My brand new E350 Night Edition Estate in Polar White was sitting outside the showroom at Robinsons in Norwich and looked beautiful with the contrasting black trim and privacy glass yesterday. The handover went well and eventually I was left with the car. Started it up and it was immediately apparent that the V6 engine is so much quieter and smoother than my E300, the new car has 11 miles on the clock and I pulled away looking forward to a drive to familiarise myself with the car. 4 miles down the road a bong and advisory message popped up to check Adblue, phoned salesman and was back at the dealership by 1230 to be told it would be at least an hour before anyone could look at the car so maybe 1330, at 1430 the car still sat there so I voiced my concern and asked for someone to at least put a reader on the car. In fairness to Robinsons it was lunch time and they were two technicians down due to an accident in the workshop. Neil in reception was superb as always as was Tim in sales so the car goes in and the initial thoughts was a faulty warning and a software update would cure the problem, not so, it was then believed the NOX sensor was faulty so a brand new E350 was brought up from the compound and the sensor was removed and put on my car, no cure so the reading was something about quality of Adblue so system drained and new put in.
Nearly 5 hours later the General Manager with Tim in sales approached me to say the problem has yet to be diagnosed and was with Mercedes Technical but that the car was safe to drive and it may be that Mercedes could send the fix to the car (how do they do that). The General Manager apologised that my experience was not what was expected and he would compensate me in some way for this. So I spent 5 hours in the dealership with my blood pressure rising and probably the ladies in reception wondering why this anxious looking man kept pacing back and forth. To be fair Robinsons did all they could and it will be interesting to see what will be offered to me, this really did spoil my day but I am realistic enough to appreciate these things can happen from time to time.
So drove home in lots of traffic around 12 miles but initial impressions are that the V6 is a lovely smooth unit and the 9 speed auto seems to have a smoother change than my current E300 not that the 7 speed is bad. My E350 has less than 40 miles on it but my E300 still has half tank of fuel so will use that for a while.
I am off to France end of May so will give the E350 a good run (hopefully).
At least the wife was reasonable and has not started on about the new kitchen she wants at least not yet, she does not quite understand how much more importance there is for a new car.
Nearly 5 hours later the General Manager with Tim in sales approached me to say the problem has yet to be diagnosed and was with Mercedes Technical but that the car was safe to drive and it may be that Mercedes could send the fix to the car (how do they do that). The General Manager apologised that my experience was not what was expected and he would compensate me in some way for this. So I spent 5 hours in the dealership with my blood pressure rising and probably the ladies in reception wondering why this anxious looking man kept pacing back and forth. To be fair Robinsons did all they could and it will be interesting to see what will be offered to me, this really did spoil my day but I am realistic enough to appreciate these things can happen from time to time.
So drove home in lots of traffic around 12 miles but initial impressions are that the V6 is a lovely smooth unit and the 9 speed auto seems to have a smoother change than my current E300 not that the 7 speed is bad. My E350 has less than 40 miles on it but my E300 still has half tank of fuel so will use that for a while.
I am off to France end of May so will give the E350 a good run (hopefully).
At least the wife was reasonable and has not started on about the new kitchen she wants at least not yet, she does not quite understand how much more importance there is for a new car.
. Enjoy the miles in your new car.
lol and all that.
