Faults:

Nothing in 20 years.

Alloy wheels have small corrosion.

Front wheel arches have small corrosion.

A bit dirty on the inside after 20 years.

Roof still works. Aircon is fine.

Reliability as you would expect of a 60K mile car. Just about normal.

General Comments:

Generally underused - like most SLKs of that generation. Elderly grandpa owner - finally gave up driving this year.

The car is now in my name, after 20 years of occasionally driving it.

It has been under shelter for 20 years of its life.

Faults:

Computer operated braking system caused crash stops without warning making the car lethal.

General Comments:

This fault combined with the dealers attitude and inability to find the fault made driving the car like Russian roulette.

Faults:

At 10K the fan started to make a whining noise. I took it to the dealer who replaced it under warranty.

At 21K I had the front driving lights replaced, again under warranty, because they always had condensation in them after driving in the rain.

General Comments:

This is a great fun car. The V6 3.2L engine is lovely and smooth with great low down traction.

The roof comes down every time the sun comes out and has never missed a beat.

At 22K I still have around 3mm of tread wear on the original rear wheels. This is even with spirited driving.

This car can be made to fly and will out drag a 230 - don't let the stats on paper fool you into thinking there is little difference between them.

The gearbox took about 10K to smooth out when changing to/from the lower gears.

The build quality is superb.

The standard CD is OK. There aren't any really suitable places for a CD changer so I didn't bother.

The cabin accommodates 6 footers no problem. The seats are comfortable but lack decent lumbar support.

Faults:

Boot sometimes needs to be pressed down before you can open it. Particularly if it's hot.

Lacquer on the Alloy wheels has allowed moisture to seep in making the alloy white.

Paint is easily chipped and doors could do with some bump protection strips.

Rear parcel shelf rattles when cold with the roof up as it's made of alloy and sits loose unless the lid is down.

General Comments:

Given the reputation of not being a proper sports car, I'd say it's not bad. Mine is a 6 speed manual and it certainly has firmer handling than the previous model. The 2.3l is also not far off the power of the 3.2 V6, but turns in 32 MPG and will still show 150mph on the clock (obviously not at the same time).

It is also well equiped, with ABS, Air-con, cruise, speed limiter, brake assist and stability programme all as standard. Although the Air-con is difficult to figure out as the light is on (economy mode) when it's off, which doesn't make sense.

I've done 22,000 miles and still have the original tyres (not much left though), which is superb when compared with other 200bhp cars I've owned.

I was a little annoyed by the MB dealer selling me a spare littre of oil and screen wash, for 25GBP even though it hasn't needed topping up. But due to their inability to type meant I paid 6.95 rather than 69.50 for a part - which was nice!

The best bit about owning an SLK is that you're only losing 2,000 GPB per year, which means it's costing you less than a family Ford