New car time

[evdok]

The time has come for me to search for a new car, i have narrowed it down to either a BMW 5 series or a Mercedes E/C class, i emailed both makes & within a couple of days had sales men on the phone, now let me tell you how it went:

MERCEDES: The sales man didn't have a clue why i got in touch with Mercedes, & when i asked if the service manager spoke to him regarding a 24hr test drive (after 9 yrs of using the dealership you tend to become a familiar face) he said "he didn't speak to me must have been some one else!, i explained to him that i wanted to try the new C class & maybe a E class to which he replied " so which one do you want", the mobile reception was pretty poor & as i was explaining what i wanted we got cut off....this was last Thursday & I'm still waiting for a call back!

BMW: A very well mannered lady called & new exactly what i wanted(cars that is) i asked her if it would be possible to have an extended test drive to which she replied "not a problem ill sort one out & call back in 10 minutes" guess what? she called back in 5! with a one month old 5 series M Sport(520D) waiting for me to pick up & was going to email me a conformation & a brochure of the 5 series which she did 15 minutes later. The test drive was Tuesday & i shall report back with the report i have for both cars (getting a C class 220 AMG line today from another dealer) i have promised myself which ever one i decide to go for i shall be visiting my so called loyal local dealership to remind him of the film 'Pretty Woman'.

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By the way my car shall be up for sale very soon if any one is interested

 

[neil1654]

Hi evdok. I have just moved to MB and awaiting delivery of my E220 SE next week. I had a similar experience. Having been with Jaguar for a while, I was keen to replace my current XF with another. Visit to my dealer. They were indifferent to say the least. Poor P/x for mine and no movement on the price of a new one [XF]. So I went down the road to the MB dealership. Talk about chalk and cheese! Hence getting excited now. 5 sleeps to go!!

 

[evdok]

Welcome to the forum, what dealer are you using?

 

[neil1654]

Worcester Mercedes - Benz [Drayton Group] at Blackpole. Certainly the sales team were very good. I hope the after - sales/ service team are just as good and supportive. Just goes to show what a positive or negative dealer experience can result in.

 

[evdok]

LOL Thats the dealer I'm talking about, when you need service department always deal with Simon, he does the upmost for you. Who's the sales person you dealing with?

 

[evdok]

C class v 5 series

BMW:

What a great car, loads of room, good quality, economical 40mpg(driven hardish), quiet & comfortable, loads of car for the money, all controls are well placed & the menus for the gizmo's are easy to use, large screen display & xenons are a must. Over all i loved it & it was only the 520D.


Mercedes:

Nice looking car at certain angles, wasn't impressed with the layout of the controls especially the stupid mouse on the console, very uncomfortable at low speeds on a bumpy road, seats are too small, turning circle was great but steering too sharp, did a couple of kick downs & the gearbox seemed a tad confused/slow to make its mind up, after 5 miles driving it i made up my mind this car is just too small & uncomfortable for us, should have been back at 5pm ended up taking it back at 1:30pm. Getting an E class next Wednesday for the day so will report back

 

[evdok]

E class

Had an E class (220 Bluetech) for the day yesturday, I'm afraid it failed to impress me, according to the computer over 1500 miles it averaged 36 compared to 60 as suggested in books. ok it might have been driven hard by numerous people but to drop to 36 is terrible, Performance was rubbish for a 2.2(174), i had 4 up in a BMW 520D which seemed faster & quicker, looks wise the front end seemed ok but through the day the more i looked at it the more over the top it looked & as for the rest of the body it looked like a 2009 model, one thing i must say is it had a nice ride & absorbed the uk roads pretty well. After having a 520D, C Class, & E Class I'm swaying more towards the BMW for looks, inside dash, & definitely the gadgets fitted, i think Bmw are one step ahead on tech. This is my verdict on the cars I've had for the day.
Just need to sell mine now!

 

[R2D2]

Dealer experiences range so much. The reason I bought a Mercedes for the first time was that I was looking to replace a Peugeot company car (a long time ago!) and I strolled in a dealer in Kirkcaldy and explained what I was doing. He lent me a beautiful new w202. I'd never driven an auto before or had leather and I loved it. Several Mercedes later we were in a dealer and my wife asked to see a colour chart to confirm the colour of a car we had ordered. The sales guy just turned his chair and back to her. He regretted treating my wife that way as she rang Milton Keynes and explained what had happened. She wasn't happy!

 

[M12MKD]

I found the dealer and the 320d both better than the mercedes.

By better I mean the bmw has more feed back and feels quicker.

But the bmw is more expensive spec to spec than the mercedes-benz (based on 3 series vs c class)

 

[StuA45AMG]

Decided o try MB after being a Ford hot hatch man, sales was absolutely fantastic, BUT MB aftersales is absolutely disgusting, they never call you back and that's just the start

 

[grober]

Car sales tend to be full of people who are not very good at selling cars. Difficult to put a finger on exactly what makes a good salesman but you know almost instantly when you come across one. I think its about listening to what the customer wants as opposed to the salesman telling you what you want. Once that "dynamic " is established a good salesman may well be able to convince the customer to change their mind provided they can convince them they are acting in their best interest. Without establishing that initial element of trust everyone concerned is wasting their time.