... no new SLK on there yet but its a German site (in English as well) so hopefully they'll test one soon.

dinko

I'm gonna have to wait and see what the new ML's have to offer. The Jeep is a great car for now.

I'll be buying.

Lirim318

What I mean is with all the stop signs, traffic lights, speed limits, traffic, and curvy roads, it's difficult to find the right conditions to go 0-60mph in 5.6sec.

Personally, I would really like to test out the car's full potential on the european motorway.....Here's an example of what I mean, check out this video by Top Gear....

http://www.racingflix.com/getvideo.asp?v=740&p=6

It's a race between the AM DB9 vs the Eurostar Train, from England all the way to the south of France. I know it'll take a while to download the video, but trust me, it's well worth the wait

SLK55_AMG

Seen it buddy thank you !

c2jones

I'd like to see some head-to-head comparisons between the SLK55 and the '05 Corvette.

The C6 Corvette would seem to have slightly better acceleration numbers but not substantially better (remembering that the SLK is a hardtop convertible and must be compared at least to the automatic [cloth] top of the C6 to be fair in terms of weight). The best 0-60 times for the C6 are around 4.3 to 4.8 depending on gear ratio and performace packages (base, F55, Z51).

MB is publishing 0-60 for the SLK55 at 4.9. (Perhaps some magazines have got better?)

The SLK55 will also cost more. It has some advantages over the C6 in technology (like the transmission, etc), but C6 has some nice gems over the SLK too (like Head-Up-Display), etc.

Not sure which has the edge on slalom or braking. Would probably be very close. I'm guessing that the major automotive magazines will see these for being close enough in price to be compared against each other.

The C6 Corvette ranges in around $48K to $52K.
The projected cost of the SLK55 is said to be somewhere between $60K and $63K. (That's the latest price speculation I've heard.)

ajoe

Initial feedback from new owners at dragstrips seem to be 13.0 - 13.1 qtr mile times for the z51 6sp. Mags claim around 12.7. Previous slk32 #'s in MT show, if I remember correctly, 4.7 and 13.1. We can only hope that the slk55 will be a little quicker with the 7g tranny in spite of a little extra weight. It's the handling where the vette will probably have its biggest advantage. I would like to see a wider tire than a 245 on the rear of the slk55. The mags have already done the numbers for the 6sp vette cpe and vert. Hopefully they'll have #'s for the 350 and 55 by january.