November 2003
I collected my wife?s C-Class Avantgarde SE estate last Friday, and we have spent a few days with the car. It is our first M-B, and here are our first impressions:
DEALER
-Very professional vehicle handover-no rushing. 10/10
-Vehicle preparation very good-but see below. 8/10
-Dealer workshop very grubby; worse than Ford dealers. 3/10
CAR-FIRST DRIVE
-That new car smell!! 11/10
-Car is the quietest I have ever driven. But see below. 9/10
-Gearshift smoothness is untouchable 10/10
-Orion grey interior not as good as VW/Audi, but definitely not low-rent 9/10.
-Amethyst Violet looks amazing in direct sunlight. 10/10.
-Overall: The Dogs pink fluffy dice.
THINGS I LIKE
-Bi-Xenon headlights ?sparking up? and the beam moving to its home position. I know it is sad but I just can?t stop playing with the headlight switch?.!!10/10
-It is sooooo quiet!! But see below. 9/10
THINGS I DO NOT LIKE
-Body panel stamping not 100%; area around door handles is very slightly ?creased?; shows up as small dent when looking along side of car from front. Whilst this may not be a big deal to some people it is really not acceptable in this premium brand. I noticed it when I got home; no doubt M-B would argue that it is ?within spec? but even a black Citroen Saxo has no such fault. 5/10.
-Body panel alignment on bonnet not 100%; body panels (?fangs?)either side of radiator grille are not level. RHS panel protrudes 0.5 inch more than left. This sounds petty, but my wife noticed this obvious misalignment and was furious. Needs to be adjusted by the dealer; should never have left the factory like this. 2/10.
-Wind noise. Although the car is very very quiet there is an annoying buzz of wind from around the driver?s door, at around eye-level, at 60MPH. Passenger side is OK. This sort of thing really gets on my nerves so it is going to be a trip to the dealer to fix.9/10.
OVERALL
-Mechanically very good, very refined and smooth, but really should have been better in the bodywork department.
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I am looking to buy a Toyota Corolla T-Spirit 1.6, DCCOOK have offered this car at 10995 350 for metalic paint. The car will be pre-registered (this is not a problem) and they have assured me that this is a 53 plate UK model with 3 years warrantee. My only worry is that this does appear to be very cheap (I am unable to find any one even close to this price). It come with deliver millage (less than 100miles). Has anyon delt with this people before? are there hidden costs or problems with buying this way? Read more
I've owned my 1.6 T-Spirit since early 2003. Bought new from my local Toyota dealer. Buying service was fine-always is when you're buying!.
Bad points:
Had a small prang shortly after picking car up-took dealer 4 attempts to replace front bumper correctly
Numerous rattles, squeaks and clunks from around the car, some fixed by myself and felt pads, others which only yesterday appear to have been sorted by the dealer after previous attempts
Engine mounts and inlet manifold replaced (Toyota have revised these parts due to owner complaints)
Whole top of dashboard needs to be replaced if I want the gap between radio panel and top of dashboard to go away-don't think I will bother-replacement will open up more problems with squeaks!
Toyota GB take no ownership of issues-always refers back to dealer
Good points
Car is well equipped-CC, steering wheel mounted controls for radio/cd, clear and bright dash, eleccy mirrors/windows/sunroof. Nice front centre armrest with storage. Split/fold rear seats with good load space. Seats comfy-driven for 4 hours without major aches and I'm over 6ft and many stones in weight!
Performance is nippy, and fuel consumption is around 330miles per tank (shell optimax every time), all around town driving.
Dealer is always friendly, just not very sharp at solving problems
I moved from Audi due to appalling quality and dealership. Feel a bit like I've jumped into the fire from the frying pan. However, overall the car does it's job well. If I didn't have these quality issues I would love the thing. Now I'm only undecided!.
On the quality front, I think Toyota are maybe heading the M Benz have done in the past few years.
Any more questions, just fire away.
Could soon be on the look out for a replacement for a Mk3 Golf 1.8 GL. Requirements include space for mad labrador (hence estate), diesel for lots of miles, air con/abs/twin airbags, and similar (ish) dimensions to the Golf to keep SWMBO happy.
Considering a Focus, but slightly put off by the no doubt older diesel engine I'd get for my £5000, as well as the many 'what to look out fors' as listed in HJ's car-by-car breakdown. The Mk4 Golf was initially considered also, but I'm of the opinion that it's not as good as it should be?
Any suggestions?
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anything that will run on veggie oil!
VW or Merc then.
OK First off, yes I do have a 1.7 turbo diesel astra van, I'm not the racing type and it's hardly a lambo, but anyway, I'd like a rev counter, which is one of the two things I miss after changing vehicles (the other being electric windows). I gained a temperature gauge which is nice to have but I did like my rev counter that used to sit in the equivalent space.
Basically my reasoning is that I do like to push the revs nice and high sometimes when overtaking, or just giving it a good blow out, and without said tachometer I've no idea how close I'm getting to redline, or how much more I can get out of a given gear.
Is it possible (well, I know it's *possible* but is it practical/easy) to fit an aftermarket rev counter to a car like mine? Would it be some sort of optical mark counting thingy on the gearbox input shaft or are there simple mechanical alternatives? How much would I be likely to have to fork out for this luxury item? The other problem is that I don't even know where my redline is (in terms of K revs) so even finding an appropriate aftermarket accessory might be an issue.
Alternatively - will I be damaging the engine if I simply accelerate until the rev limiter kicks in then change up? I know I won't be getting the best power/torque/oomph out of it above the ideal power band, but without knowing where that power band is a rev counter won't gain me much either, except that I can watch and judge, and try to keep it between (say) 2000 - 4000 revs.
Any ideas/advice appreciated.
-- Kev Read more
Kev
firstly, the Astra and Cavalier instalations of this engine did provide a rev counter. Therefore there must be some take off point or way of doing it (alternator?) It will be very hard to find an after market rev counter with a low range (diesels rev lower)
You know when you are approaching the limits on this lump before the rev limiter kicks in. The power sudenly and dramatically falls off before the limiter is effective. You really feel it.
An instrument panel from an astra hatchback with the rev counter in may be the way to go, but a pink fluffy dice to get working i would think.
(sigh) This will teach me for driving her car for the day....
The digital display on Mrs NDs Laguna is showing an oil warning on starting the engine ( OIL- - - - - - ). This stays flashing for about 30 seconds after starting. On quizzing Mrs ND was informed \"it always does that\".
Checked levels and all fine. Just to be sure I did an oil and filter change yesterday afternoon. Old oil not overly discoloured and no signs of swarf on the sump plug. Warning still flashes for 30 secs on start.
Anyone got any ideas? The warning tends to suggest pressure problems but I\'m puzzled that it clears after a short while. Read more
point taken.
My sis has a Saxo 1.5D and just recently the airbag light is appearing although intermittantly, Now, I thought that there was a "reset" key style switch which turned it off and on again but cant find it. (Or is this just for passenger side because of child seats etc)
can anyone shed any light or is this a "dealer job"?
Cheers.
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The swtich is only to disable to the passenger air bag. 99 time out of 100 this fault is caused by the connectors for the seat belt tensioners under the front seats. With the ignition off (wait at least 10 minutes after switch off!) disconnect and reconnect the connectors a few times. This should put the light out when you switch back on. Will probably only work for a few months then will need doing again. Permanent solution is to cut the connectors off and solder the wires together.
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
I recently bought a W reg Primera at auction and am very pleased with it apart from an apparent ABS fault.
At low speed around 10 mph or less there is a whirring noise from under the bonnet followed by a ratcheting noise. The noise can appear when braking to a halt, when accelerating or when not touching the pedals at all. However if I'm touching the brake when the noise occurs I can feel the ABS system 'pulsing' when the ratcheting noise occurs.
The engine bay was filthy when I got the car home so I tried re-making the ABS pump / actuator earth. No difference; and the wiring pin looks OK. Do I have any choice other than letting my local Nissan dealer run a diagnostic check on the system.
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Good to hear that you are sorted.
Just added a profile: used to work on ABS electronics systems for HGV and this was one of the things we soon learnt to look for!
i have a 1990-91 escort and i have no heating it just blow's cold air all time, i ve used rad-flush and blown all pipes and have even took all water out of car and put new water in and it still wont heat up please help
kane Read more
Could be the thermostat sticking open, does the temperature gauge show normal operating temperature. If its shows cooler than normal then suspect the thermostat.
Is there any reason why I should not buy an Almera diesel estate ? Read more
Pal of mine had one for 5 years. Not a single, solitary, even minor problem with it. No image, no problems. No-one ever tried to steal it, either, which is possibly unusual given where he lives.
He's just upgraded to a new Primera and expects exactly the same result. I think he's probably right.
People buy cars for different reasons. If image is lower on your list and reliabilty is higher get one. I suspect that if all you care about is image, you wouldn't be asking the question, you'd already have bought a German car.
V
Hi everyone,
Would appreciate advice here! Looking to buy and run a car for the next 3 years. £4,000 max budget, 20,000 miles a year, easy on motorways where it will spend 90% of its life is a priority as well as honest maintenance costs. It needs to be Mondeo or Vectra size and must have AC. Prefer petrol over diesel as at this price point there seems to be a premium for diesel and far less choice. I am as useful with my hands as the French back 3 on a wet, blustery day in Sydney so I am going to have to pay to get it looked after and regularly serviced. Having consulted HJ's CBC breakdown I am thinking about a post 97 Mondeo 2 litre. Thought about Japanese as you all recommend them strongly eg Avensis, Accord, Primera but keep getting drawn to the Mondeo that I know drives well and I can get serviced anywhere at competitive prices. I have discounted the Vectra on reliability issues posted on this site plus it?s a poor second to the Mondeo in driver satisfaction. I?ve been to Blackbushe and watched countless cars go through at prices quite a bit less than anything in Autotrader. So, 2 questions please? Mondeo or something else and secondly auction or trader? All feedback really appreciated. Than
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Andy1 - I'm looking for a Mondeo and would be interested.
Has the clutch/cambelt been changed.
Please do contact me. Looking to buy a car before the weekend.
Thanks
Shomi
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re Lexus, I have a 200 (auto) which does 25-26mpg locally, 30ish on m'way run, but get into any rush-hour traffic and the consummption drops dramatically to 20-21. Bear in mind the rather sluggish, disappointing mid-range performance ... yes, I'm getting rid of mine after 2 years to go back to front wheel drive with a 2 litre hatchback that has some decent acceleration under the bonnet.