2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350

This SLK looks and feels like a real Mercedes roadster, not a waffling compromise between performance and luxury. Finally, you won’t mind parking this junior partner alongside its mentor, the roughly $100,000 SL-Class that has been a symbol of Mercedes aspiration since the 1950s.


That assuredness, however, does not extend to the gearbox, a 7G-Tronic automatic:


The transmission is a ditherer when you need to drive assertively. Shifts can be syrupy or abrupt, even in the Sport setting. In the manual paddle-shift mode, the gearbox often downshifts unpredictably, unbidden by the driver’s hand.