Just thinking of buying one for my Father.
Anybody have comments before I do ?
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Mark,
If you've read the HJ "car-by-car" on them you know the lot!
Comments.......Bet it'll be a super car, lucky Dad!
David W
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We have a V registered 300 diesel estate, and Y registered 320 diesel estate on the company fleet, and I understand that both keepers are delighted with them.
Both colleagues cover intergalactic distances as part of their work, and I have never known either have a problem, despite the battle grime usually found on both pointing to a hard life.
Personally, I find them very austere, and think the moniker Stuttgart Taxi to be most appropriate, but an alternative tag of comfortable, well built, reliable, workhorse would appear to be equally valid.
I hope one day that my son or daughter(just a twinkle in the eye at the moment!) might think to look after me as Mark is thinking to look after his!
/Steve
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Benchmark car for M-B but it wont fit in my garage, even with retracting mirrors.There are probabilities of electronic problems
which can be difficult for some franchised garages to quickly eradicate.Ensure good warranty maintained after M-B item expires.
There are random problems with the electronic autoboxes after 50-60k & the current school of thought is to renew the lubricant at that mileage...but perhaps you will have bought your Dad another
model by then! Finally the paintwork is commensurate with 1970 Ford standard, if he doesnt enjoy haviong the frontal edges of the car festooned with paint chips,I suggest a visit to Armorfend
As David W said Lucky Dad.
Simon T.
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Apologies,incorrect statement on first four words,all else stands.
Simon T.
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What can be said about this car its perfect only four problems
1 If you are 6foot 4 or over there will be little legroom behind you for your passengers (but then again how many cars are spacious)
2 Wherever you turn up people will have a look to see who the rich person what has arrived in is as any hope of keeping a low profile is impossible
3 You will never manage 50 to the gallon on any long run the best would be 46 and about 40 round town
4 How do you beat it ? I have seen the new E class and much prefere my parents R reg one
Mercedes benz service is amazing never beeten even though our car is R reg we got better service when it went to the garrage when a low oil light came on than anyone would hopen to get from other dealers with new cars
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Are you sure that you could get 46 mpg on a run and 40 in town? I think that you might be 10mpg to heavy on both figures.
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I have to admit the figures do seem a bit hight for the car but my parents nver accelate hard I have never seen over 2000rpm on the speedo, the turbo has never been used and the brakes look speckled showns how the car is driven. I just want to let them let me drive else the cannot drive my new diesal clio i have ordered for october still don't think they will let me touch it
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>>I have seen the new E class and much prefer my parents R reg one
To look at I certainly agree. I have just ordered myself a new MB E-Class and will have the current shape rather than the new. Although since I will have an estate (two dogs) then I wouldn`t have a choice anyway, since apparantly the new shape Estate is a year away.
And as for the low profile, I never manage to acheive that with or without a car ! And this car will replace my Father's XJS Convertible which is not very discrete anyway.
Right then, tomorrow morning I'm going to go and see how much he'll offer me for the Jag, and we'll see where we go from there.
Thanks for your comments.
M.
p.s. David - I wouldn`t dare ask about a car without checking the CbyC first.
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EDD, Are you really sure the turbo has never been used ?
If your parents are that timid & its been owned by them since NEW
well words fail me!
Simon T.
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yep soory to have to admit never been used unless u account for the time the mercedes sales person took the family for a test drive when he used it(he let them drive it back) the car has only been owned by us for a year now. The previous mercedes a class diesal which we owned for 2 years the turbo was unused on as well. only problem if anyone can help is the front wings are starting to show problems of rust which mercedes paint specialists say isn't covered and that brank new merc's shwoing problems in this area mercedes still don't pay for either.
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You have to be kidding, Mark. The new E Class is so vastly superior to the old one what you're contemplating is like buying a Mk 1 Cortina instead of a Mondeo because you prefer the shape. Please re-read the road test about the way the new W211 E Class is constructed. This is the BEST car in the world. It cannot be beaten because no one else can achieve the volumes to amortise the development costs. And since your dogs are going to be in quarantine for six months then that's half of the wait for the W211 estate already gone. On the other hand, if the W210 is on a short lease, you can dump it as soon as the W211 estate comes out.
HJ
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Dogs will be released from jail 13th January 03.
New estate is available August 03 ish ? Therefore on this company`s scheme around Oct/Nov 03.
Kind of a long time, especially since I`ll be able to change it in July 04.
M.
p.s. it occurs to me that perhaps I didn`t make it obvious it will be a company car.
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Also, and I have looked, where on this site can I find the explanation for all these "W" numbers, and similar for the BMW.
i.e. how do I find out what a W211 is etc....
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W numbers are the model code. Not sure how it works at MB
But for BM
Current 3 series E46, previous E36
Current 5 series E39 (previous E34?) new model shortly to come out E60.
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The Car by Car Breakdown identifies all the Merc W numbers and all the BMW E numbers I know. I didn't get them from a book. Just slow assimilation. And I'm obviously still taking corrections and additions, for which thanks in advance.
HJ
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From past experience, HJ probably will not take kindly to this as he seems to object to posting of external links here when he think the C by C page gives all that is needed! Anyway, here goes:
I do not know of as yet of any Merc site which gives details of the Engine and Model codes. However, there is an excellent site which gives full details of the BMW engine codes (M umbers) and body style codes (E numbers). The link is:
www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/bmw.html
For a full explanation of the nicasil issue, look at
www.lestac.co.uk/bmw/nikasil.htm
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Thanks Zero point one Percent for those links. They now appear in the links directory which is FAQ answer no 1 on the site. The reason why they are no use to me in The Backroom is that the site has no means of collating use of links from Backroom postings, so we can't ever make any money from them. Though you guys get a free lunch, please appreciate that it costs me and my sponsor to provide that free lunch for you, so if we can't get a return on our investment eventually, there will be no such thing.
HJ
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Huh?
How will you make money from those links now? Surely those sites aren't going to pay you for linking them in the links directory?
I think most people appreciate the time and money you and your crew must put in HJ, but I cannot see how posting of links to sites where we can all garner information can possibly harm your income/site?
P.S. Latest auction report as interesting as ever. Good stuff.
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I don`t think that was HJ's point. It wasn't that the links will damage anything. I think this was the relevant bit...
>>is that the site has no means of collating use of links from Backroom postings
So HJ moves them to where we can collate their usage.
Surely those sites aren't going to pay you for linking them in the links directory?
Depends if they are making money from people linking there from here or not. And if someone does do well from links to their site from this one, we potentially have a business case to present to them.
That`s why we *really* encourage use of the useful links in faq 1, as HJ says, the money has to come from somewhere and these days every little helps.
Does that help ?
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Thanks, Mark. Perfectly put.
HJ
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W Numbers for Mark.
Try mbspy.bacos.be/wcodes.htm.
Page is still under construction under Mercedes-Benz Chassi Co.
Passenger car models since 1946 are listed.
Simon T.
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I understood that the quarantine period had been highly modified about a year ago and if the dog had a vaccination certificate and a micro chip iembedded it was no longer necessary.
alvin
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An animal which has been chipped and blood-tested and then blood-tested again 6 months later *may* not have to go into 6 months quarantine provided it comes from one of the \"passport\" approved countries.
Essentially Passport countries are bits of Europe, Australia and the Falklands. No doubt there are others www.defra.co.uk if you are interested.
However, even then, it is at the discretion of the DEFRA vet as to whether or not it should go to quarantine as the point, port and time of entry.
Other countries are being added to the passport scheme. Notably the USA is being considered and a few others.
M.
p.s. thank you Simon.
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seems like a silly question, but...
Are you allowed to go and visit them in jail?
(I can imagine a large dogfood cake, with a file inside. Intelligent dogs, these retrievers...)
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yes, you are.
However, untilt he end of the quarantine period the dog is not permitted to leave its cage, not even for exercise. Within its cage the floor must be concrete or similar.
Essentially the dog is not allowed to touch english soil until the end of its quarantine period.
Of course in England we have Quarantine to stop rabies coming in the country, except its already here, and for 6 months because of the incubation period for rabies, except that is 11 days.
Barbaric law set by idiots who have a vested interest in not changing it.
Of course, it is a well known fact that sex and running fast cures rabies, for this reason there are no restrictions on race horses or breeding dogs. It is nothing to do with any self-serving reason at all.
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Yeas, sounds a bit strange to me...
Having seen rabies at first hand, I realise what a problem it can be - but as you say, the incubation period is 11 days ... and surely a quick blood test can determine whether the poor hound is gonna foam or not...
What does Mrs Mark say? I wouldn't know if it is cruel or kind to go and see the poor jailed pooches...
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Mrs. Mark gets a trifle irritated everytime the subject comes up. She also insists that the dogs should be visited as much as possible.
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Can't say I envy you - looking ahead to two stir-crazy Goldens getting sprung just in time for an English January ...
I predict lots of long walks ...
(Try to find a route which comes back via the local pub)
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