On Saturday, waiting around for the programmer in Austria
to come in, Rene and I had plenty of time to chat. He definitley
knows what he's talking about. Someone else might have
just gone ahead and put the SLK 320 ECU programming in
my car, which likely would have locked it up and I would
have had to go to the dealer to get it fixed.

If the checksum value isn't right (which is a little security
number that represents the content of the ECU programming)
then the car locks up and won't start. Not too desirable.
Rene made absolutely (upsolutely?) sure that he had the
right stuff before installing it.

He did tell me how to be sure it's right when you have the
chip installed. When you turn the key to the on position
(before starting it). Make sure the engine check light
comes on. If not, DON"T TRY TO START IT.

Another tidbit, if you leave the driver side door open with
the key in the on position for a couple of minutes, the
throttle recalibrates itself (this is true whether chipped or not).
With the hood up, you can listen to the car "thinking" about
it for a couple of minutes.

After getting chipped, the punch on launch is powerful. I
can't shift the gears fast enough. Yesterday I punched it while
getting on the highway and nearly wet my pants, it gave
me such a rush. Then again, this is the first fast car I've
reallly ever owned. To some of you veteran sports car
owners, it might not be that big a deal.