My First MB

[Ady]

Hi Everyone,

I have been browsing around for a few days trying to catch up. It looks like a nice community here with a good core of regular supporters. I hope I will be able to make some positive input one-day once I have my car and have learnt a bit.

I am off to Stuttgart on Friday to pick up my first MB :bannana: so if anyone has any tips for the day or accounts of their experiences I would be grateful.
My 8-year-old daughter is exited about the factory tour so I just hope she is old enough or I will be in trouble. Still we are stopping at Phantasialand on the way back so that should get me off the hook .

Are the main roads through Germany Toll roads?

I must admit I am feeling a bit nervous now about driving a virgin car all that way especially after reading some of the threads about reliability and service. I have been driving a Lexus GS300 for the last three years and it has never given me a bit of trouble so I just hope the E220 will be the same. I have been dealing with Tony Purslow at Guildford for the purchase and I have been very impressed so far so I will keep everything crossed that they are as good with the after care.

Thanks

Ady

 

[Simmie]

Hi Ady. We have just ordered our first MB ( 18months wait ) and are thinking about going to the factory to pick it up. What was the trip like, how long did you get to bring the car home, was it worth it.

 

[Aletank]

Any Pics - Of car and factory

 

[Satch]

Welcome.

As far as I know there are no Toll Roads in Germany. Sites below have useful info.

http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/auto.htm

http://www.drivingabroad.co.uk/driving_tips_countries/Germany/driving_in_germany.htm

Watch out for the sections with mandatory speed restrictions. These are tightly enforced and can seem remarkably low on certain sections. General experience is that if you are going faster than most anyone else in sight you may be in a restricted area. If you overtake a Porsche 911 then you are!

Children under 13 not allowed in front seats

Have fun.

 

[NormanB]

Ady

A belated welcome - sorry I missed your post until now.

Hope you enjoyed your trip to pick up the new toy and there were no snags in the process.

Once you have stopped playing with your new toy we will appreciate a report and some pics.

NormanB

 

[Steve_Perry]

Welcome to the the forum Ady (oops belated too, just saw ur post date hope the trip went well)

Purslows has a very good reputation amongst the members here. "Dog's danglies" is the phrase Kinky uses I believe

Good luck with the journey to Stuttgart, there was a group organised trip there in November of last year and we didn't see any toll roads in Germany.....

Apart from the Nurburgring Nordschleife Best 14 Euros I've ever spent *Ahem* probably best avoided on the journey back if you're running in a new car.

I look forward to seeing pics of your new purchase in the gallery section.

S.

 

[Ady]

I am still on a high at the moment and playing with the toys.
The trip was excellent with just a slight snag of an unserviceable aeroplane engine causing a 3-hour delay . This meant we missed the personal collection tours but we went on a standard visitors tour. I am not sure what the difference is but it was very good and we saw the C-Class production lines and the press shop.
The handovers are done one huge indoor area with I guess about 30 or more cars being demonstrated at any time. Very impressive! A very nice young lady spent over an hour going through all the aspects of my car with me while a porter loaded our luggage into the boot.
The drive back was great and the car is just amazing. It was a little frustrating not being able to really put my foot down due to running it in but I did have a little play. The Distronic cruise control is brilliant and I hardly had to use my feet for the whole journey . We could of taken up to 10 days to come back if had wanted but personal commitments didn’t allow so we did it in 3 days. I dropped the car off at Tony Purslow Guildford Monday morning, drove off in a lone car and pick up my car again on Tuesday morning; PDI’d, cleaned, mats fitted, locking wheel nuts fitted, personalised plate transferred from the trade in and a bottle of champagne on the seat .
I would certainly recommend the personal collection to everyone and I will do it again if the opportunity arises. I probably wouldn’t travel on a Friday again though as the delay at the airport could have mucked up the whole weekend.

I haven’t got any pics of the car sorted out yet (and no cameras were allowed on the factory tour), but the spec is:
E220 CDI Elegance Estate, auto, travertine beige with sand leather twin, Distronic, Parktronic, memory dynamic seats, rear child seats, rear sun blinds, telephone pre-wiring, heated steering wheel, Airmatic, Comand DVD, luxury climate control, Bi-xenon active lights, CD auto-changer, dark tint, easy-pack tailgate, Linguatronic, easy pack securing kit, tyre pressure monitor.

It hasn’t got the acceleration of my old Lexus but it drives much better. My only slight regret was not paying the extra to get the 320CDI for the extra power but it was a trade off between gadgets and engine. I love gadgets and spend most of the time just cruising along which the 220 does very nicely so I probably made the right choice.

Ady

 

[Dieselman]

Nice choice of car.

You shouldn't have worried about taking it steady on the trip back, diesels like to be worked from day one and can have problems with bore glazing if not worked hard. Run it up some steep hills fully laden and at full power, not at full revs though.

Enjoy.

 

[Ady]

Thanks for the tip; I will find some hills over the weekend with the family onboard.
I have mainly been keeping it below 3000RPM at the moment. Still nearly up to 1000 miles now so I can gradually wind it up a bit more then. By the end of the month it will get no mercy