1998 Mercedes-Benz SLK230

1998 Mercedes-Benz SLK230

This little black SLK was a fantastic car, but my experience with it didn't start out all that warm and fuzzy. I bought it at an auction without really looking it over first, and my initial attempt to pick it up was unsuccessful.

My girlfriend at the time gave me a lift, and it's a good thing she waited around for me. First, they couldn't find the key - no fault of the cars, but still not a good start. When they did finally locate the key, the car had a dead battery. Still probably no fault of the cars - people at auctions leave things like lights on all the time so it's not uncommon to have to jump a vehicle if it's been out there overnight. After hooking up a jump box it turned out that the car was out of gas as well! A lot of annoying issues, but all solvable. Finally, after addressing all of the aforementioned issues we started the little Merc up only to discover that it wouldn't run over five miles per hour.

I was leaving town the next day for a few weeks so I had the car towed to a shop and waited for the bad news. Fortunately, the news was better than expected and the car was back on the road long before I got back to the US.

It ran fantastically from then on and was in excellent cosmetic condition to boot. All SLKs in 1998 in the US were pretty much the same - supercharged 2.3-liter engine connected to an automatic transmission. The car would do 0-60 in just over 7 seconds - not blazing but it felt quicker than it was.

The interior was comfortable and functional. It had carbon fiber dash trim that was an exceptionally nice and sporty touch. Everything was well designed on the SLK - I even found a place to hold a super-sized soda.

With all the attributes previously listed, the best feature of the SLK was the power hardtop. With the touch of a button it would fold into the trunk in a matter of seconds. It was quick enough that you could actually do it at a stoplight. With the top up I almost didn't fit in the car, but with the top down I was quite comfortable. I didn't keep this car too long - less than a year. I sold it on ebay and some guy from New Jersey bought it. 

They don't cost much today, but if I were looking at one I would limit my search to the newer models with larger engines. I would especially recommend the AMG models with some real horsepower and future collectability. 

(PS - I don't know what I was using to take pictures back then, but I apologize - these are the best I have.)