If you don’t follow auto industry news, you probably haven’t seen the redesigned Mercedes SLK yet. Here is a preview, and some comments.
Exterior: decidedly more aggressive and sporty, but without the certain clean, classic look of a Mercedes sports car. I like some elements individually, like the rear lamp clusters, the wheels, the front end grille and headlamp clusters, but they don’t work well when taken together. At first glance it could be a Lexus.
This seems to be Mercedes overall design direction…which doesn’t bode well for ‘timelessness’ or longevity of relevance.
Interior: Take away the Mercedes emblem on the steering wheel…would you guess this was a Benz? Aside from certain interior parts pulled from (as they say in auto editorial lingo) the corporate ‘parts bin’ and certain elements that nod to the SLR supercar…this interior is much too busy and unfocused for my taste.
The duo-tone leather, the contrast stitching, the oval-shaped cupholder cubby, the retro air vents, and the dash-mounted racing timer…it’s all very frenetic and unconvincing.
For comparison purposes…the BMW Z4 and Audi TT. The BMW is sporty and beautiful simultaneously…as is the TT. If I had to pick one I’d most likely end up in the Z4.