Touring: MB World and the Cotswolds

[A210AMG]

^ I agree,

Photoshop or similar I guess but like you say you still need to know how to use it all.

 

[WillDeBeest]

Interesting comment about the Toyota gearchange, Steve. I've not driven a RAV4 but the E220 we bought last month replaced a similarly sized and powered Corolla Verso. It was a capacious, solid but charmless washing machine of a car, but its one standout mechanical feature was a beautifully light and action to the clutch and gearchange.

 

[st4]

Great pictures,

Is your having the suspension done?

I miss the high up driving style in my old ML, that even went ok being a petrol 3.7L... and with just me in it you can chuck it round bends once you get used to the lean. In the back of your mind your thinking, it will hjang on its 4wd.... all the weights low down.

It did but you almost fall off the seat sometimes

What camera / lens do you use. Cracking pictures as always.

So the 320d will be a stick shift?

Hi.

Indeed the suspension is getting done. There's been a sizeable delay due to Eibach not getting the springs.

Re the replacement car, nope it will be an automatic. Partly because I prefer them and on diesel cars you avoid the dual mass fly wheel issue. A 320d would have been a blast, decided I want a sunroof too...

Troon, your on the money processing wise but straight off the camera, D5000 using a Nikkor 18 to 200: nothing that fancy, the images were nice. Re light I do disagree, as the photographer you can choose the time of day to shoot. For nicer light quality you can do yourself a lot if favours for landscapes and architecture by shooting early morning and late afternoon to evening. I do agree though you don't need masses of fancy equipment but a reasonable camera and lens works nicely.

Willdebeest, I do rate the clutch and box of the rav4. Character is a tough one. I think character is overrated sometimes and is used as an argument to justify flawed cars. My 211 has character, just bad character as its had some bad form. I like a car to drive nicely and perform well plus be comfortable and spacious. Things my 211 do extremely well. The rav4 didn't do as well but did ok.

A210. Used to have an x5. Loved the view out but after 4 years in cars you have to readjust driving habits to suit the loftier SUVs but for pootling about at 50 to 60 on well sighted lanes the wee car was fine.

 

[BEJ]

Re our chat about getting it right first time in the camera. There should be minimal alterations needed in photoshop to achieve good pictures, but I do feel that some of the pics were a bit on the vivid side.
Great photos all the same.
Brian.

 

[st4]

Re our chat about getting it right first time in the camera. There should be minimal alterations needed in photoshop to achieve good pictures, but I do feel that some of the pics were a bit on the vivid side.
Great photos all the same.
Brian.

I know what you're saying but messing around afterwards is fun. Like all computerised stuff the mantra rubbish in, rubbish out. All you're doing is small alterations most of the time

 

[WillDeBeest]

... Character is a tough one. I think character is overrated sometimes and is used as an argument to justify flawed cars. My 211 has character, just bad character as it's had some bad form. I like a car to drive nicely and perform well plus be comfortable and spacious. Things my 211 does extremely well.

Hmmm, an apology first: it seems iOS disapproved of my word 'snicky' for the Toyota gearchange and, er, snicked it out.

As for character, I agree, it can be too much of a good thing, just as that 'character' who's such fun in the pub once in a while would drive you mad over breakfast every day. I think a car needs a base of competence, to make bearable the journeys you have to do, and, ideally, a dose of charm to make those journeys pleasant and to turn the journeys you do for pleasure into a real occasion.

Our Toyota had the competence - it's what Toyotas do - but that was where it ended. It crystallized for me on a beautiful July day last year, driving back through mid-Wales and Shropshire after a soggy week in Snowdonia. It should have been perfect but it was merely OK. Charm, I'd say, is presenting yourself in a way another person can find appealing or enjoyable, and requires a degree of empathy; a car can't have that empathy, of course, but a designer can. My old Volvo shows this everywhere, and the Mercedes' design is growing on me too. The Toyota never had it and that, as Sirallun might say, is why it had to go.

 

[st4]

Hmmm, an apology first: it seems iOS disapproved of my word 'snicky' for the Toyota gearchange and, er, snicked it out.

As for character, I agree, it can be too much of a good thing, just as that 'character' who's such fun in the pub once in a while would drive you mad over breakfast every day. I think a car needs a base of competence, to make bearable the journeys you have to do, and, ideally, a dose of charm to make those journeys pleasant and to turn the journeys you do for pleasure into a real occasion.

Our Toyota had the competence - it's what Toyotas do - but that was where it ended. It crystallized for me on a beautiful July day last year, driving back through mid-Wales and Shropshire after a soggy week in Snowdonia. It should have been perfect but it was merely OK. Charm, I'd say, is presenting yourself in a way another person can find appealing or enjoyable, and requires a degree of empathy; a car can't have that empathy, of course, but a designer can. My old Volvo shows this everywhere, and the Mercedes' design is growing on me too. The Toyota never had it and that, as Sirallun might say, is why it had to go.

An interesting post.

It's maybe harder to find character in something that's a machine but I used to drive this car quite often and I never yearned for it. I like its engine, one of the better sounding 4pot diesels out there but the way Toyota trim the car, there's no surprise or delight or anything nice on it, just a functional no nonsense small car.

The upmarket cars have nice trim, nicer design, and drive nicer. I drove a C63 and it's character or better still driving manners came from its engine. I drove a 320d and it's character or driving manners came from the poise and balance of its chassis. My 211 is harder to pinpoint but it's behaviour excluding unreliablity is a car that rewards you for taking it long distances and one that rewards faithful hard use. It's at it's best for long drives. It's a proper grand tourer.

Still, no matter what you drive, it's what you make of each journey and where and when you drive. I pick great locations to tour in, that make driving and travel fun, even in a small Toyota.

 

[Comcastle]

Some lovely photo's there, you've made me a little homesick as I'm from that neck of the woods in the Cotswolds.

Being up at Chipping Norton you were fairly near the Heritage Motor Centre, that's an interesting place to look around too if you haven't been there before.

 

[st4]

Some lovely photo's there, you've made me a little homesick as I'm from that neck of the woods in the Cotswolds.

Being up at Chipping Norton you were fairly near the Heritage Motor Centre, that's an interesting place to look around too if you haven't been there before.

Aye been a few times. I do rate it but the weather was lovely and touring around there was marvellous, Mercedes or not.

I'll be back I suspect...