Mercedes have finally released the starting price of their new SLK 55 AMG, which is now available to order now through it’s franchised dealerships.

Starting at £54,950, it’s cheaper than a BMW M3 convertible by around £4,000. The BMW M3 has four seats and a similiar power output, but for outright pace the SLK55 is a clear winner.

This Mercedes SLK is almost £10,000 more expensive than a Porsche Boxster S, however it offers far greater performance from it’s naturally aspirated 5.5-litre V8 engine producing 415bhp, compared to 311bhp produced by the Porsche Boxster S’s 3.4-litre six-cylinder engine.

There is a direct rival for this SLK amg however, that being the Lotus Evora S which delivers similar performance from it’s supercharged V6 engine but it costs around £7,000 more, but at the moment Mercedes have it covered.

An interesting characteristic for this particular Mercedes model is it’s shut-off system that effectively turns the V8 into a V4 when used at light throttle loads. This shut-off system effectively reduces fuel consumption and emissions by an impressive 30%.

Peformance figures include a 0.62mph time of around 4.6 seconds with a top speed of 155mph, and the claimed economy figures of 33.6mpg are very impressive, i mean that’s about the same MPG i get from my 3.2 v6 R32!

Customrary leather seats come as standard along with all the AMG styling components, AMG suspension, the excellent COMAND online interface and DAB digital radio.

Mercedes SLK 55 AMG Pictures

On paper the Mercedes SLK 55 AMG is very impressive but i think id prefer a BMW M3.