R170 SLK possible purchase

[MBZ1503]

Hi. I’ve had a few Mercedes over the years and previously an R171 facelift 200k for a summer.
By chance we were out and about today and came across a late model R170 at a medium size local garage. The car was parked up on the forecourt in the customer parking bays being valeted. Happened to speak to the guy and it was traded in today by the old owner. Long story, the car is too old to be sold by them with any kind of warranty, so will go to a car auction, however they are happy for me to see the car this Sunday, test drive etc and ultimately make a cash bid on it. Salesman let me have a look as paperwork, booklets etc were all on the passenger seat. It’s a 2004 model SLK 230 in silver. 3 owners, last owner had it for 4 years. Bodywork is very good, no sign of rust in the usual places. 72,000 miles with only 6000 miles in the last 2 years. 6 speed manual gearbox.Metallic silver. Turned over, engine seemed quiet, roof all good. Checked MOT history and all tallies up, 10 months MOT, advisories on pitted discs but nothing else, tyres all branded and all the same with decent tread. Alloys are very good. Car is all original even down to the MB radio, nothing aftermarket. Just looking for some pointers/advice as prices for poor/good/excellent are all over the place! I might add this would be a third car, ie a Sunday driver, 6 months of the year, garaged during the winter. Any thoughts on price or other checks to complete? Thanks in advance

 

[grahamcol]

Have a look at comments on the other thread.
Manual isn’t as popular as automatic and might affect values. Be aware of this when considering, otherwise it sounds a decent car.
Road tax is expensive. Well my 2001 230k is.
Good luck

 

[Monday]

You’ve had an R171 so you will be aware of how much nicer and more practical it is than the R170. But as a summer fun car, why not? Just check for rust and leaks. The manual gearbox has been highlighted; MB have never done manual gearboxes very well, hence the effect on market values. The only problem I had with my R170 was that the rear light cluster overheats from the brake light bulb, distorting the matrix that holds the bulbs and generating an apparent bulb failure. The bulb is OK, it has just been pulled away from its contacts.

 

[Chrishazle]

Personally, and being an owner of an early facelift R171 SLK280, the offer prices for R171's are so low I would not think about an ungalvanised R170 against a galvanised R171, equally I would not look at the 200 hairdressers car against something with at least a V6 - I would have gone for a V8 except management scuppered that idea as soon as I mentioned 340BHP!! I just had to be careful checking the engine number against the known problem engine numbers for that era of V6's, but mine is way after any of those. Also be aware that there can be a rear subframe problem with 171's - from the inside out, so hard to find/know about until it fails!

 

[Hotspur]

OP - Did you buy it?