Hire car luck!!

[Big Ed]

Hi Guys,

had a phone call from Avis today to ask if they could have my Vectra back and swap it for something else, since they had someone else who wanted a Vectra (!!! ). I agreed to this, so they came along at 4:00pm today to change my Vectra for a 54reg E240 Avantgarde!! :bannana:

Took it out for a quick spin (would be rude not to!) - seems a lovely car, but for one thing - the radio display is completely blank - will play CDs, and the buttons seem to work, but can't see anything to set RDS, etc.... Didn't get an instruction book, so don't know what all the buttons do - don't suppose anyone knows a secret 'press this button to make the display work' trick? (it's the basic CD radio - Audio 20?), or if there is a fuse to pull to reset the radio?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Brian WH]

Not a bad swop mate. Pity it wasn't a Diesel.

 

[Flash]

I just love the sound of the turbo on the CDI engines whilst accelerating and the window or sunroof is open in the car .

The SPrinters produce a "real" hissing sound - before the CDIs I was addicted to the sound of the whining KOmpressor whoichj I also liked.

Enjoy ur car mate...

 

[RichardM]

How comes you have a hire car Ed, is the X5 ok?

So there is probably someone out there who could have had this Merc but insisted on a Vectra!

 

[Big Ed]

How comes you have a hire car Ed, is the X5 ok?

So there is probably someone out there who could have had this Merc but insisted on a Vectra!

The X5 is fine, thanks mate - I'm just doing about 25-30k miles per year at the moment, and my company will stump up for hire cars after we do about 10k miles, so making the most of that until the new financial year (saves loosing even more £££ in depreciation on my own motor, and also helps save the planet and congestion by keeping another 4x4 off the roads and locked up nice and safe in my garage!!). Find out in a couple of weeks if this kind of mileage is going to be normal for me for the next couple of years, so might be looking at another change of car to suit...

Apparently, the company who had this E240 before me insisted that their driver swap into a Vectra because the E Class was costing too much in fuel !?!? Wait till they find out that the Vectra was pretty rubbsih in that area as well!!

 

[GrahamC230K]

You bugger!!

I was suppossed to get a Group D or E from Avis the other week for work. Should have been a Laguna or similar.

I got a 1.6 Focus automatic!! Had to go all the way to Rotherham and back with 18 HP EVO SFF PC's in the back too!!! Doh!

I used 3/4 of a tank of fuel in 160 miles Full throttle or no throttle was my strategy. Spent much time screaming and changing gear at 6000rpm

 

[Shude]

When I rented a car a couple of years ago (pretty much exactly) I was upgraded from a peugeot 106... to a corsa! That is apparently an upgrade

Spent much time screaming and changing gear at 6000rpm

Even being a passenger in some fords makes me scream so I can see where you're coming from!

 

[guydewdney]

I got a Ka once - i found the only way to - um - 'make progress' was to leave the foot nailed to the floor whilst changing gear - then there was a hint of acceleration as one dropped the clutch back in at 8.5k rpm......

much the same with a nissan 1.5 thing i got once as well - full throttle for 5 or so miles achieved an astounding 72mph (on my gps) - from a 1.5????

 

[sym]

When I rented a car a couple of years ago (pretty much exactly) I was upgraded from a peugeot 106... to a corsa! That is apparently an upgrade

Even being a passenger in some fords makes me scream so I can see where you're coming from!

Was upgraded from a Fiesta to a Cougar V6 ... not a bad upgrade I suppose, but it was probably the most uncomfortable car I have ever sat in ! Had backache when I gave it back !

S.

 

[mark.t]

when in greece

went to greace with a friend for hols about 12 years ago contacted a car rental place and asked for a 4x4 something a bit flashy to impress the chicks we had hooked up to for the fortnight....call made delivery next day ....went out that night got hammered ...as you do ....early morning nock on door and the sound of keys being jingled ..back to sleep I went ......anyway we get up opened door keys tied to door handle with a note looked over to the carpark but couldn't see a jeep ..............just a fiat panda 4x4 in that bloody disgusting zebra finish and the keys fitted.............needless to say we had to return the car but could not find the place we hired it from as it was on delivery and collection 5 freaking days with this .....I will never forget the car or the holiday

 

[fuzzer]

You bugger!!

I was suppossed to get a Group D or E from Avis the other week for work. Should have been a Laguna or similar.

I got a 1.6 Focus automatic!! Had to go all the way to Rotherham and back with 18 HP EVO SFF PC's in the back too!!! Doh!

I used 3/4 of a tank of fuel in 160 miles Full throttle or no throttle was my strategy. Spent much time screaming and changing gear at 6000rpm

That sounds like the astra 1.6 auto i got from stanstead lol

 

[LazyBob]

Never ever get an Opel/Vauxhall Meriva.
Accelerated like tectonic plate, rolled like a fat bloke on a steep hill, gripped like a bag of fish on ice and I couldn't see out to the side when turning left or right because it's got a three foot wide A-pillar with a microscopic piece of tinted glass in it.
Never again.

 

[Bugblatter]

Never ever get an Opel/Vauxhall Meriva.
Accelerated like tectonic plate, rolled like a fat bloke on a steep hill, gripped like a bag of fish on ice and I couldn't see out to the side when turning left or right because it's got a three foot wide A-pillar with a microscopic piece of tinted glass in it.
Never again.

Hee hee! Nice prose. Made me laugh.

Mind you, even the name Meriva would put me off the car.

 

[del boy]

u lot really dont know how lucky u were, my windscreen wiper literally blew up after just 2 weeks. so took it back to the dealer and he said yes will sort it for u, but then came the ultimate hammer, out came the replacement vehicle for the duration, (wait for it). A 1994 1.0 litre austin metro, (tahiti) complete with 4 gears, no fag lighter, no clock and yellow go faster stripes down the side. and if that werent enuff the reg was L35 ONO, oh yrs ono, says it all humpf.

 

[Tango]

Never ever get an Opel/Vauxhall Meriva.
Accelerated like tectonic plate, rolled like a fat bloke on a steep hill, gripped like a bag of fish on ice and I couldn't see out to the side when turning left or right because it's got a three foot wide A-pillar with a microscopic piece of tinted glass in it.
Never again.

I had a brand new one of these on loan for 4 mths, by the time gave it back it was on 5000 miles, none of the radio speakers worked apart from the front left 1, the driver door handle wouldnt work , had to slide over from passenger , alarm key stopped working ... nightmare car!

 

[Tan]

Hi Guys,

or if there is a fuse to pull to reset the radio?

Thanks for any help.

Would not pull the fuse in case you need the code afterwards and then you would loose the CD aswell.

You could give mobilo a call and get them out to sort it.

 

[RichardM]

Mine goes very faint sometime but its never gone out completely (unlike the sound from the speakers!)

 

[Tan]

Is the light level of the instrument cluster low aswell? Possibly the lights have been turned down

 

[Big Ed]

Thanks for the thoughts guys - didn't know these have codes for the radio, so guess the fuse option is out.

The display is completely blank, regardless of the intensity of the dash display (which is perfectly readable). Lights on the buttons on the stereo are working fine, just no display. Guess I'll just live with it until the car goes back (and live with the faulty rain sensor as well - bit disappointing to have 2 faults on a nearly new car, although it is a very nice car to spend time in - proper 'Mercedes' feel to it)

 

[Brett]

Interesting - I've had this on three radios in MB's. Two in my CLK and one in the current S Class. Symptoms were that if I left the car outside overnight, and it was a particularly cold night, the radio would be on (if I left it on the previous night when turning the car off) but I couldn't do anything with it i.e. couldn't turn it on or off, couldn't adjust volume etc. The centre console would read "Audio Off" as well.

After about 20 to 30 minutes when the car was thoroughly warmed through, the display would suddenly come on and the radio was back to normal. Merc replaced the unit on each occassion (or told me they did) but I still get that behaviour every now and again with my current S.

Never managed to get to the bottom of it either.