Originally Posted by aussiedude
BMW Z8?
Spawned the Z3 and Z4, proved there was a market in the modern world for a high powered, 2 seater luxury convertible sports car.
I would suggest the SLK ITSELF would not have existed without it.
Saying that one feature being imitated makes a car "influential" seems unreasonable, but if you want to play that game-the first production convertible hard top was the Ford Skyliner in the fifties, and the first to repopularize it in modern times was the Mitsubishi GTO in 1995.
I therefore claim that the GTO is an "influential" car.
Don't get me wrong-I love these cars, but they were NOT regarded as any kind of success.
The SLK was widely criticized for looking bad, handling sloppily and being too heavy.
The steering is woolly and unresponsive, and the brakes fade.
I love mine anyway.
Obviously this is a pointless discussion, but surely you realize that a design and/or feature doesn't have to be unique or new to be influential. The design/redesign just has to be successfully implemented in a way that causes other manufacturers to take notice.
Certainly the SLK wasn't the first roadster or hardtop convertible, but its success did prove that there was a market for an entry level luxury two-seater convertible. It proved that you could have an attractive design with a hardtop convertible, and that customers wouldn't care about the lack of trunk space.
You must be the only person in history to buy their Mercedes thinking it should handle as well as a BMW and Porsche. Mercedes has never been as sporty as similar models from other performance oriented manufacturers. The SLK's flaw was that Mercedes wanted to be true to past roadsters, and thus the poorly designed interior. It was too cheap and lacked amenities.
The fact is that a decade later your beloved BMW is still playing catch-up.