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Top top-down speed

3K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  frogfoot 
#1 ·
A buddy and I had a chance to take the SLK 350 out for a good run from Tucson to Palm Springs a few days ago. The car has hardly been driven hard in its life, and I have been noticing a clattering/rattling noise on acceleration around town. My hope was that some new spark plugs, a bottle of Techron, and a fast 800-mile roadtrip would clear up any deposits in the engine.

We took I-8 across southern Arizona to the Imperial Valley in California, which is a lightly traveled and wide-open road most of the time. Somewhere along the way, with no traffic in sight, the pedal, uh, stuck to the floor and we watched in amazement as the SLK quickly and smoothly accelerated through 100 ... 110 ... 120 ... 130 ... 140 ... all the while displaying absolutely perfect manners without the slightest shaking or handling quirks. It felt as safe and comfortable at 140 MPH as it did at 75. (The car wanted to go faster but we had to unglue the pedal from the floor at that point, since we were coming up on traffic ahead very quickly.)

The SLK is really a fine highway cruiser. With the sun setting and outside temps running about 73 degrees F, we were comfortable and able to carry on a conversation with the top down even at speeds up to 100 MPH. Six hours of drive time later, neither of us felt fatigued or sore, and we were both kind of sorry that we had to get out of the car.

On the way back, via I-10 between Quartzsite and Phoenix, I let my leadfooted buddy drive. The end result was very pleasing:

1. We got home in record time.
2. The acceleration noise is gone.

I already want to go on another roadtrip.
 
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#7 ·
Last year when I first got my SLK I had the opportunity to really open the taps. Sadly the piece of tarmac was only 1.9 miles long.

With the top down I hit 130mph and with the top up I hit 140mph. Wonderful! Just a shame I had to stamp on the brakes, I would have loved to take it to the limit.

I've just completed a 1222 miles round trip to visit relations in Scotland. 450 miles each way, and some general running about. I averaged 30.2mp(UK)g. Pretty good for a 3.5l V6, considering on the way home I wasn't exactly hanging about, and purely by chance I found a wonderful driving road, wide, smooth, sweeping bends, long straights - perfect for playing with the performance.

My only concern is I may have a speeding ticket on the way to me. I was overtaking a slow truck; dropped it into 4th gear & floored it. Shot past the truck and there was a speed camera. My terminal speed was a bit over the limit! Oh well. Such is life! :)
 
#8 ·
My only concern is I may have a speeding ticket on the way to me. I was overtaking a slow truck; dropped it into 4th gear & floored it. Shot past the truck and there was a speed camera. My terminal speed was a bit over the limit! Oh well. Such is life! :)
We were coming back from Scotland last year and the same thing happened to us. Had been sat behind a truck for ages, first bit of straight without double-white lines, so booted it around the truck and..... past a speed camera!! Fortunately we didn't get a ticket.
 
#17 ·
The safest bit of motorway to put a bit of speed on is the M69 towards Leicester after you cross over the A5. The Warwickshire unmarked Golf. BMW and Volvos turn back there as its the county boundary and Leicestershire police seem to ignore their bit of the 69 :)
 
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