WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 14, 2018 21:29:44 GMT
The 190E always — well, at the time, anyway — seemed like the perfect piece of ‘drop down’ design. By which I mean that it distilled the rather austere but ineffably solid and respectable essence of a W124 E into a compact and not-too-affordable package.
You had to suffer for it, of course; a Cavalier had windows you didn’t have to wind yourself. And a radio. And a badge on the back proclaiming that it had all these things, and ABS too. But that wasn’t, and never could be, a Mercedes. And it didn’t make you a Mercedes owner. A 190E did.
Everyone else’s ‘entry level’ models since then have seemed a bit, y’know, vulgar. And that includes MB’s of recent years. But not the 190E. That was a bit of quality.
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Post by dixinormus on Oct 16, 2018 6:46:56 GMT
And wasn't there a Cosworth variant too? (Before Ford started using Cosworth for Escorts and Sierras).
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Oct 16, 2018 21:53:18 GMT
My eldest brother was thinking of getting a 190E and I hoped he'd get the Cosworth variant.... He got a Pug 405 Mi16 in the end. Probably not much faster than a Golf GT 1.4TSi to be honest.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2018 23:14:41 GMT
The 405Mi16 was a fast saloon in its day. The body was light, great suspension and a high power to weight ratio. They were a bit fragile though.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 17, 2018 9:46:27 GMT
Fewer than 10 Mi16s left on the road in the UK, according to one website that worries about these things. A couple of thousand 190Es of various types.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2018 19:38:00 GMT
In advance of the service on Friday, I did my annual Round England trip these last two days; inspecting various properties for an overseas investor client. This takes in Hull, Doncaster, Melton Mowbray, Warwick, Christchurch, Blandford Forum and Yeovil. I left on Monday evening filling up near home and drove to Hull, with last night in Christchurch. Taking a detour in Birmingham into account, I returned to the same petrol station this evening, 711 miles after I left and all on one tank. A real 43.3mpg. The car has amazing economy at about 75mph. A long enough cruise at that speed will have the car at about 50mpg.
I know Humph's tractor engined beast will do 20+% better, but I'm still impressed by the performance and economy when the car is doing what it was built to do.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Oct 17, 2018 20:49:21 GMT
When I had the Passat CC with the 170PS diesel engine, I could do the trip to family in south Wales and back home on a tank with plenty to spare. The tank was 70 litres. Best mpg I ever got brim to brim was 47.6mpg.
The A3 saloon with a 1.4TSI engine (DSG) could just about do the trip on a full tank but the warning light would soon come on. Tank was only 50 litres and best ever mpg was 48mpg.
The Superb with the same engine and geaebox as the A3 surprises me. It does have a bigger fuel tank at 66 litres. But best mpg to date for a mostly motorway run (some 50mph roadworks) is 47.91mpg. And I've gone to south Wales and back and then done another 200 miles and still the warning light hasn't come on. Well I'm impressed for such a big car.
Long term averages (lots of local stop start driving are:
Passat = 35.6mpg
A3 = 34.4mpg
Superb = 33.8mpg
But the Passat and A3 figures above were over 3 years and so more motorways miles. The Superb has done 12 months.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2018 15:35:29 GMT
Car serviced. £187 plus about £40 for front and rear wipers. They do this video of an underbody inspection which is helpful. The rear brakes are 80% worn. I think these are the original items but the discs and pads will need renewing in the next 12 months and certianly before the next service.
They install this bluetooth dongle in the car which links to my phone. It reveals bits of interesting information like fuel remaining, range, distance travelled since the last fill-up. Not overly useful apart from the 'where did I leave my car?' function which is good in car parks.
The one surprising thing they mentioned was the treat remaining on the tyres. The rear tyres, fitted in January and have done about 8,000 miles, are down to 5mm. Seems a rather high rate of wear. I will monitor. Maybe a case of medium price tyres but poor wear rate making the real cost more expensive than top brand tyres. We shall see...
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Oct 19, 2018 15:58:06 GMT
They install this bluetooth dongle in the car which links to my phone. It reveals bits of interesting information like fuel remaining, range, distance travelled since the last fill-up. Not overly useful apart from the 'where did I leave my car?' function which is good in car parks. Mine must already have one, as it keeps telling me it’s parked outside my house. Saves that 60-degree twist of the neck to look out of the window, I suppose. |
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Oct 20, 2018 18:03:37 GMT
Just got almost 47mpg for the Superb with mostly motorways (lots of stop start traffic and some 50mph). Some town driving too. Not bad for a big petrol car. Car indicated about 48mpg. I think I could get 700 miles from a tank if I really tried.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2018 20:05:53 GMT
Thats pretty good. Some 50mph motorway sections are very helpful in increasng the economy.
I wonder how many miles I would get out of Espadrille's Mini Clubman 2.0D in the same trip.
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Oct 20, 2018 21:13:16 GMT
I was more surprised because it was pretty bad on M25 on the way back.... Stop-start and not just slow 50mph that was flowing. Also some around town driving at home and in Brighton.
Average overall so far for mpg is similar to the Passat I had which over the 3 years had more long runs to increase the average. I'm happy with what the Superb is doing.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2019 12:47:22 GMT
having decided that I am going to keep my car, I have further decided to give it some TLC. So as the bumbers are scuffed, I will have them resprayed off the car and new number plate holders installed as the old ones are also marked. Got those for £20 brand new from an online place. The alloys will be refurbished and then the car given a thorough valet and the paint clayed and polished. Hopefully by April it will look like an almost new car. Will look into having the underside hosed and some additional underseal applied...
It will need new brake pads in the next few months and then it should see me through for a couple or three years at least without too much bother. The average is still below 7,000 miles pa.
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Avant
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Post by Avant on Jan 10, 2019 16:04:36 GMT
That makes perfect sense. I remember about 10 years ago a colleague buying a secondhand Mercedes estate (E350 I think) for about the same price as my new Octavia vRS estate. He did about 6,000 miles a year and I did 20,000 - so we both did the right thing.
Even now in semi-retirement I've done 11,000 miles in 8 months in the Q2, so again you and I are both right. I'm sure your Mercedes will go on doing well ... and it's a six!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2019 16:52:21 GMT
Had the car booked in for the bumper respray but they couldn't do the wheel refurb. The wheel refurb place is round the corner.
So they need the car for two days (unless I have four spare wheels, which I don't). But they have a body shop... So, car booked in for a one-stop wheel refurb, bumper respray, dent removal, clay bar and polish all over one weekend. Not cheap at £840, but given that the wheels are £60 each to be stripped repaired and powder coated in silver, the bumper respray is £400 (same as the other place), the extra £200 for the dent removal and external detailing is probably sound especially as I am not trailing all over north Manchester to get these things done separately.
Will see what it looks like on 20th February..
In the meantime, brake replacement scheduled for Wednesday next week.
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