Once around the block #1:- 2011 Mercedes SLK

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Manufacturers have an accursed time developing their small sports cars to suit everybody's taste, and Mercedes have had it worse than many with their junior sportster, the SLK.

The first issue, launched in 1996, was criticised for being too overtly effeminate, more at home outside a wine bar than slicing through an alpine pass. As if to counter that, the 2004 replacement took styling cues from the McLaren SLR and had a rear suspension that seemed to be directly connected to my spine.

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Driven #37:- '07 BMW Z4 2.0 SE

Having driven the Z4M reasonably recently, having heaped superlatives on it and gushed nauseatingly about it ever since, it was time to put it into context. Here was an opportunity to reacquaint myself with the Z4 in its most basic (some would say purest… but let’s stick with basic) form. The four-cylinder, manual, 2.0SE. 

The predecessor to the Z4, the Z3, had a similarly broad range. The M and M Roadster sat atop the pile, while the 1.9 was at the bottom, and was universally panned for its almost total lack of power and branded pathetic, hopeless and a hairdressers car. Does this criticism apply to the next (and now previous) Z4? And, now the new Z4 is out, does it really matter?

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Mercedes-Benz; Backwards to the future?

“Engineered like no other car” was Clint Eastwood's verdict after driving a Mercedes SL off a rooftop in buddy-cop thriller The Rookie. And he was right, certainly by 1990 standards. His were commercially lucrative words; the R129 generation SL was a brand new car; the previous R107 having been produced for an impressive 16 years. After such cosy familiarity, the new order would take some getting used to. The new car needed some heavyweight promotion behind it and Mercedes-Benz were delighted by this opportunity

In my previous article about the A-Class, I questioned the notion of Mercedes-Benz-ness. And, with unprecedented predictability, today's feature car sums up my view.

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Driven #3:- SLK Rediscovered

Sports cars are everywhere. They are synonymous with the open road, being in touch with your surroundings, driving according to your instincts and not just your reactions. To drive a sports car is to be utterly in control, to have conquered the machine. The greatest sports cars enable every driving cliché to be lived, allowing you to attack every sinewy curve, clipping apexes to be set up perfectly for the next bend in the road.

It takes effort, though - to get the most out of driving a sports car can be hard work. But does it really have to be? 

Get your hands on one of the original SLKs and you can relax your way to a good time. 

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