[Ruby351]

I have been on the forum for 12 months now, so I thought it was about time I put up a thread dedicated to my gorgeous Mercedes-Benz Desiree. I decided I better check out what other cars are on the subforum ‘Other Car Brands’, when to my surprise, I found that I had already put up a post on the 16th of November 2021 … oops ... long time no see, so now is as good a time as any to start a fresh, I think.

I suppose my hesitation up to now has been in part due to the very occasional negative comments and vibes I picked up re Mercs, which no doubt are in jest for the most part I guess, but maybe not all and over time I have come to appreciate the way the forum works and some members too, my skin has grown a little thicker, (a little) and to quote John Lydgate, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”. So there we have it, and I thought I would share some photos and tales of life with my lovely Desiree.

As I say, I checked out the other cars threads posts to see if it was heavily loaded with Mercs, and funny enough to my surprise, out of the first 35 posts, there were only 2, mine and Alec’s stunning Mercedes CL 4.7 V8, that he has now sold, well that was back in May 2021.

Without further ado, if you like photos of cars and the ins and outs of owning a Merc, welcome to our story, if not, now is the time to change channels

 

[Ruby351]

 

[JimC64]

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I'm personally not into Mercs that much myself, but she does look good, but then, you do seem to look after all your vehicles, and you do have a few!

Fill it out with more detail when you can

Jim

 

[Ruby351]

• Body style Saloon
• Engine size 2143cc
• Engine capacity 2.10 L
• Fuel type Diesel
• Transmission Automatic
• CO2 emissions 114 g/km

• Insurance group 33

Performance & Economy

• Fuel consumption (urban) 50.4 mpg
• Fuel consumption (extra urban) 76.4 mpg
• Fuel consumption (combined) 64.2 mpg
• 0 - 60 mph 8.4 seconds
• Top speed 141.0 mph
• Cylinders 4
• Engine power 174 bhp

• Engine torque 295 lbs/ft

Dimensions

• Height 1475mm Length 4879mm
• Wheelbase 2874mm Width 1854mm

Interior

• Aerial integrated in rear window
• DAB Digital radio
• USB/aux input socket
• 3 spoke nappa leather steering wheel
• Adjustable rear head restraints
• Ambient lighting
• Auto dual-zone climate control system
• Auto Mercedes-Benz child seat recognition sensor
• Bag hook in luggage compartment
• Bottle holders
• Front and rear door pockets
• Partial electric front seats/backrest/height adjust
• Front cupholder
• Interior rear light/integral reading lights
• Front seat back map pockets
• Front centre armrest with storage compartment
• Heated front seats
• Door sill panels with stainless steel inlays
• Height/reach adjust steering wheel
• Instrument lighting dimmer
• Isofix rear child seat fastenings
• Lockable glovebox
• Multi function steering wheel
• Neck-pro front headrests
• Rear armrest with storage + cupholders
• Steering wheel gearshift paddles
• Stowage compartment with 12V socket
• Sunvisors with illuminated vanity mirrors

Exterior

• Metallic - Cavansite blue
• Nappa leather - Crystal grey
• Adaptive high beam assist
• Body coloured bumpers
• Body coloured door handles
• Chrome bumper inserts
• Chrome trim on side protection strips
• Chrome window highlights
• Elec heated + adjust door mirrors
• Electric front/rear windows with one touch/auto up/down
• Heated windscreen wash system
• Intelligent LED headlight system with active cornering lights
• LED daytime running lights
• LED indicators in door mirrors
• LED tail lights
• Rain sensor windscreen wipers
• Twin exhaust pipes
• 17" 5 twin spoke alloy wheels
• Tirefit sealant with electric air pump

Safety

Active park assist with parktronic system
Attention assist
Bluetooth interface for hands free telephone
Boot release from drivers seat
Collision prevention assist

• COMAND HDD navigation with CD/DVD/Radio, media interface, linguatronic, 10GB music register, SD card slot + online
• External temperature gauge
• Instrument cluster
• On board computer
• Service indicator (ASSYST PLUS)
• Speed sensitive power steering
• 3x3 point rear seatbelts
• ABS with Brake Assist
• Active bonnet
• Adaptive brake system
• Driver/front passenger airbag
• Drivers knee airbag
• ESP with ASR
• Front and rear curtain airbags
• Front side airbags
• Pre-Safe anticipatory safety system
• Rear seatbelt warning indicator
• Tyre pressure monitoring system
• Warning triangle and first aid kit
• Locking wheel bolts
• Alarm system/interior protection/immobiliser
• Remote central locking

Other

• Mirror pack - E Class

• Diesel particulate filter

 

[Ruby351]

I'm personally not into Mercs that much myself, but she does look good, but then, you do seem to look after all your vehicles, and you do have a few!

Fill it out with more detail when you can

Jim

Thanks Jim

Honest as always and I totally accept the brand is not for everyone, wouldn't do for us to all be the same, if we were, there wouldn't be enough Jags in the world to kit us all out

 

[JimC64]

Thanks Jim

Honest as always and I totally accept the brand is not for everyone, wouldn't do for us to all be the same, if we were, there wouldn't be enough Jags in the world to kit us all out

Don't mean anything negative by it, I've heard good things and know people who own Mercs and who love them, just don't do it for me.

So am I right, you have the XJ X351, the Bentley, the Merc and a Ford transit van??

Anything I'm missing?

Jim

 

[Ruby351]

Don't mean anything negative by it, I've heard good things and know people who own Mercs and who love them, just don't do it for me.

So am I right, you have the XJ X351, the Bentley, the Merc and a Ford transit van??

Anything I'm missing?

Jim

I know you don't old fruit.

I think in a lot of cases it's the 'Maramite' factor, or simply a leaning towards that sort of thing or not I suppose. For me, it's exactly the same with certain makes of car that I wouldn't entertain if they were handed to me on a plate, even though I have absolutely no personal experience of them whatsoever, 'tis what it 'tis and no one will convince me otherwise ... I think

Yes, absolutely right with your summing up of our motors, unless you count these Bobby-dazzlers, which we take out for a burn up along the seafront in the summer on sunny days, or to go fishing with.

Not the exact scooters but same models, because as yet, I haven't taken to getting piccies of them ... I wonder why ... hmmmmm I will have to remedy this when we go out for a spin again 🤔

 

[mbd424]

Well youve certainly got a garage full of lovely cars to look after.
Enjoy them.😻

 

[capri v8 driver]

Very nice car.

 

[JaguarDriver]

She’s beautiful and brings so much memories of my Mercs. How many miles has Desiree?
A bit of trivia: the shape of centre vents mask on dash is the same as the shape of grille.
And this bottle holder with net is a bit I’ve been missing from the day one of my Jaguar era.

 

[jberks]

My Dad has the identical car. Metallic black (or is yours blue?) 2016 E220cdi. He hasn't willingly driven anything other than a Merc since 1979. They are extremely comfortable, very much an armchair car, compared to my Jag's more sporting setup. it's also far more practical and roomy, in fact people could be excused for asking why we'd be so daft to ignore these and by a Jag in the first place! At least until they'd driven the Jag.
I loved my Mercs, probably because I'd grown up with them. I bought my first. a C220 in 1998, then swapped to an E240 in 2001 (because I wanted a V6 and aircon and E's were selling for the same price as the just released new Cs) and finally an E270CDI in 2006 when I started to commute distances and the poor mpg and lack of power of the 240 started to make my teeth itch. I ran that until I got my XF in 2014. Put 180,000 miles on it and it never missed a beat in all that time. I loved it.
I actually went out that day with the specific intention of buying a 12 month old W212 E320cdi replacement for my E270 and would probably have been very happy with it had I been successful. The problem at the time was 2 fold. Firstly I wasn't in love with the styling (Your facelift model is far prettier). It was very much a head rather than heart decision. I drove E Classes and that was what was available. Not the best motivation. Secondly I had to deal with dis-interested MB salesmen who utterly P'd me off.
Hence, after visiting 2 MB dealers and leaving both feeling insulted, the Mrs dragged me to Jaguar and after talking to a very helpful salesman, and despite the lesser tech and practicality, the looks and the way it drove had me sold.

 

[rayUK]

You certainly keep your cars in nice condition Ruby. She looks like a lovely example.
I haven't anything against Mercs, but only ever owned 2 of them in my youth, and one of them was for 1 day only.
The first a LHD WW2 Mercedes 170 SV with full Wehrmacht interior (I kid you not). I had it for 1 year and sold it for twice what I paid for it, (value today would be in mutiples of tripple figures).
The second and sadest, was a 1952 Adenaur 300 W186 with the 3.0 ltr petrol engine. I passed it everyday on my way to work and watched it gradually deteriorating and the tyres getting flatter with each week. I found the owner, a young woman and offered to buy it from her. She refused but I kept asking on a monthly basis. Eventually she gave way and we made a deal at the cost to me of 300 pounds!
She signed the bill of sale and the next day my friend and I, along with his car transporter arrived to collect it. We pumped the tyres and pulled it up on the transporter. As we started to secure it a guy came running over almost in fits of tears. He had bought it for her as a present and they were to be married within 3 months. He explained his dream had been to be married and use the car for it. He told me that it was to go into the garage to have some minor problems fixed. I told him the deal was done and showed him the bill of sale. I never saw anyone so broken and when the girl joined him, she really was in tears. There was obviously some serious friction between them.
I couldn't stand it, and although totally gutted by the turn of events, took the bill of sale and tore it up in front of them.
My friend and I rolled the car back off the transporter and she quickly got me the money, hugged and kissed me over and over before her future husband invited both my friend and I to their wedding. The next day, the car was gone and 3 months later the car bought her to the church. Both looked fantastic.
It hurt like hell but the wedding and following party was wonderful and they both made sure our glasses stayed full throughout the night.
I look at the 300's today and my heart still aches and my wallet still screams, but I had learned something about myself that day, you get back what you give out....and that has stayed with me throughout my entire joy filled life.
This really was one of the few that got away.

 

[Ruby351]

Well youve certainly got a garage full of lovely cars to look after.
Enjoy them.😻

Hah, you are right there mbd and if we had a bigger drive, I would have a few more if I could, who ever said 'well you can only drive one' ... at a time maybe.

It's funny, as I absolutely enjoy them, driving of course, but just knowing they are out there and ready anytime they want to take us out for a little spin

 

[Ruby351]

Very nice car.

Many thanks and much appreciated capri v8 driver

 

[ducmon]

Hah, you are right there mbd and if we had a bigger drive, I would have a few more if I could, who ever said 'well you can only drive one' ... at a time maybe.

It's funny, as I absolutely enjoy them, driving of course, but just knowing they are out there and ready anytime they want to take us out for a little spin

Ruby you could change your name to Dolly and then you would be able to drive at least two of them at the same time.

 

[Ruby351]

She’s beautiful and brings so much memories of my Mercs. How many miles has Desiree?
A bit of trivia: the shape of centre vents mask on dash is the same as the shape of grille.
And this bottle holder with net is a bit I’ve been missing from the day one of my Jaguar era.
View attachment 58374

Awwww thanks JD chuffed to bits you think so

This was the mileage at her last MOT and it will be pretty much the same as we do about 1K miles annually with each of our cars and probably 1.5K with our van:

WOW! Sure is new to me and I love hearing about little bits of info like this - nice one

I don't hold bottles in mine or anything else, used to hold the long handle microfibre window cleaning gadget and wet wipes in my C-Class (previous Merc), but don't want to spoil the carpet in Desiree. I wouldn't bother now for the same reason and what you haven't had, you can't miss eh?

 

[Ruby351]

My Dad has the identical car. Metallic black (or is yours blue?) 2016 E220cdi. He hasn't willingly driven anything other than a Merc since 1979. They are extremely comfortable, very much an armchair car, compared to my Jag's more sporting setup. it's also far more practical and roomy, in fact people could be excused for asking why we'd be so daft to ignore these and by a Jag in the first place! At least until they'd driven the Jag.
I loved my Mercs, probably because I'd grown up with them. I bought my first. a C220 in 1998, then swapped to an E240 in 2001 (because I wanted a V6 and aircon and E's were selling for the same price as the just released new Cs) and finally an E270CDI in 2006 when I started to commute distances and the poor mpg and lack of power of the 240 started to make my teeth itch. I ran that until I got my XF in 2014. Put 180,000 miles on it and it never missed a beat in all that time. I loved it.
I actually went out that day with the specific intention of buying a 12 month old W212 E320cdi replacement for my E270 and would probably have been very happy with it had I been successful. The problem at the time was 2 fold. Firstly I wasn't in love with the styling (Your facelift model is far prettier). It was very much a head rather than heart decision. I drove E Classes and that was what was available. Not the best motivation. Secondly I had to deal with dis-interested MB salesmen who utterly P'd me off.
Hence, after visiting 2 MB dealers and leaving both feeling insulted, the Mrs dragged me to Jaguar and after talking to a very helpful salesman, and despite the lesser tech and practicality, the looks and the way it drove had me sold.

Ah, good point and thank you for that jberks, as I have just cast an impartial and more critical eye over my photos and you are quite right, they do look a bit dark and easily taken for blac, so I will put up some more to show Deseree in a better light, showing off her beautiful glossy coat of blue.

I like your dad already and I bet he is well known for his impeccable taste

Wow, you do have a fine history of Mercs and I have to agree with you on comfort, I would spend a good deal of time in mine either on a long commute and/or most of the day with home visits attending patients work wise, even slept in the back at lunch times ... yes indeedy comfortable to a tee.

That was some gal your E270CDi and she certainly did you proud, 8 years 180K on the clock and problem free, superb recommendation for Mercedes-Benz cars I'd say.

Unlike the dealers you came across and this is not the first time I have heard such a tale. A patient of mine, his daughter went to the main MB dealer in Bristol, she had £24K cash and asked the gent if she could test drive one of the Mercs she was interested in. He told her that it wasn't possible as there was no one available to go with her and to come back the next day, oh yes and that they don't do cash, only finance.

She took of rather disgruntled and more than a tad shocked, as she drove back towards Weston-Super-Mare, she called into another car sales place, saw a similar Merc, told the gent the story, he was mortified, she test drove his car and he said if she liked it, he could arrange for her to have the one in Bristol, meanwhile apparently tore a strip of the main dealer and quite rightly so.

Shame about no Merc for you, but thanks to the rude sales personnel, your wife having the good sense to drag you off in the direction of Jaguar, you are in a happy place with your big cat and it has opened up a whole new world of friends, knowledge and entertainment in the form of the forum, their loss and your gain.

 

[Ruby351]

 

[JaguarDriver]

Awwww thanks JD chuffed to bits you think so

This was the mileage at her last MOT and it will be pretty much the same as we do about 1K miles annually with each of our cars and probably 1.5K with our van:

View attachment 58396

WOW! Sure is new to me and I love hearing about little bits of info like this - nice one

I don't hold bottles in mine or anything else, used to hold the long handle microfibre window cleaning gadget and wet wipes in my C-Class (previous Merc), but don't want to spoil the carpet in Desiree. I wouldn't bother now for the same reason and what you haven't had, you can't miss eh?

Oh that’s so low mileage for OM651 engine. In the net I used to keep Michelin atlas and the extending plastic bit was perfect for holding 2litre bottles of water or juice.
Don’t know if you know about it but probably in the passenger side glovebox on the right side when you open it, there is MDI socket for connecting iphone/android phone or tablet. I never managed to actually link my iphone for streaming music (iphone updates prevented it) but have used Bluetooth dongle connected to MDI for streaming.

 

[Ruby351]

Oh that’s so low mileage for OM651 engine. In the net I used to keep Michelin atlas and the extending plastic bit was perfect for holding 2litre bottles of water or juice.
Don’t know if you know about it but probably in the passenger side glovebox on the right side when you open it, there is MDI socket for connecting iphone/android phone or tablet. I never managed to actually link my iphone for streaming music (iphone updates prevented it) but have used Bluetooth dongle connected to MDI for streaming.

Just had to check it out, well you know me JD, but sadly nope, not in my gal's glove box, but in a similar place to those in the video clip - rather nifty scan disk too, for not taking up too much room or sticking out too far where it can get caught on clothing etc. or knocked.

I will say now though, I have absolutely no idea what he is talking about with regards to the FAT32 formatting business and whether this is the right thing to do, I just thought the gadget and size was a good idea and worth considering.

A very quick shufty on the big 'A' and it's better than half price right now ...