A good, low mileage one of these is an absolute bargain. One weak area is the cockpit upholstery and door panels some of the early ones deteriorated early, yet mine is fine so far. Mine does not have seat heaters, a feature I really miss and I recommend anybody getting one to check for this feature if you are in northern latitudes. It seems very solid, handles curves tenaciously nothing can keep up with it in the nearby mountains. It runs flawlessly and it is a riot to drive.

Being that old and with so little use, one shock absorber was noisy and so I did put new Bilstein B4 shocks on it. I found one with only 27,000 miles (auto trans) on it. A lot of car for the money and a better investment than a Miata, Boxster, TT or Z3. Many are low mileage and in excellent shape, having been owned by those who only drove them on the weekends during fair weather. Most of the first generation cars are well below $10k now with many excellent examples in the $4-5k range. The interior is known to have issues with the paint wearing off the hard plastic surfaces, but touch-up paint is available to keep it looking tidy. The paint is extremely durable and you'll find the oldest examples to still be glossy and without many paint chips. But you won't need that often as these cars are extremely reliable and will easily last past 200k miles. Tons on videos and online articles exist to walk you through basic maintenance and common repairs. Almost everything is easily accessible and owner serviceable.

In reality, they are one of the most serviceable cars made. Most people see these early SLKs and think they are expensive to fix and hard to maintain.

1998 mercedes kompressor blower replace