Description

Cars.com experts walk you through the 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class and its important new features.

Transcript

2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK-class Review Hi, I'm Mike Hanley with Cars.com and I'm here with 2009 Mercedes Benz SLK. The SLK is a retractable hardtop roadster and for 2009, it gets some significant updates. It’s not without its flaws though and most of those are concentrated in the car’s cabin. The big change to the second generation SLK for 2009 is this new grill and bumper in the front. You can see here it’s split in the middle that kind of gives it the look of a formula one race car to some degree. But overall the general shape carries on much as before with sleek athletic styling with the tops up or down. The SLK’s retractable hardtop roof gives it great isolation from the road and extra security as well. It’s operated by a switch on the center console and goes down quickly and quietly stowing in a portion of the trunk. It’s make the cabin more enjoyable, when it’s cold outside you can have the optional heating packaging in the SLK and that comes with Mercedes’ Air Scarf System which is a fancy name for saying that it blows warm air all around your neck and had from the vent in the seat. And the package also includes heated seats and the mesh windscreen. Even though the SLK is a pretty small roadster, its trunk is decently sized. With the roof up, there's 9.8 cubic feet but Mercedes includes a divider which is pretty common in convertibles to show you how much space you have left underneath when you put the top down because the top is going to take up space here. So you can put in a bag, a small suitcase like this and it still fits underneath giving you room with the top down. One of the biggest changes for 2009 is actually under the hood. This is the SLK 350 and it comes with a 3.5 liter V6 engine. That engine now makes 300 horsepower and it works with a seven speed automatic transmission. Mercedes says this combination is good for zero to 60 times or about 5.3 seconds which is pretty fast. And its EPA fuel economy estimates are 18/26 and while a manual transmission seems like it would make a lot of sense with this engine, Mercedes doesn’t offer one. The SLK case cabin is definitely cozy if you’re a taller driver but hurting matters is the optional power seats that this car has because as you move them backward to get more leg room, the backrest automatically starts tilting forward to avoid hitting the back of the rear of the cabin. Now that doesn’t help driver comfort overall, maybe something you won’t notice if you're not especially tall but it is something to keep in mind. Additional changes to the cabin include an updated audio display for 2009, a new steering wheel, and some updated gauges. But otherwise, it carries over much as before and it looks a little plain considering this car starts at about $50,000.00. The SLK definitely makes a nice accessory for a summer afternoon drive but its cabins sure starting to show its age. And now there are new competitors like the 335 I convertible it has to go up against which a compelling alternative to this Mercedes. For additional information this car or any other, go to Cars.com and our blog, Kicking Tires.