Be Excellent To Each Other

Collected the Merc on schedule today, can't fault the dealer he really does everything from the paperwork perspective. He even does the insurance for you if your insurer is local, 'Voice recognition, they all know who I am', and had the car brought to his other dealership on the island which is much closer to my work.

I've got to be entirely honest and say I was starting to wonder if I'd gone mad, I even woke up at 5am this morning thinking, 'Oh fuck, I've gone and bought a ten year old Merc, I must need my head reading'.

First drive was only about a mile and a half down the prom (where I always move my car at lunch - the walk back to the office and then back to the car after work is effectively all the exercise I get, so I try to stick to it religiously), so that didn't tell me much, although the chum who accompanies me on this daily routine was much impressed by the car.

For the drive home I took the long way right round the TT course, and any qualms I'd been having quickly evaporated. It's comfortable, it's quiet, it's refined, it's got a surprising turn of speed, the sound system is fantastic, and the whole thing just feels like it's been hewn from granite in every regard. Handling wise it's definitely set up more on the comfort side of things, but towards the end of the run I was getting a decent feel for it through corners and it's far more capable than its size would suggest.

At no point did I go mental (only topped 100mph once), but I'll give it a proper blast over the mountain mile when I get chance (on paper it does 153mph given enough road), TBH I was much happier just enjoying the general vibe of the car and wafting myself along. Make no mistake though, if you put your foot to the floor the 7-speed autobox will very quickly jump down a couple of gears and launch the whole car forwards at some pace. (0-60 is 7 seconds which is brisk if not amazing, but it's the pickup at midrange speeds which is arguably more impressive.)

Only thing I need to do now is work my way through the main 'computery' things it has, the COMMAND nav system console which is like the head unit if you will, and the multi-function display that's built into the middle of the speedo, which you can customise quite a lot with the various buttons on the steering wheel.

Anyway, by the time I got home I was really happy with it, and it was showing 36.5mpg for the journey which seems very respectable as well.

ALL IT NEEDS TO DO NOW IS NOT BLOW UP.

EDIT - Oh yes far better on parking than I'd been fearing, the sensors all round and the little LED bars which are zone specific (front left, front right, rear left, rear right) make it surprisingly easy considering the car is the size of a small planet.

If you want to get bluetooth audio and iPod connectivity into it (assuming it doesn't already have it) then I have a spare Dension Gateway 500S BT for sale that may be compatible - it's designed for use in systems like BMW's iDrive (which is where I used it) and Merc's COMAND system.

£200.

Question about MPG. I've got a 2011 1.2 petrol Skoda Yeti with 30k on the clock and I struggle to get anything close to the advertised combined 44.1mpg.

I know one shouldn't expect to get the advertised mpg, but I don't get more than 32 at the very best and am usually around the 20 mark.

Sound like something worth getting a garage to look at (sailed through it's MOT and service in December)? Or should I just accept that kind performance drop is to be expected?

That's pretty low for a 1.2

Sounds very wrong, my missus has a comparable car, a Honda Jazz 1.4 petrol and that's always in the ballpark of the right figures. How are you working out the mpg?

Also how do you drive?

Check the tyre pressures, and new oil and oil filter might help. Lifted the ka mog up by 10%ish if memory serves.

Thanks all. It's the 1.2 TSI, I don't know if that makes a difference.

When we're getting 32 it's on the motorway.

20 with the driving around town.

I'm no boy racer, not racing off from lights, slow and steady wins the race.

My wife is relatively new to driving and can go heavy on the revs, but I'd hope that wasn't enough to obliterate our MPG.

Will check the tyres etc, thank you.

My brother in law has just bought a focus with the ecoboost engine. 1 litre, with the speed of a 1.8 but gives about 70mpg. Sounds too good to be true. Time will tell

Have you filled the windscreen wiper squirters? Filled them too much? Fill them by a third, then another third then take out 2 quarters and a fifth and add in as much as is then in the bottle.

If you are doing 6k miles a year, the cost of fuel difference betwwen tbose two numbers is 70p a day.

Name of your sextape.

Apparently those puny little Ecoboosts are fine in smaller cars like the Fiesta but in the Focus they're prone to blow-up-age. Something to bear in mind.

Yeah, I love my Fiesta with its ecoboost, but even in that I have to use the gears more than I used to (in a 1.8 Focus). I'm not sure what mpg I get, but over its lifetime it's up to 40. It was a demonstrator for its first 10k miles, which kept that figure down.

I drive my 2.0 litre Clio enthusiastically and I still get around 30mpg combined, so something is very wrong here.

Yeah thats not good, 20mpg is v8 territory!

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I fucking wish.

My nephew's garage has the MOT contract for various car dealers in Cardiff and he frequently phones me when he's dropping an Aston or Bentley back to the dealer with tales of urban driving and sub 10mpg

The Cayman's 3400cc, 6 cylinders and no turbo to improve efficiency, yet it still does 24mpg when hoofing it around, high-20s when not, and even 35mpg when on a long 80mph motorway run (no exaggeration; I couldn't believe it either)

Mrs C's 2200cc turbodiesel SD4 RR Evoque struggles to get above 33-34mpg, but then it is a boxy lump with permanent 4wd.

Harley barely makes 30mpg real world with only 1250cc and two cylinders (and a tiny fuel tank, not much more than 100 mile range...) I'm sure the 1800cc Breakout CVO will sip fuel

Still, could be worse, my old 400cc 2-stroke RD400 twin couldn't even manage 20mpg (and that's petroil, including very expensive synthetic 2-stroke oil). Ah, them's were the days; a petrol and oil smoke haze of delight, in the Summer of youth, with lots of wheelies all round.

That's ridiculous man, definitely something awry. I assume you're not just using it for very short journeys only and it's not getting a chance to warm up and not get off "choke" (or injection equivalent)?

What's the kerb weight on the Yeti? Seems quite a small engine for such a large car. Is it permanent 4WD or only part time.

I belive it's front wheel drive with a permanent drive to a Hadex system, like the Freelanders used to be.

So "no, but sort of". It'll certainly use up more fuel than a normal drive system, but not a lot more.

I knew you'd show up, I said v8 not tomcat! 7 and 3/4 litre bentleys from the 80's make 16 mpg, I'm sure modern, *sensible* v8s can beat that...
Anyway its not good for a 1.2

I believe the 1.2tsi is always two wheel drive anyway. Most people get around 40mpg driving normally so yours sounds poor.

Thanks for that Gaz but I've already paid (rather more than that ) for a kit which is on the way from the UK now and due to be fitted on the 29th. (I think it's a Dension, in fact.)

However, I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow to see if it's possible for him to send it back and get a refund, because since getting the car I have now realised that as well as playing DVD Video discs, it'll also cheerfully play DVD data discs burned off on a PC. Once I learned it could play DVD Video discs, purely for a punt really I burned out over 4GB of MP3s onto a DVD and lobbed the disc into the COMAND head unit and after thinking about it for around 15 seconds (which made me think it was simply going to spit it out, which is what I was expecting), instead it brought up the folder structure on the disc on its screen, and started playing the first track. It's clearly designed to do so 'cause you can navigate around the folders and files using all the relevant buttons on the head unit and steering wheel, and if you switch the multi-function display inside the speedo dial to 'AUDIO' it'll show you what track is currently playing.

Now it's not quite as good as USB/iPod of course, with capacities on those routinely being 16/32/64 and far more than that on iPod (I was using an 80GB iPod in the Type-R), but 4.5GB is nonetheless a lot of MP3s and I could easily get by with that. Just burn out a few data DVDs and I'm set for ages.

In an ideal world it won't be a problem to pass on getting the kit fitted and recoup £500 (!) in the process, but having read up on these Dension things they seem to be somewhat buggy and unreliable as well, so I'm not even sure I want the bloody thing fitted to the car regardless.

I'll call the dealer tomorrow and see what he says.

In other news I went for a nice long drive around the island after work today, and averaged 39.6mpg for the journey, which is way beyond anything I ever managed in the Type-R. (Even with proper granny driving that maxed out at 34mpg, and of course diesel is cheaper than petrol at the moment.)

Also it was dark when I set off for work this morning, so I got to appreciate all the lovely ambient lighting in the cabin, which is pretty much the most non-essential thing you can possibly imagine, but it does look rather nice.

I would feel much better about leaving 3 or 4 burnt DVDs in my car too rather than hide an ipod in a glove box. That sounds like a more convenient solution to be fair.

Leaving the iPod in there doesn't really bother me (I bought it specifically for the Type-R so it's basically surplus to requirements at the moment), what I was after was something approaching 'mass storage' status and an MP3 CD doesn't make the grade (which is all I thought the head unit in the car would play).

As such I pursued the option to get the aftermarket kit fitted which provides USB/iPod connectivity, albeit at substantial cost.

However, upon discovering the car would play video DVDs (which in fairness was never mentioned on the advert or the test drive), and then finding it'd read DVD data discs, the need for USB/iPod went away as the storage capacity of a DVD is such that I can live with them as 'mass storage'.

Certainly when it's £500 we're talking about, I'm happy to go with the DVDs.....

OK just got off the phone with the dealer, he said the kit is already en route (expecting it to arrive tomorrow) and he's already paid for it on a debit card, but he'll get in touch with who he bought it off and ask if a refund is possible, and if so he'll then pass that onto me.

I apologised for messing him around whilst noting that if I'd known the head unit was data DVD capable before buying it I wouldn't have even asked about getting any sort of aftermarket kit fitted.

Ultimately if no refund is possible and it still ends up getting fitted, it will add extra functionality to the car, albeit if it's a Dension I'm slightly concerned about the multiple reports out there of them being buggy.....

They are a bit buggy, but I wouldn't say so buggy that they ruin the car or anything. I'd say it was probably once every few months that I had a small issue like it not initialising properly.

Of course, YMMV as BMW integration is probably different to Merc.

But they do actually fuse themselves into the car's systems don't they? So it's almost like introducing bugs and glitches into the car's own software.

There's a review on Amazon by a guy who says he fitted a Dension kit to his Porsche and thereafter had the wonderful experience of the entire entertainment system crashing periodically......

Yeah, they tap into the MOST fibre optic network in the car, so if it's installed badly then it can cause all sorts of problems.

If it's installed properly, you'll have no issues apart from the odd glitch with the interface - at least, that was my experience on the BMW (had one fitted to three different BMWs over time)

Wow, that sounds expensive and flakey.

How many songs do you listen to on an average journey, Hearthy?

Thank you very much to everyone re the MPG conundrum. I'm using the dashboard MPG reading to get my MPG data. Think I'll take her to see Steve at Steve's Autos to see what can be done.

To check it you could fill it up to the first click of the pump, reset trip counter and drive it about until you need to fill it up to first click of the pump. Note volume fuel and distance travelled and do the maths

Could be the lambda sensor is faulty.

Half Life 3 confirmed.

Been known to lead many on a merry dance.

I used to use that method on my Tibby Hearth.



IIRC I had three DVDs back then that contained my entire music collection.

Was thinking I'd try that. Empty her, fill her, measure her, maths her.

Sex tape.

No, Your Mum.

Either/or I ain't bothered.

Gaffer

(Your mum's sex tape)

For more sensible advice, wander over to http://www.briskoda.net if you aren't already a member.

Oooh, Brucey Bonus - I burned off a dual-layer DVD stuffed with MP3s in a load of folders and the head unit coped with that fine too, so that's 8.5GB per disc.

I really, really don't need that aftermarket USB/iPod kit now so I hope I can get my money back.

Fucking too right.

Filled the Merc up yesterday as the fuel light came on, it took 75L(!) to brim it, tank capacity is 80L according to the book. It's done its first proper family duties this weekend and it's excellent feedback all round. Mrs Hearthly doesn't really do cars, if one of her friends has a new car for example, and I ask what it is, the answer will be something like, 'Erm.... Blue?'

However, quite apart from being pleased to actually have doors to get in and out of again, she did say it was really quiet and smooth and much nicer to be a passenger in than the Type-R, very comfortable, and it's far easier for us all to talk to each other without that rasping exhaust blasting out all the time. (Which TBH I really liked but it wasn't conducive to conversation.)

Hearthly Jnr felt a bit like a mini-queen upfront, and was delighted to have sat-nav again, especially when I explained what the 'ALT' reading was, and what 'sea-level' is, and thereafter she kept a beady eye on it, although she felt slightly cheated when we parked up on Peel promenade and we were still apparently 100FT above sea-level. (It only goes in units of 100FT so it's not mega-accurate, I don't even know how it does altitude, to be honest.)

For my part it's a much nicer car to drive than the Type-R, especially so when I'm on family duty as it's simply a case of put it in 'D', one hand on the wheel, and one foot for accelerator/brake - but as something of an old bastard now I prefer it when I'm out by myself as well, and it's got enough of a turn of speed to still be a bit interesting too.

MPG wise I reckon it's going to settle somewhere around 36-37MPG, I've reset the computer to get long term stats, but it also does daily stats as well, my record so far on the daily is 39.6MPG. (Which for a car that weighs two tons, 0-60 in 7 seconds and 153mph flat out, and has a three litre lump under the bonnet is pretty good going IMO, I only managed 36.7MPG over 10K in the Accord, which was a diesel saloon automatic.)

Yeah I know it's a ten year old Merc that cost ten grand so nothing to get overly carried away about, but it's the first car in a while that's really given me an ongoing feelgood factor, I think the Scooby was the last one to do that, and that was only because it was so ridiculously fast with handling to match, it wasn't a great car to live with on a daily basis.

The computer reckons it'll get about 650 miles out of the full tank, so I won't be filling it up that often, but it will be expensive when I do so..... Quite happy that diesel is cheaper than petrol at the moment though, I have no idea why that's the case, but I won't complain.

Only outstanding niggle (which is nothing to do with the car really) is whether or not I can get my cash back on the aftermarket audio kit, should find out about that tomorrow or Tuesday.

:cries:

(memories of the M5, with it's 70L tank and 200 mile range)

Bugatti Chiron

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor ... essor-here

Aston Martin DB11

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor ... new-images