As you might expect in a sports car that starts at over $58,000, the SLK 300’s interior uses top-quality materials and the fit and finish is excellent. However, it’s a bit surprising that Artico (simulated leather) seats are standard and leather is a $1,990 option. Then again, not everybody wants leather. A variety of colour options are available: upholstery colour choices include Black, Beige, Grey, Red, and Mocha Brown while interior trim is offered in Brushed Aluminum, Burl walnut, Dark Ash and Carbon fibre.

Getting in and out of the SLK isn’t as difficult as it might look even though the SLK’s doors are rather heavy and there’s a lip to step over. The SLK’s nicely-contoured seats have huge side bolsters and smaller thigh bolsters for support and standard seat heaters with three settings. Both front seats have power fore/aft, height, recline, and lumbar in/out adjustments, so you can get really comfortable.

Our test car had black leather seats with contrasting white stitching on the seats and black stitching on the leather-wrapped steering wheel. The brushed aluminum trim in our test car looked great but I discovered a couple of scratches near the centre control dial. And I noticed that the silver trim around the air vents, gauges and steering wheel is not real aluminum, but plastic. Complementing the look of the aluminum and silver trim are silver-faced gauges with black numerals. These are illuminated at night but in the daytime I found the speedo difficult to read with my sunglasses on.

Between the gauges is an information display that includes such info as average fuel consumption, current fuel consumption, and range. The driver can scroll through the different screens using the arrows on the left steering wheel spoke. There’s also an interesting Eco display with three bar graphs showing fuel use when accelerating, coasting and in constant driving. But is this really appropriate in a sports car? I can’t see many SLK drivers fretting over their fuel consumption.

Between the seats is a large round control dial to operate the audio, telephone and navigation functions on the centre screen. Similar to a mouse, the controller allows the driver to navigate through the screen menus by turning, swivelling and pushing the dial. A palm rest just behind it makes it easy to rest your right hand while operating the dial with your fingers. I found the screen graphics easy to read, but the screen menus are more complicated to navigate than some competitors systems because there are too many steps and the choices aren’t always obvious. Still, you can learn how to use it by trial and error without having to look at the owner’s manual.

For storing phones, cameras and small tablets, there is a roomy storage bin under the centre padded centre armrest. There’s also a pouch behind the driver’s seat and a coat hook on the back of the seats.

I was surprised to see an ashtray and cigarette lighter under a folding cover in front of the shift lever.

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