2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK300It’s matched by the suspension. The chassis is solid, even with the top lowered, and the SLK doesn’t rattle or shake, allowing the roadster to smooth out bumps and cracks as if they were made of terry cloth.

The manual shifter has the click-click to it that paddle shifters will never replace, especially for those who have had learning proper sports car shifting as a rite of passage. However—and this is significant—the pedal placement seems to have been determined more by lawyers than engineers, or at least sports car enthusiasts. The brake and throttle pedal are too far apart for easy heel-and-toeing, except for those with very wide feet.

If you don’t know what heel-and-toeing is—and it’s not dancing—disregard the preceding; it won’t matter to you. But it will to the hard core sports car enthusiast who will pass judgment on the SLK’s credibility as a sports car.

Steering is tight and direct with just enough feedback to read the road without harsh kickback. Mercedes touts what it calls “direct-steer” which replaces the previous speed-sensitive power steering boost that relied on, as Mercedes says, “sophisticated actuator units and complex sensors” that made it hard to create a constant feel. Direct-steer instead uses straightforward mechanical action to achieve a similar effect. Without getting too technical, the wheels steer more quickly the sharper you turn, so when you drive on the highway steering doesn’t get twitchy but it’s a lot more nimble around town. It is disconcerting at first but it doesn’t take long before it becomes second nature and one is left wondering why other cars don’t do that.