Hi.
Would love to know some specifics on what brought you back to mercedes?
What didn't you like about Audi? What did you notice that Audi just didn't do as good as mercedes? Etc etc
I always find it really useful to hear feedback from people who have owned other high end cars.
P.S. Beautiful car. Enjoy.
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It's very small things. The A8 was a very capable car, with lots of really nice features, and was made of high quality materials. The things that irked me included:
The noise of the climate system airflow direction flap valves constantly cycling which you could hear whenever the driver's side vent was open - it sounded like hard disk noise
A trim buzz from the driver's side air vent surround even though there were no clips broken or missing
The fact that the bit of b pillar trim that the front passenger side seatbelt buckle ended up resting against was the only bit of hard plastic in the cabin and tap-tap-tapped away all the time
The indicator stalk is probably the same unit as used in the A1. It feels lightweight, cheap and likely to break in a way that merc switches just don't
The fact that I had to buy a data enabled sim in order to set up online services, and that the original firmware forced me to use the data sim for online services AND voice calls (which I did fix via a firmware update)
Under heavy braking something in the back of the cabin would rattle - never tracked that down
That the parcel shelf mounted subwoofer was covered with a fairly loosely fitting grille - so at even moderate volumes there was awful buzzing from it (I fixed that with some sticky backed foam inserts)
It was a bit of barge - even in sport suspension mode it had a tendency to lurch and wallow around on twisty roads (plus the quattro system has a tendency to absolutely RIP through tyres). The turning circle was laughable next to the E
That the start-stop function wasn't integrated into the brake hold system. So if you pulled up at a set of lights and put it in hold mode (the auto-handbrake function), the engine would start up again as soon as you took your foot off the footbrake. So even with the auto handbrake on, you had to sit there with your foot on the brake to save diesel. (Merc system is properly thought out in that regard)
That for a £70k car it just didn't have that "hewn from granite" feel that every E I've ever sat in or driven has, and I get the sense that every feature and function on the E has had a committee of beardy experts poring over for several years to perfect.
Admittedly, it was only because the thing was nearly silent at all buy extremely illegal speeds that most of the above was an issue. Objectively it was faster, quieter and more refined than the new E I have, but these little niggles eroded the sense of class, and depth of thinking that went into the overall design.
I do have to say though that a big part of the decision to change came from the fact that the A8 is truly massive - it's over 20cm longer than the S212 Estate that's replaced it, and quite a bit wider too. It was too big really. As a saloon care aimed at the executive taxi/chauffeur market despite it's enormous size, you could only just get 3 people's luggage in the back. Not great for a family of 4. So the estate practicality, and the ability to transport the contents of a small country with the rear seats down, was a big driver for me. The A6 is just nowhere near the E in my opinion, and I won't go near BMW on principle (it's irrational, I just hate the ethos. If I want a sporty driver's car I'll take the Lotus out for a spin). It's not that the A8 was a bad car, it just wasn't a Merc
Lovely car as it was, it just wasn't a Merc, so I have just gotten back into one of these.....
