For Lisa's birthday in 2000, we decided to splurge. We went to Las Vegas and stayed in the Luxor hotel. We weren't all that impressed with the Luxor, the rooms seemed like rooms at an Egyptian-themed Best Western. Anyway, that wasn't the good part. We planned to rent a BMW Z3 roadster for the day from Dream Car Rentals and take a long drive along Lake Mead's shoreline. Unfortunately, when we arrived to pick up the Z3 they informed us that is was still out and wasn't going to be back until noon. They offered us a Jeep Wrangler (No thanks, got one of those), and a Ford Mustang (No thanks, got one of those too). Finally, they offered us a Mercedes SLK 230 at the same rate. We could only have it for 1/2 the day though. We decided to scrap our first Lake Mead plan and take the Mercedes for a short trip through the canyons outside of Vegas, then come back and take the Z3 into the Lake Mead NRA and go north to Echo Bay, then through valley of fire back to the freeway.
The Mercedes is a very classy car...it had every option, and everything seemed to fit together perfectly. I noticed a tendency for oversteer if you really threw it into a turn, but that's about it. The supercharger really pulls the power out of that little engine and acceleration is impressive for such a heavy car. With the top up (automatic, 1-button to raise or lower the electric hard top), the car rode like a coupe...very quiet and smooth inside. With it down, it felt like a roadster. The downside is that the top stows itself in the trunk so with it down, there's not much room back there for luggage. My only real complaint was with the transmission. It came with an automatic transmission, which should be illegal on a sports car. It tried to make up for that by allowing you to shift manually though the gears. It was better than a full automatic, but still pretty lame.
We had fun with the Mercedes, but eventually the time came to return it and pick up the Z3. It was an older model and had no options at all. Acceleration wasn't as good as the SLK either. Where the Z3 really came through was going through the twisties in Valley of Fire. That car hugs the road like nobody's business and just didn't show any tendency to oversteer or understeer no matter how much you threw it around. Oh yeah...and it had a 5-speed manual transmission like God intended. We had a great drive and really enjoyed blasting Andrea Bocelli on the Z3's CD player as we carved through the warm desert air at sunset.
The final Verdict: We both liked the options on the Benz and that hardtop is as trick as it gets. I liked the handling on the Z3, but Lisa preferred the luxury of the SLK. My opinion was that if you're buying an impractical 2-seater roadster, you might as well get the one that behaves like a roadster. If you want luxury, spring for a 3-series BMW ragtop or a Mercedes CLK. Better yet, go for an M3 convertible and get performance and luxury. Oh well...perhaps some day.
We recommend Dream Car Rentals to anyone who wants the opportunity to drive a hot car for a few hours or even a full day. They have everything from a Ferrari 355 Spider to a Hummer.