At $8,500, Is This 2002 Mercedes SLK 32 AMG An OMG-Good Deal?

With its nearly 350 horsepower on tap, the supercharged AMG-tuned V6 under the hood of today's Nice Price or No Dice SLK32 gives the Benz the power it deserves. Could its price be just as deserving?

Few of us were likely around during the heyday of the Eisenhower era of the 1950s. And, based on the response to the 1959 Chevy 3100 pickup truck we considered yesterday, fewer still are interested in experiencing that era vicariously. Nineteen fifty nine was a rebound year for the U.S. economy, following the two-year recession that vexed Eisenhower's second term in office. That also wasn't to be replayed as the $31,500 price tag on our '59 Chevy proved a stretch for most of you, ending up with a disappointing 70 percent No Dice loss.

Before being elected America's 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower played a pivotal role in defeating the Nazis in WWII's European Theater of Operations and served as the military governor of the American-occupied zone of Germany. Today, we're going to look at a German car and see if it rules.

The name of today's 2002 Mercedes-Benz SLK 32 AMG is a panoply of letters and numbers, but fortunately, we don't need a Cracker Jack secret decoder ring to figure out their meaning.

It all starts with the three-letter identifier SLK. That follows Mercedes' traditional practice of denoting its two-seat roadster models with the SL or Sportlich Leicht (Sporty Light) designation, which in this case is then appending that with K for Kurz or, in English, Short. How short, light, and sporty is this Benz? Well, that's where the other three letters in its name come into (literal) play. AMG (named for its founders Hans Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, along with Aufrecht's hometown of Großaspach, Germany) is the former tuning house, now Mercedes' in-house performance arm. Those three letters ensure that the Benz beneath them is going to, at the very least, look the part of a performance car. In the case of the SLK 32 AMG, it has the goods to support those looks as well.

At a tad over 3,200 pounds, the SLK isn't actually all that light. Blame that on modern safety and convenience features and an electro-hydraulic origami folding hard top that hides in the boot. It is short, which allows the AMG-built, supercharged M112 3.2-liter V6  to do its thing. That makes 349 horsepower out of its 3.2 liters of displacement (hence, the 32 in the name), along with 332 lb-ft of torque, with the latter available at a loping 4,100 rpm. Mated to that is a five-speed 5G-Tronic SpeedShift automatic with a limited-slip differential in the back.

The SLK AMG brings the bling, too. Visual cues for the model include changes to both front and rear bumpers, deeper side skirts, AMG alloy wheels and badging. The interior also gets a slew of AMG logos thrown in for good measure, including on the speedo in the white-faced gauges. Out of a total model run of around 4,330 cars, just 2,056 were U.S. spec.

This one is painted, appropriately enough, in metallic silver, which is complemented by a black leather interior and chrome plating on those AMG alloys. It has a clean title and is described in the ad as driving "very well" and having benefitted from the replacement of a metric ton of parts. Notable among those is the renewal of many of the enclosure gaskets, most of the front end of the engine—including the water pump and thermostat—and a supercharger service. On the quality of life side of things, a newer Bluetooth-capable stereo head unit has been mounted in the dash.

Craigslist

It seems, then, that anything that might go wrong on the car has already been addressed. Everything down to the tires has either been replaced or is working as it should since it was new. As an added benefit, the seller claims in the ad to have the receipts for the parts and all the service records for the work.

For those waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding this Benz's specs, here it is: the car's mileage is a hefty 200,000. I don't know why it is that we're seeing so many high-mileage cars and trucks these days. After all, we went through three-plus years of a pandemic when nobody was driving anywhere, so pretty much everything out there should have, like, zero miles on the clock. Maybe some would even show negative miles, having regressed during the COVID crisis, I don't know.

What I do know is that, based on the pictures, this baby Benz doesn't look like a member of the 200K Club. The paint appears to be in decent shape, but to be fair, there is some clear coat failure on one wheel arch, and the chrome is flaking off of the wheel lips. On the plus side, there's no geriatric yellowing of the headlamp lenses to make it look like it needs a red-tipped cane to navigate the road. The interior, too, is living its best life, looking in the pictures like it's been Rip Van Winkling for the past two decades. The asking price to keep this Mercedes moving is $8,500.

When it comes to SLKs, the supercharged AMG V6 edition, rare as it might be, is likely the one any of us would want. It's not exactly the Porsche Boxster S competitor that Mercedes' execs imagined, but it's a pretty solid car nonetheless. This one seems well cared for and, with all the new parts, ready to pile on even more miles.

What do you say, is this SLK AMG worth that $8,500 asking as presented in its ad? Or, does that price weigh heavy on what's supposed to be an otherwise lightweight car?

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

2002 Mercedes-Benz SLK 32 AMG for $8,500.

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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