SLK350 AMG 1 Day in

[Maniac]

That shark nose still looks good Carol

Great write up, and I would have loved a new SL400 (yes I know that's an SLK, just saying) if I could have stretched to it, I think the worst thing about the Mercedes is the 7-Speed slush box, it's soooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooow

And jerky! I have that tranny in the C and it's plain old awful.

How are you finding the C Estate to live with, glad you made the purchase? had it serviced yet?

Absolutely fantastic car. Apart from a lacklustre gravelly engine and absolutely dire transmission. That's killed it as a long termer for me. For example.. I know why they made it shift into 3rd moments after its just shifted into 2nd. Fuel economy. But it feels alien to drive, 3 seconds of first gear, a second of second gear, then into 3rd. Odd. Shifts are jerky and it's just not nice or predictable to drive. I'm Spoiled by a 6 pot DCT I'm afraid. Everything about that drive train makes me smile. The Mercs drivetrain gives me mild anxiety attacks not knowing when and how it's going to shift. But... I think the 9 speed diesel that's just come out, from what I've read, will solve all that. Just a shame I had to lose ten grand to find that out.

It's going back as soon as its best to do so at which point it will be replaced by a cheap banger estate that doesn't suck the life out of my pay each month.

All that said, it's a lovely car, air suspension and kit make it a very nice place to be, and I'm sure I'll miss it for a while.

 

[MACK]

And jerky! I have that tranny in the C and it's plain old awful.

How are you finding the C Estate to live with, glad you made the purchase? had it serviced yet?

Absolutely fantastic car. Apart from a lacklustre gravelly engine and absolutely dire transmission. That's killed it as a long termer for me. For example.. I know why they made it shift into 3rd moments after its just shifted into 2nd. Fuel economy. But it feels alien to drive, 3 seconds of first gear, a second of second gear, then into 3rd. Odd. Shifts are jerky and it's just not nice or predictable to drive. I'm Spoiled by a 6 pot DCT I'm afraid. Everything about that drive train makes me smile. The Mercs drivetrain gives me mild anxiety attacks not knowing when and how it's going to shift. But... I think the 9 speed diesel that's just come out, from what I've read, will solve all that. Just a shame I had to lose ten grand to find that out.

It's going back as soon as its best to do so at which point it will be replaced by a cheap banger estate that doesn't suck the life out of my pay each month.

All that said, it's a lovely car, air suspension and kit make it a very nice place to be, and I'm sure I'll miss it for a while.

That doesn't sound good at all, what ever happened to the days of " if you want a manual buy a BMW, if you want an Auto buy a Mercedes."

 

[sars]

I was grateful that mine came with flappy paddles, but even then it was slow, flick paddle.......wait a little......... ah there we go

.....I can't believe Mercedes just didn't go down the BMW/Audi/Jaguar route and buy the ZF,

 

[enzed4]

85genius - thanks for the write-up/review, very informative.
Interesting the comments about the button-fiesta going on on the Merc dashboard. I remember sitting it the 'shark nose' version (like Carol's) and the first thing that hit me was the sheer number of buttons shotgunned onto the dash. I think most of them were audio controls(?) but the difference between it and the Z4's almost Spartan dash was night and day. I just found the SLK layout a bit confusing/intimidating and had hoped they would have toned it down for the new model, but it must be a feature the SLK designers wanted to carry over from one model to the next.
Hasn't totally put me off the new SLK, but it will be a long time before prices are anywhere near worth it here.

 

[Yorkie Z]

Good write up

The SLK is finally looking ok from the front. From the doors back it just looks wrong. Think the the old model is shockingly ugly, designer should of been shot.!! :thumbsdown:

 

[bjd]

Is that on loan from Accident Exchange then? (going by the keyring). Funny how the Credit Hire industry can also be an insurers best friend too presumably with agreed hire rates!

 

[85genius]

Is that on loan from Accident Exchange then? (going by the keyring). Funny how the Credit Hire industry can also be an insurers best friend too presumably with agreed hire rates!

Yeah exactly! The admiral gut I spoke to said they get a special rate..

The guy I spoke to at accident exchange said it was quite rare though to get an insurance company contacting them and outright saying we're paying give the bloke a nice car like they dogs in my case

 

[85genius]

I managed to get the Mrs to take a video of me driving to show what I mean about the disconnected feel of the steering, not sure how well it shows it but I can move the wheel like mad and the car doesn't change direction at all

[youtube]http://youtu.be/iTzwNt8PioQ[/youtube]

It is a little bit scary now I think about it as the auto box is a bit weird giving either no power what so ever or a random kickdown and a ton of power when you don't expect it... It's already caught me out a couple of times and pushed the back end out and if you don't have confidence in the steering you could end up ff the road

 

[Paulwirral]

Is that on loan from Accident Exchange then? (going by the keyring). Funny how the Credit Hire industry can also be an insurers best friend too presumably with agreed hire rates!

Yeah exactly! The admiral gut I spoke to said they get a special rate..

The guy I spoke to at accident exchange said it was quite rare though to get an insurance company contacting them and outright saying we're paying give the bloke a nice car like they dogs in my case

I would still read the small print , just in case . Hand the car back if you go on holiday and have another delivered when you get back , they don't pay if your on holiday , also you may need a couple of phone interviews with an appointed barrister who will duplicate everything they send you :roll:
My wife's hire bill was 24k for a few months in an a5 and I'm not joking or Internet bullshitting , the repair and legal costs went on top of that figure .
Our car went back on the road unrecorded and not the best repair in the world , I had to take it back for a few issues , the whole crowd involved were like pigs at the trough when I dealt with them , I'm hoping it's changed by now .
Just a foot note to this , my wife never made any personal injury claims , it was just a repair to the car .

 

[85genius]

Is that on loan from Accident Exchange then? (going by the keyring). Funny how the Credit Hire industry can also be an insurers best friend too presumably with agreed hire rates!

Yeah exactly! The admiral gut I spoke to said they get a special rate..

The guy I spoke to at accident exchange said it was quite rare though to get an insurance company contacting them and outright saying we're paying give the bloke a nice car like they dogs in my case

I would still read the small print , just in case . Hand the car back if you go on holiday and have another delivered when you get back , they don't pay if your on holiday , also you may need a couple of phone interviews with an appointed barrister who will duplicate everything they send you :roll:
My wife's hire bill was 24k for a few months in an a5 and I'm not joking or Internet bullshitting , the repair and legal costs went on top of that figure .
Our car went back on the road unrecorded and not the best repair in the world , I had to take it back for a few issues , the whole crowd involved were like pigs at the trough when I dealt with them , I'm hoping it's changed by now .
Just a foot note to this , my wife never made any personal injury claims , it was just a repair to the car .

They are running a proper racket! I know quite a bit about the industry from my brother, he used to work in the motor claims department in a big law firm and most of his days were spent telling credit hire companies where to stick their ridiculous bills! From what he told me I think it's quite rare that the full credit hire bill is paid usually negotiated down significantly or at least the ones he dealt with were but even then he saw a few bills his firm paid that were considerably more than the value of the rest of the claim

 

[bjd]

I'm absolutely sure you have it in hand. I was hit in the back and the other driver was a complete arse so I contacted my insurer with a view to getting stuff fixed and getting them to foot the bill. I went to my local BMW dealer for a quote and they suggested Accident Exchange and I have to confess I was very naive of the whole thing and went in to the agreement completely uneducated.

Fortunately, it worked out very well. I had an M3 for the entire xmas period, the repair was of a very good standard, the bill wasn't questioned and I had a dealership repair but I can't help feeling it could have gone SO wrong if the hire period was questioned.

I wouldn't do it again. Too much un-needed stress over the xmas period which should have been about family.

 

[Paulwirral]

Yeah exactly! The admiral gut I spoke to said they get a special rate..

The guy I spoke to at accident exchange said it was quite rare though to get an insurance company contacting them and outright saying we're paying give the bloke a nice car like they dogs in my case

I would still read the small print , just in case . Hand the car back if you go on holiday and have another delivered when you get back , they don't pay if your on holiday , also you may need a couple of phone interviews with an appointed barrister who will duplicate everything they send you :roll:
My wife's hire bill was 24k for a few months in an a5 and I'm not joking or Internet bullshitting , the repair and legal costs went on top of that figure .
Our car went back on the road unrecorded and not the best repair in the world , I had to take it back for a few issues , the whole crowd involved were like pigs at the trough when I dealt with them , I'm hoping it's changed by now .
Just a foot note to this , my wife never made any personal injury claims , it was just a repair to the car .

They are running a proper racket! I know quite a bit about the industry from my brother, he used to work in the motor claims department in a big law firm and most of his days were spent telling credit hire companies where to stick their ridiculous bills! From what he told me I think it's quite rare that the full credit hire bill is paid usually negotiated down significantly or at least the ones he dealt with were but even then he saw a few bills his firm paid that were considerably more than the value of the rest of the claim

I personally think in our case it would have been more cost efficient to declare a total loss , car was 4 months old and less than three thousand miles , it all came around by a car driving into my wife's car and her phoning the Audi recovery on the Audi tax disc , accident exchange turned up the next day , gave her a 330d coupe for a couple of days then replaced it with an a5 coupe 2.7 with every extra you could list . This was to replace a 3.0ltr tdi s line , in my opinion the repairs were dragged out , to the benefit of everyone concerned but us .
I'm guessing accident exchange buy cars from main dealers at preferential rates knowing there is a good return coming ? I may sound cynical but I did begin to think all the suppliers of all services were scratching each other's backs at the expense of the insurance company .
I daren't even guess what our repair cost came to . Even to this day we both get calls from claims firms asking us to pursue a personal injury claim , unfortunately for them we have morals and consciences

 

[BMWZ4MC]

In my case, the cost of the six month old 350 SLK courtesy car over a few weeks exceeded the value of my S2000. Fortunately, the repairs to my car were inexpensive and the additional cost of the MB wasn't considered in the total cost of the claim, so my car wasn't written off. The other party's insurance paid in full.

 

[85genius]

In my case, the cost of the six month old 350 SLK courtesy car over a few weeks exceeded the value of my S2000. Fortunately, the repairs to my car were inexpensive and the additional cost of the MB wasn't considered in the total cost of the claim, so my car wasn't written off. The other party's insurance paid in full.

'tis bloody ridiculous isn't it!

Just had a look at the hire cost for the 1.4l Audi A3 I had as a hire car last month after my old Z was written off..... It was over £4000 for just under a months rental in a bloody A3.... What the actual feck they only paid out £4000 for the value of my Z.... No wonder insurance prices are on the up with shysters like this bumping up the cost of claims almost exponentially

 

[85genius]

Oh.. And I have still not had a phone call to say the damage to my car has been assessed... They told me that would be done either on the day it was collected or at the latest the day after which would have been yesterday....

My claim is a bit different as the third party admitted liability straight away, and it's the third party's insurer (Admiral) that not only arranged this hire car for me but also that are arranging the repairs to my car! And I got the hire price wrong, thought it was £126 per day, must have mis heard the man its actually £146 a day they are paying for me to have this Merc

 

[85genius]

The SLK has gone back today was a nice car but can't say I'm going to miss it!

Unfortunately my car isnt back yet but they have put me in a Kia Cee'd which truth be told isn't that bad a car....

Admiral called me and basically made me an offer I couldn't refuse... Drive round in a worse car until my car is fixed and they would pay me £50 a day for the inconvenience...

Pretty gutted not to have a convertible or even a drivers car when the weather is like it is now but the £50 a day was not an offer to be taken lightly....

 

[Scooba_Steve]

Smart move

 

[85genius]

Smart move

Haha cheers, really was too good an offer to turn down, is it bad i'm hoping for rain

 

[Stark]

I loved my 350