My first and latest Mercedes

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Mactech

MB Enthusiast
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Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
5,113
Location
Norfolk
Car
Porsche Macan S, BMW i3
I have been without a Mercedes for 9 months now, but my wife talked me in to buying another one this week.
My very first new Mercedes was back in 1973 when I was just a yoof playing in a band. The 408 van replaced our out-grown VW camper for gigging in the UK and Europe. It was the grandfather of today's Sprinter van.

Then this is the latest in a long (6) line of Iridium Silver Mercedes which I picked up today:D
A one year old, 6K miles, GLE 350d AMG line.
It's Good to be back in a Mercedes again:cool:
 

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Not sure which one I prefer, both look good
 
Good story.

But what exactly is going on in the first picture?

The setting is quite Constable. A sunny English summer's day. A tranquil spot by the river with the sun dappling through some beautiful trees, a quaint wooden bridge and a spaniel.

Rudely interrupted by the roadie from Spinal Tap wheelspinning his Merc van through the river and on to the village green where he's about to go drifiting.

Is that what it was like in those days?
 
You got it one:D
That's exactly what was going on!
On the way in to a festival, the dog belonged to the group's lead singer and Steve driving was the roadie!
He didn't drive that much, that was normally the job of the sound engineer, later to become a race engineer;):cool:
 
You got it one:D
That's exactly what was going on!
On the way in to a festival, the dog belonged to the group's lead singer and Steve driving was the roadie!
He didn't drive that much, that was normally the job of the sound engineer, later to become a race engineer;):cool:

What a great story, love it :)
 
My wife loved our pervious W164 ML and we kept it for almost 6 years, something of a record for me:eek:
Do we have any other GLE owners on here? This one also seems to have the hallmarks of a 'keeper' Time will tell;)
 
I bought my first Merc in 2003. It was a one owner, low miles C43.

With a child on the way my wife decided that a stage 2 S14 200SX with a football launcher exhaust wasn't quite what my wife had in mind as transport back from the maternity ward. I was instructed to buy some thing "sensible". Well the C43 certainly looked sensible and I got away with it but a 4.3 V8 in a car that size back in 2003 was anything but normal.

Fourteen years on and three V8 Mercs later a change of job in January meant a redundancy cheque. And therefore a free car. I said I'd do the "sensible " thing and get a diesel. Then dieselgate happened and the only sensible thing was to switch back to petrol. Only there weren't any 350 CGI's about.

So now I'm the happy, and sensible, owner of a 390 BHP E500.

God bless the Ultra Low Emission Zone and all those who drive in her.
 
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My wife loved our pervious W164 ML and we kept it for almost 6 years, something of a record for me:eek:
Do we have any other GLE owners on here? This one also seems to have the hallmarks of a 'keeper' Time will tell;)

Now you've had it a few weeks, how are you getting on with your GLE Mac?
 
My wife has used the car for 600 miles, and I have driven less than 100 so far.
You can guess who is quite keen on it!
It's gained some side steps and other invisible modifications so I'm quite keen to give it a real test.
Off to collect my mother from Wales tomorrow, she asked me not to use the bike :dk: so I'll report back after that...
 

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Well, managed to get a 200 mile trip in the GLE yesterday and I have to say it is a very relaxed way to travel.:D
The comfort level is certainly on par my with S class of a decade ago (but much higher up to see over the country hedges) and very similar to that of a more recent Range Rover. The interior is much more modern and jury is out as to whether that is a good thing or not.
Digital optimisation has allowed this 2 tonne brick to cover 0-60 in the six second region and still return a genuine 40mpg.
The 9 speed gearbox is a delight and better than ZF’s 8 speed offering which I had always regarded as benchmark auto ‘box. Responsive and always seemingly in the right gear, only very occasionaly did I find myself nudging the paddles to pre-empt a shift. You do have to be doing at least 65mph to make use of the wonderfully long legged 9th gear….
Having played with many of the settings now, I’m content to leave the car to get on with most things for normal driving. Comfort mode is favouite for the Airmatic. “Sport’” mode really is a little stiff for most British roads.
However, even in comfort mode the car does display a rather odd high frequency side to side rocking motion over bumps. This has been reduced by lower tyre pressures, but new tyres and continuing pressure mods and fiddling will hopefully improve this further.
If my experience with a previous ML is anything to go by, then the car will become even better as it becomes loaded with people and luggage.
So, it doesn’t quite have the 900mile range of the Audi A6 Avant Ultra, but it is over half a tonne lighter than the 4.4 TDV8 Range Rover with very similar comfort and performance…but…..and here’s the important bit….no nasty expensive dash warning lights coming up.;)
Just the odd one to warn me I might be getting too close to the car in front:eek:
 
Great summary, glad your enjoying it. I've not sampled the 9-speed yet, but to be better than the ZF 8-speed it must be a sensational box of tricks. :thumb:
 

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