One of my favorite features of my beloved Z3 M Coupe is that it offers a snug, driver-oriented coupe cabin without the hemmed-in claustrophobia of most sporting two-doors. But not everyone (or, more precisely, almost no one) is willing to put up with a honking hatchback on their sportscar in order to add an airy ambiance to its cabin. Which is where Mercedes’ new SLK comes in. Not only does it offer a retractable hardtop, which sends it from confined coupe to open-air roadster in minutes, but it even offers a glass roof for maximum top-up natural lighting. And that’s not all: the 2012 SLK, which skipped NAIAS to debut at Mercedes’ 125 year anniversary gala, even offers a “magic roof” option, which electromagnetically darkens the glass roof at the touch of a button. Necessary? Not exactly. But it does help break the perception that sporty coupes must make their owners feel like bunker-dwellers.
Offhand, it resembles a shortened EOS. Otherwise, very nice. The problem with coupes making you feel like a “bunker dweller” is the lack of openable rear side windows and no pillarless hardtops available on, say, 99% of all coupes for the last 32 years, give or take a couple years. That’s the sole reason I won’t buy one if it is a four-seater. Besides, MB and every other luxury car is way beyond my means. BTW, Ed, will there be an official announcement about Paul? Will we see him comment with the rest of us? I miss his insight and knowledge.
Not to burst Merc’s magic bubble, but since it went on sale, the VW Eos has had a sunroof built into its retractable hardtop. It can be opened independently. This roof can only be dimmed. Doesn’t seem as good. Granted, the Eos is no substitute for the SLK by any other metric. And lord help you if that sunroof breaks.
Seems Maybach was good for something.
It reminds me of the Lexus SC430.
I pray for the new SL.
The MB is very nice but I see it as too small. I like the 1999 shooting brake Z3.
Did Mercedes pay you guys to post that fluff?
I’ve always thought LCD window tint was a great idea. Like virtually everything in the automotive world, it’s a shame it has taken more than a decade for somebody to actually make it available.
NREL was showing this off in ’98:
http://www.techbriefs.com/content/view/2178/32/
Man, I have been waiting on electromagnetically adjusted window tint for years. Ever since reading about it in a Hardy Boys book sometime in elementary school. It was featured on a race car if anyone else remembers the story.
Mercedes is quickly designing themselves to irrelevance. The design is incoherent and dissonant, with enlarged design cues that doesn’t fit together. Theres’s no flow or line of beauty, there’s no harmony. It actually looks like something a Korean third party consultant would come up with to paraphrase something Mercedes-like. The Mercedes design language used to be timeless. The R129 SL is the last of the timeless designs, it still looks fresh after twenty years. This SLK looks old even before it’s out on the market.
These “retractable hardtops” have always seemed to me a very expensive solution to a relatively small problem — ever since I saw the first Ford “Sunliner” in 1957. At best, they are heavy and subject to reliability concerns; at worst they eat up all of the trunk room when folded. The non-retractable hardtops that can be fitted on top of roadsters like the Z3 and the S2000 increase the sense of claustrophobia that one already has in those cars with the convertible top up. The problem is that, in a 2-seat car, the confined space with relatively small windows, is emphasized. This latest trick aims to ameliorate that, but at great cost.
I think luxo car buyers have to face the fact that they can’t have it all: if you want the top down experience of a roadster, then deal with the somewhat claustrophobic experience of driving with the top up . . . but be satisfied with a soft top and don’t waste money on an elaborate, heavy and failure-prone folding metal top.
And, if you can’t deal with that, get a proper coupe . . . as you did. Personally, I think the Z4 coupe is better looking than the Z4 roadster; but the opposite is the case with the Z3. Of course, I own a Z3 roadster, so I’m biased . . .
The Sunliner is the ragtop convertible; the retractable hardtop is the Skyliner. As for trunk room, I can’t speak for the modern retractable hardtops, but the 1957-59 Fords have a substantial luggage tub in the middle of the trunk (except for the first few ’57s, to which a tub can be retrofitted if desired), so there’s adequate space even when the top is down. Reliability is, if anything, better than a comparable powered soft top. Mine’s a ’59.
I believe it was a Ford “Skyliner” We cloth top guys had Sunliners. Mine was “Cameo Coral”, which is impossible to describe.
Mom tells the story of a kid that had one new back when. Took it on a school trip (to show off). Stopped in front of the school bus at a red light to put the top down while everyone watched and it jammed/failed/blew a fuse/whatever half way through the top down cycle. He had to drive it back to their home town with the top sticking up to the the Ford dealer. A real ego bruiser… ;)
The “magic roof” seems like a great idea for a coupe — let more light into an enclosed space. It seems a bit ludicrous on a SLK — just drop the top!
You beat me to it!
just drop the top!
In the winter?
Photo-chromatic dimming can allow the designers to create cars with a large green house.
The cool kids can adjust the dimmer to blacken out the legal maximum amount of glass with a mini skull (or sports logo, etc.) fractal pattern.
The rest of us can enjoy great outward visibility and electronically ‘open’ the roof on sunny days.
The previous incarnations of the SLK were for the tennis & swim club crowd, rather than the track day club. I think it’s reasonable to say that if it’s either a lightweight coupe, or a lightweight convertible, it might present an appealing package to sporting car enthusiasts. But the retractable hardtop is a different story. It’ll work better on a highway trip than a softtop. And for those occasions when it’s appropriate for stylin’ & profilin’, it’ll work for that better than a coupe. I seriously doubt this coupevertible offers anything for readers of this forum.
“I seriously doubt this coupevertible offers anything for readers of this forum.”
No, just for their wives.
Yeah it’s a chick car.
As a daily driver of a convertible – I think the retractable hardtop would be nice if I spent a sizable amount of my time on the interstate. It would be quieter and safer in a rollover.
That said I’m not drawn to spend the extra cash or put up with the limited trunk that it comes with. Consequently I’ll just keep driving my noisy 13 year old VW.