So I decided to do the factory pickup as i had heard good things about it. MB travel were good with the arrangements, booked everything for me, flight and first nights hotel in a Hilton. Here is the pack i got through before the trip.
The trip went really well, driver was there to meet us at the airport, new e class merc to take us the 90 mins to Bremen from Hamburg. Checked into the Hilton and they congratulated me about my new car etc, so all very smooth. Had a nice meal all paid for by MB.
Following morning had a taxi transfer to the kundencenter where you pick up the car. Looks a bit like a MB dealer, all very nice, fountains, free food and drink etc. signed a loads of paperwork for the car, fully comprehensive insurance for all drivers, no excess etc, so all good.
Then had the tour, there was another English guy there to pick up his C63, so we had a tour with the 4 of us, basically saw the c-class and GLK production line, which amazingly is all the same line, they do all three models of C, plus the GLK, both in left and right hand drive, all together, so every car is not only specced differently, but can also be left or right hand drive or even a completely different model. Very impressive, mostly built by hand, the odd robot, to put the panoramic roofs in etc, then there was the robot that moves inside the car, it's amazing, so dexterous.
We watched the different stages until we got to the first switch on of the car, actually takes a while to start, but it's seriously cool, so smooth. We didn't get to see the slk line, but what we saw was cool, we also saw the test track where they randomly test cars from the line, banked circuit etc.
Then we were taken back and the car was brought from out the back into a big carpeted room where all the cars were being picked up from, it was quite busy, steady stream of people. The car was presented well, the guy went over all the controls and showed me everything, it was very slick. Then I was handed the keys and told to enjoy it!
So we left the kundencenter about 12:30, and drove 7 hrs and 700km to Reims, France going through Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. It's a very nice cruiser, very comfortable. I tried to keep to the run in schedule but decided to vary it a bit more and stretch its legs a little, it sounds unbelievable, especially through tunnels, epic is the only word!
It was lovely weather the first day driving so we had the roof down all day, wasn't too blowy, didn't really have to use the air scarf but tested it out, and it gets really warm! Sat nav and stereo are very cool, 3d maps etc. iPhone integration, shows the album art, and thankfully mine is a 2013 car (they only just switched production to 2013, even though the 2012 one has only been out months) and so they have got rid of the (what i thought was a) horrible browny yellow screen for the radio etc, it's now much nicer, black and grey etc.
Car handles well, feels very stable, steering probably not as direct as the megane, but then I never thought it would be, this is more of a cruiser. It eats the miles up, the Eco mode is great, stop start at lights etc and the 4 cylinder shut off is amazing, so seamless and it's barely ticking over at 2k rpm at 90mph. Very happy with the ecomony, in the megane I get around 23mpg with normal town and distance driving and 28-30 on a good motorway run. For the first days adventure over 700km varying the modes and revs, not driving like a pansy but also not silly, I got 27.5mpg, out of a 5.5l V8, which I am very pleased with, then got over 27 the second day too, so as most of my miles are motorway miles during the week for work, I'm fairly happy!
The last night, went out in Reims, did the the whole champagne thing, went clubbing until 4 in the morning with some locals. Then we had the veuve clicquot tour at 11, which was very interesting, tasted some vintage champers, very nice.
Not a nice morning though, got back to my car in the car park and i had parked next to a pillar, so only had the potential of someone to one side bashing my car i thought, but then i never thought about the rear! i had parked quite far forward in the bay, and they weren't small bays, but some idiot behind my in a VW Scirroco had pulled forward and used my car to gauge when to stop, so had hit my bumper. they didn't even bother reversing either and were well over the line designating my bar, there was 4-5 ft at the back of theirs, absolutely no need, and the car was only 12 hrs old, such a shame. Its only a small scratch i think, and fortunately its on the bottom of the bumper above the diffuser, and is at an angle facing down and back towards the car, so you really have to look for it, but i know its there
Then we drove to Calais, which was an interesting one, first of all the radio is now playing up, it just didn't produce any sound, well the whole unit I guess, no sat nav sounds either, but comes on for about a minute every hour or so, very strange, one for the dealer to look at.
I was taking it easy the last morning, being in France, so kept to the speed limit, still 80mph limit there, and at one point pulled into the centre lane and a car behind me, a blue megane 250 lit up like a Christmas tree, I shat my pants (even though I hadn't been speeding) but it flew past me, was chasing the BMW that had overtaken me a few mins earlier and pulled him. I'd forgotten the gendarmerie had meganes now, looked very nice, just glad it wasn't for me!
Rest of the journey was without problem, no radio, no issue, I had a V8 concerto under the bonnet!
Got to the Eurostar, never been on it before, had priority tickets, so had a lounge with free food and drink for the trip, priority boarding etc, got on the next train. I'd been warned about it as there are metal kerbs either side of where you drive through the train, and they catch a few people out, but I angled the mirros down and kept her steady and managed it without damage, which was nice, 30 mins later we were in england and we bombed up the m40.
So epic trip, loved every minute of it, shame about the damage, but hopefully it will be a non issue this time next week. I'd fully recommend anyone who's gets the chance to do this, do it, it's the only way to do it!
Oh the noise, unbelievable!
few pics
nice SL in the lobby
New A-Class, was sue excited about my car i didn't even look inside it!
Kundencenter
other customers collecting their cars
The trip went really well, driver was there to meet us at the airport, new e class merc to take us the 90 mins to Bremen from Hamburg. Checked into the Hilton and they congratulated me about my new car etc, so all very smooth. Had a nice meal all paid for by MB.
Following morning had a taxi transfer to the kundencenter where you pick up the car. Looks a bit like a MB dealer, all very nice, fountains, free food and drink etc. signed a loads of paperwork for the car, fully comprehensive insurance for all drivers, no excess etc, so all good.
Then had the tour, there was another English guy there to pick up his C63, so we had a tour with the 4 of us, basically saw the c-class and GLK production line, which amazingly is all the same line, they do all three models of C, plus the GLK, both in left and right hand drive, all together, so every car is not only specced differently, but can also be left or right hand drive or even a completely different model. Very impressive, mostly built by hand, the odd robot, to put the panoramic roofs in etc, then there was the robot that moves inside the car, it's amazing, so dexterous.
We watched the different stages until we got to the first switch on of the car, actually takes a while to start, but it's seriously cool, so smooth. We didn't get to see the slk line, but what we saw was cool, we also saw the test track where they randomly test cars from the line, banked circuit etc.
Then we were taken back and the car was brought from out the back into a big carpeted room where all the cars were being picked up from, it was quite busy, steady stream of people. The car was presented well, the guy went over all the controls and showed me everything, it was very slick. Then I was handed the keys and told to enjoy it!
So we left the kundencenter about 12:30, and drove 7 hrs and 700km to Reims, France going through Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. It's a very nice cruiser, very comfortable. I tried to keep to the run in schedule but decided to vary it a bit more and stretch its legs a little, it sounds unbelievable, especially through tunnels, epic is the only word!
It was lovely weather the first day driving so we had the roof down all day, wasn't too blowy, didn't really have to use the air scarf but tested it out, and it gets really warm! Sat nav and stereo are very cool, 3d maps etc. iPhone integration, shows the album art, and thankfully mine is a 2013 car (they only just switched production to 2013, even though the 2012 one has only been out months) and so they have got rid of the (what i thought was a) horrible browny yellow screen for the radio etc, it's now much nicer, black and grey etc.
Car handles well, feels very stable, steering probably not as direct as the megane, but then I never thought it would be, this is more of a cruiser. It eats the miles up, the Eco mode is great, stop start at lights etc and the 4 cylinder shut off is amazing, so seamless and it's barely ticking over at 2k rpm at 90mph. Very happy with the ecomony, in the megane I get around 23mpg with normal town and distance driving and 28-30 on a good motorway run. For the first days adventure over 700km varying the modes and revs, not driving like a pansy but also not silly, I got 27.5mpg, out of a 5.5l V8, which I am very pleased with, then got over 27 the second day too, so as most of my miles are motorway miles during the week for work, I'm fairly happy!
The last night, went out in Reims, did the the whole champagne thing, went clubbing until 4 in the morning with some locals. Then we had the veuve clicquot tour at 11, which was very interesting, tasted some vintage champers, very nice.
Not a nice morning though, got back to my car in the car park and i had parked next to a pillar, so only had the potential of someone to one side bashing my car i thought, but then i never thought about the rear! i had parked quite far forward in the bay, and they weren't small bays, but some idiot behind my in a VW Scirroco had pulled forward and used my car to gauge when to stop, so had hit my bumper. they didn't even bother reversing either and were well over the line designating my bar, there was 4-5 ft at the back of theirs, absolutely no need, and the car was only 12 hrs old, such a shame. Its only a small scratch i think, and fortunately its on the bottom of the bumper above the diffuser, and is at an angle facing down and back towards the car, so you really have to look for it, but i know its there
Then we drove to Calais, which was an interesting one, first of all the radio is now playing up, it just didn't produce any sound, well the whole unit I guess, no sat nav sounds either, but comes on for about a minute every hour or so, very strange, one for the dealer to look at.
I was taking it easy the last morning, being in France, so kept to the speed limit, still 80mph limit there, and at one point pulled into the centre lane and a car behind me, a blue megane 250 lit up like a Christmas tree, I shat my pants (even though I hadn't been speeding) but it flew past me, was chasing the BMW that had overtaken me a few mins earlier and pulled him. I'd forgotten the gendarmerie had meganes now, looked very nice, just glad it wasn't for me!
Rest of the journey was without problem, no radio, no issue, I had a V8 concerto under the bonnet!
Got to the Eurostar, never been on it before, had priority tickets, so had a lounge with free food and drink for the trip, priority boarding etc, got on the next train. I'd been warned about it as there are metal kerbs either side of where you drive through the train, and they catch a few people out, but I angled the mirros down and kept her steady and managed it without damage, which was nice, 30 mins later we were in england and we bombed up the m40.
So epic trip, loved every minute of it, shame about the damage, but hopefully it will be a non issue this time next week. I'd fully recommend anyone who's gets the chance to do this, do it, it's the only way to do it!
Oh the noise, unbelievable!
few pics
nice SL in the lobby
New A-Class, was sue excited about my car i didn't even look inside it!
Kundencenter
other customers collecting their cars
