In a short time, the Mercedes-Benz SLK 320 became a classic – it had the looks of a solidly built sports car, and the added innovation of the convertible steel roof. A real trend setter. It was also unmistakably a Mercedes.
Although Mercedes-Benz had not produced a two-seater for some years, they came up with a neat and attractive design, with simple lines. The grille and lamps were unmistakably Mercedes, and unmistakably sporty.
Compact V-6 engine with 215 bhp and good gas mileage
The best engine was the 3.2 liter 18-valve V-6 engine developing 215 bhp at 5,700 rpm, and 229 lb-ft (310 Nm) @ 3,000 rpm. Mercedes-Benz claimed at the time that the three-valve arrangement gave good performance with lower emissions and gas mileage. Now, though, they use four-valve engines in the new SLKs.
With a six-speed manual, the engine gave good performance, not least because of the good mid-range power. It takes 6.6 seconds to get to 60 mph, and the top speed is 153 mph.
Unique automatically opening steel roof
The all-steel body was quite heavy, and the convertible roof mechanism added quite a bit of weight, so it was not a very light car. Some effort was made to reduce weight with a light alloy rear bulkhead behind the cockpit and of the course the engine has an aluminum block.
To keep the car compact, the Mercedes-Benz engineers mounted the engine well forward – more between the front wheels than behind them – so the car is a bit nose heavy compared with some competitors. But it is quite short, at just under 160 inches and just over 4.0 metres long.
Double wishbone suspension
Double wishbone suspension was used front and rear – with geometry designed to limit squat on acceleration and dive on braking. Wheel control is good, and the car tracks mostly, but owing to imprecise steering, it does not always go exactly where you intend.
Rather vague steering
Because the engine is well forward, it was not practical to fit rack and pinion steering and get good steering geometry, so the engineers opted for recirculating ball steering. Unfortunately, this is rather vague, with a little lost motion – which you don’t get with rack and pinion systems. As a result the car cannot be placed as precisely as most competitors in the compact sports car class.
There is an AMG version of the SLK, but the chassis is not really up to the engine. Overall, the original SLK was a good design, which definitely looked the part, and was popular owing to that opening roof. It makes the car much quieter than a soft-top. The handling and steering are not quite as good as they might be, but a used SLK can still provide a lot of fun at a reasonable price. The original SLK lives on, under the metal at least, in the Chrysler Crossfire, which is based on the old SLK platform.
