The reason my daily driver is a Volvo and not MB

[Teflonso]

That's why forums like this are invaluable, check out the Volvo forum and the common theme is don't buy an S40 diesel The Volvo Indies know all the fixes ABS module fix is about £250 on an S40. I'm assuming it wasn't bought from a Volvo dealer as you say supplying dealer returned to main dealer, there you have your answer it goes to the back of the queue and retail customer work takes always precedence.

No, it was bought from a Kia main dealer, who were excellent.

Be clear, it wasn't sitting in the yard for a month waiting for someone to get around to it. My phone bill, on his behalf was packed with calls, every day or every other day to chase it and find out what the latest was from both the Kia service manager (excellent) and the Volvo main agent (underwhelming). The option to reject the vehicle was hanging in the air so they weren't letting up on the Volvo workshop.

The initial start point was that it showed no codes, therefore there can't be anything wrong. I'm serious. Smoke billowing out of the exhaust but the computer says nothing's wrong. I won't bother listing all the suggested possible causes and all the vehicle to vehicle swaps to eliminate stuff. It suposedly went home every night with a computer plugged in to log stuff (on the occasions when it would deign to be drivable) and the mileage when we picked it up suported that. At least we got a full tank of juice at the end.

I did the full sweep of the largest Volvo forum and granted, some of the older diesels were ropey but the Euro 4 version was supposed to be bomb proof. I asked forumers for advice. The only answer was to change the throttle body.

Just in case it was a specific dealer, I phoned two other service departments and asked them what they would do with my particular "problem". Plug the computer in and charge you £80v+ VAT was the commoin reply.

I'm hoping MB dealers are a lot smarter when my car gets past 3 years. Only time will tell.

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p.s. I forgot..... Apart from the good seats, the deals are good. Before I ordered the E, I wandered in a Volvo showroom and a salesman said straight away he could do me 30% off list. You don't even get that on a French tin can nowadays. But nah, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

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[jamesfuller]

I had trouble finding a manual T5R, in the end I resorted to converting one, then I put it in an AWD. The next 3 'R's' that came up for sale where of course manual. But that sort of car needs a manual (and an uprated clutch)

Competitor wise, no merc or amg was really suitable for my intended use. And for what they cost there is not an AMG that would stand a chance of keeping up!

 

[flango]

I'm hoping MB dealers are a lot smarter when my car gets past 3 years. Only time will tell.

You are going to be sorely disappointed, if you think of Volvo dealers as Manchester United then MB dealers are Accrington Stanley, stick with one of the renowned Indies on here and you won't go far wrong, avoid stealers like the plague

 

[blue gnome123]

"At least BMW offer the option of a manual box in any of their cars except true M cars and the 7 series, so come on MB keep up with the competition thats why BMW brand " The Ultimate driving machine" give the customer what they want "

Please don't be so business naïve. BMW offer manuals in most of there cars because they are cheaper to spec than manuals in lower version cars. That's why they are autos (lower proportion of the price) in higher value cars.

 

[flango]

Please don't be so business naïve. BMW offer manuals in most of there cars because they are cheaper to spec than manuals in lower version cars. That's why they are autos (lower proportion of the price) in higher value cars.

We are talking high performance cars here not bog standard 318d territory.

Thats why they charge more than the autos in the high performance cars then is it The Getrag manual box in the BMW costs far more than the auto.

Business naive If only you knew

 

[dhard]

Easy because I hate autos, I want to tell the car what gear its going to be in not the other way round. I meant I will never buy an MB whilst you can't get a manual box in a high power car. At least BMW offer the option of a manual box in any of their cars except true M cars and the 7 series, so come on MB keep up with the competition thats why BMW brand " The Ultimate driving machine" give the customer what they want As to MB's slogan "The Best or Nothing" PMSL because at customer service they are one of the worst.

Jd power dealer survey 2013 - 15th BMW / 7th Volvo / 4th Mercedes .

 

[blue gnome123]

High performance cars. Where you talking about high performance cars? Must have missed that point? I thought that you were talking about diesel Volvo estates?

Please ...autos in standard cars cost plenty more not competition boxes.

Business naïve - yes I do know thanks....

 

[LTD]

Jd power dealer survey 2013 - 15th BMW / 7th Volvo / 4th Mercedes .

... and the top three were ? Yep - the cars we should all have bought ..........

dhard - what do you drive ? I don't ever recall you answering that one - ever.

 

[LTD]

What a shame Mercedes doesn't do big engines with manual boxes

Where you talking about high performance cars? Must have missed that point?

 

[flango]

Jd power dealer survey 2013 - 15th BMW / 7th Volvo / 4th Mercedes .

Any true MB enthusiast that has ever set foot inside a dealer will certainly have an opinion on the above

 

[flango]

High performance cars. Where you talking about high performance cars? Must have missed that point? I thought that you were talking about diesel Volvo estates?

Please ...autos in standard cars cost plenty more not competition boxes.

Business naïve - yes I do know thanks....

Diesel Volvo estate with 250 bhp please read the thread, not at the top end of high performance but more than your average family hack.

Who mentioned competition boxes

What do you drive BTW

My fleet consists of my daily hack Volvo V70 250 bhp, MB CLK 278 bhp, Subaru Impreza WRC 300 bhp, BMW M3 CSL 400 bhp, Volvo C30 113 bhp, Fiat Punto 90 bhp

 

[blue gnome123]

Read my signature

 

[flango]

Read my signature

Bicycles that explains it all,

 

[blue gnome123]

??

 

[Dieselman]

[/URL]

You could do with a haircut, James.

 

[John Jones Jr]

My CLK runs 278 bhp and is a manual and I've had numerous offers to sell it

A CLK & an E-Class (estate no less) is like comparing apples & oranges. And you know that too...

 

[DSB SL AMG]

The difference between the brands is that you come back to a MB with 3 girls draped over your car... lol

 

[jamesfuller]

You could do with a haircut, James.

A great deal of fun at the time but sometimes you have to move on to the next

 

[martyz]

The difference between the brands is that you come back to a MB with 3 girls draped over your car... lol

they don't go bear do they

 

[dhard]

Any true MB enthusiast that has ever set foot inside a dealer will certainly have an opinion on the above

Mb enthusiast or someone that wanted to buy e class estate knowing its a superior car over the Volvo but either could not afford or was unwilling to pay the differents then try's to justify it by making inaccurate facts when knowing deep down he bourght the wrong car ..