Good bye z4
- Thread starter the belgian
- Start date
I've had my SLK 250 CDI for a year now. I have quite mixed feelings about it.
MPG is amazing... I'm now getting 55-60 mpg on my daily commute (25 miles, mix of motorway and town driving)
The twin turbo is effortless - huge amounts of torque (500Nm
)
Gearbox is generally smooth, but can be veeeeeeeery slow to respond when you ask for power quickly
Interior is ok, I get the odd rattle every now and again. Sat Nav and multimedia interface/bluetooth all simple to use
Merc have done very little to stop any diesel clatter - my Audi diesel is far smoother in comparison, although I reckon the SLK sounds much better with the roof down! :?
Also, the fake man-made leather and climate control that's not fully automatic seem a bit cheap on a car that's approaching £40K :?
I'll only be keeping mine for another year, and think I'll go "back to basics" next year with the new Mazda MX 5 which is hopefully going to look a lot sharper than the outgoing model.
MPG is amazing... I'm now getting 55-60 mpg on my daily commute (25 miles, mix of motorway and town driving)
The twin turbo is effortless - huge amounts of torque (500Nm
)Gearbox is generally smooth, but can be veeeeeeeery slow to respond when you ask for power quickly
Interior is ok, I get the odd rattle every now and again. Sat Nav and multimedia interface/bluetooth all simple to use
Merc have done very little to stop any diesel clatter - my Audi diesel is far smoother in comparison, although I reckon the SLK sounds much better with the roof down! :?
Also, the fake man-made leather and climate control that's not fully automatic seem a bit cheap on a car that's approaching £40K :?
I'll only be keeping mine for another year, and think I'll go "back to basics" next year with the new Mazda MX 5 which is hopefully going to look a lot sharper than the outgoing model.
the belgian
Member
I had a test drive with the slk and the gearbox was good, but I can imagine if you floor it the box will be slow to react. Years ago I had an slk auto petrol and that was the same. On some thing the slk beats the z4, on other thing it's looses. I was actually going for a new z4 auto but bmw dealers just could not match the deal I got from mercedes, the other item that really got to me was . When the dealer asked why I wanted to change the car I said to him that it was a horrible gear box. Later in the conversation he said , so you are trading in a car with a broken gear box. You can just imagine my response, I have raised this issue from the start yet I have to listen to him.
the belgian
Member
Z4 Beemer, how much do you pay fir a service with mercedes?
the belgian said:
Exactly!
I owned the E85 back in 2004 for a couple of years, then the E89 for 4.5 years and wanted a change. I'm not brand loyal and like to take a subjective view on things... its all about weighing up the pros and cons.
If you're cruising along in 7th and ask for a little power, it might drop back to 6, and this happens pretty quick. If however you ask for a lot more power, it thinks about it... keeps thinking about it, thinks about it for a bit more, then wakes up, drops back to 4, the revs shoot up and it shifts you along at great speed!
You'll soon learn the shift points and know when its going to change. From stationary it always moves away in 1st, but if you slow down to about 1mph, it will move away from there in 2nd gear.Strangely just a couple of days ago I got an email from Mercedes saying that a service was due in 30 days, which actually coincided with the car telling me, and the car even asked if I wanted to phone Mercedes Glasgow to book an appointment! (phone connected via bluetooth)
I went online to the booking process and it seems according to the details I entered, the first yearly service is £266. If I want them to collect it and drop it off, its £316 !! No kidding, with the roof down the engine sounds great from inside the cabin, sounds growlier with the roof up!
Good luck!
the belgian
Member
Reason I was asking for service cost is, merc are doing a £37 a month service deal lasting 4 years. All you do is put fuel in and look after the tyres. Agreed to a deal like this before and was very disappointed with it and lots of arguments , think I will skip it and pay fir service when it's due, it has 3 year warranty so I should be ok like that. Thanks for that info.
the belgian
Member
Got it, SLK 250 CDI, semi auto. first thoughts, not as good looking from the front, both look good from the site and rear. Slk much more comfortable , or am I getting old 
7 speed gearbox very good. Inside look more vintage then the z4. And then the thing I was sure about, Diesel engine noise :x I can honestly say that I never noticed the noise , in fact it sound quite good 
overall the slk is more of a gt car then a sports car, top down, the wind is most certainly not as bad as in the z4 of course I now have an air scarf , and then there is the power delivery, it is great to get as much power as the z4 without revving the arse of the engine , but then I am more used to driving diesel cars then petrol cars.
7 speed gearbox very good. Inside look more vintage then the z4. And then the thing I was sure about, Diesel engine noise :x I can honestly say that I never noticed the noise , in fact it sound quite good overall the slk is more of a gt car then a sports car, top down, the wind is most certainly not as bad as in the z4 of course I now have an air scarf , and then there is the power delivery, it is great to get as much power as the z4 without revving the arse of the engine , but then I am more used to driving diesel cars then petrol cars.