All Mercedes-Benz SLK-class reviews

"The Mercedes SLK200K is a car that has a lot of expectation resting on it and exceeds it by a quite massive margin"

When attending a manufacturer press launch, there's often an informal order to things. If they have a couple of sporting models on offer, they prefer you to try the less powerful model first, as if the cars are sampled in the reverse order, the car with less under the bonnet invariably winds up as something of a disappointment. Therefore it came as something of a refreshi...

"The SLK280 is no mid-range makeweight"

I'll be the first to admit that I found the Mercedes SLK to be a shocking car. Shocking insofar as in its second generation guise, this car had morphed into a genuine sporty rival to the Porsche Boxster ad the BMW Z4. Whereas the old car was dynamically compromised, this latest model did the business. At launch, the only fly in the ointment ' other than the hefty asking price ' was the huge gulf between the entry-level SLK200K model and the talent...

"Cars like the BMW Z4, the Audi TT Roadster, the Porsche Boxster and the Honda S2000 have forced the SLK to up its game"

It's hard to believe that the Mercedes SLK has been with us since 1996. Nearly eight years after launch it still looked pert and perky with orders still healthy and residual values remaining firm. Despite this, it had been overtaken in the desirability stakes by a good few rivals and no longer even figuring on the podium is a position in which Mercedes Benz have never...

"Cars like the BMW Z4, the Audi TT Roadster, the Porsche Boxster and the Honda S2000 have forced the SLK to up its game"

It's hard to believe that the Mercedes SLK has been with us since 1996. Nearly eight years after launch it still looked pert and perky with orders still healthy and residual values remaining firm. Despite this, it had been overtaken in the desirability stakes by a good few rivals and no longer even figuring on the podium is a position in which Mercedes Benz have never...

"Punch in all gears is, as you'd expect, of the sledgehammer variety"

Sounds great, doesn't it? A monster engine packed into a sweetly proportioned, elegantly bejewelled drop of Mercedes-Benz bodywork. Then you drove the first generation SLK32 AMG and realised that it was in fact a bit ' and let's be charitable ' unsubtle. So Mercedes have tried again, beavering away to create a worthy fast SLK 'the latest SLK55 AMG model, which might well have hit the nail square on the noggin. A far m...

"The SLK350 is a car that makes the Boxster feel old and the Z4 feel contrived"

Admit it. You didn't take it very seriously when you heard that Mercedes' latest SLK was going to be a genuine challenger to the likes of the Porsche Boxster and the BMW Z4. Evolution's all well and good, but the giant leap forward required to take on sporting roadsters of this calibre was surely too much for the SLK - a car which had garnered a reputation as pretty, amiable but rather limited. Think again. ...

A prestigious Mercedes-Benz sportscar used to require a lottery win. No longer. Models like the SLK roadster have given the Stuttgart maker a completely new ' and accessible ' sporting image. On the used market, that appeal still holds good. There are quite a few about now but values remain surprisingly firm. This is a car that has aged very well.

The car was originally launched on the British market in November 1996. Until April 2000 it was only available in one form: with the C-class'...