IN THIS FEATURE Feeling short-changed Focus and firepower Superlative driving dynamics? Proper manual please

More of a problem, though, is the '7G-Tronic with AMG Speedshift'. First, seven gears in an automatic gearbox is too many when you're using manual mode. You get lost in the sequence, and besides an engine this torquey doesn't need so many ratio steps. And it's not as if they're usefully spaced, because there's a big gap between fourth and fifth followed by two more gaps of minimal significance.

Impressive interior detailing

Worse, for all the talk of 'superlative driving dynamics' when using the manual mode - no unwanted auto-shifts up or down, proper engine braking - the shift never quite happens when you want it. There's always an indeterminate delay. We drove the SLK around the Paul Ricard test track, Formula One's high-tech racing laboratory whose long, tightening curves reward technical skill far above instinct (have we just stumbled on what might be wrong with F1 today?), partly to reinforce the link between this AMG and its close relative, the SLK 55 AMG F1 pace car. And, in manual mode, this automatic transmission was a real impediment.