Once again, welcome to our wheels section of 2014. There is no better way to cruise into the New Year than to serve our numerous readers a sizzling insider story of one of the most celebrated German super-sports machine deliberately crafted by hand and targeted at the privileged few in the society with excess cash to throw around. What we are talking about here is iconic two-door Mercedes SLK AMG Sport Line.
The SLK AMG Sport Line, baked fresh from the oven of Mercedes-Benz, is uncompromisingly taking driving pleasure and open air enjoyment to new level. It blends light-footed sportiness and stylish comfort, a striking sports car design with total suitability for everyday use, top performance with exemplary ecology.
It is a spectacular that adorns an eye-catching appearance with its exciting design, stature and high class interior. More dynamic highlights have been added to the AMG Sports Line, a standard offering across the range.
Furthermore, it adds a sporty and fashionable stylish appearance that includes front apron, prominent side skirts and a new rear apron that suggests sheer power. Headlamps with dark surrounds and dark-tinted tail lights provide extra visual distinctions.
For more nostalgic feeling inside, the seats with their specific vertical fluting and colour-coded topstitching emphasise its sporty nature. As a no-charge option to the customer, all contrast stitching, red seat-belts and perforated leather in grip area of steering wheel are also available.
The SLK AMG Sport Line is all about sharper dynamics and (very) sporty looks, without any engine modifications.
It starts with lowered suspension, stiffer springs and firmer damping, goes on to larger-than-standard, ventilated brake discs and callipers bearing the lettering ‘Mercedes Benz’ and finishes with special 18” AMG alloy rims wearing 225/40 front and 245/35 rear rubber.
The SLK body gets a more aggressive look with a deeper front apron, side skirts and a new rear apron with built-in diffuser, set off by headlights with dark surrounds and smoked tail-light lenses.
The Sport Line package also includes a ‘chequered flag’ instrument cluster and special sports seats with vertical pleats and colour-coded topstitching or, at no extra cost, you can ask for contrast stitching, red seatbelts and perforated leather in the grip area of the steering wheel.Before going further, it is instructive to note that innovations are part and parcel of the Mercedes-Benz SLK. In 1996, the first generation caused a sensation with the vario-roof, which transformed the wide open roadster into a coupe with fixed roof at the touch of a button in a matter of seconds.
The second generation placed the standard warm AIRSCARF around the neck and shoulders of the occupants as needed, ensuring pleasurable open top motoring even in cooler temperatures, while the third generation offers a choice between three variants of the much-imitated vario-roof
Engines for the new SLK excel with a considerably lower fuel consumption combined with a comparable or higher output than those in the preceding series, as well as sporty and emotional appeal. The three petrol models of the SLK are powered by direct injection engines, the SLK 200, 250 and 350 BlueEfficiency.
For instance, the 250 BlueEfficiency is equipped with an automatic transmission as standard, and consumes only 7.3 litres per 100 kilometres. From standstill it reaches 100km/h in 6.6 seconds, and has a top speed of 243km/h.
On its part, V6 engine is the SLK 350 BlueEfficiency generates 225Kw from its 3498cc displacement, using this power to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 5.6seconds (top speed 250km/h). With a “best-in-class” overall consumption of 8.3 litres per 100km and 194g of CO2 per kilometre, the SLK 350 BlueEfficiency is the most economical V6 in its segment.
The V6 has been completely newly developed. Its most important hallmarks are 3rd-generation direct injection, piezo injectors and multi-spark ignition. SLK’s seven-speed 7G-Tronic plus automatic transmission has steering wheel shift paddles to facilitate sporty gearshifts. A sporty instrument cluster in “chequered flag” design, black velour floor mats with red piping and a AMG logo round off the exclusive interior.
By: MIKE OCHONMA
