New Car Arrived!

[Andy Stanton]

Sorry for the delayed update on this but I've had two weeks of hell at work and time simply hasn't been available day or night. It's also been frustrating as I've not been able to enjoy/play with the car since it arrived. However, that's all passed now...

Yes, my E220Cdi finally arrived on the 23rd May. Delivered to my office at 7.30am and it was rolled out the back of what looked like a very large removal lorry. It has just 15 delivery miles on the clock. Checked out the car and had the full handover treatment from the lease company right in front of the car park entrance. Not sure whether I was embarrased (show off) or chuffed as everyone saw me with my new beautiful motor!

First impressions: Fanbloodytastic. Perfect. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Not a mark anywhere. Not a squeak to be heard. Total relief. I had an overwhelming total desire to go for a long drive and press all the buttons but time didn't allow. So I squeezed it into the parking bay and left it alone. Bah!

Second limited impressions over the following two weeks: The same. Still perfect and nothing has started squeaking or threatened to drop off. Still a dream to own and drive. Makes my wifes VW beetle look ordinary

Due to aforementioned work issues I've only covered 550 miles, a large chunk of which was to the NEC and back the previous weekend. The car happily cruised at 90-100 on the motorway for most of the way and still returned an average 38.9 mpg (which included a few miles of urban and roadwork crawling). I've since checked out mpg on every trip and it's pretty constant. 38-40mpg regardless of type of journey. It's a great feeling coming up to slower cars on the motorway and seeing them move out of the way to allow me to continue my journey unhindered The black shiney beast must have serious presence in the rear view mirror as it never happened in my old car.

I keep forgetting I need to run it in for the first 1000 miles but I've not been over revving it. No need to as all the torque is low down.

Best feature. Surprisingly it's not the hifi. This speakers still need to be worn in as they sound a littel harsh at the moment. The best toy is SBH with a close second place for the Active Bi-Xenons. The Xenons make nightime look like daytime. Far better than the ones on my old car. SBH is a sublime invention. I've always been nervous about hill starts with the manual box (which is pretty good to be honest) and the stupid footbrake. SBH takes all that away and makes hill starts a worry of the past. Simpy press the middle pedal and drive away as normal when ready. It's a total godsend and fantastic idea. I love it.

I've tried to provide some 'yang' to all this 'ying' but I really can't find anything wrong with any element of the car. If I have to be really picky then I guess it'll have to be that I need to wash it already. But that's probably going to be another pleasure... Maybe it could be the replacement Lease company mats which are not fixed, look cheap and keep slipping around. They have to go and will be replaced with the proper items. I'll ask the lease company to supply them foc but I'm not hopeful.

So it's all go with enjoyment now. Work has subsided and I'm off to spain on Thursday (where it's going to be a blistering 35C!!!!). I'm going to retrace the thread regarding flat batteries caused by the GPS system to see if it's as big a deal as I remember. Don't want to come back all tanned with nowhere to go!

Andy.

 

[marc777]

Congratulations on the new car - it sounds great.

I recommend the MB ribbed mats which are about £35 plus VAT. Fixed and easy to keep clean. Just bought a new set to keep the interior looking fresh - had my car since Oct 2002 and still delighted.

Marc

 

[Aletank]

Pics needed !! What model is it ?? Classic - Elegance - Avantgarde ??

 

[Ian B Walker]

Sounds a delight to drive. I can only drool here but as Aletank said PICS PICS and more PICS (please)

 

[RichardM]

..

 

[RichardM]

Sounds wonderfull Andy. Which extra's did you go for in the end? How are you finding the manual gearbox to drive?

 

[Brian WH]

Congrats Andy, another W211 on the Forum. :bannana: :bannana:

Are you coming to the GTG, we could have a W211 Line-Up.

 

[Andy Stanton]

Details...

OK guys, to the detail...

Model: E220cdi AvantGarde in Obsidian Black with Palma grey half leather interior. It's a manual too.

Manual box is very good. As good as the Vectra I've just given back so no complaints at all. 6th gear takes a bit of getting used to and is only really for usefull for cruising at 50mph+. Hill starts are obviously a breeze with SBH.

Options:
Command (DVD based)
Harmon Kardon speaker/surround sound updgrade
6 CD Changer
Rear Airbags
Split Rear Seats
Active Bi-Xenons
Parking Sensors

The spec of the car was driven by three important factors (in my priority order). 1) Overall Cost, 2) Toys and 3) Performance.

I had to go with the half leather and Manual box to bring the car down to my price bracket (i.e one that my wife lets me have!). Then it was a simple choice of lots of toys and a 'slow' engine or vice versa. Given I spend most of my time in queues or with family on board the performance was always going to take a back seat to toys. Hence my unusual spec! I'm just glad it's a company car as I'm not sure what the spec will do to the resale value.

Pics. Er, could be a problem. I don't have a digital camera. I'll try and see if one of my mates has one I can borrow and get them uploaded.

GTG. Sounds interesting. Do you do them down south as they always seem to be up north? When's the next one and where etc. Shouldn't be a problem but forward planning is always a bit dubious due to my work.

When it's clean it's really shiney and will look great in any line up! Maybe a good oportunity to get some photos done if I can't find a loan camera.

Phew. No doubt I'll start bouncing questions around once I start playing with it and fine the hidden features/bugs. Only one so far. On the trip menu with the 'since start'/'since reset' screen it shows the current speed in kph not mph. I can find out how to change the menu verson of the speed but not this smaller detailed one. Is this intentional by MB for some reason?

Cheers!

 

[RichardM]

The digital speed display will always show km/h, its not just in the trip menu. This is set by MB. I think its only on AMG models you can change it!

You mentioned you were going to get MB mats. I'd advise against the palma grey valour mats, they always look dirty! Black are much better as they stay clean and look just as good.

I'd be interested to know what you think of the command/dvd player/hk setup? Wish I had that!

Enjoy!

 

[Brian WH]

GTG. Sounds interesting. Do you do them down south as they always seem to be up north? When's the next one and where etc. Shouldn't be a problem but forward planning is always a bit dubious due to my work.

Next GTG is on Sunday the 20th June at Kettering. So you should find that more convenient. See details in "Events Section" mate. Hope to see you there.

 

[fuzzer]

sounds good glad you like the W211

our 220cdi estate has just made another sucessfull run over to belfast,derry and dongal and back.

perfect cruiser and 60p a litre on diesel in donegal

3 months and 9,000 miles later and its still great..

many happy miles motoring :bannana:

 

[l5foye]

Andy
Good luck with the car- it sounds lovely.You mention the 6th gear. I think you will find that as the car loosens up, it becomes more useable. Until mine reached 2-3000 miles, I thought 6th was pretty useless with a noticeable slowing down when you hit any sort of hill or incline. After 3000 miles, you find you can accelerate in 6th.

 

[Andy Stanton]

I'd be interested to know what you think of the command/dvd player/hk setup? Wish I had that!

Enjoy![/QUOTE]

The Jury's still out! The DVD/Command is good, no question but the nav did throw up a problem when I first tried to use in it earnest. On the way back from the NEC the M40 was closed due to an accident so I pulled off at the first junction and happily hit the A roads on a route I knew from before the M40 was built. Wifey plugged in the home address and we both expected a calculated route to home via our current road. Nope. It kept telling me to do a U-Turn as every possible junction. I even told it to avoid Motorways but it chose to ignore me and kept advising me to double back and pick up the M40. I'm sure this is just me not having read the manual properly but disappointing. Luckily I knew where I was going anyway but that's not the point. Eventually as we came close to the next M40 junction it change it's mind and told me to get back on the M40 again via the current road. It's still a good feature though and this is just a small thing in reality.

DVD is great and a real boon when stuck in a jam. One thing I've noticed though - traffic jams are never stationary. They crawl along at appox 7mph which is precisely 2mph above the picture cutoff setting!! Just as well of course but a shame. I know it can be resolved via some canbus tweaking but I'd have an accident if it was on all the time so it's best left alone.

H/K setup. This is the bit I'm struggling with. There's a clear difference between the surround sound and normal stereo (it's switchable). However, I can't get any bass when it's at lowish volumes (unless I turn the bass right up of course) and when it's loud enough for the bass to have an affect the whole thing sounds harsh and 'shouty' So much so that I usually turn it down again. This is not what I was expecting and not what I remember from the demo cars I had with the standard setup, which was great. As I eluded in my previous report I think (I hope!) that this is because the speakers are new and have not warmed up yet. I'm working on the same principle as the new hifi speakers that have to be broken in gently.

So at the moment it's a touch disappointing but I'm expecting it to improve.

Andy.

 

[RichardM]

Thanks Andy for the review. I've been really happy with the standard audio in mine, but like you I love toys so the DVD and HK sounds perfect. Hopefully if you make it to the GTG we can compare

 

[Andy Stanton]

Thanks Andy for the review. I've been really happy with the standard audio in mine, but like you I love toys so the DVD and HK sounds perfect. Hopefully if you make it to the GTG we can compare

I've just been reading the GTG thread in Kettering and it sounds great. There is a snag with the date though as I'm off to Spain (the Univeral Studios resort) for a couple of weeks and the GTG is the weekend I come back. So I'm not sure I'll be in a position to get to the GTG. If I do have time I'll be there but I can't put my name down as a definite. Would be good to meet you all and put faces to names though.