Well as promised I am ready to share my experience of my recent personal collection from Mercedes Benz.
I ordered my E Coupe 350 Cdi just over three months ago from Mercedes Benz Brooklands and opted for the personal collection program as I had heard good things about it through this forum. My collection date was arranged for the 27th of September.
The process of getting all this organised was pretty seamless with the collection team getting everything spot on. I made my way to Heathrow airport on the Sunday morning to catch the 10h30 flight to Bremen. I arrived early and took advantage of all the goodies they had on offer as part of the business class flight. Flight departed on time and I was off. If I was to be honest I don’t think the business class flight was worth the money over economy for a short haul flight. I would rather have forgone that option and upgraded the hotel or something else.
I arrived in Hamburg to be welcomed by taxi driver and terrible weather. After two hours in the back of a E220 cdi estate I arrived at the Hilton in Bremen. The hotel was okay. Maybe I expected to much from a 4* hotel. It compared to an average 3* over here in my opinion. Food was great though it has to be said. They charge 17 Euro for a day’s internet which is a rip off in today’s terms. As I arrived just before 16h00 most of the shops etc in the area were closed so there was very little to do and the rain did not help.
I booked my Taxi to MB Bremen for 08h00 to leave plenty of time to complete my paperwork etc. All this went well and I got to see my car for the first time 45 min later. I received a brief handover from their team and left it in the handover area until I was ready to depart. I then met up with “John”, an Irishman just like me who took me on the factory tour. The tour was informative and more or less what I expected. The E coupe/cabriolet production line was great to see and it is truly amazing what goes on in there.
I then returned to my car and drove outside where I searched for the Euro Tunnel departures in Calais on the commans system. Once set up off I went. I left at 11h45 from Bremen and it rained the whole way home all 500 miles of it. Thankfully I felt great and only needed to stop twice on the way for a quick break. The German Autobahn was not all I had thought it might be. The amount of traffic on these roads especially trucks made it more stressful than anything else. The mix of a brand new £45 car and heavy rain on foreign roads had taken a toll. The roads in Belgium and France were much better in all respects.
I reached Calais at 18h30 and proceeded to the Euro tunnel. I opted for the flexi ticket which meant I was straight on and back in the UK in 40min. Got home 20H30 UK time with a sore bum and back but slept like a log and was fresh the next morning.
Took the car through to Brooklands for the post delivery checks and had the Starguard done etc. I got this done for £150 which I thought was an okay deal as well as a free 1 hour AMG driving course which was cool and informative.
One week in and the car is still going great. MPG is okay I suppose at this stage for a new car. I averaged 39 mpg on the way home from Bremen. I suppose it will improve after a few more miles go on the clock. Local motorway runs with 700 miles on the clock have not improved this figure as yet.
Over all I would give the personal collection program a 7/10. Would I do it again? Most likely not but please don’t let this put you off doing it yourself should you be in the position to do so. Maybe I was expecting to much, who knows.
I have attached a few pics of my car for all to see....enjoy
I ordered my E Coupe 350 Cdi just over three months ago from Mercedes Benz Brooklands and opted for the personal collection program as I had heard good things about it through this forum. My collection date was arranged for the 27th of September.
The process of getting all this organised was pretty seamless with the collection team getting everything spot on. I made my way to Heathrow airport on the Sunday morning to catch the 10h30 flight to Bremen. I arrived early and took advantage of all the goodies they had on offer as part of the business class flight. Flight departed on time and I was off. If I was to be honest I don’t think the business class flight was worth the money over economy for a short haul flight. I would rather have forgone that option and upgraded the hotel or something else.
I arrived in Hamburg to be welcomed by taxi driver and terrible weather. After two hours in the back of a E220 cdi estate I arrived at the Hilton in Bremen. The hotel was okay. Maybe I expected to much from a 4* hotel. It compared to an average 3* over here in my opinion. Food was great though it has to be said. They charge 17 Euro for a day’s internet which is a rip off in today’s terms. As I arrived just before 16h00 most of the shops etc in the area were closed so there was very little to do and the rain did not help.
I booked my Taxi to MB Bremen for 08h00 to leave plenty of time to complete my paperwork etc. All this went well and I got to see my car for the first time 45 min later. I received a brief handover from their team and left it in the handover area until I was ready to depart. I then met up with “John”, an Irishman just like me who took me on the factory tour. The tour was informative and more or less what I expected. The E coupe/cabriolet production line was great to see and it is truly amazing what goes on in there.
I then returned to my car and drove outside where I searched for the Euro Tunnel departures in Calais on the commans system. Once set up off I went. I left at 11h45 from Bremen and it rained the whole way home all 500 miles of it. Thankfully I felt great and only needed to stop twice on the way for a quick break. The German Autobahn was not all I had thought it might be. The amount of traffic on these roads especially trucks made it more stressful than anything else. The mix of a brand new £45 car and heavy rain on foreign roads had taken a toll. The roads in Belgium and France were much better in all respects.
I reached Calais at 18h30 and proceeded to the Euro tunnel. I opted for the flexi ticket which meant I was straight on and back in the UK in 40min. Got home 20H30 UK time with a sore bum and back but slept like a log and was fresh the next morning.
Took the car through to Brooklands for the post delivery checks and had the Starguard done etc. I got this done for £150 which I thought was an okay deal as well as a free 1 hour AMG driving course which was cool and informative.
One week in and the car is still going great. MPG is okay I suppose at this stage for a new car. I averaged 39 mpg on the way home from Bremen. I suppose it will improve after a few more miles go on the clock. Local motorway runs with 700 miles on the clock have not improved this figure as yet.
Over all I would give the personal collection program a 7/10. Would I do it again? Most likely not but please don’t let this put you off doing it yourself should you be in the position to do so. Maybe I was expecting to much, who knows.
I have attached a few pics of my car for all to see....enjoy
