YOUR VIEWS
LETTER OF THE WEEK
WRITE TO autocar@haymarket.com
Let’s hear it for the SL
I enjoy browsing your online slideshows and have just read ‘31 used performance bargains’.
Among other cars, I’ve had the joys of a 2008 Porsche Boxster S, a Lancia Delta Integrale, an E46 BMW M3 Cabriolet, an Alfa Romeo GTV 2.0 TS, a 2007 Porsche 911 Carrera, a Range Rover, a Seat Leon Cupra R, a Mk2 Volkswagen Golf GTI and a Volkswagen Corrado 2.0. The point I’m making is that most of these are of interest to one enthusiast group or another and for good reasons – reasons we all understand.
WIN
Letter of the week wins this ValetPRO exterior protection and maintenance kit worth £48
My latest purchase is a 2009 Mercedes-Benz SL 350 (the model designation is R230 facelift) as a daily driver. It has more power than the first SL 500 in the R230 range, so it’s no slouch at all, hitting 60mph about a second slower than my old 911. I consider it to be easily as good as the best cars in my earlier list.
These SLs are also ridiculously cheap to buy for what they are. The prefacelift models are even cheaper. But I’m arguing for the post-2008 cars, as the facelift model was improved sufficiently over the years to be up to the robust standards expected of Mercedes, whereas some of the earlier cars came with known issues that had a high likelihood of occurrence.