Originally Posted by AllEuro
I'm not sure I see the point of this thread. Lots of cars are faster than a Boxster or Z4. The magic to both cars are how they drive. A couple of years ago, I drove my crossfire back to back with a Z4 3.0. The Z4 is just a more visceral and rewarding drive. That makes the car more fun to drive. Even when you look at mercedes badged cars vs the BMW competitor, the BMW typically gets the nod because it's a better car to drive, even if the Mercedes is faster. And the Porsche? I drove a base boxster a number of years ago, and it was amazingly fun. That car was designed for the pure joy of driving and nothing else. IMO, the best part of the crossfire (that's it's a mercedes that's much better looking than almost any mercedes) is also it's achilles heal when it comes to driving dynamics. But hey, for the price our vehicles go for, it's hard to do better.
I've driven the Boxster, Boxster S, Z3 and Z4, and none of them compare to the SLK32, which is an 9 year old car and a 13 year old design!!!!
The Boxster S is an incredible car new, but it feels terrible with age. Most of the used ones I've driven, even with very low mileage, felt like they were going to fall apart.
The Z3 was a better driving car than the 4, imo. But the clown shoe look is awful. I just can't get past the design. I like the 4, but I don't think the engine stands up to the Boxster S and AMG.
I still feel that the SLK was one of the most influential designs that has been produced recently. It brought back the roadster. The hardtop convertible has been copied by almost every single manufacturer. It's design still stands up more then a decade later. It introduced a whole new buyer to Mercedes, and because of it's success Mercedes and other luxury manufacturers instroduced entire new lines. I could go on and on, and obviously I'm biased, but I don't think the SLK has ever got the praise it deserves.