So the wonderful story of driving a Benz continues.

Yesterday the pimp lights in the interior stopped working. Again. Could it be the fifth or sixth time.

I went to a non authorized garage the other day to have them look at the mirror glass that keeps popping out when I close the passenger door. He showed me that 6 of 8 plastic clips that hold the glass in place are broken. The authorised garage that supposedly fixed the glass did not actually fix it, they just popped it back in place. What we would call a cheat job in Swedish.

I call the Mercedes garage assholes this morning and they tell me:

"oh are the lights not working again? Well your warranty has expired, sorry"

"oh the mirror glass pops out again, we could order a new one but remember that your warranty has expired so you gonna need to pay for that"

"calm down sir, I look here in our logs and I must tell you that you have had very few issues with your car. I work with Mercedes cars and you should consider yourself lucky with the few issues you have had"

"No we cant claim goodwill from Mercedes cause last time we checked your lights were working so there is no way to guarantee that this is the same issue. I do believe you sir but I am put in the middle between you and Mercedes here. And about the glass, how can we know this is the same issue, no way for me to claim goodwill via Mercedes here"

So after soon 3 years with this car I have counted now that I have had to take it to the garage 12 times for repairs. An average of what, more than once every quarter. Funny, this morning I went to the tyre place to get them summer tyres put on and the garage guy asked me why I have sticky tape wrapped around the mirror and then replied "ah yes, I drive a 2019 E200 and mine has broken two times already"

So yeah, this is the last Benz I will ever drive. Never in my life have I owned a car like this. I know Albert will soon reply to tell me why Mercedes is the best car in the world. Could it be that these cars are not meant to work in a cold climate like we have here?

 

I still miss my '91 230TE. Alpine white with a blue pin line down the length of the body. Only had it a couple of years but enjoyed it immensely. The cargo capacity was unbelievable, and yes I did use the rear-facing seats on more than one occasion.

 

Jim, contact Mercedes customer services in your country, this is not acceptable, maybe even try another Merc dealer if there is one within reach?

 

Sorry to hear you’ve been having issues Jim, it still looks like a very comfortable, pimp car!

I suspect you have been unlucky with your dealer, reading around the various different manufacturers fb pages that I’m on, they all seem to vary wildly within a brand. Some are great, some are a nightmare and have no idea how to fix a car or look after customers.

 

Yes probably right. And yes indeed, it is the most comfortable car I've ever had. Since I have 2,5h one way to the office it sure is wonderful to cruise on the highway

 

On the upside, at least it's not porpoising.

 

Backstory:
I own a 1999 SLK 230K. Unless I can get a manual SLK 32AMG (through a roughly 15k$ mod), I'll stick to this one.
Anyway, as the SLK 32AMG was the DTM safety car bac in the late 90s, and then the SLK 55AMG (R171) was the F1 safety car in the early 2000s, I decided to mix it up a bit and put "F1" and "SAFETY CAR" stickers on my SLK 230K just for kicks. It gets a bit of attention, such as here in Monaco during this year's GP

The stickers are home made with a Silhouette cutter, I've had them on for a bit over a year now and love it!

 

Very cool, or should I say nerdy, love it!

 

So rare to see a manual gear change on display now.

 

Reacquainted myself with this old piece. Just a fun little watch from about 22 years ago when I was more into Mercedes AMG.

 

They had a really nice rose gold Benz automatic watch for about 700 Euro last time I was at the dealer, looked really nice. Anyone know who produce the watches on their behalf?

 

It certainly has that late '90s early 2000s design language doesn't it.

I also have one of these clocks buried in storage somewhere too.

Definitely rates a like!

 

Here’s a photo of my Mercedes clock

 

I'm even more impressed with the speedometer...