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.
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