This is a very cute car! When we test drove it, everyone would come running after us, with all kinds of questions about it.

The SLK drove well and handled well. There's no doubt, this car flies. It's very tightly constructed, and quite sturdy feeling. Even though it's a very small car (even smaller than it looks in pictures), one definitely has a feeling of safety.

This car is definitely a babe magnet. It says, "I have enough money to afford a Mercedes... but I'm not such a stiff that I went out and bought a E320."

The SLK comes with a four cylinder, supercharged engine. The convertible hard top is a work of art. When you hit the button, the windows go down, the hard top folds in half, the storage compartment in the trunk opens by itself, and the roof glides into its hiding place as the lid to the storage compartment locks itself closed.

And, although the retractable roof is a thing of beauty, we see two potential problems with it. One is that since it stores in the trunk, there's hardly any usable storage space left. On the other hand, if you're cool enough to drive an SLK, you travel light. One other potential problem: since the retractable roof actually folds in half, we were wondering, "how long will it be before this starts leaking?" If this thing starts to leak after five years, it'll probably cost you nine thousand bucks to get repaired. Suddenly, your deal of the century at $39,900 doesn't look so good.

Our conclusion, however, was that this top will never leak. Why? Because the Germans made it. We were thinking, What if you were in Italy, and you came up with this idea of folding a roof in half? You'd bring it up at the meeting, and you'd get an immediate, no-holds-barred dope slap. Those Germans, though--you just know that they went right to work at the same chalk board that Werner Von Braun was using in the 1930s.

One other note: The car we tested did have some annoying rattles. Whether these are endemic to the model, or a result of Tommy's misplaced Caffe Paradiso travel mugs, we're not sure.

The SLK comes in just under $40,000--a steal, when you compare it with the Mercedes 600SL at more than $100k. Yes, $100,000. Yes, that's dollars, U.S. dollars.

When we parked it in Boston's North End, our buddy Richie, who owns the parking lot, came over and said, "Heyyy, now this is the car for me-- ya know whad I mean?" Now, you have to understand: Richie's got a small fleet of Cadillacs and other fine vehicles. He's a real connoisseur of the finer things in life. He took the SLK around the block and loved it. We told him it came in under forty grand, and he was amazed.

So, what is MB doing with a car like this, priced under $40k? Mercedes is competing against the BMW Z3 buyers, which goes for 30 grand for the four-cylinder model. So, we say to Richie, "You know, if it were us, we'd take the Z3." To which Richie responds, "What are yous guys, (bleepin') morons?"

With this car and the upcoming sport utility vehicle, Mercedes is trying to change its image. They're trying to expand from their stockbrokers-and-plastic-surgeons base of buyers, and the SLK might just help them toward that goal. But, it'll be a generation or more before they really start to lose their reputation as the purveyor of automobiles for wealthy snobs. Bringing this car in under $40,000 is a good start, however.

A final note: what on earth is up with the Mercedes TV ads featuring black-and-white clips from World War II movies? This is supposed to endear the Germans to us? "Remember us? Remember Hitler? Buy a Mercedes; you'll love it." Who's the Einstein who came up with that campaign?

View cars.com model report on this vehicle.

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