Diesels, they say, are the new sports cars - enormously torquey under acceleration, gruff of voice and needing a quick hand on the paddle shifters to keep them on the boil, they can make for exciting driving in the twisties, yet they're long-legged and relaxed on motorways.
With all that in mind Daimler has dropped a diesel into its sporty little SLK roadster for the first time - a rorty 2143cc turbofour that churns out 150kW and an authoritative 500Nm.
That'll take it from 0-100 in 6.7sec, from 80-120 in 4.3sec for hair-trigger overtaking and on to 243km/h on the autobahn.
Standard kit is a 7G-tronic autobox, although a six-speed manual will be coming in mid-2012 for control freaks. Either way, Daimler quotes fuel consumption of 4.9 litres/100km and emissions of only 128g/km - which means it won't even pay Pollution Tax in South Africa.
That's thanks to ultra-high pressure (2000 bar!) common-rail fuel-injection, two-stage turbocharging and a stop/start function.
The SLK 250 CDI is available with a choice of three versions of Merc's vario-roof - one of them a glass roof with Magic Sky control that can go from dark to transparent at the touch of a button.
There are also three suspension options: a conventional steel suspension, a sports suspension with stiffer springs and dampers, or an electronically controlled, variable-damping set-up, which is part of the Dynamic Handling package, including sports steering torque vectoring for even more agile handling.
We're waiting on Daimler SA for an answer as to whether or when the SLK 250 CDI will be released in South Africa.