Road Test: 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK300 car review

The 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class is something now that it wasn’t a decade ago. Then available only with an automatic transmission and a less-than-inspiring engine, the first SLK was spurned by purist sports car enthusiasts who rightly saw it as better suited for the boulevard rather than the winding backroads.

But the SLK did have something no other convertible or roadster had, the first modern retractable hardtop that converted a weatherproof, quiet and secure two-seat coupe to a topless almost-a-sports car in less than a minute.

Today the 2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class still has a retractable hardtop, though refined from the original to take less trunk room when lowered, but the two-seater has been honed to a genuine sports car.

The differences are largely subjective, meaning the handling is sharper and such, but there are objective factors as well. Take power, for example. While the SLK-class received a significant restyling for 2009, with a crisper front end with a new front bumper that emphasizes the V-shaped hood and what Mercedes calls a “modified segmentation of the air intakes” for a more aggressive appearance, the V-6-equipped SLK350 received a 32 horsepower bump so that it now produces a healthy 300 horses.

That’s still fewer than the SLK55, modified by Mercedes’ in-house AMG tuner by among other things with the familiar 255-horse 5.5-liter V-8 under its hood. The SLK that we tested, however, was at the other end of the spectrum.

The SLK300 replaces the SLK280 of 2008, but despite the name change which would typically indicate a change of engine size, the 2009 SLK350 has largely the same V-6 as last year. However, that engine like this year’s is a 3.0-liter engine so actually the name change rights a wrong.

There’s no horsepower change behind the name change either. It remains at 228 horsepower. However, driving an SLK300 is a little more environmentally friendly this year. Not only has the engine been “optimized” for lower fuel consumption, its CO2 emissions have been reduced as well. All the better, one supposes, for top-down at-one-with-Mother-Earth motoring.

Standard equipment with the SLK300 is a six-speed manual transmission. Mercedes’ 7G-Tronic automatic transmission is optional on the SLK300 and standard on the SLK350. There’s also a “Sport” version of the automatic that includes paddle shifters on the steering wheel for manual up-shifts and down-shifts. The Sport version’s shifts are quicker as well. The AMG SLK55 also gets the 7-speed automatic, though special tuned for that application.