[tb manchester]

just watched 5th gear it gave the slk 55 a poor report any one see it [:0]

 

[Slk-Gill]

Forgot all about it - what in particular did they not like then?

 

[tb manchester]

the most inportant bit of a sports car the handling.

 

[Slk-Gill]

The programme is repeated on Friday ( 1st April ) at 19:30. For those that are interested.

 

[dbslk]

To be honest they said exactly what I expected them to say.

In summary; both cars are not Track cars and therefore didn't perform as well as they wanted them to.

SL was slightly faster - shock there! Interestingly VBH failed to mention the weight difference between the two.

Overall the outcome wasn't a shocker. Good to finally see the SLK55 on a track and to finally hear the noise that thing makes.

 

[GEORDIE SLK 55 AMG]

I watched it. It’s a shame they didn’t look at the cars in more detail and give an actual review of the SLK 55 AMG. VBH did mention the weight difference at the beginning, saying the SL was much heavier but didn’t mention actual weights. Obviously both cars are not track cars and her report was never going to be favourable if judging them on that merit!! In the end the SL only beat the SLK by 0.3 of a second around the track!! Considering the SLK is half the price of the SL it makes us SLK 55 AMG owners very happy!! Like you guys have already said, it’s good just to see the SLK tested on a car show, hopefully Top Gear will give it a proper look in the new series. Would have liked Tiff to drive the cars rather than VBH, but I can't win them all!!

(VBH is Vicki Butler Henderson, the girl who reviewed and drove the cars...)

 

[Gaz-350]

She mentioned the fact that you can not turn off the traction control for the SLK, but failed to mention the same fact on the SL. The same applies for both !!!

They wanted the SL to win, me thinks.

 

[xJagman]

I can turn my traction control off, whats up with that? Actually lights up the rears nicely with it off. Tire smoking sideways take-offs for Demo rides really impresses the friends for there first SLK 350 ride. Pulls really hard all the way to redline in all the lower gears. Never had anyone yet who was not very impressed by the V-6. They all assume its an 8. Most of my friends own various high performance cars from v-8 vettes, to 911's. My Boxster buddy said he would never want to run head to head with my new SLK(non S Boxster). There is also way more room and storage in the SLK then his Boxster.

 

[masmole]

Who cares what Vicki thinks... she's ugly.

So it's not a track car, we all already knew that. What it is, is a well-rounded and refined roadster that satisfies all the senses and then some.

If anyone in the US wants to see this episode, you can download a quality rip via torrent here: http://www.finalgear.com/
For those not familiar with torrent, you will need a torrent client which is readily available for free or shareware for both PC's and macs. Do a search on versiontracker.

 

[KarKrazy]

How do I respond to this????
Well I told a guy once who said to me that his Mitsubishi would "hose" my Lambo out, and I said to him that if speed/track/qtr mile receipts is what I wanted, I would have spent the 300 grand on a formula 1 or alcohol burnin dragster instead.....

 

[dbslk]

xJagman - 3/30/2005 4:57 PM

I can turn my traction control off, whats up with that? Actually lights up the rears nicely with it off. Tire smoking sideways take-offs for Demo rides really impresses the friends for there first SLK 350 ride. Pulls really hard all the way to redline in all the lower gears. Never had anyone yet who was not very impressed by the V-6. They all assume its an 8. Most of my friends own various high performance cars from v-8 vettes, to 911's. My Boxster buddy said he would never want to run head to head with my new SLK(non S Boxster). There is also way more room and storage in the SLK then his Boxster.

Sadly you can't turn off your traction controll off completely when pressing the button. The car will *always* always ensure the safety of the vehicle and people within.

There is another thread in this forum about a combination of things you can do to completely turn off all safety features.