What got you into the Mercedes Benz brand?

[AMGeed]

I may have brought this up before, but thought it might be interesting to hear how you first decided to buy a Mercedes and have you been generally happy with that decision?

I more or less decided I would own one the day I first landed in Abu Dhabi in 1998 to meet up with my sister who has lived there since 1978. My brother in law arrived to pick me up in a W124 Tanzanite Blue S500 with cream leather and the luxury and power of this car was something new to me.
Coming from a noisy, hard riding Sierra Sapphire Cosworth which I thought was the dogs danglies I had my eyes opened to a whole new world of car ownership.
That was when I vowed I'd have one, not necessarily an S class, but a Mercedes and in 2003 I was the owner of my first, a W210 E280 Avantgarde.

A great car, so much so that I bought another newer facelifted one, then decided a quick one was due so moved into my W211 E55K in 2013. After 6 great years with that car I finally got the car I had been after for years, the current E63 Biturbo. Zero regrets with this one too, and although I have been tempted by a couple of the offerings of Audi, I'm happy to be in the car I now have.
How about you?

 

[rf065]

I was looking for a new car, walked around a BMW dealers for ages and was totally ignored. There was a Mercedes dealers across the road, so went over there and looked at a few cars when a salesman shouted over I'll be with you in a minute. When he returned, he'd picked up the keys to all the cars I'd been looking at and offered a test drive. The rest is history, now on my third!

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Went to the BMW garage, after being ignored explained we wanted 2 x 5 series.
They were busy so took our details to get back to us, that was maybe 25 years ago, still waiting on the call back.

Went to Mercedes, guy gave us an E for a test drive over a weekend........

 

[Piff]

Wanted a list of features which the A Class fulfilled in 2000. Ordered a new one from France as it was about £4K cheaper than UK. Made sure that the french dealer added the options to make it a UK spec avantgard. The french dealer didn’t remove a couple of features which were standard in France at the time. So we had a diesel cabin pre heater & an upgraded alarm system.

 

[SmartAmg]

Always liked Mercs, just never, got round to owning one, then about 30 months ago, I thought sod it I'm having one, I was originally looking for a
C class coupe, but found out they didn't do it with a V6 diesel, so turned to an E class coupe, found the one I've got now, in just the spec I wanted, and bought it, and never regretted it for a second.

 

[Deleted member 150136]

I couldn't afford a bentley.

 

[KennyN]

Always admired them from afar as they were out of my price range but always on my "windfall" list , used to drool over a metallic brown 320CE with the AMG kit that a neighbours parent owned. I watched the CLS55 Top Gear around 2005 and said to myself for years "thats the one" . I had a few Saabs and when my "sad money" windfall came in 2013 the CLS was top of the list , although the Grand Edition not the 55.

Bought into the brand and loved the "badge" but unfortunately the five year relationship was flawed , having more issues with it than any vehicle i had ever owned and as a consequence it would take a lot to get me into another one but never say never and there is nothing like planning ahead so i am looking at what to do with my 25% tax free lump from my pension that i am hoping to take in another 15 months , shortlisted for non-daily garage queen 2022 are :.

AMG GT
S63 Coupe
M2 Comp
Continental GT
Cayman 718
911

K

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

In 2001/2 ish I read the Autocar road test for the C32 AMG and the performance figures - and super subtle styling - caught my attention and started a very unhealthy in Mercedes and AMG specifically. I still have a copy of it somewhere.

Then in 2003/4 a day or so before her birthday my wife saiid that she had seen a nice ML for sale when she passed a local Mercedes specialist. On her birthday we went birthday shopping and on the way home called in to take a look at the ML.

It was one of the last pre-facelift W163 ML270 CDi with a rare factory fitted AMG styling. We both liked it (for me the AMG kit helped) but before buying I suggested that we compare it to the then new Cayenne as that was my preference.

We went to our local Porsche dealer, and there wasn’t a single customer. The salesmen and “welcome” girls were stood at the desk chatting. I tried to enter through the revolving door which was locked and caused much amusement to the staff.

I chuckled myself, and asked for a Cayenne brochure, but they didn’t say a single word, and as they looked me up and down I realised that they were laughing at me, not with me. As I walked away, they started laughing again. Not one of them said a single word the whole time I was there.

I think they saw me pull up in my wife’s Vauxhall Omega, saw me wet through wearing shorts on a cold wet day and concluded that I wasn’t a serious buyer. From there we went straight and bought the then newly facelifted ML270 CDi.

A few months later, I decided to buy myself a new car, and a Porsche 996 was at the top of the list. That time we arrived in the ML and they couldn’t have been more different. I liked the 996 but their previous attitude put me off buying.

I went straight and bought one of the last C32 AMG, the face lifted version of what I had read about in Autocar a few years before. Not only did they lose probably their only sale on that cold and wet day, they lost another sales a few months later.

We’ve gone back to the Porsche dealer a couple times since, and even had a couple of test drives, but we have never bought a car. Had their attitude been different that day then I’m 90% sure that we would have been repeat loyal Porsche customers.

Whilst I’m sure Porsche have much much better customers than we would have ever been, that particular dealership missed out on quite a few car sales, and plenty of servicing & repairs over the 16 or so years which have passed since then.

Whilst fun and classic cars are sometimes from other manufacturers - since that cold & wet day our “proper“ cars have all been Mercedes, with just one exception. That Autocar road test and those rude Porsche staff have a lot to answer for!

 

[Deleted member 126251]

My parents owned them in the 60s & 70s - I always liked them as quality & safe cars but when I could eventually afford them, I preferred the looks of BMWs so drove BMs for a while. My wife wanted the original A class when they came out which was a very good and got me to thinking MB again but my first one was a SLK (2012) replaced by my SL. I wasn't really a fan of the looks until the more recent styling!

 

[Deleted member 65149]

For years I’d never really taken any notice of Mercedes with them being way out of my price range for cars. Then in 1988 a good friend of mine who had far more money than me bought a new 260E W124 saloon and I was super impressed. I always loved being a passenger in that car but could only dream of ever being able to afford something like it.

Five years later my friend was given a price for the 260E in exchange for a new BMW that I bettered very slightly and we did the deal. It cost me way more than I’d ever paid for a car before and knowing that my then wife would blow her top he agreed to not let her know how much I’d parted with.

I kept the car for over four years (but not the wife!) during which time it served me very well, including a few months of commuting 200 miles a day in comfort. It saw me through to my early retirement at the grand old age of 50 when I used some of my lump sum to buy a new Peugeot 306 Roadster.

At about the same time I decided to get a far less stressful job than the one I’d just retired from and started working for a local posh used car sales garage. I got to drive around it lots of prestige and sports cars and one day I collected a 2 year old 1999 CLK230K that had been taken in part exchange at a BMW dealership in Gerrards Cross. During the 35 mile drive back to the garage where I worked I knew that I wanted it. Knowing what my boss had paid I managed to get a good deal from him and I was shortly back into Mercedes ownership.

Ten years later and still with that CLK I reached the official retirement age and knowing that all you lovely working people were going to be adding funds to the government’s coffers, I decided to treat myself to a brand new car - a Mercedes of course. I had to wait five months for it to be built and delivered but finally in March 2012 I was in my beautiful shiny Magnetite black C350 Sport saloon, which I still have to this day.

 

[MCFastybloke]

22 Years old,just sold my first house i bought 2 years prior to refurbish,prices has quadrupled and i was feeling like the king of the world, a 1990 G(567GCW) 190 E with blue cloth and manual gearbox was sat at a local Citroen Dealership .Polished my shoes rocked up managed to negotiate zero enhancements to the asking price and bought it.



Two others have followed in the 30 years since,i have strayed to other marques but looking for a CL in a colour as per other posts.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Wouldn't afford a Tesla. That isn't a typo, just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a car. Really liked a Jaguar XE V6 but it was a bit spendy and ongoing costs significant, didn't care for the Audi or BMW offerings at the price point I was shopping, liked the interior of the C class and had been leaning towards EV/hybrid anyway so it was the C350e.

Dealership was dire, I feel ripped off to this day, by the salesman, the dealer and MB UK, I'll never own another MB. Can't wait for this one to reach an age where I feel able to scrap it and move on. I did consider selling it but it's already lost far too much value for me to bear that - I'd rather set light to it than let someone else benefit from it! I keep wishing it would spontaneously combust actually - it's still covered by gap insurance.

It was poor decision on my part to buy what I did, the way I did, when I did, and I'll own that, but MB have done nothing to ease my pain from my perspective, they've just compounded it.

 

[guhvies]

Didn't have much of a choice, it was what I grew up on. My dad had a 1961 220SE in the 1970's and my mum a VW Beetle 1500.
So I got me a VW Golf VR6 as a birthday present and a few years later a cousin told he'd just traded for a C230 Kompressor and
that I should get one. I said get me the same deal you have and I'll get one, two days later the salesman calls me with a better deal,
so I picked the new car on the Saturday and the rest is history. Oh, and I did entice another cousin to get a C230 Kompressor. I do
feel I need something bigger so maybe an E or GLC/GLE next.

 

[Londonscottish]

MB's crept up on me, mainly through sitting in the back of a number of 124's, 126's and 220's before, during or after various work trips.

Originally I thought they were boring old man's cars. Then I came to really appreciate the sense of calm and isolation from the outside world.

 

[renault12ts]

I wanted the biggest estate on the market...a 210 fitted the bill in 1999.

 

[merc85]

My Late Fathers fault lol, He had years of Mgb's Austin Healeys , Sumbeam Alpines then settles on a Jaguar xk120, A flurry of Jaguars Last being a Jaguar 420 S-Type then saw a Mercedes w116 in Milan brown for His Funeral and Wedding hire Business.
Lib pic




In all the time he owned it must have been 3-4 years the only thing that went wrong was a boot light bulb !
A futher two w126's and a c126 from 1988 onwards saw me in my 1st Mercedes a w201 190 "carb" then i haven't really looked back only going kept going back to Mb after Bmw's Audi's vw's and plenty of woeful french carrier bags lol.

w201 2.0, w201 2.6, w124 260e, w126 420se, w202 c180, c126, s211 e320cdi "Best car ive ever had" w211 e55k, s211 e55k

Next car....... humm dont really know, what with my current situation and nerves i think a HONDA maybe on the Horizon! unsure.

 

[gaz_l]

Back in 2004/2005 I was on my third Subaru, and thought I'd done the whole Japanese thing to death and it was time for a change. The BMW M3 was the obvious choice, but as I've always been open to a left-field option I started looking at the W202 C43, with that lovely V8. A small gentleman's express rather than the out-and-out sportiness of the M3, the thought appealed. So, I looked at a couple of C43's, and then some more, and some more. It turned into a bit of an obsession, but the W202 tin worm was already starting to rear its ugly head and C43's were never thick on the ground, only 400 RHD examples having made their way into the country. In the end it took me 18 months to find the right one (and, of course, it was by far the most expensive one that I'd looked at) but finally it ticked all the boxes and the deal was done. My first Mercedes, and my first automatic, I loved that car to bits. I should never have sold it, really, but there were valid reasons at the time and I've never been too sentimental about cars - at the end of the day, it's just a lump of metal. That is the one I miss the most, though, and if I could buy it back tomorrow in the condition I sold it I would, definitely. Brilliant car.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Yex]

I wanted something more modern to my 450 Chimaera, but with the grunt and driving experience I was used to. A friend, who frequents here, owned a CLK63 AMG Black Series and turned up in it to our monthly car meet and I was struck by the exhaust note and looks. I couldn't afford a BS but after some advice went looking for a 507 Coupe and within a week I'd seen 3 and walked away as they were low on options or high on owners with chequered histories. I wasn't aware of the excellent aftermarket specialists we have on here at that time and was looking for full MB history. Anyway, with some patience I waited a little longer and up popped the Designo car I own now. Advertised on Thursday afternoon, test driven 9am Friday morning and purchased at 10am Friday morning.

I'm still in love with it and spend too much time cleaning it and driving it just because I can according to my wife

 

[Deleted member 37751]

A - what must have been then brand new - silver S211 E55K being driven by an elderly chap shot past me on the A638 and I was instantly smitten and it’s still probably my favourite Mercedes to this day.

 

[whitenemesis]

As a child, being driven around North Rhine-Westphalia in the 60's. My memory simply sees those twin vertical headlamps and the lovely big back seat covered in soft fabric.