That design has been abandoned in favor of standard machined aluminum interior trim for the SLK 230 with a beefy new steering wheel design and a new floor shifter design. The SLK 230 offers the option of much warmer, much cozier wood trim in either brown eucalyptus or black bird's-eye maple finishes.

The wood trim is standard on the more expensive SLK 320, along with its own special leather-and-wood steering wheel design. Power seats and the telescoping steering wheel are standard equipment on the SLK 320, along with special aluminum step plates on the doorsills emblazoned with V6 emblems.

Mercedes redesigned the seats to offer more comfort to more customers. They provide more lateral support to keep you in place is fast cornering. They also look different than the old seats. The SLK 320 comes standard with electric adjusters that provide a greater range of adjustment than manual ones. From our vantagepoint in the 95th percentile, we found the seats much more comfortable than the old ones.

The seats have electronic systems that can tell when there is a passenger present, and can tell when a child seat has been installed, automatically disabling the right-side air bag system.

Taller and larger drivers may find the SLK cockpit on the small side with the power top in place. But 25 seconds after you pull back on the red button, the top is completely stowed away under its steel cover in the trunk and the car is transformed into an aggressive roadster.

On the other hand, you may have to rearrange your luggage when the top is stowed away in the trunk. The SLK leaves just 5.1 cubic feet of luggage space when the top is stowed. Even when the top is up, there's just 12.3 cubic feet of cargo space. That's small by sedan standards but comparable to the trunk space found in the BMW Z3, Porsche Boxster and Honda S2000.