2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK Preview

Clever Technologies Make For Best-in-Class Status

The only thing bad about having created a car as attractive as the outgoing Mercedes-Benz SLK, is improving on the

The new Mercedes SLK, with its bold aggressive attitude, looks nothing like anything else currently on the road. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada)

design with the following generation. Rather than simply massaging the current 7-year old design, Mercedes has developed a completely new SLK, with a bold, aggressive attitude that looks nothing like anything else currently on the road.

Inspiration for the design came from the automaker's McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 challenger, especially apparent in the single-seater style protruding nose and airfoil-like lower fascia which results in an impressive drag-coefficient of 0.32. To some extent it looks a lot like the new Mercedes-McLaren SLR

The inspiration for the SLK's design came from the automaker's McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 racecar. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada)

road car too, but personally I like the understated lines of the smaller "K" better.

Once again Mercedes features its "vario-roof" retractable hardtop standard with the SLK, and reportedly the updated mechanism is improved taking just 22 seconds to lower, compared to 25 with the old model. What's more, due to a new pivoting rear window the engineers have managed to squeeze another 56 liters (2 cubic feet) of additional room out of the trunk when the roof is down.

From a driving perspective the new car features a completely revised chassis, which along with the updated steering system and manual gearbox give the SLK a more driver-oriented dynamic.