I had a private message sent to me, and thought the (anonymised) questions and responses may be of use to others:
My response:
Thanks for the message - I have moved your (anonymised) questions and my responses to a forum topic as I think others might be interested. (I hope it doesn't encourage people to place orders before you and usurp you!)
AMG Ride control is great and I'm glad I bought it - but I can't compare it to the regular suspension directly, which I remember as being very thumpy compared to my 2006SLK350.
There are three settings, comfort, (which I prefer (I am a road user not a track user) ), sport and sport +
AMG Ride Control Suspension is only usable in the Dynamic Select settings. You can't cycle through the suspension settings by itself.
There is one customisable Dynamic Select program in addition to the four basic ones and I have it set to Sport Drivetrain with Sport steering and comfort Suspension. It is significantly less jumpy than the sport suspension setting or the sport+ suspension setting, particularly with speed bumps.
Incidentally, the Sport+ Dynamic Select program just sounds ridiculous around town - great engine/exhaust note but in addition to the constant over-revving "sounds like you need to change gear" sound, the double declutching causes an embarrassing over-revving of the engine on slowing down at traffic lights etc for EVERY gear down change until standstill. It is good on non urban roads however as the car is most responsive and the exhaust/engine tone is great and enhances the experience as the double declutched revving is not as prominent or in other users face as at traffic lights!
Great tip: set it to Sport + mode with Ignition switch to position 2 PRIOR to starting the car for an amazing roar on engine fire-up! You can see heads turn with a "what was THAT" look!
I couldn't get my dealer to order the 70l fuel tank (A big regret - it is quite thirsty at about the same as my SLK350 which had a 70l tank so I need to refuel more often, and supposedly 98RON fuel is better so harder to shop around on a reduced range. (I have been using Tesco Momentum99). It should be £95 ish for the 70l and I would definitely have wanted this if I could have,
Similarly, body coloured door mirrors - the dealer "couldn't" (Wouldn't trouble themselves??) to sort this and, like the failed 70l fuel tank, only told me after the cut-off date for speccing the car. I have grown to like the gloss black but as a no-cost option prefer the body colour unless you go for Night Pack.
A regret: Black Nappa leather seats. They are lovely - proper soft leather unlike the full "hard" leather I got for my 2006 SLK350, but the stitching is white (Including the door panels) which doesn't suit my red car so much as the standard Dinamica/Nappa with red contrast stitching would have. Plus, the SLC43 AMG steering wheel has dinamica hand grips which feel nice, so I may as well have had it on the seats and saved £895
The panoramic roof is nice for £410 but that is a personal choice. The UK summer has been so hot and the car unbearable to sit in in any case when you first get in if you don't put the roof down so can't tell how much of it is due to that, but the roof goes straight down anyway!
Don't get the Air Guide unless you love the "futuristic" look. I got a polycarbonate one from eBay and love it. It fits directly into the OEM mesh slots, so no drill holes (I must photograph it and post about it properly!)
The chrome bonnet fins look AWESOME and are the most commented feature people point out and love about the car, not even knowing that I added them myself!
DO get the SmartTop! I fitted it on the day my car arrived.
My response:
Thanks for the message - I have moved your (anonymised) questions and my responses to a forum topic as I think others might be interested. (I hope it doesn't encourage people to place orders before you and usurp you!)
AMG Ride control is great and I'm glad I bought it - but I can't compare it to the regular suspension directly, which I remember as being very thumpy compared to my 2006SLK350.
There are three settings, comfort, (which I prefer (I am a road user not a track user) ), sport and sport +
AMG Ride Control Suspension is only usable in the Dynamic Select settings. You can't cycle through the suspension settings by itself.
There is one customisable Dynamic Select program in addition to the four basic ones and I have it set to Sport Drivetrain with Sport steering and comfort Suspension. It is significantly less jumpy than the sport suspension setting or the sport+ suspension setting, particularly with speed bumps.
Incidentally, the Sport+ Dynamic Select program just sounds ridiculous around town - great engine/exhaust note but in addition to the constant over-revving "sounds like you need to change gear" sound, the double declutching causes an embarrassing over-revving of the engine on slowing down at traffic lights etc for EVERY gear down change until standstill. It is good on non urban roads however as the car is most responsive and the exhaust/engine tone is great and enhances the experience as the double declutched revving is not as prominent or in other users face as at traffic lights!
Great tip: set it to Sport + mode with Ignition switch to position 2 PRIOR to starting the car for an amazing roar on engine fire-up! You can see heads turn with a "what was THAT" look!
I couldn't get my dealer to order the 70l fuel tank (A big regret - it is quite thirsty at about the same as my SLK350 which had a 70l tank so I need to refuel more often, and supposedly 98RON fuel is better so harder to shop around on a reduced range. (I have been using Tesco Momentum99). It should be £95 ish for the 70l and I would definitely have wanted this if I could have,
Similarly, body coloured door mirrors - the dealer "couldn't" (Wouldn't trouble themselves??) to sort this and, like the failed 70l fuel tank, only told me after the cut-off date for speccing the car. I have grown to like the gloss black but as a no-cost option prefer the body colour unless you go for Night Pack.
A regret: Black Nappa leather seats. They are lovely - proper soft leather unlike the full "hard" leather I got for my 2006 SLK350, but the stitching is white (Including the door panels) which doesn't suit my red car so much as the standard Dinamica/Nappa with red contrast stitching would have. Plus, the SLC43 AMG steering wheel has dinamica hand grips which feel nice, so I may as well have had it on the seats and saved £895
The panoramic roof is nice for £410 but that is a personal choice. The UK summer has been so hot and the car unbearable to sit in in any case when you first get in if you don't put the roof down so can't tell how much of it is due to that, but the roof goes straight down anyway!
Don't get the Air Guide unless you love the "futuristic" look. I got a polycarbonate one from eBay and love it. It fits directly into the OEM mesh slots, so no drill holes (I must photograph it and post about it properly!)
The chrome bonnet fins look AWESOME and are the most commented feature people point out and love about the car, not even knowing that I added them myself!
DO get the SmartTop! I fitted it on the day my car arrived.