Been having major T'interweb problems so unable to post much. Working off a dingle dongle thing which is rubbish.
Anyway, new car alert. Qashqai has gone.
Replacement is a Mercedes E-Class estate. 250 CDI Sport. Metallic black with beige leather. Automatic with flappy paddles too. AMG wheels etc. Sat Nav and "Command" system, voice response whatsit which I've not figured out yet. 200 miles on it when I got it earlier this week but it's on an 11 plate so I guess it was a demonstrator or showroom car or something.
It's luvverly. More to follow when I've RTFM etc...
Goes quite well by the way...
:-)
|
|
does it have a mock Tudor dashboard?
|
More or less. Black Ash apparently. Or maybe it's mock black ash...
:-)
|
|
Oh and the last Merc I saw with AMG wheels was being towed out of a wet offroad carpark, cos those wide slim narrow bands had the grip of a wet eel left on the slab at Tesco fish counter for too long.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 8 Oct 11 at 20:03
|
Don't care. Fingers in ears. Lah lah lah lah lah......
:-)
|
Welcome, German taxi-driver! Have fun with it and tell us in due course how it's better than Betsy - or is it?
(No, Zero - it's a four-door.)
Last edited by: Avant on Sat 8 Oct 11 at 20:01
|
|
My son already calls it "Super-Bets" in a false deep voice.
|
>> Welcome, German taxi-driver! Have fun with it and tell us in due course how it's
>> better than Betsy - or is it?
>>
>> (No, Zero - it's a four-door.)
Its an estate, it has 5 doors.
|
It also has a thing on the key you press and the tailgate opens automatically. That's quite cool you know. S'pose it's to make it easier for the Dusseldorf cabbies right enough...
:-)
|
|
you havent found the auto close button then? just inside the tailgate? now that is cool.
|
|
Nice sounding car - I have to say the guys at Mercedes seem to have found their MoJo again !
|
I walk the dog along the side of the Mercedes Benz World test track. Those AMG's being given some welly sound really dirty.
Dirty as in "phwooooooooooooar!!!!"
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 8 Oct 11 at 20:44
|
>>found the auto close button then?
Yeah, found that. Other chilly thing is how it lifts the roller blind up out out the way as it opens the tailgate, oh and the collapsible wine transport crate under the boot floor. That's really cool...
:-)
|
Tell you whats really cool is the P11D price on your tax bill.
Makes me shiver
|
Nah nae bother, I'll put my erstwhile fag money into that...
:-)
|
a thing on the key you press and the tailgate opens automatically
Its handy but nothing special Humph.
My Honda Accord Tourer had that feature on it at least ten years ago.
OK in the supermarket with several bags of shopping to load but if it goes wrong and its not under warranty its a very expensive repair....
|
|
The current Passat with keyless entry has a smart idea. Wave your foot under the bumper with the key on you and the boot opens. Useful when your hands are full. But I'm not keen on keyless entry.
|
|
I'd settle for that, despite the presumably silly wheels.
|
|
Gorgeously silly I'm pleased to say. It'll be hopeless in the snow I expect but I don't care today anyway.
|
|
Why thank you kind sir...
|
|
Tell you what though, there was a temporary outdoor display of new Audis near where I parked today. That new A6 Avant is a big beastie too. Quite a handsome thing to boot.
|
|
You're right...mind you that Merc is a looker as well.
|
>oh and the collapsible wine transport crate under the boot floor.
Couldn't you move to a better area? You might be able to get it delivered.
|
|
I was going to say we have a chap who does that.....
|
Heh heh !
Don't worry we've still got her Qashqai ( with no "u"s ) for you to rip into...
:-)
Edit - Loud raspberrys to PU and Kevin....
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 8 Oct 11 at 21:40
|
|
Sounds nice Humph ;-) I quite like the current Mercedes Benz vehicles.
|
|
Make sure you don't have a bike rack on the tailgate when you press the button.......
|
Nice car, good choice.
Far better than that Reno Cashcow thingy you had that was falling to bits.
Colours?.....doh, read the OP...;_0
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 9 Oct 11 at 01:39
|
Thought you'd approve GB.
It came with two little holdalls in the boot. One contains a selection of MB branded cleaning materials, wheel cleaner, shampoo, tar spot stuff, polish and various other unctions I've not studied yet, its own little sponge, a chamois and a wee brush presumably for the wheels. Seems to be part of a "Starguard" package which I assume is a fancy way of saying they've polished it and charged a lot of money for doing so.
The other little bag contains a rather fancy leather care and cleaning kit for the seats.
Got up early this morning to try all this out but its raining. Ah well, never mind, kettle beckons...
Oh and it has a spare wheel too which I'm pleased about albeit a spacesaver (mildly disappointingly).
Taking my son to play rugby later. There will be discussions re muddy kit and boots...
:-)
|
Don't drive onto the field or there will be discussions re tow ropes and recovery vehicles.
|
Mercedes drivers round us garage their cars for the winter..And drive fwd cars instead.
I can't imagine why..:-)
|
[[garage their cars for the winter.]]
Could this mean, no, surely not, you'll never guess what it needs...
:-))
EDIT...did it come with roof rails or will you be scouring the country for a set Humph.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Sun 9 Oct 11 at 10:44
|
>> Mercedes drivers round us garage their cars for the winter..And drive fwd cars instead.
>>
>> I can't imagine why..:-)
Good on them. It's the ones who don't that look daft. The most futile I saw last winter was the S type Jaguar boiling the snow ahead and blocking the road on a 1 in 50 slope, which didn't augur well for the rest of his journey should he have managed to get up it.
After about 5 minutes of this he'd moved 50 yards, past a pub car park entrance and I was able to drive in the entrance behind him and out of the one in front, leaving him to it. The car was abandoned nearby when I came home later.
In the winter of 78/79, a fairly nasty one, I had two big sacks of sand in the boot of a Mk2 Escort. Doesn't anybody do that any more with RWD cars?
|
>> In the winter of 78/79, a fairly nasty one, I had two big sacks of
>> sand in the boot of a Mk2 Escort. Doesn't anybody do that any more with
>> RWD cars?
>>
Having seen that pic posted recently by one of our flock showing the 1 series BMW parked with chains on the front wheels i'm not so sure the modern driver has the nous for such things MT.
I remember that winter well, i had an Austin 2200 Land Crab at the time, the 6 cyl engine and box being so heavy that the car had to have 'reinforced' (van) tyres, it simply ploughed through 8" of snow where virtually nothing else was moving.
Anecdote, the refill for an angine oil change was 22 yes Twenty+Two pints!
|
Land Crab? Those things would go through just about anything.
I once drove the 1800 variant through thick liquid mud off a festival campsite, giving a cheery wave to the bogged-down Land Rover as I passed it. He'd made the mistake of stopping and had sunk in, I kept the speed up.
Even so, my passengers were terribly impressed not to have to sit in the interminable queue round the edge to the exit, once they'd got over their horror as I set off through the central quagmire.
Yes a lot of oil, but that's the penalty for "box in sump". Was there an automatic version of the 2200? If so, you were getting off lightly........
|
When Humph's new car enters the next season
I'm sure he'll remember the number of threads he's
Never even thought of reading before and how we will have
To
Encourage him to enter a number of
Retail tyre emporiums
To peruse the racks of rubber merchandise and
Yell at the fitter and demand that his summer tyres be
Replaced with fresh, grippy
Enduring tread so that his new car will sail across the winter
Snows.
Last edited by: R.P. on Sun 9 Oct 11 at 11:00
|
>> The other little bag contains a rather fancy leather care and cleaning kit for the
>> seats.
Be handy for when the dog projectile vomits and poo sprays the inside for you...
|
He's not allowed in there yet . No Sireee ! Bike rack is going on top of her car too. I may also have to see if I still possess a tie and some trousers which are not denim. Is it schoolboy or windsor knots these days?
:-)
|
>> Colours?.....doh, read the OP...;_0
>>
Black, Yup, that's the new silver for Merc's - beige? yes, that is getting common as well. (pity it reminds me of baby poo.....)
|
The doh was for me, i asked for the colours then realised Hump had stated them in his OP, forgot to put edit in me post when i edited.
I wonder if the beige leather is still ''mushroom'', if so it still looks good some 15 years later, and MB's always look right in black paintwork, black leather somehow looks wrong if the car has been specced with walnut, a nice combination in Humps motor IMO.
Are the carpets beige too Hump, hope not they can be a pain to keep clean but look lovely and there will be a huge expanse in the van part..;), seen some recent MB's that have followed BMW's lead and put dark carpets with the light upholstery, nice combination with dark paintwork and far more practical.
Looking forward to reports in due course, particularly your dealership experiences.
|
Black carpets thankfully GB.
Re the snow. I cut my driving teeth on RWD in Scotland in the ski resorts. Not worried at all. Just down to how you drive it. And anyway...even if I do get into difficulty there's no way I'll be admitting it on here...
:-))
|
>> I wonder if the beige leather is still ''mushroom'', if so it still looks good
>> some 15 years later, and MB's always look right in black paintwork, black leather somehow looks wrong if the car has been specced with walnut, a nice combination in Humps
motor IMO.
No... Mushroom is long gone.
That was a classy beige, the current one is almond beige, often paired with a real (imho) pooey brown/beige.
Black coachwork does look good on a Merc, as does silver - the current fad for white, does nothing for me... white works well on small/medium cars, but large ones remind me of beached whales!
|
>>but large ones remind me of beached whales!
One of the yummy mummies at the lacrosse club has swapped her Merc GL (black) for a very bling Audi Q7, in white. Now that is a beached whale!
|
|
Has she ever tried WeightWatchers?
|
The Merc sounds cracking. I love black cars but oh dear I find them much harder to clean with any satisfaction.
Aside, is it big enough for your needs? The boot can't be as big as a Mondy? I used to like these smaller estates, but the loadspace isn't really there. Had a V50 once, same problem...
|
>> Aside, is it big enough for your needs? The boot can't be as big as
>> a Mondy? I used to like these smaller estates, but the loadspace isn't really there.
>> Had a V50 once, same problem...
>>
Its an "E" class, thats spells hugE
|
|
The Merc E class estate has replaced a Qashqai.... it's got a bigger interior.
|
Doh! I thought it was a C-class!
Bit of a puny-sized engine for a huge E-class ain't it?!
|
Yeah
Not even an AMG either
Kind of a Mock Merc merc if you know what i mean.
|
>> Kind of a Mock Merc merc if you know what i mean.
Rotten beggars ! I like it. So thzzzzzzzzzz !
At least I'm not going to have to take the badges off like a lot of those ( frankly slightly common ...sniff ) BMW drivers do to their 316s and 520s in the hope of impressing the undergarments off Carol from accounts....
:-)
|
>> Bit of a puny-sized engine for a huge E-class ain't it?!
It's probably only a 2.1 litre diesel. But will be plenty powerful enough. Just over 200bhp and 500Nm of torque.
|
>> >> Bit of a puny-sized engine for a huge E-class ain't it?!
>>
>> It's probably only a 2.1 litre diesel. But will be plenty powerful enough. Just over
>> 200bhp and 500Nm of torque.
Enough to get to wheelspin snowsville in a hurry. . .
|
>> Enough to get to wheelspin snowsville in a hurry. . .
'pends if you are able to cope with that eventuality or if you are but a soft southerener I suppose...
|
Just did a quick look up on E Class prices in the back of Auto Express. The BIK must be quite high for this (£39k at least for it new?).... so you were smoking a lot of cigarettes to cover this. :-)
That's about £10k more than my Passat.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 9 Oct 11 at 23:11
|
|
I read that as "my passat is overpriced" 29k for a VW? havin a laugh surely.,
|
|
The list price if I'd bought it was £28500 (ish) when ordered. They went up by about £500 afterwards.
|
Thinking about this though... I had a Passat 1.8T Sport in 2001. List price was £20165 back then. Equipment on my Passat CC that was not on that old Passat includes:
- Nappa leather seats (not the fake leather as on an MB E Class Sport by default... real leather optional)
- Bi xenons
- Heated/climate seats
- Sat nav
- Adaptive dampers
- 18" wheels (the old Passat had 15" wheels!)
So taking options into account and the ten year gap... is £28.5k a lot for a VW? And the 170PS diesel engine will cost more than a 1.8T too.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sun 9 Oct 11 at 23:31
|
|
Bik isn't too scary actually. Not by comparison to the old Qashqai anyway. That was a 4wd auto so had fairly crap emissions. The Merc should use less fuel too. The Nissan only got around 36 mpg.
|
Here is a thought and I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread Humph.
This is primarily a motoring forum, but here you have a new car and you haven't once mentioned you were looking, short listing, test driving etc.
Another regular contributor, Zero, bought his Mitsi without seeking opinion. I , on the other hand, seek opinions from 2 years out before my purchase!!
Just curious if this is a case of not wanting swayed away from your choice, or maybe not having a choice? Or knowing best?
On a bigger scale, does this show that the forum is now primarily a gassing area and secondly a motoring forum?
Just being curious thats all!
|
...does this show that the forum is now primarily a gassing area...?
Only on Fridays when you've been wearing the same shoes all week, Bobby.
};---)
I'm in the two-years-out camp, like you. This place will let me test ideas, and won't lose patience quite as quickly as my resident audience at home.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Mon 10 Oct 11 at 14:44
|
No such science Bobby. I was on a trip to Italy with my boss a couple of weeks ago and we spotted a Range Rover Evoque. He suggested that I might want one as my next company car. I politely mentioned that I'd rather have a large estate of some kind. Last week I turned up at work to find an E-Class in the car park. He said "bet that sort of thing'd do you?" I said "Sure of course" He said "Well here's the keys" Simple as that really. Mustn't grumble I suppose...
:-)
|
Hmmm
A special friend, shades of the defence secretary methinks....
|
>> Hmmm
>>
>> A special friend, shades of the defence secretary methinks....
>>
>>
>>
>>
Lol
Casting nasturtiums before the 6pm watershed.. What will our younger readers think?
|
>> voice response whatsit
>> which I've not figured out yet. More to follow when I've RTFM etc...
>>
I wouldn't bother RTFM for the 'Linguatronic'. I had it on Mercs before and it never worked - far easier to press the necessary button. I have it on the S-Max too, but my experience with the Mercs mean I have never used it.
|
|
Managed to get the voice doofer to work today in planning a nav route but as you say it'd have been quicker to use the twirly thing on the console. I had even tried shouting at it in German but then I found the switch...
|
|
What a splendid boss to be working for: one who rightly assumed that a car enthusiast driving a Nissan wouldn't turn down an E-class estate. You're clearly doing a terrific job for the company: maybe you've signed up several re-incarnations of Imelda Marcos....
|
|
I think it was more a case of the Nissan lowering the tone in the corporate car park.
|
|
Bit of that to be sure. Although in my defence I really didn't give a monkeys about that bit. Too long in the tooth to be fretting about trivia like that.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Mon 10 Oct 11 at 22:34
|
|
Once he persuades me to buy new shoes then he will be seen as being successful!
|
More than that, I'd likely get some kind of award from the World Health Organisation...
:-)
|
|
Humph I have a confession - that you may have missed due to your Broadband "issue"
|
Well you must understand this, it was an emergency, and I didn't have time to pack properly, but that week I had in France end of last month.........
I sort of wore the same shoes for a week........ok took 'em off for sleeping and that but I walked, drove and generally hung out in a pair of Salomon approach shoes for seven whole days. I know it's not big or clever and that a man of my means could have popped into a French shoe shop and spent 70 to 100 Euro on a pair of French designed footwear.
I'm sorry and it won't happen again.
|
Before you start to make promises....
Have your Toes curled, feet dropped off?
Shoes grown fungi? fallen to bits?
Did the world stop turning?
Because you wore the same shoes for a week?
Non!
|
Good choice of footwear R.P.
I wear my Salomon approach shoes day in day out for work (although I do work in a splendid outdoor gear shop in my semi retirement). I wear my 2 pairs of XA Pro's, with Superfeet footbeds, on alternate days, so can never be accused of wearing them on consecutive days.
Most comfortable footwear I have ever known.
|
|
Haven't a clue what Soloman shoes are, me DeWalt goretex work boots are however very comfy, more's the point i haven't slipped off either the transporter or tank decks and killed meself yet..;)
|
>> Haven't a clue what Soloman shoes are...
Neither did I, so I looked.
Look a bit "winter tyres" to me.... :-)
|
|
Nah.....these are lightweight almost trainer type shoes, supremely comfortable even on the hottest days - if rather smelly by now.
|
They're trainers. Fancy trainers admittedly but they are trainers. Y'see this is the trouble when these guys retire early. Standards drop. Personal hygiene issues, they stop taking care of their appearance, all sorts of problems in fact. Quite sad really...
:-)
|
Sounds like a lovely car Humph... of all the company cars I've had over the years there are only 2 I really miss; the first is an E270 CDI Estate, which was a deeply impressive mile muncher, and a 535d Touring, which went like **** :-)
Been eyeing up the current 'E' for a few months now - some very good deals to be had, but still an expensive car :-(
|
Aye it's very nice. Had it's first tip run today just so it doesn't get airs and graces...
:-)
|
>> Aye it's very nice. Had it's first tip run today just so it doesn't get airs and graces...
Haver you finally done the decent thing and put the bike rack out of our misery, then? :-)
|
One thing I will no doubt miss from time to time is a hatchback for runs to the tip etc. I did manage okay with a Passat saloon for 3.5 years previously and got a sofa to the tip in it. Took a bit of preparation though - cutting up of the sofa!
With Nappa leather on the new car I don't think I'll take much to the tip. Might have to seriously consider a van occasionally. Or get a hire car when my car is in the dealers which with long life servicing might not be too frequent.
|
|
"The" bike rack has gone. It morphed into a jar ofJelly Babies. The other one off the roof of my Nissan is going on "her" Qashqai.
|
Orange is my favourite, followed by red and black.
Not keen on green and yellow.
|
all of them but
Once you have tried black you never go back.
|
>> "The" bike rack has gone. It morphed into a jar ofJelly Babies..
So it did - I don't keep up as much as I should..
Did the JB's last the return journey?
|
DT review of E350CDI estate:
tgr.ph/uBNXD7
|
Merc'd Man - Zero
