I was re-reading the previous post, and just realized that I’d driven Traveler the equivalent of somewhat over once around the earth at the equator. But so far all that’s been up a little bit into Pennsylvania (to Stroudsburg to visit a friend), twice to Ocean City New Jersey, twice to Florida…once all the way to Key West, once only as far as Orlando and Disneyworld…once to Memphis Tennessee, once to Hillsville Virginia, and a lot around central Maryland and between Baltimore and northern Virgina.
It’s just a small portion of Planet Earth I’ve been driving on, yet I’ve already racked up enough miles to have theoretically driven once around the equator.
You Knew The Maintenance Was Going To Be Expensive When You Bought It…(continued)
Mercedes-Benz cars made since 2004 have the new Flexible Service Scheduling system installed, which monitors the car’s usage and your driving habits and the level and condition of various fluids and figures out when the next service is due. I’m told that nagging is a popular pastime in Germany, so I reckon it’s no surprise that their cars nag you too. But for those absent-minded among us, and those who drive their cars a little harder then normal, it’s useful all the same. You don’t buy a car like this to just run it into the ground. That’s a waste of money for one thing, and an insult to all the work the engineers and factory workers put into making it for another.
You also get a booklet which outlines the recommended intervals, apart from the FSS system. My experience has been so far that the FSS system tracks pretty well with the typical recommended servicing intervals anyway. But not exactly. This time around, Traveler gave me an 800 mile extension on the 25,000 mile Service ‘B’ interval. I suppose that’s because I don’t drive it like a bat out of hell and I keep changing the oil at less then half the recommended interval. Oil, even synthetic oil, is cheap. Engines not so much.
800 miles before my Service ‘B’ was due, Traveler started nagging reminding me that its service ‘B’ was needed in 800 miles. I have an analog speedometer with a lovely gauge circling around an LCD screen that displays various messages to me from time to time, in addition to a host of other readouts I can choose from such as the odometer and travel computer. Every time I put my key in the ignition the speedometer display would nag helpfully remind me that service ‘B’ was due in 800, then 700, then 600, then 500, then 400, then 300, then 200 miles. You know you have to give in. So this morning I took Traveler in for its service ‘B’
Service ‘B’:
Inspect windshield wiper inserts and service windshield washer system (Replacement of wiper inserts additional*)
Inspect and rotate tires, record tread depth, and correct tire pressure. (Wheel balance additional*).
(excludes AMG, Sports Models, SLK, and vehicles with staggered wheels)
Engine oil change and oil filter replacement (Includes Mobil 1 synthetic oil)
Lubrication service (Includes hood hinges, lock cylinders, striker plates, sun roof tracks and top off all fluids)
Cooling system inspection (Includes antifreeze protection level, hoses and clamps)
Brake inspection (Includes check of pad thickness and condition of discs, fluids and lines)
Inspect heating and ventilation dust filter, replace if needed. (Replacement additional*. Dust filter prices vary by model)
Function check (Includes warning lamps, headlights, exterior lights, seat belts, windshield wiper and washer)
Inspect and lubricate throttle linkage
Check and clean air filter
Reset flexible service system counter
Inspect front axle ball joints; check steering play and power steering clutch; and rear differential levels
Inspect Poly V-Belt for condition
Inspect starting and charging system and service battery
Inspect climate control refrigerant
…which cost me all together $425.31. Whew! But this is one reason why I didn’t get an ‘E’ Class. The ‘E’ is bigger then I need anyway, but although I could probably have afforded the payments for one, I almost certainly couldn’t have afforded both the payments and the servicing too. And you don’t buy a car like this just to run it into the ground.
They gave my car a nice wash and interior cleaning and gave it back to me. I’m happy to say my 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 has almost 26,000 miles on it now and not a single thing has gone wrong or needed fixing. Nothing. That car is still as solid as a vault and the best thing I have ever driven. Mercedes definitely has its groove back…
Mercedes-Benz dealerships have not only been hit hard by the slow car sales in recent months, they are also losing money in the service department. It seems that the increased Mercedes quality is finally paying off for consumers – not so much for dealers. Compared to 5 or 6 years ago, dealers were making record profit for servicing Mercedes vehicles, which cost Daimler millions in warranty cost. Ever since, Mercedes has pledged to increase quality and to bring consumers back the trust in the Mercedes brand.
It’s great to see that people have less quality issues these days, and just one way to see this is the decrease in customers visiting the service center, in some areas up to 30% less.
Warranty service comes out of the factory’s pocket not the dealer’s. So this is good for Daimler but not so much for the dealers. On the other hand, who do you want doing the routine servicing on a car like this? Not Jiffy Lube. You don’t just pull the plug on the oil pan on one of these and just let the old oil drain out, because the plug is situated a little higher up on the side so that if it accidentally comes out all the oil won’t leak out of the engine while you’re driving. To properly do an oil change on a Mercedes you have to pump the old oil out or you won’t get it all. Think Jiffy Lube will do that? If the dealers maintain a certain level of service quality that drivers expect for cars like these, then they won’t have to depend on the cars breaking down to make money. And besides, cars that are always breaking down drive customers away. Just ask GM, Ford and Chrysler where Toyota and Honda got their U.S. customer base from.
Normally I’d take Traveler on a nice long road trip now…but that’ll have to wait for warmer weather.
So I’m at Home Depot carrying out two sheets of 2×8 sheet foam insulation to the car. There is no way I can transport 2×8 sheets inside Traveler, but I don’t plan on it. By the car, I take out a utility knife and cut the sheets in half. Then I open the trunk. At the top of the trunk are two levers I can pull which unlatch the back seats. When I bought Traveler, one of the options I made sure to get were the fold-down back seats.
When I owned the Prism, whenever I wanted to transport large items I had to literally unbolt the back seat and take it out. The Accord had fold-down rear seats but they were awkward. The latches were clumsy and the seat belts were always getting in the way. Plus, the opening you got by folding down the rear seatbacks was surprisingly narrow for a car as wide as the Accord.
Why I have been a Mercedes fanboy ever since I was a teenager: every little thing on a Mercedes is engineered with some careful thought and attention to quality and purpose. It is not just a sumptuous luxury car. And especially the ‘C’ class. Think of the ‘C’ not only as the baby Benz, but as a really nice, working person’s sedan. It’s not nearly as sumptuous as the ‘S’ class, or even the ‘E’, but Mercedes-like, it’s deliberately targeted to a particular driving niche, with no compromises. It’s not a luxury car in the same sense as the ‘E’ or ‘S’. It’s a really nice four door sedan built as well as possible, for its niche, which are working class folk like me. We don’t just drive our cars to work or to the beach. We need to be able to transport things in them. The car has to be a working member of the family. Let me put it this way: the ‘C’ class has cup holders in it and you can get it in vinyl upholstery as well as leather. I don’t think the ‘S’ even has cup holders. A wine cooler in the back maybe, but not cup holders. You’re not supposed to snack in your ‘S’ class, you’re supposed to stop at a five star restaurant and let the valet park your car while you sit down to a hundred dollar dinner. And I strongly doubt you can get the ‘S’ in anything but leather upholstery. Most ‘C’ class owners actually prefer the vinyl, known as MBTex, as it is just as nice looking and feeling as the leather, but lasts longer and is easier to take care of.
It’s a working person’s car. But built as well as you can build one. And yes, with some very nice touches to it to pamper you. But not at the expense of functionality and purpose. Mercedes never does anything at the expense of functionality and purpose. So I unlatch the rear seat backs and they just come undone with no problem and the seat backs pivot down smoothly and easily. I don’t have to tug on anything or fuss with the latches like I did on the Accord. I don’t have to mess with the seat belts. The people designing this thing took the seat belts into account. They are just not in the way. And when the seats pivot down they come to rest with their backs Exactly Level with the floor of the trunk. I put my foam sheets in, close the trunk lid, and drive home and I don’t get the feeling driving down the road that my car is any less solid with the passenger compartment open to the trunk then when it’s closed up (although the stereo does sound a little…odd). I get home, I unload Traveler, I fold back up the rear seats and once more I don’t have to tug and fuss with anything including the seat belts. The seat backs just pivot back into the upright position smoothly and latch firmly and solidly back in place. Done.
Everything in the car is like that. This is why you pay the extra bucks.
You Knew Maintenance Was Going To Be A Tad Pricey When You Bought It
I got a card the other day, ostensibly from Mercedes-Benz USA, telling me that an update to Traveler’s navigation system was available. If I ordered Right Now, said the card, I could get it at a reduced price. I say ostensibly because the card actually came from the company that makes the nav software, not Mercedes-Benz USA, and they got my name completely wrong. There is no Joseph Sciametta living here that I am aware of. Not even one of the usual misspellings like Garret or Ganet or Garnet, but Sciametta. And ‘reduced price’ is two-hundred dollars. Swell. I hate to think what the list price is.
So I call Mercedes-Benz USA customer support and make sure they have my name right in their system, which they do. The cards were mailed out with the return address as a post office box somewhere in Orem Utah, but MBA headquarters and customer support center is in Montvale New Jersey, and the navigation software is made by Navteq which is located in Chicago, so I’m guessing the mailout job was farmed out to some third party outfit in Utah whose people were too busy making sure proposition 8 passed to get the mailing list right. The 800 number on the card went to the sales office of the nav software company, and the web address seems to be registered to an anonymous re-direct service. If this had come to me via email I’d have assumed it was some sort of phishing scam.
I had an idea that the nav software update was out there though, because there was plenty of chatter about it on the Mecedes online forums. One thread, asking if it was worth the price, turned into a DVD swapping party. Someone got the bright idea to buy the DVD, install the updates and then pass it around. The users formed a kind of chain letter queue, and as one person got the DVDs they would install the update and then mail them to the next person on the list. I don’t know if any money was changing hands over this…I only skimmed the thread for information about the update, not how to get it. Look…if you can buy a car like this it isn’t as though you can’t pay for the upkeep too. It’s really unattractive for someone who can afford a Mercedes-Benz to be thieving the software for it. But then, I have to keep reminding myself that not all the guys on the online Mercedes forums actually bought their own cars. Daddy’s little boy and all that. The downside to owning anything that’s above and beyond in quality and craftsmanship is you’re in the company of all the shallow louts who own one for its status symbol value and nothing more.
So I went to my dealer and bought the update from them. The two parts department guys there both know me by sight now and it’s a pure pleasure talking to them. They are both Mercedes enthusiasts like me and pamper their own cars completely. I got my DVD set and headed home. For a moment I thought I might just pop the DVD in and do the update then and there. Good thing I didn’t. When I got it home I discovered that it typically takes two and a half hours to update the nav maps. Oh…and the Gracenote database.
Two and a half hours??! What am I supposed to do…run the engine for two and a half hours or drain the battery? The nav system in my C300 is on an internal 20 gig hard drive…not a separate DVD player as it is in some cars. So it wasn’t just a matter of popping out one DVD and popping in another. Which is good because a single DVD only holds about four and a half gig on it. The hard drive system in the Mercedes allows for more detailed maps and you don’t have to swap disks if you take a drive from one coast to the other as you do with some cars. But updating the software means copying over all that data. So I went back online and checked the forums for anyone who had done it on battery power alone. I didn’t want to kill the battery updating the nav software, but at the same time I didn’t want to be ilding the engine for hours at a time either.
After reading a few nav system update threads I got the impression that the battery would be fine. The day was mild and the weather called for dropping temperatures and rain and snow later in the week. So I reckoned better now then later. Because I had to leave the key in the ignition the entire time, and I only have street parking, I took out my steering wheel lock and popped out the valet key from the ignition key/dongle thing. I’ve said this before I think, but Traveler’s key isn’t a key exactly so much as a computer dongle that talks to the onboard computer whenever I stick it in the dashboard key slot. But there is a small physical key hidden inside of it that you can pop out, and use to lock/unlock the glove compartment and the driver’s side door. With that key in hand, I could put the dongle in the ignition, turn on Traveler’s Command system and leave the car while the software updated, locking the driver’s side door behind me. For extra protection I put the wheel lock on too.
The update came on two DVDs. You put the first one in the disc 1 position in the cd/dvd changer carousel and it starts the update program. First it checks to see if it’s on a system that’s compatible with the update. Then you get a prompt asking you to continue. You click "OK" using the armrest Command function knob and then a progress bar comes up on the screen and some jazzy music plays in a continuous loop. I muted the sound to save on battery life some, but I don’t know how effective that was because the sound system is still powered up even with the mute on. But I thought it might help save on battery life a bit and I was worried that two and a half hours of running the Command system would drain the battery, even though the folks online said it didn’t. After about fifteen minutes I came back outside to check on it and everything seemed to be going fine. A half hour later I came back out and saw that the video display had closed back up.
Ack! The car had shut off power to the Command system to protect the battery. The DVD instructions had warned me that might happen, and said if it did to just turn on the motor and let the process resume. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen because I didn’t know whether or not I could trust the update to resume gracefully. But now I had no choice. I started the engine and the video display popped back out. When I saw the boot up screen I thought for sure I’d have to start the whole thing over again. But the update program started back up, found where it had left off, and resumed. I breathed a sigh of relief and let the engine idle for a while before coming back out and turning it off again. For the next two hours I periodically started up the engine, let it run for a bit, and then turned it back off again while the nav software updated. Eventually a prompt came up asking for the second DVD to be inserted. Problem was, the first one wouldn’t come out.
The instructions say to just press the disk eject button above the disc slot. But that button did nothing. I tried turning off the Command system and then turning it back on. All that happened was I got the disc 2 prompt again and the eject button still did nothing. I thought about it for a moment. The disc 2 prompt didn’t have an "OK" button on it, but I thought it might be waiting for me to respond anyway. So I clicked the Command function knob as though there was an "OK" button there on the screen even though there wasn’t, and the prompt promptly went away. The disc changer screen came up asking me to select a disc to eject. I ejected disc 1 and inserted the second DVD and shortly after that the update finished. So the map updates and Gracenote database update consisted of slightly more then a DVD’s worth of data.
I started the engine and turned on the nav system, checked the local map and a few functions. Everything seemed to be working normally. The folks online say the new maps have a lot more detail in them, with more points of interest indicated. I’ll take a drive and explore the new maps later in the week. The nav system is one of those things I never really thought I’d want until I actually had one and now I don’t want to be without it. Just the other week I was wanting to go to a different Costco from the one I normally go to, because that one was out of something I wanted. Instead of printing out a bunch of MapQuest maps and directions I just grabbed a street address off of Google and plugged it into the nav system and let it take me there. Even when I’m driving somewhere I’ve been before, like to visit my friend in Stroudsburg the other day, I use the nav system to warn me a few miles in advance of when my turn offs are coming so I have plenty of time to get into the correct lane. It’s really helpful. I can just pay attention to the traffic around me and let the nav system voice tell me what lane I need to be in, and what exit to take.
Like Finding Out Your Boyfriend Listens To It’s A Beautiful Day
I was just reading the Mercedes World forum and saw this…
From hidden engineering manu, command HD has 4 partations and SW update option. Head unit is from MELCO which is same manufacture as Mitsubishi MMCS head unit and same CPU.
Interesting find that OS is Windows CE and we may have software patch for VIM in future.
Windows CE? Windows CE?? My Mercedes-Benz Nav/Phone/Stereo system is running Windows CE??? Oh…great…
German automaker Daimler has said it wants to sell its remaining 19.9-percent interest in its former US subsidiary Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus, which last year acquired a majority stake in Chrysler from Daimler.
Yes. Please. I remember vividly the sinking feeling I got when I heard the news in 1998 that Daimler was merging with Chrysler. Ever since I was a teenager I’d dreamed of owning a Mercedes and right around the time of the merger, by equal parts luck and persistence, I’d almost worked my way into a place where I could almost barely afford one. The dream was almost within my grasp. And then this.
I couldn’t think of any American car company I’d have wanted Daimler to join forces with, but out of all of them Chrysler was just about the worst. My mom’s first car was a 1968 Plymouth Valiant and even though it was a clumsy American mass produced rattle box it was almost as reliable as anything produced by Mercedes. It couldn’t do the track like a Mercedes, it wasn’t anything as solid, but at least it kept running and running. That 225 slant six engine is still legendary in some circles to this day. But mom didn’t take proper care of it, and after it died she suffered through a series of horrible 1970s-1980s Chrysler products that convinced me never to touch a Chrysler product again. I wouldn’t trust one of their motors any further then I could throw it.
So when I heard Daimler and Chrysler were merging I felt a breath of dread. And sure enough, the quality of the Mercedes product took a turn for the worse around then. When I bought the Honda Accord back in 2005, I was in a position to have afforded a C240. But the C240 back then (the W203 to us Mercedes fanboys) not only seemed to be too little car for the money, compared to the previous model (the W202), it just felt cheap. I felt cheated.
After years of hearing other Mercedes fans bitterly complaining about the downturn in quality, I was overjoyed to hear that Daimler had finally come to its senses and was dumping Chrysler, and refocusing on product quality. When I paid off the Accord I took a wander through my local Mercedes dealership and laid eyes on the new C300, and fell back in love. This October 12th will mark my first year with the car, and I am still in love with it. It’s the most solid thing on four wheels I’ve ever owned.
When I bought mine, Daimler had just voted to rename the company from Daimler-Chrysler, to just Daimler. Some of us think they should have returned the name back to Daimler-Benz, but at least the Chrysler part is gone now. Alas, my car was built before the name change so it still has the Daimler-Chrysler name on the door frame sticker. But you sit down in it and you know it’s a Mercedes. It’s not as sumptuous as a Lexus costing about the same. It’s not as flashy as a Cadillac. It has its luxury touches but it’s a ‘C’ not an ‘E’, let alone an ‘S’. This may sound ridiculous to some of you, but It’s basic transportation with a few nice extras. That’s really all. I could have bought it without a lot of the nice extras, like the Harmon-Kardon stereo, the Nav system and the wood trim, and still had the most solid thing on four wheels I’d ever owned. Its soul is in the basics. But, and here’s the thing, it’s the basics done as well as they can be done. It gets everything a car needs to be absolutely right. Every luxury touch they add to that, they add such that those fundamental basics stay absolutely right. It does the city streets very well. It’s great on the highway. It can also do the Autobahn. It was made for the Autobahn. Driving a car made for the Autobahn is…a whole new experince for me. Normal has changed.
That’s why I’d dreamed of owning one for so long. And…why I got so pissed off when they merged with Chrysler. I walked out on my porch the other evening, and noticed a beautiful brilliant red sunset happening, and so I walked down to the street to watch it for a while. I stood next to my car and after a moment, gently leaned against the fender. I’m allowed…it’s my car. It felt like I was leaning up against a smooth metal brick. I noticed right away how different it felt. Unlike every other car I’ve ever owned, there wasn’t the slightest bit of give in the body. Yet it doesn’t swagger. It is the exact opposite of Hummer. The appearance of strength, is not strength.
I’m pinching this from the Benz World Forum. It’s from a Mercedes owner who did the go to Germany and pick up your new Mercedes at the factory thing. I’ve wanted to do that ever since one of my uncles bought his that way back in the 1970s…
I picked up my USA spec C350 this on Sept. 8 and thoroughly enjoyed the factory tour of chassis fabrication and assembly sections of the MB plant in Sindelfingen (10 miles SW of Stuttgart). Following are some observations and facts given by the tour guide.
1. Delivery center is stunning. Modern, stylish, spotless, with auditorium, restaurant, mini-museum, accessory and gift shop, a waiting lounge with continuous free snacks and drinks, observation deck of delivery hall, and the delivery hall where you are introduced to your car.
2. The earliest departing english speaking tour is now 11:20 AM, not 9:45 AM as noted on the MB factory tour website. The regular tours are conducted in German. We opted for a German tour and it worked out OK as the intro movie uses translating audio headsets and our guide spoke also spoke english and would provide a separate "side-session" to answer our questions. I am also very familiar with auto factory assembly processes. The tour takes exactly two hours (they bus you around for two stops).
3. The Sindelfingen plant was proudly displaying large banners draped on the buildings noting their "1st in World" status awarded by the J.D. Powers folks for factory build quality. C, E, and S Class built in plant, but the C Class is the only line equipped with the all robotic sub-assembly; these yield the highest precision and speed of assembly. The new E Class will soon switchover to the new process, followed by the next S Class. The cars must be engineered from the onset to make best advantage of the robots, the current E and S pre-dated this epoch.
4. Tour does not cover engines, transmissions or major sub-assemblies like the dashboard. These just appeared just-in-time as needed in the assembly area.
5. Tour is of C Class chassis fabrication (hundreds of steel stampings placed into the robots’ loading trays’ by fork/skip-loader drivers. Robots weld stampings into three chassis units (forward, center, rear); several hundred pounds apiece, but robots can whip these around like they were paper. Robots use synthetic vision, laser measuring, and tactile sensors to maintain perfect fit/placement that automatically adjust for robotic tool wear and joint positioning error between calibration cycles. No people allowed around robots as they move too fast; sensors used to detect human incursion and stop robots for safety.
6. Leather upholstery and all steering wheels leather wraps are hand fitted and stitched. Very skilled job. Ditto the final shaping/sanding, staining, and sealing/polishing of wood trim pieces. Guide says this cannot be done by robots to MB quality standards; still need the human touch.
7. More robots weld 3 chassis pieces into one…getting tired of robots.
8. Side walls, roof, and aluminum/plastic front fender welded and bolted. Then off to robotic paint booth. Chassis done, sans doors, then robot installs entire finished dashboard assembly as a unit; functional checks come later.
9. Human assembly workers begin installing interior in painted unibody. Side airbags, console, steering wheel, etc. Assembly work reserved for senior, fully apprenticed workers; 90% German, the rest appear to be Turks who have worked their way up to the top skilled assembly jobs. They look very focused/careful and use portable combo barcode reader, tester, and laser probe to verify assembly tolerances.
10. Tour jumbs to body to engine/tranny, suspension merger with bodies. Brake rotors appear to be coated with some sort of grey powder coated protectorant/break-in layer. Vayring springs and shocks placed by workers as body and suspension are compressed together under load.
11. Tour jumps to glass enclosed area where C350 Avantgarde has cutaways allowing inspection of all component placements. Film and demo of seat technology and fabrication. Final questions then back on bus, finished.
12. Noticed some blue coverall clad workers and asked about them. They are interns who attend the onsite MB Institute. Very desirable job for high school grads who apply, take examinations, and are then interviewed. The attend classes and then spend part of each day being mentored by a journeyman or master level worker. It takes 1-2 years before they are fully trained and "on there own" in skilled positions. The are among the top blue collar in Germany (good pay and benefits for life).
13. Sindelfingen plant has 7,000 engineers and technicians who design, program, and maintain the plant and assembly systems. The maintenance of the robots requires lots of information technology types, networked communications, and cybernetic systems engineers; highly trained and skilled… big bucks too.
14. Sindelfingen plant has 8,000 fabrication and assembly workers to produce about 2,000 cars per day.
15. European Delivery destined vehicles are track tested to shake-out any problems before the customer’s the post-dellivery trip begins. Normally, this is left to the delivery dealerships to find and fix any flaws. My car was delivered in perfect condition and, as far as I can tell, everything functioned perfectly for the 575 miles I drove.
According to the VIN code, Traveler was made in Breman, not Sindelfingen. But the door sticker says Stuttgart, which would make Sindelfingen the factory. Either way…the car is the most solid thing I’ve ever owned. I’m surprised to learn the leather stitching on my steering wheel, and all the interior wood trim was hand done. That’s straying into über luxury car territory and it’s only a ‘C’ class.
I would love to take this tour someday. I doubt I’ll be buying another Mercedes for a long, long time though. Unless they actually start importing that really fuel efficient four cylinder Diesel into the U.S. I’d be strongly tempted to trade in if they did that.
This same user says another American they met there was worried that their Mercedes might not be legally registerable in the U.S. They’d bought a U.S. spec ‘C’ class but with the new "Blu-Tec" Diesel engine, expecting it to be EPA approved by the time they took delivery and it isn’t yet.
So I’m hitting up Google Images for Maybach photos like This One to dream over…
…because a photo is about as close as I’ll ever get to sitting behind the wheel of a Maybach in this life. This is why my TV gets so little use anymore, other then to play the occasional DVD. At the end of my day instead of lounging on the sofa flipping channels, I sit at the computer and wander around the web for a bit. Maybe it was because of all the news stories I saw yesterday about how the skyrocketing cost of gasoline is changing our lives, and I am afraid I’m living to see the end of the open road, but for some reason I started googling images of my fantasy car.
I wonder if I’m going to live to see then end of that breed too…the supercars…the high powered sportscars and the sumptuous luxury sedans that only the fabulously rich can afford. For me they’re not so much symbols of wealth, as icons of human engineering and craftsmanship. This is the best of the best of automotive engineering and craft. This is what you do when you set out to build the absolute best and no compromise anywhere. Every car maker should make one of these, as a statement of how serious they are about automobiles. It’s been the disillusionment of my lifetime, that none of the American car makers can be bothered to build one of these. A guy who ran the Cadillac division of GM once tried to…but the boardroom shot him down. Here in America, a luxury car is a status symbol first, and an automobile second…if that. Mechanical quality? Engineering? Hon…if the rubes staring at you as you drive past can’t see it, it doesn’t matter.
The Rolls used to be my fantasy car. In my teen years I had a brochure photo of the dashboard of a Silver Shadow tacked up to my bedroom wall. But the new Rolls is ugly. The Bentley is far and away the more beautiful car now in my opinion. But I just love the new Maybach. It’s not only sumptuous but state of the art technically. I just love it. Not the tank of a limousine 62, but the 57, which is for a driver not a chauffeur. Why anyone would buy a fantasy car and hand it over to a chauffeur is beyond me. Unless the rich can’t even be bothered to get their driver’s licenses.
So my eyes are roving all over the photo above…lingering on the leather upholstery and the burl walnut wood on the center console and the wheel, while my fingers are wondering what it would feel like to wrap themselves around it…and the geek in me eyeballs the video display…and I notice that the radio is set on a…huh…a shortwave band? Well in Europe the shortwave bands were used by broadcasters much more so then here in America. But I’ve got some old high school pals who would have had the same laugh I did seeing that…
Well listen you haven’t heard nothing yet! I’ve got right here in this car for your transatlantic driving pleasure, this fully alacrafted sea mattress shortwave radio, in this non-returnable non-disposable sinkline carrying case!
…or Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder. Traveler is in the shop right now for repairs to its rear bumper (described in This Post). They’re saying two to three days. Maybe. I’ve been driving Traveler now for a half year. I suppose it was too much to ask that the rental car the other guy’s insurance company gave me was an ‘E’ class. Another ‘C’ would have been nice. What I got was a Volkswagon Jetta.
The warning a friend gave me shortly after I bought the Mercedes…how it would change my idea of what normal is…has kept popping into my thoughts every time I sit down behind the wheel and drive. At some logical analytical level I thought I understood this. When I bought the Mercedes, I started living in a different world. I knew that when I sat down in it the first time. And at that rational logical level it has not been hard to remember all these weeks. The car is so goddamned tight, yet it handles like a dream. I Know no other car I’ve ever owned has been as well made as this one is. But as time goes on I also knew I was starting to take it for granted.
Never mind…just never mind…all the nifty gizmos the Mercedes came equipped with. Never mind how much of its engineering seemed specifically designed to entrance a geek. I just learned the other day for example, that the headlights operate at a higher wattage level when you accelerate to highway speeds. Never mind all that. Traveler is way more solid, and way better fitted together then any other car I have ever owned or driven. That was what I bought it for. That solid, vault-like Mercedes feel. I thought I was aware of how used to it I was becoming. But it wasn’t until the nice lady with Enterprise Rental Cars introduced me to my rental Jetta that I realized how different my idea of normal had become in just six months.
I got in. I tried to make myself comfortable in the driver’s seat. I knew there probably wouldn’t be any power seat adjustments and there weren’t. Fine. This isn’t a luxury car…it’s a practical one. I reached down under the seat for the adjustment lever…found it, and set the distance from the steering wheel. Then I found the backrest adjuster and fixed the tilt of the backrest. There was, of course, no height adjustment. Fine…fine…I can live with this. I found the controls to adjust the sideview mirrors. Then I fixed the tilt of the rearview mirror. I got everything adjusted to suit my particular physical size and shape. Then I sat there for a moment, and looked around the cabin.
Wow…this isn’t…right…
I drove the Jetta out of the parking lot at Valley Motors and as soon as I put it into gear I knew what I was missing. The car felt…a tad rickety. And at a rational level I know that’s not fair. It’s just…my baseline has changed profoundly. The Jetta, let it be said, is not a poorly built car by any means. At a glance it seems as well made as your average sub compact Honda or Toyota. Since it’s a rental car it’s not exactly pristine on the inside. But it’s feel is no less solid then my Geo Prism or the Accord and I loved those cars. It’s a tad noisier then the Accord but still, the Jetta is a very nice car. And I’d have died to own anything half as good back when I couldn’t afford to own even a $500 junker. But what a world of difference with the Mercedes. The Mercedes really is like a goddamned vault compared to the Jetta.
I’ve been stealing glances at the ‘E’ class lately and I’d forgotten how good I have it. My friend warned me about that too. But now I have a cure for it. Whenever I catch myself seriously considering trading Traveler in for an ‘E’ class when I get it paid off, I’ll just go rent a car for a day or two. A nice Accord or a Camry. A really nice one. That should cure me of it.
In the meantime…here’s a nice C300 review from a British gent who really gives the new ‘C’ a lot of love. What really impressed me about that is the old, well used, Mercedes wagon he owns and is apparently still devoted to. It’s those folks, the ones who remember how rock solid Mercedes use to build them, that the company needs to win back. And it looks like this new ‘C’ is doing that.
The tire pressure warning hasn’t come back, so I’m writing that one off to something they did during service ‘A’. I’ve got almost fourteen grand on the car now and it still drives like a dream come true…so solid and sure. Problem is gas is now at about $3.60 a gallon for premium at the cheap station near me (which is part of a convenience store chain, so they may be writing gas off as a loss leader…something the regular gas stations cannot do. I’m tempted to go to Costco to fill up but the numbers just don’t justify it. I’m using more gas to make the trip then I save in cost. So I might as well fill up locally. But I just can’t pop into it and take a drive just anywhere for the shear pleasure of driving it like I did in the weeks just after I bought it. I have to plan my pleasure drives out now. Oh well…it’s getting to be springtime here in Baltimore now, and there is a lot of yard work to do around the house anyway. But the annual road trip to California is going to be a tad costly this year. I’m really starting to be afraid now, that I’m going to live to see the end of the open road.
DMG now had a successful brand name, but still lacked a characteristic trademark. Then Paul and Adolf Daimler – the company founder’s two sons, and now senior executives at DMG – remembered that their father, who had died in March 1900 shortly before his 66th birthday, had once used a star as a symbol.
Gottlieb Daimler had been technical director of the Deutz gas engine factory from 1872 until 1881. At the beginning of his employment there, he had marked a star above his own house on a picture postcard of Cologne and Deutz, and had written to his wife that this star would one day shine over his own factory to symbolize prosperity.
The DMG board immediately accepted the proposal and in June 1909, both a three-pointed and a four-pointed star were registered as trademarks. Although both designs were legally protected, only the three-pointed star was used. From 1910 onward, a three-dimensional star adorned the radiator at the front of the car.
The three-pointed star was supposed to symbolize Daimler’s ambition of universal motorization – “on land, on water and in the air”…
So now you know where the star came from. And on that note, here’s a little something I found on YouTube for any other Mercedes fanboys out there reading this.
Mercedes Jellinek Whose father named his very famous Daimler made racing car after her, and whose name has been on every car Daimler has made ever since…
You Knew The Parts Would Be Expensive When You Bought It…
So…yeah…gasoline for Traveler is just going to be expensive. It has about the same size tank as the Accord, but its V-6 is thirstier, so it gets emptied sooner. And it requires premium. I knew this when I bought it. A Mercedes-Benz is just going to cost me more to own then a Honda Accord. I went into that with my eyes wide open. For weeks before I bought it I stressed over whether or not I could afford it After I’d bought it. Once I’d satisfied myself that I could, I went to the dealer and put my money down. I admit I didn’t expect the price of gasoline to rise so…rapidly. But there’s no getting around it. So I’m more careful nowadays in planning my trips to the hardware store or the post office. Is there anything else I need that I can get along the way? Better one long circle then two or three trips back and forth.
Recently, the original equipment wiper blades on Traveler started streaking ever so slightly. Most of you probably know how it is after that. At the first sign of streaking it just gets worse really quickly. So I figured today I’d go buy myself another pair. Traveler came with a spare set, and my plan was to put the spare set on the windshield and make the new pair the spare. And because I am such a Mercedes-Benz fanboy and I don’t want anything on my car that isn’t factory approved, I went to my dealer to buy the new blades.
I had a hunch they would be a tad pricey when the parts department guy behind the counter whistled under his breath when the part number came up on his computer display. Sixty bucks. That’s right…sixty dollars for a pair of wiper blades.
Maybe it’s the falling dollar. At least they’re lasting me about six months. And I’ll say this about them…yes, they actually do their job better then the blades on any other car I’ve ever owned, including the Accord, yet their design is simple and elegant. I’m a geek…shoot me…but one of the subtle little things that told me I was in a different world now was trying out the wipers and seeing how smoothly and thoroughly they cleaned the windshield. Partly that’s the odd little articulation Mercedes puts on the passenger side wiper to make it get more of the window. But also it’s the design of the blade itself, which distributes pressure more evenly across its length then any other design I’ve ever seen. In the package they’re actually curved inward. When flattened out on the windshield every point along its length is exerting an even steady pressure against the glass. I can swallow the extra cost of something if it gets me a better made something, and that is in fact the bargain you make when you buy into the brand; the theory being that a Mercedes-Benz costs more because it’s over-engineered a tad and that costs money. But that means the maintenance is going to cost more too.
Here’s a lesson for all of you dreaming of that supercar you want to own one day. Don’t buy it until you can afford the maintenance too. Even if you see one in cherry condition on the used market and you can afford it. Investigate how much the upkeep will cost. I was reading on one of the Mercedes forums about a guy who bought himself a very nice "previously owned" ‘S’ class, only to discover that when it needed its next routine servicing work it was going to cost him close to a thousand dollars.
The breakdown was this: the service schedule on the model ‘S’ class he bought called for the plugs to be replaced, and the oil and gas filters, really close to the mileage it had on it when he bought the car. That’s something you have to consider when looking at a used car: when is the next maintenance due. It had a V-8 engine with two plugs per cylinder and it used the most expensive plugs Bosch made. The oil and gas filters were equally state of the art, precision made and just as expensive. But that’s what you buy when you buy a high end car like a Mercedes-Benz. I’m sure the top of the line BMW or Audi are just as expensive to maintain, and I don’t even want to think of what it costs to do routine maintenance on a Bentley or Rolls. Between the parts and the labor the scheduled service on that guy’s ‘S’ class was getting close to the thousand dollar mark…
…which you figure someone who can afford one of those things new can also afford. But not necessarily someone buying on the used, excuse me, "previously owned" market. You may have bought the car for half of what it was worth new, but you still have to pay full price for the maintenance. Unless you get it done in Butthead’s garage and junk yard emporium…and do you really want your lovely ‘S’ class worked on by Butthead? Oh sure…a I can fix that…a little duct tape and glue and it’ll be good as new…and hey…sorry about the greasy shoe stains on your carpet there…
I could have held out for an ‘E’ class…barely. I hear the new one coming out in 2009 is going to be really nice. Sometimes I catch myself thinking that maybe after I’ve paid off Traveler I’ll trade up to one. But if you can just barely afford the car, you probably can’t afford the maintenance too. Unless I jump a few more rungs up the income ladder, a ‘C’ class is probably all I’ll ever be able to afford. But that’s okay. Every day when I go out for my after dinner walk I stop and just…gawk…at my car. My neighbors are all probably getting the biggest kick out of seeing me standing out there nights just staring at it. But there was a time in my life when I couldn’t even afford a car.
Looks like the new ‘E’ class is going to look a bit like the new ‘C’ class…
Look familiar? I did a double-take when I saw this and thought for a moment that the image had been mislabeled an ‘E’ when it should have been labeled a ‘C’. Then I looked closer. From the back it looks different enough though…
The trunk curves in a nicer way then my ‘C’, although I think the rear end look of my ‘C’ is pretty nice too. But it looks to my eye like the rear passenger doors on this new ‘E’ slope down a bit too much at the back. But if it’s got a longer wheelbase then the ‘C’ then that slope probably isn’t as bad as it looks. The tailpipes could have come right off my ‘C’. And for that matter, so could the front grille. Here’s what the new interior looks like…
The door panels are almost identical to my ‘C’. They have the seat adjustment buttons on them and mine has them on the side of the seat, but that’s a fluke of the U.S. ‘C’ version only. Note the trapdoor for the nav system video display above the center air vents…just like in my ‘C’ class, only a tad wider. The controls on the console below it are almost identical to my ‘C’, except for their color scheme. It looks like there is an extra button next to the seat warmer buttons and that’s all. The instrument cluster is arranged a bit differently, and it looks like they’re all digital displays, whereas mine are real gauges, with a digital display in the center of the speedometer gauge. The steering wheel is identical to mine, again except for the color scheme. There’s more wood on the dash, but less on the center console. I’ll assume some center console wood can be added optionally. Otherwise, this new ‘E’ is only about as sumptuous on the inside as my ‘C’ and that can’t be right.
By the way…I really Like the fact that my video display can be tucked away while I’m driving. It’s distracting otherwise. When I need to see a detailed map or something it’s nice to bring it out. But once I have what I need off of it I like being able to tuck it back away.
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