Just an update on what's happenning.
Repairs were authorised on the 18th and parts ordered so the text message said. I then heard nothing until yesterday when I chased them up. Apparently they were waiting for the panels to arrive and they now have, latest update at 12:30 today is it's in the paintshop.
On the 16th they brought me an S class LWB (W220) 320CDi and I was delighted with it. Took a client to a Golf/Country club in Surrey and it was perfect. Not as quiet as a Lexus 600h and not as many toys but no electric motor either.
On the 18th things took a serious turn for the worse, thay came and took the S class away and left a Chrysler Grand Voyager in it's place. 57 reg and only 2040 miles, still smelt like a new car and for nearly 3 minutes I was quite excited. It may be that I'm used to driving Mercedes for the last 10 years or so but this is quite frankly the worst car I have ever had the misfortune to drive. The pedals are offset so far to the left the only place to put your left foot is under the brake pedal. The wheel arch is where the throttle should be, throttle where the brake should be and brake where your left foot should be. I almost have to sit sideways to drive it. The interior trim is made from a form of plastic that is usually reserved for toys made in China. No controls are anywhere you expect them to be, it's an automatic and the gear lever is column mounted on the right hand side. The drivers seat doesn't have adequate adjustment and is permanantly uncomfortable, the electric controls for it are down the side of the seat and impossible to reach while sat in it with the door closed. It has electric rear doors which should be impressive but I didn't know electric motors could make such a wierd noise. It reminds me of the castle door in a Hammer horror film every time it opens and closes. Oh and the cup holders are on the floor out of reach as well. It's hard to believe that this pile of pooh is built by the same company that make Mercedes Benz vehicles.
This is of course only my opinion and if you have a Voyager that you're happy with then good luck to you but I'd rather have something built on Scrapheap Challenge than one of these.
I'm not a performance kind of person and 0 - 60 times and top speeds mean nothing to me but it keeps up with traffic, cruises at 70 in reasonable quietness and comfort so in that respect it's ok. And the passengers seem to like the space but I dont like the look of the rearmost bench seat and wouldn't want to try squeeze 3 adults on there.
On a much brighter note I should have the Viano back by the end of the week and my only concern is that I might not inspect it as closely as I should in my haste to hand the Voyager back.
when they fix it. I would suspect a new door skin will be needed as the crease at the top looks a tad iffy. Make sure the body shop you use will guarantee the work to your standards and don't accept anything less than perfection.
