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I can’t wait to see how long those tyres last.
Life's just one insane, high-octane adrenaline hit after another for you eh Molls? 😉
Just found out the wipers are automatic. Result.
But where are your sunglasses?
Don't tell me you're suffering the indignity of hooking them in the neck of your shirt when you're not wearing them?
I've been doing that when going into shops whilst wearing a mask.
In the car I've put them in the little tray in the centre console but it's a poor solution.
What sunglasses for a mercedes anyway ?
I mean iirc you need persol for your faux Italian repmobile.
What does the stylish German shooting break driver about town wear ?
https://carroar.com/best-sunglass-holders/
Or sell the car and buy one with a factory sunglass holder?
Nah BWD, mirror beads are where it's at 🙂
What sunglasses for a mercedes anyway ?
Mykita are German. That's what I wear in my Mercedes 😉
Wait, there's an optional sunglasses holder you can buy!
@molgrips I've missed a few days of this thread....
Wheels/Tyres - Stack the existing whes in wheels up in your garage/loft/shed and forget about them, Buy some 17" Euros spec E-Class wheels. Fit All-Season 245/45/17s, which will be
A)Quieter
B)Better riding
C) Square setup so can be rotated front-rear evening out wear and maximising VFM
D) actually give you a cat-in-hells chance of getting up even a dropped kerb when winter comes round (Ha, theres a topic we havent brought up yet, 1700 kilo rear drive autobox Merc in U Kslush, just you wait!).
When the time come to change again, refit the original wheels. Sell the 17's and recoup a large proportion of the cost.
Sunglass Holder/Pocket - inbetween your legs under the seats is a soft flocked opening bin
Lights - they are not just auto lights, if the camera is there it will more than likely be Merc Intelli Light System. Ensure its on in the menu, and you get swivveling dip beam, auto corner lights, auto high-beam etc
Wipers - first two clicks on the stalk are auto low sensitivity, then auto high sensitivity.
What sunglasses for a mercedes anyway ?
I mean iirc you need persol for your faux Italian repmobile.
What does the stylish German shooting break driver about town wear ?
Polizei?
D) actually give you a cat-in-hells chance of getting up even a dropped kerb when winter comes round (Ha, theres a topic we havent brought up yet, 1700 kilo rear drive autobox Merc in U Kslush, just you wait!).
Forgot about this. Both my parents AMG kitted c220 and e350 coupes were comedically bad in snow ....like not just bad Couldn't move the flat drive comically bad. The gear box just had a huff at the first sign of wheel spin and refused to do anything even when forcing a high gear start.
Coming soon - Mercedes AMG for sale for parts or repair, good clean car but doesn't have 1st or 2nd gear due to catastrophic gearbox failure, but does have many features such as a 25 quid ebay sunglasses holder, 14 sets of tyres various sizes, radio bit iffy, I'll throw in a second vehicle with no MOT due to no longer being attached to it's chassis.
Loving this thread. Seems like a more relaxed @molgrips has appeared with this new motor!
And gotta be Julbo sunglasses for the Germanic continental European look?
Edit - seems that Julbo are French not Swiss 🤷♂️
Sunglasses - must be from the Merc branded range; available at a premium price from your local dealer.
To complete the look - branded polo shirt and Petronas cap.
I just did ten or so miles of first class winding Welsh B road and now I really like the car. It was flippin glorious even with bikes on the roof and kids in the car. Not that I'd have gone that fast anyway but it was brilliant to drive.
@snotrag thanks, it is a toss-up between 18 and 17. However it is rather hard to get 17s with the right offset and width, but I found some in Germany, presumably more are available there for winter wheels.
It does have the swivelling lights, so far I've only used them on narrow lanes where they do struggle to keep up a bit!
good clean car
Nah we're holidaying with it, it's trashed already.
Does it have all wheel drive? I think that comes as an option, if not I'd skip the winter tyres and buy a jet ski, better handling in snow.
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molgrips
Full Membergood clean car
Nah we’re holidaying with it, it’s trashed already.
Oi !!! Look after my car will you
Pretty sure the flywheel is toast.
- Shudder when start/stop operates
- Shudder or rattle when stopping from a slow crawl i.e. when parking
Noticeable vibration when driving at 70 unladen in the motorway, especially up hills
- Gearbox is still all over the place with rubbish shifting; chatted to my neighbour about it and he said his car with the same gearbox was smooth as butter. So definitely something up. This could be flywheel related or just the fluid.
Off to Mercedes tomorrow to see if I can get the security code for the online log book, and then the indie specialist on Monday. It's still under the dealer's warranty so if all goes to plan I'll get a fresh flywheel which should last me a fair few years.
Also, realised half way through our holiday that the caravan still had the old car number plate on.
Fret not. Lots of people live for ages with just one kidney.
Never mind that, did you get the sunglasses sorted out?
There's absolutely no way I'm paying for a new flywheel or centrifugal pendulum damper or whatever is inside that thing.
There’s absolutely no way I’m paying for a new flywheel or centrifugal pendulum damper or whatever is inside that thing.
Neither is RustyNissanPrairie
There’s absolutely no way I’m paying for a new flywheel or centrifugal pendulum damper or whatever is inside that thing.
Is the most likely reply from the warranty company.
This thread has legs.
Is the most likely reply from the warranty company
That was funny, never thought I would say it but it's a shame there are no smiley things on here for these moments.
It’s an automatic…. No flywheel issues? Just get the fluid changed as we all pointed out about 100posts ago. That is the first port of call with these gearboxes
Pretty sure the flywheel is toast.
– Shudder when start/stop operates
– Shudder or rattle when stopping from a slow crawl i.e. when parking
Noticeable vibration when driving at 70 unladen in the motorway, especially up hills
– Gearbox is still all over the place with rubbish shifting; chatted to my neighbour about it and he said his car with the same gearbox was smooth as butter. So definitely something up. This could be flywheel related or just the fluid.
If you switch off the engine and listen does it chatter? and does the sound change when you depress the clutch pedal?
If you switch off the engine and listen does it chatter? and does the sound change when you depress the clutch pedal?
Do automatics have clutch pedals?
Just seen this thread and read a web review of the car, which says Against - crashy suspension
For me you buy a Merc for plush soft ride, without any sportiness.
Take a plush car and try and make it sporty never works. Only way to properly help the harsh ride would be to go to smaller rims
Should have bought a BMW 3/5 touring 🤔
Just get the fluid changed as we all pointed out about 100posts ago.
I just got back from holiday last night. It's booked in Monday for diagnostis. That's the best I could do in the circumstances.
It’s an automatic…. No flywheel issues?
Well that's what people say but there's something that looks an awful lot like a flywheel in the pictures of the internals, but also various other gubbins like a centrifugal pendulum damper which could be the equivalent.
Should have bought a BMW 3/5 touring
Did you read the first post in the thread?
Nah BWD, mirror beads are where it’s at 🙂
Until the bead core - technical term - fractures and the beads cascade into the driver's footwell potentially jamming the controls and leading to an incident which could cause serious injury and/or death.
I would stick to a proper TÜV-certified sunglass holder, as the Mercedes factory option almost certainly is, and have it fitted by a factory-trained technician. And don't forget to inform your insurance company of the modification or you may risk invalidating your insurance leading to an incident which could cause an uninsured serious injury and/or death.
It may also help with the gearbox issue.
but also various other gubbins like a centrifugal pendulum damper
Have you checked the spasmodic varoompher balancer too? That can often be the issue
Centrifugal pendulum damper = dual mass flywheel.
I’m happy to stand corrected, but torque converter automatics don’t require a dmf. Are you sure you aren’t confusing the torque converter with the dmf in the diagram you have seen?
BWD, damn you and your superior risk assessment, I thought the beads were a winner.:-)
BWD, damn you and your superior risk assessment, I thought the beads were a winner.:-)
There's a reason that Volvos have never been sold with factory mirror beads.
I’m happy to stand corrected, but torque converter automatics don’t require a dmf. Are you sure you aren’t confusing the torque converter with the dmf in the diagram you have seen?
This one (as many) has TC locking in all gears which would suggest to my uninformed mind that it constitutes a direct connection between engine and gearbox and hence need a DMF or similar.
See the diagram and blurb in this vid from about 2:45
Yes you are right, I stand corrected. Not quite a dual mass flywheel, but it uses the same type of dual mass system that’s dmf has within the AT.
Good luck getting it sorted.
Dual mass torque converter? either way it's fkd, a fluid change might just save it, depends how far it's gone, is there an wet patch under it?
For me you buy a Merc for plush soft ride, without any sportiness.
Take a plush car and try and make it sporty never works. Only way to properly help the harsh ride would be to go to smaller rims
Anyone who buys a sporty car that isn't just for track use ticks the 'adaptive dampers' option when buying. If you don't you end up with the worst kind of compromise. Harsh on the road day to day, and not stiff enough on the track.
Adaptive dampers is like buying a fork with HSC, LSC, and rebound adjustment with just the flick of a switch. Sports suspension is like buying a Fox 38 and the it's setup permanently for Richie Rude doing Rampage. I.e. ****g awful.
If anyone buys a 'sport' model, or a X-line version of a sporty car make sure it doesn't have 'sports suspension' as it's an awful ideal.
In fairness, the suspension isn't too bad - it's soft but very progressive. Even with the skinny tyres it's alright on country roads. It's just on broken roads it's a bit rough, and it's a bit noisy. But I've been in far worse 'sport' setup cars. I test drove a Jetta with sport suspension when I got the Passat, and it was ridiculous. It wasn't even that low so there was no sporty sensation, it was just a normal Jetta but rock hard.
It'll be a lot better with sensible tyres. I think I'm going to go for 17s - the wheels end up the same size but with an inch more rubber. Assuming the garage doesn't tell me it's borked.
I tried the throttle body calibration again and drove it around and it's helped - it seems less grabby when manoeuvring and the shudder on start/stop is largely gone. But it's still not right. When driving at constant speed in manual mode and downshifting, not only does the shift take a couple of seconds but you can see the rev needle move up, then sort of bounce then move up again. Something's not calibrated right. But there are apparently adaptations you can do with STAR so I'll see what the specialist does on Monday.
No Merc should wear AMG badges unless it says 6.3 V8 on the wings…
This.
They’re all at it
VW has R line
Ford has ST line
Vauxhall Griffin spec
True, to an extent, but the ST-Line spec is a real improvement over base-spec; my EcoSport has better seats, reversing camera, satnav, CarPlay/Android Auto, a nice sized floating screen for the infotainment system, paddles with the semi-auto 6-speed, and the 1.0 EcoBoost motor delivers 125bhp instead of 90. A remap will get me 156…
Personally, having driven many Mercs and BMW’s over the last few years, I wouldn’t buy either.
Oh, and check out Cazoo, you get 7 days to decide if you want to keep the car.
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big_n_daft
Free MemberThere’s absolutely no way I’m paying for a new flywheel or centrifugal pendulum damper or whatever is inside that thing.
Neither is RustyNissanPrairie
👍 two working flywheels and a Volvo 'calibrated for geriatric cruising speed' slushbox on my side of The Deal.
ST-Line spec is a real improvement over base-spec; my EcoSport has better seats, reversing camera, satnav, CarPlay/Android Auto, a nice sized floating screen for the infotainment system, paddles with the semi-auto 6-speed, and the 1.0 EcoBoost motor delivers 125bhp instead of 90. A remap will get me 156…
Yeah not an ST . Used to be known as Ghia or as we knew it grandad spec.....as said they are all at it bringing their "sporty" names down to boring generic models to make people feel like they have something fancy..... It seems to work.
Anyway this mercedes.....why's it not been rejected yet ?
Anyway this mercedes…..why’s it not been rejected yet ?
Cos I need an expert opinion before starting a complaint don't I? Otherwise they'll tell me to jog on.
Plus, if it just needs a tranny service and it's all peachy smooth I might keep it anyway. There's bugger all else on the market. Having looked around online I could get e.g. a slightly newer Passat for less money but with huge miles; or I could get a one year old super low mileage Passat from the main dealer for a fair chunk extra a month. Neither of which are great options. Or the third option is to hand it back, get my money back and just fix the old Passat again.
But for me to hand it back I need to prove there's actually something wrong with it.
ST-Line spec is a real improvement over base-spec; my EcoSport has better seats, reversing camera, satnav, CarPlay/Android Auto, a nice sized floating screen for the infotainment system, paddles with the semi-auto 6-speed, and the 1.0 EcoBoost motor delivers 125bhp instead of 90
You can/could get the same engine in a Zetec or Titanium, it's a just well specced version of a car. And there's nothing wrong with well equipped models of car, just, as Trail Rat says, 10 years ago it would have been called Ghia. It's not even like there's an Ecosport ST to be 'inspired' by.
The whole "recalibrate the gearbox by holding the accelerator pedal down" nonsense is just that - nonsense.
It's a placebo effect.
17s may fit on the hub but check that they'll go over the brake discs. Significant ride improvements probably available by dropping pressure slightly (my V90 recommends 38 psi on 20-inch rims because that's where it's most fuel efficient but I run them at 34 and the ride is infinitely better).
There’s bugger all else on the market.
Eh? 🙂
What are your criteria?
No idea how much you spent on the Merc, but you could have bought thousands of other cars.
The whole “recalibrate the gearbox by holding the accelerator pedal down” nonsense is just that – nonsense.
It recalibrates the throttle body range of motion for the transmission apparently. It does do something but it doesn't reset the transmission's variables, you need STAR for that.
Re wheels, as said earlier 17s are specified in the manual with specific offsets (8.5J X 17 ET 34.5 both axles) so I'd get those. The current pressures are as per spec which is 32 front and 33 rear, which seems prett low for a 1800kg car on such low pro tyres. They are pretty wide mind.
What are your criteria?
Criteria are significantly less miles than the Merc for the same price, or significantly cheaper. There are Passats for less money but even higher mileage, or there are Passats the same price but only say 30k fewer miles.
But as said it all depends on if I can return the car or not. I wouldn't get my money back if I sold it privately.
What is your budget btw?
The Merc sounds like tremendous fun, but a potential money pit.
Could you not be tempted by something a bit newer but simpler, potentially cheaper in the long run?
The Merc was £13k which is over the odds I realise, although it's cosmetically in top condition. It's 2013 and has 86k on it.
I'd rather have spent £10k or less.
VW had a 1 year old Passat with only three thousand miles at £20k which would be great but then we're into significantly higher spend and given my expected low mileage, is it worth it? But perhaps for peace of mind it might be - I mean a 3k miles car is effectively new. Of course it would need a towbar too.
Otherwise there are Passats available for £10-12k that are a bit newer and a bit lower mileage, or there are £8k ish ones but with 100k.
I’ve fallen into the trap of buyer older cars and maintaining them at the end of their life, never again. It’s such a lottery if you want anything interesting (not dull.) I buy at 2-3 yrs old and get a 1 year warranty with the dealer. Run it for a year getting to know it’s foibles then decide if I want to extend the warranty or not. I think I end up paying about the same if not a tad more but have a much better driving experience overall. It also means I can ensure the service history is ok provided the dealers have done it properly and if they haven’t at least I’ve caught it earlier.
£13k! There were loads of choices when I was looking last year.
Last July I bought an 18 plate Leon FR estate with the 150bhp diesel engine and 28k miles for £12k. Maybe you need more towing capacity?
I looked at the C Class estate and loved the interior but would have had to buy a much older car with more miles.
The A4 estate doesn't appeal. More money, less boot space and the price hike didn't seem warranted over the Seat.
Loads of other options out there when I was looking.
Is the badge or country of origin important Mol?
£13k gets you most of the way toward a 2 year old Honda, Suzuki, Kia etc with low milage, excellent reliability and the remains of a warranty.
I imagine it would get you a decent Mondeo estate as well.....
It’s such a lottery if you want anything interesting (not dull.)
There's nothing duller than waiting for the recovery van.....again, or the sickening feeling of spending the cost of a new bike on repairs.
Good luck, whichever way you decide to go!
£13k! There were loads of choices when I was looking last year.
Yes but that was before prices went through the roof and as said initially I needed a car with a towbar immediately which is how I ended up with this one.
Is the badge or country of origin important Mol?
Not as such but I have to like it. I haven't tried lots of other cars of course, I didn't get the chance to shop around. There are too many brands so I have to have my own internal shortlist of brands that appeal to me, which I appreciate is a flawed approach. And Mercedes wasn't on that list.
It is however a great car to drive. I'd be thrilled with it if the gearbox was as smooth as I'd expect it to be and if it weren't so flippin noisy. Both those things are potentially fixable.
Both those things are also potentially pointing at the reason it was traded in the first place.
I think a proper diagnosis on the gearbox before thinking further, if it's shot or going to be expensive get it back to them quick, if it's fixable get the sunglasses holder and have the police wondering why a drug dealer is driving an estate, ha I love this thread.
Should have got the Kia.
13k gets a lot of Kia even from the dealership not new admittedly.
Paintwork is the only gripe I've got with them.
There must be skodas within that range?
Not get a towbar for the Hyundai for 13k ?
Not as such but I have to like it.
I like the ones which are at the top of the reliability tables. 🙂
And our current cars were £8k each off list price at 2 years old from Motorpoint, which made me like them even more.
A £16k saving could make me like pretty much anything. Well, apart from BMWs and Audis. 😀
Luckily, they had a large choice of the models we wanted at the time we were ready to buy - not so much now & prices have risen......
Oh yeah - must be auto as well, and it seems that VAG have the good autos and possibly also Ford.
I know you all love updates so: garage told me that there are ABS speed sensor faults on all four wheels, which apparently does affect the transmission as it doesn't know how fast the car's actually going when it tries to shift.
Well, that doesn't sound too bad. Does it?
Better than, "you're transmission's knackered, mate"
I wonder what has caused that though? Sounds unusual for them all to be faulty?
I take it you are going to contact the seller about this & see if you can get some goodwill out of them for the repair cost? Worth a try.
Yes, a much easier fix than complicated gearbox gubbins.
I take it you are going to contact the seller about this & see if you can get some goodwill out of them for the repair cost?
It's under warranty, both from the dealer and the RAC cos I took that out as well.
The question is if I want to get it fixed or return it since as I understand it I have the right to do either.
I managed to find a Passat that suited me - 3 years old 30k miles for £15k. So there's that. But only one and it'll probably go in days.
Take it back imo, the noise, new tyres, cost of maintenance etc it all adds up to a no.
They'll probably complain a lot if I try. I am not good at this stuff.
the trouble with warranty is that nothings actually failed - the RAC one quotes 'if your car breaks down' - at the moment its clearly drivable. I recon those abs faults are a red herring - it was probably towed at some point which can cause all sorts of wierdness. Even if an autobox didn't know exactly when to shift, it wouldn't affect the shift itself (just make it happen at odd times). Get yourself a handheld odbc reader from amazon (£15) and use it to read/clear the codes yourself and see if they come back in.
FWIW toyotas have 10 year/100,000mile warrantys as long as you get them serviced by toyota - this applies to older models too. £6k would get you a 7 year old/60,000 mile avensis with 3 years piece of mind built in.
I recon those abs faults are a red herring – it was probably towed at some point which can cause all sorts of wierdness
Possible. They cleared them and are now test-driving it to try and get them to come back. But I think that it is possible that the transmission needs to know the road speed to determine how much clutch slip to apply which is where the issue seems to be.
ABS Sensors have caused similar apparent gearbox problems on my 3 Series automatic, but there's also usually a visual indicator that it's sensing a fault. In my case, that's a flashing DSC light to show that it's picking up a significant difference in wheel speed across the axle which doesn't match the yaw sensor in the steering. If the fault is intermittent the car goes back to normal, but will store the fault code. If it happens enough times, it will disable the DSC. If it still has problems with the sensors, the gearbox changes will start to become slow to occur and harsh when they do. The final step is that the car will place the box into safe mode where it parks the gearbox in 3rd or 4th gear and wont change at all until the fault is cleared.
My automatic has been Megaflushed at 70k miles and is now at 110k miles.
I'd be wary of thinking 4 new ABS sensors will fix it, but it could just be that if the car is trying to drive about in the wrong gear.
Well they cleared it, and the car is in the limbo land between spot on and definitely an issue. I would not expect the dealer to give me the time of day if I were to go back with it.
The only definite thing left to complain about is the rattle when you go from P or N into D. This is repeatable fortunately, it does it every time. The issue is that I don't really know what it's meant to be like. Gear shifts are still a bit stuttery at certain loads too. These are the kinds of issues that could indicate something significant wrong but not currently severe enough to guarantee success if I tried to return it, I think.
https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/rejecting-a-car/
TL:DR - you have reasonable grounds but should have stopped driving it and informed the dealer, as everyone told you to. Get it back, it sounds like a whole bunch of problems and TBH not worth £13k. You're effectively playing parts darts right now and the more you bugger about with it the more ammo you are giving them to deny a refund.
TL:DR – you have reasonable grounds but should have stopped driving it and informed the dealer, as everyone told you to.
I was on holiday!
You’re effectively playing parts darts right now and the more you bugger about with it the more ammo you are giving them to deny a refund.
I haven't bought any parts, I'm gathering ammo to take to them. You aren't reading the thread carefully enough are you?
You have alreaady reset ABS sensors at another garage, thats what I'm getting at regarding the parts darts. You've messed about with it before giving them a chance to look at it, what do you think they're going to say in repsonse to that?
Yes you were on holiday (that obviously couldn't be helped) but you never informed the dealer and still seem to be swithering over whether to do so, your case is eroding more the longer you leave this. I get it, you don't want the confrontation, my dad was exactly the bloody same. But it's a pup, most agree on that and it's only going to piss you off regardless of how much you convince yourself otherwise. You can spend £13K better elsewhere and you don't even have holiday pressure to worry about now.
You have alreaady reset ABS sensors at another garage, thats what I’m getting at regarding the parts darts.
I didn't do that - they did it for me, I wasn't consulted. I do have the original printout though. And stored codes can be stored from a long time ago. If the codes don't come back, there's no current fault, so there's nothing to fix or complain about.
your case is eroding more the longer you leave this
I have a better case now I have had a mechanic look at it. If I'd have just gone back and whined they'd laugh me out of the shop. I'm going to call them tomorrow.
I don’t really know what it’s meant to be like
Buttery smooth, it’s a merc. I’d expect it to be like my 5 series, you don’t notice it shift unless you really pay attention.
and the car is in the limbo land between spot on and definitely an issue
It’s like a metaphor for life
Makes you think…
Just take it back and say the gearbox is borked, you are not happy and can they take a look at it.
The holiday thing is not that important is it? If it was perfect when you bought it and crap 2 weeks later you could take it back right?