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Mercedes-Benz SLK
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Comments
What was the actual invoice on the car you purchased? Why did you order the Consumer Reports price guide - Edmunds has complete invoice pricing for free at this website?
According to Mercedes website, it appears that the lighting package is not avialable with the AMG sport package?
Was your car brand new (i.e. less than 5 miles on odometer) or did it have some test drive miles?
Thanks.
I am looking at the SLK350, Boxster S, 911 S Convertible and a couple of others. But having owned a 2002 Honda S2000 for 2.5 years, I do not see any appeal to the Z4. It's not as performance oriented (or well built) as the Honda, nor as civilized (or well built) as the SLK.
Don't get me wrong, I am generally a BMW fan. I think the new 2006 330i will be a hit and the 530i/545i are the best handling sedans at almost any price. But the same low rpm engine that is perfect for the 3 series and 5-series (and even the X5) is pretty boring in the Z4. And the car feels way too heavy for it's size compared with the nimble S2000 or even the larger Boxster S. If the price of a Z4 3.0 was $30k, it wouldn't find its way into my garage.
M
Click on the Edmunds.com link at the top of the page > New Cars tab and navigate from there.
Jolting through deceleration in a misnomer. The 7sp really responds more like a stick, during deceleration and the subsequent downshift, engine compression slows the car very quickly (i.e. like a stick). The solution is come off the accelerator slowly, and be ready to throttle up (even when slowing). In fact the most common comment from friends who have driven my car is the way the transmission responds like a stick. It will catch you off guard for the first drive.
After my 800 mile tranny trouble I have been problem free. I will be scheduling my first service in the next couple weeks.
Mileage? I can still get 20+ on my San Diego trips, but now that I'm over 1000 miles and broken in I've been down to 13 - 14 mph in town, in manual or sport mode and really testing my 0 - 50 from light to light. It’s hard to keep the mileage that low, because I really have to drive like an [non-permissible content removed]. 16 around town would be a closer average. Overall I think the mileage is great for 2 reasons. (1) - I mostly have trucks, and I'm getting better mileage & (2) - 20 mpg from 355HP, I can't complain, I didn't want a Metro.
M
Orion Blue and Everest Green are gone
Pewter (used on the "launch" edition) is available
Blue leather is gone
Brown Nappa leather is available
The sports suspension is NO LONGER available as a stand-alone option. You MUST purchase the AMG kit on the SLK 350 to get the sports suspension.
Pricing is not finalized yet to my knowledge.
I believe this pretty much sums up the 2006 SLK 350 options.
As everyone knows the SLK 280 will be available. I haven't heard about the pricing on it yet.
M
My SLK350 (12/04 build, on road 02/05) has also had the "check oil level at next refueling" message displayed. First at about 1000miles, I added about 1 litre of oil then twice more over the next 800 miles (about another 1.5 litres added).
There does not appear to be anything wrong with the sensor as the oil level was actually falling.
I'm monitoring the consumption (it does seem to have slowed down) and will repost.
May 6 2005, 1838 miles. I was driving back from the store and had transmission slippage in 2nd gear. I immediately started shifting manually. 1st gear was o.k. & I short shifted through 2nd to third. I was able to keep driving until I arrived home (short drive, couple miles max.).
I restarted the car about 30 minutes later. The problem had now changed. Now the tranny was stuck in third. Definitely third. I tried to shift manually, but the display showed third gear & I could not shift below – or – above. When at speed the tranny would not downshift. It was very strange driving with only one gear.
I had to make one more stop and decided to visit my dealer before they closed Friday night. When I restarted the car it was shifting fine. I was going in anyway, because of the previous problem I had at 795 miles and I didn't want to take any chances.. I jumped on the freeway to go to the dealer and got a “Check Engine” light.
Now the dealer is going to do a complete diagnostic. I also spoke with the mechanic who replaced the valve body in the tranny at 795 miles. He said I definitely had transmission problems and that he would order a new transmission for me, eta 1 week (from Germany).
I love my car - but 2 times to the dealer in less than 2,000 miles & 3 months is hard to take.
Maybe I’ll rate the ML350 loaner for Edmunds!?!
(Its better than the C240 loaner last time)
Too bad the SLK55 doesn't come with a 6-speed manual transmission. Sure beats a 1-speed automatic.
M
M
Lurching and surging are bad in "S" mode. It behaves better in "C" mode, but not consistently. It's been reprogrammed and the valve body has been replaced. The dealer say there was nothing wrong with the components, but I can't believe this is how it's SUPPOSED to work.
Half of the time it reminds me of when I taught my sister how to drive a manual transmission. The difference is I could get her out of the drivers seat. This transmission has a mind of its own. I'm really disappointed since otherwise I love the car.
Any suggestions?
Automobile Magazine this month has a short note saying that the SLK with be available with a smaller 6 for approximately $5000.00 less than the 350SLK for 2006. The new SLK300 will start at around $42,000.00 with approximately 228 horsepower. This makes a great deal of sense from a marketing perspective.
Does anyone have more detail on this new model? Specifically the gas milage and specs.
I test drove the new Vette today and it was a ball but the interior was a real letdown for a $50,000.00 vehicle. But the acceleration was amazing.
Cheers
M
They need to move the CD changer out of the glove compartment (we need the space).
The vents on the front hood at least need to be color coded (the black plastic ones are obvious and ugly).
And why would they eliminate the Sports suspension option? Now you have to order the entire $4,000 AMG package just to get better handling. How tragic! Maybe I'll just get a Boxster.
Bright yellow, to help ease the pain of having traded my Spa Yellow S2000 last year. However, I can live with Mercedes silver / grey palatte.
I agree on the sport suspension. It went from a couple of hundred bucks to being only available in a $4,000 insanely priced cosmetic package.
But absolutely most of all, a 6-speed short throw manual transmission in the SLK55. This still perplexes me that Mercedes can't seem to get a real manual transmission in its high performance AMG models. Could you imagine not being able to get a 6-speed in a Boxster S?
Just when Mercedes almost gets the SLK up to being a real sports car, they can't quite get out of the chickmobile mentality. And even my wife continued to drive a stick during pregancy, and following knee surgery. It would be very easy for Mercedes to separate me from $60k+ with the SLK55, but they apparently don't want my money.
Thanks.
M
What was the actual invoice on the car you purchased? Why did you order the Consumer Reports price guide - Edmunds has complete invoice pricing for free at this website?
According to Mercedes website, it appears that the lighting package is not avialable with the AMG sport package?
Was your car brand new (i.e. less than 5 miles on odometer) or did it have some test drive miles?
Thanks. >>
Answers to your questions:
Invoice and price paid was $56,354. I ordered the Consumer Reports price guide because Edmunds does not show the dealer holdback. I wanted to know if there was a holdback, and how much it was. Otherwise, you are at a disadvantage when negotiating. (Holdback was $1,365.)
The lighting package is available with the AMG sport package, only you don't get the lights that aim around the corner. Read the brochure instead of the website; it's clearer.
The car had 15 miles on it.
Now to continue my story...
The dealer couldn't figure out why the engine was consuming so much oil. A team of engineers from Germany was at the dealer that day, and wanted to take my engine back to Germany with them to dissect it and figure out what was wrong. So, they replaced the engine at almost 4,000 miles. When I finally got it back however, the transmission was performing miserably. They have tried to reinstall the software with no luck. It looks like we may be negotiating a buyback soon. Sad.
pfeiffer
M
They took the car in on Tuesday to "play with some values" as per the factory recommendation. Apparently they found that they could not get the trans to work right. They've ordered me a new transmission and I'll hopefully get to try that out by Friday.
New problems - oil sensor is showing low oil at 4k miles. Steering seems to get heavy and groan near limits like my 1983 Camero did. Oh, and the damn thing seems to surge (but that may have been another symptom of the trans).
I'm starting to think on invoking the NJ Lemon-Law.
Stay tuned.
Thanks for any info. Just deciding whether it is worth the savings to go for the 280 . Main reason I decided was because of the problems I read here with the 350. KK
ClaireS, Host
Coupes & Convertibles | Vans & Minivans
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The power steering is still making a groan (which the dealer can't seem to detect) and they had to add a quart of oil. I don't even have 5k miles on the car yet.
Anyone have a suggestion? I've had 5 other MBs and never had any problems, so I don't think it's me.
Bill
I have 5,000 miles on my car and it's been sitting at the dealership since Sunday..
If they can't fix it, they're going to replace the engine.
-- oh and the crappy rental car they gave me. I paid for a Mercedes and I'm driving a chevy..
I am 54 years old. My net is empty now. I like a SLK 230, year 1998 with 70000 miles. I am worried about maintenance. What kind of maintenance I have to do with a car at that age? Replace Timing belt, water pump, etc...? How much does it cost? Thank you for your answer.
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Anyone experienced this? Suggestions? Took to dealer but no codes.
Well - 2 months have gone by and 1800 more miles. No troubles. Tranny has been problem free. Having a tranny replaced with less than 2000 miles is hard to take, I've never had this severe of problem with a new vehicle.
If I understand CA lemon law, the third strike would have to be on the same part. So I'm 2 for 3 on the tranny - beside's the problem seems to be fixed. My other troubles have been slight, and fixed rather quickly.
Bottom line - I still love my car. Even after me troubles, I walk by the car in my garage and say " I can't believe that's my car!"
As a footnote - I do notice a slight groan from the power steering at idle as noted from another post. At this point its only a slight irritation and not causing any real trouble.