Well, three days in and time to use it as it was intended (or perhaps not, looking at quality of the carpet in the boot...)
First a trip to the tip with 12 black bin bags of assorted rubbish; easy!! The return journey was a bigger test though; stopped off at Tile Flair to pick up tiles for the bathroom. Around 25 square meters in total, wall and floor tiles... Tiles are quite heavy aren't they :oops:
The car did look a little low at the back when loaded - somewhat lazily I didn't lower the seats to spread the load,but loaded them in the boot. It's a bit of a stretch to reach the back of the boot though! Fortunately it has self levelling rear suspension, but it took a little while to raise the height. Car rode better with the added weight - I don't think the 18" wheels mine came with are needed; would have been happier with the standard 17" ones I think
Then a quick return trip to Amersham from the south coast to pick up some furniture. Car in its element on the fast A roads up through Petworth to the A3 at Milford, happy to be hustled along swiftly, and then cruised nicely along the motorway. It's been a while since I've owned a diesel, and I have to say you can tell this is a diesel under hard acceleration. Quiet enough when crusing or driving normally, but foot to the floor you can hear a diesel rumble.
Total mileage now up to 250, and half a tank of diesel gone. OBC indicates just over 40mpg, but I have no idea as to the accuracy of it yet. Much more responsive now than on day 1; being run in nicely I think :-)
Front seats nice and comfy, but the squab doesn't extend and feels slightly short to me. The A4 has sports seats though, so perhaps its just because it feels different? Stereo good, and iPOD connectivity easy. Standard Sat Nav (NAV 50, not COMMAND) worked well, and looked fine. I know COMMAND has a larger screen, but the one in mine is perfectly OK. Intuitive to use too; no need to open the manual
Did have to open the manual to find out what a blue 'P' symbol in the center display meant though. It isn't permanently on, and it's different to the 'P' that indicated that the car is in 'park'. Turns out its got some form of parking assistance, whereby if you drive past a line of parked cars at less than 20mph it'll look for a space large enough to park in (no mean feat when the car's just under 4.9m long!). It will also then guide you in with instructions on the centre display telling you which way to turn the wheel. Don't think that function will get much use...
Just a few initial thoughts; will update as and when I think!
Peter
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Good stuff Peter. Used mine to fetch a ruck of bags of bark chips for the garden of a house we're doing up
One of the lower level ones burst and now the inside of the car is full of wet bark.
Found the gizmo which folds the back seats while still standing at the back door yet ?
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 5 Nov 11 at 18:19
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Yes, seen them, but haven't used them yet. Despite the stuff I've carted around I haven't needed to fold the seats yet!
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It's brilliant, drops the head restraints auromatically and folds the seats. Hours of fun.
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...or even automatically. These Sainsburys specs are crap...
:-)
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Might have a play with that tomorrow then. One useful thing I did find while scrolling through the options in the centre screen is the ability to switch the lights over for driving on the right. That'll come in useful for our trips over to France :-) Also found the option to turn off the DRLs. Am I bad for leaving them on? Are they perhaps, just a little, well, how can I put it, chavvy ;-)
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That's interesting. I have been mildly embarrassed by the drls. I've been trying to embrace my inner chav but it wasn't really working. Even tried DAB Radio 1 ( for about 30 seconds )
:-)
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Option in the Passat menus for driving abroad - got to lights menu and select travel option. I've seen the lights swap over for driving on the other side of the road. Swapped them back of course.
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>> What engine in it Peter?
>>
It's a 250 CDI Blue Efficiency, which is a 2.1 cylinder twin turbo diesel with stop/start, and a 7 speed auto. I'll be interested to see what the actual economy is when I fill it up - 40mpg per the OBC seems a little optimistic to me!!
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I would have thought 40+ should be attainable... My V70 never drops below 44 even after several weeks of stop start town driving and it's (relatively) old technology compared to your MB
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It'd be nice if it does - my scepticism us just that I''ve only had two diesel cars that averaged over 40mpg, and they were both a lot smaller and lighter than this one!! Plus it's still on the first tank of diesel, which would indicate that the economy will get better still :-)
I'll be genuinely delighted if, after a few more miles, a near 2 tonne automatic diesel estate averages a true 40 + mpg :-)
Peter
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My 530d estate car will average 42mpg with a reasonably light right foot. It's a 6 cylinder, so I would have thought a 4 cylinder twin turbo would easily better that.
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>> My 530d estate car will average 42mpg with a reasonably light right foot. It's a
>> 6 cylinder, so I would have thought a 4 cylinder twin turbo would easily better
>> that.
>>
Well that's the thing; I've had both a 525d and 535d in E61 form, both auto, and while they would do 40ish mpg on longer journeys their overall long term averages were 33 and 31mpg respectively. Fingers crossed!!
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>> >> What engine in it Peter?
>> >>
>>
>> It's a 250 CDI Blue Efficiency, which is a 2.1 cylinder twin turbo diesel with
>> stop/start, and a 7 speed auto. I'll be interested to see what the actual economy
>> is when I fill it up - 40mpg per the OBC seems a little optimistic
>> to me!!
>>
Oh.
I had a feeling it would be.
Hopefully it will be the latest version, or at least will have had the latest modifications done before you picked it up.
Not the best engine Merc's have ever fitted I'm afraid to say.
If you got a good one, enjoy.
If not, Most Merc dealers supply a very nice cup of coffee.
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>> Oh.
>> I had a feeling it would be.
>> Hopefully it will be the latest version, or at least will have had the latest
>> modifications done before you picked it up.
>> Not the best engine Merc's have ever fitted I'm afraid to say.
>>
>> If you got a good one, enjoy.
>> If not, Most Merc dealers supply a very nice cup of coffee.
>>
I know the early versions of this engine had problems (injectors), but the noise seems to have died down over the last 12 ~ 18 months. Since mine was built in October this year I'm reasonably confident :-)
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>> I know the early versions of this engine had problems (injectors), but the noise seems
>> to have died down over the last 12 ~ 18 months. Since mine was built
>> in October this year I'm reasonably confident :-)
>>
I hope yours is a good un.
There have been a fair few that have had major repairs done, (new engine harness, engine out job) and there is a recall, which covers most cars, that has just started.
I have heard of the current recall being done during the PDI of new cars.....
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When I read the title of this thread my initial thought was I hope he's told his insurance company, then read on and realised it was carrying a few personal bits and pieces in the boot. Phew !
Lovely cars and probably what I would buy money being no object.
Still remember the E320CDi I rode in back in 1997 on a spirited drive to the airport.
Enjoy them Peter and Humph and keep the updates coming.
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:-) Always an option if times get hard!!
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Quick update after the first brim to brim tankful indicates that it's doing 37.9mpg (only one tank mind) vs an OBC figure of 39.8, so almost 5% optimistic. Pretty happy with that though, so lets see how it looks after a view more tank-fulls!!
Somewhat irritatingly it has picked up its first scar already, after someone bumped into the back of it at some traffic lights - obviously missed the small, discrete LED rear lights ;-)
Peter
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...after someone bumped into the back of it at some traffic lights - obviously missed the small, discrete LED rear lights ;-)...
He obviously missed the size of the thing, too - what a knacker.
As a general point on economy, seems to me the diesel benefit is bigger in a bigger car.
I reckon 40mpg will be attainable when it's loosened up a little, which you seem to be doing nicely.
That will take a few thousand miles, although both diesel Fords I've had gave better economy and performance with many more miles on than that.
My last Focus was never running better than when I sold it at 80,000 miles.
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Mercedes Benz E-Class W212 - Using a new car as its maker intended... - Runfer D'Hills
